Illinois

Stimulating More Taxes

10/26/2010
by Ashley Muchow Illinois has received $8.4 billion in stimulus funds since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was passed in early February of last year. While these funds came as life preservers to some, a recent Mercatus on Policy study shows quite the opposite. According to Russell Sobel and George Crowley of the Mercatus Center, federal grant funding leads...

Honest Taxation Pledge Gains Another Senator

10/25/2010
The Illinois Honest Taxation Pledge has another new signer! Senator Dale Righter (R-Matoon) reaffirmed his commitment to protecting taxpayers and being honest with voters through his signature today. The pledge asks incumbents pledge to oppose and vote against all tax hikes through the start of the 97th Session of the General Assembly in 2011. Previously, David Vaught the Illinois...

Honest Taxation Pledge Gaining Momentum

10/20/2010
by Mark Cavers The Illinois Honest Taxation Pledge has another new signer!  Representative Kay Hatcher (R-Yorkville) reaffirmed her commitment to protecting taxpayers and being honest with voters through her signature last week. The pledge asks incumbents pledge to oppose and vote against all tax hikes through the start of the 97th Session of the General Assembly in 2011. Previously,...

Cartoon Blogging – Quinn reviving Illinois

10/19/2010
by Ashley Muchow Check out this cartoon from Scott Stantis of the Chicago Tribune illustrating Quinn’s far-fetched claims to revive Illinois.  Shouldn’t rescue consist of less digging?

$40K for Façade Improvements

10/19/2010
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Between September 2008 and August 2010, the Spoon River Partnership for Economic Development in Canton, Illinois received a $40,000 grant as part of the Grant Management Program. This program allows the General Assembly and the Governor to give “grants to specific local governments, units of government, educational facilities and not-for-profit organizations…for specific purposes to bolster the State’s economy,...

Fake Reform: The 2010 Illinois Governor Recall Amendment

By Chris Andriesen
10/18/2010
The Problem Blago, Ryan, Walker—Illinois has a sorry history of crooked governors. Currently, the Illinois General Assembly has a monopoly on the gubernatorial removal process by way of impeachment proceedings. Citizen-initiated recall is one way to vest citizens with the ability to remove corrupt or poorly performing elected officials from office. Unfortunately, the Governor Recall...

Judges Still Silent

10/18/2010
The silence continues. Illinois judges and organizations who represent the state’s judiciary are still refusing to comment about their skyrocketing salaries and perks revealed last week with the publication of the Institute’s special report:Judicial Pay and Perks in the Prairie State. Calls and e-mails seeking comment placed this week to individual jurists, the Illinois Judges...

The Freshman Four Hundred Million

10/18/2010
by Collin Hitt You’ve heard of losing the Freshman Fifteen. But can Illinois colleges trim fat, too, by lowering their freshman dropout rates? The American Institutes of Research has published a new report estimating the Illinois taxpayers spent almost $400 million on college costs for students who never made it to sophomore year ($300 of that was...

Find the Government Worker

10/18/2010
  This editorial cartoon from the USA Today in 2009 reminded me of current day Illinois. Tough times for everyone, except for those who work for the government. Recently, Gov. Quinn signed a contract handing out 7 percent pay raises, a two-year “no layoff” guarantee, a pledge to close no branches, plus another round of...

Illinois Tax Amnesty. Will it Work?

10/14/2010
by Ashley Muchow A five-week tax amnesty period for those behind on their taxes this year began the 1st of this month. SB377, signed into law this summer, allows those who have accumulated back taxes between June 30, 2002 and July 1, 2009, to pay without penalty from October 1st to November 8th. Those tax...
Load More

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.

View Report

Report Archive

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