Illinois

Facts are stubborn things

By Benjamin VanMetre
09/05/2012
During Gov. Quinn’s DNC address, he invoked John Adams’ famous line, “facts are stubborn things.” Quinn presented his facts about President Obama’s track record. Quinn presented his facts about Governor Romney’s track record. And Quinn presented his facts about Congressman Ryan’s track record. There was one track record that Quinn failed to mention. His own....

$16,000,000,000,000

By Chris Andriesen
09/04/2012
The U.S. Treasury Department released a statement on Tuesday, confirming that the federal government has topped $16,000,000,000,000 in debt. (That’s $16 trillion, if you lost count of all the zeros). When combined with state level debt ($4.19 trillion), the number tops $20 trillion in total public debt. At the end of 2008, just before President Obama officially...

Hosed at the pump: Illinois gas taxes

By Lawrence McQuillan
08/31/2012
As Illinois motorists hit the road for Labor Day weekend, they’ll shell out an average of $4.14 for a gallon of gas. In Chicago, motorists are paying $4.31 a gallon, according to the AAA. That’s a whopping 48 cents more than the national average at $3.83 a gallon. At these prices, motorists in Chicago are paying...

S&P downgrades Illinois’ credit rating

By Ted Dabrowski
08/30/2012
S&P’s latest downgrade should come as no surprise. It’s just another mark of shame for a leaderless state spiraling out of control. The downgrade was a reaction to the state’s August 17th failure to reform its pension problems. In that meeting, the only bill on the table reduced Illinois’ total pension debt by less than...

Remain calm when responding to CTU’s strike notice

By Paul Kersey
08/29/2012
The Chicago Teachers Union filed a 10-day strike notice Wednesday, which may tempt some Chicagoans to overreact. To some extent the teachers union is counting on this sort of reaction. They are hoping that upset parents will call on the school board to end the strike at all costs, and pressure the district into making...

Illinois pension funds need 19 percent annual investment returns to make ends meet

By Jonathan Ingram
08/27/2012
Illinois reports that it owes $83 billion to its five public pension funds. Worse yet, under new reporting requirements by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and Moody’s Investment Services, the state’s pension debt will more than double. There are a lot of numbers being thrown around in the fight over pension reform. But these are the...

Don’t be a victim of public corruption, learn from District 147’s transparency mistakes

By Brian Costin
08/24/2012
This time the alleged corruption comes from West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147. Retired superintendent, Alex Boyd, is accused of,“fraudulently cashing out about $350,000 worth of sick and vacation time and racking up $57,000 in unauthorized credit card charges.”  Also, board member Mable Chapman is accused of, “helping Boyd bilk the district while having family members hired by...
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Fighting poverty with employment: Chicago block clubs

Leaders of these organizations on the South and West sides connect residents to jobs and engage youth to build safer neighborhoods.

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016