Palatine-area District 15’s new 10-year contract ‘unprecedented’

By Mailee Smith

04/25/2016

Residents of suburban Chicago’s Community Consolidated School District 15 have seen their incomes remain flat – or drop. Meanwhile, school district officials have committed these same taxpayers to fund a 10-year contract, which the public has never seen.

TAGS: education, unions

It’s time Illinois ends civil asset forfeiture

By Bryant Jackson-Green

04/23/2016

Michigan, Minnesota and now Nebraska have reformed civil asset forfeiture – it’s time Illinois followed suit.

TAGS: civil asset forfeiture, criminal justice reform

Comptroller announces paycheck delays for Illinois politicians, state officials

04/18/2016

Total compensation for affected legislators and statewide officeholders equals about $1.3 million per month, according to the comptroller. On top of salaries, taxpayers also have to foot the bill for lawmaker pensions – in Illinois’ active legislators will each cost the state budget about $180,000 next year.

TAGS: lawmaker pay, Leslie Munger

The fall of Illinois manufacturing

By Austin Berg

04/07/2016

illinois manufacturing hoist liftruck marty flaska

Since the state's recession bottom, Illinois has regained less than 5 percent of its manufacturing jobs — the worst rate of recovery among all neighboring states.

TAGS: jobs, manufacturing, workers compensation

Illinois Supreme Court ruling could give state workers more retirement options

By Ted Dabrowski

04/06/2016

Concept of “consideration” allows state workers to negotiate for new benefits and could pave a path toward pension reform.

TAGS: Chicago, Illinois Supreme Court, pensions

Job creation finally besting food-stamp enrollment in Illinois

03/31/2016

For nearly six years, Illinois was the only Midwestern state where growth in food stamps was outpacing jobs growth.

Governments in Illinois can take your property without charging you with a crime

By Jeffrey Schwab, Bryant Jackson-Green

03/29/2016

A court decision involving the government’s seizure of more than $270,000 from two Chicagoans highlights major problems with civil asset forfeiture.

TAGS: civil asset forfeiture, criminal justice reform

61% of Illinois voters support Right to Work, poll finds

By Mailee Smith

03/23/2016

A new poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute in February 2016 reveals that a clear majority of voters – including 55 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of union members – support or lean toward supporting Right-to-Work laws.

TAGS: right to work

Illinois lost 56 manufacturing jobs per workday in 2015

By Michael Lucci

02/22/2016

Though neighboring and Great Lakes states added a combined 200 factory jobs per workday on net in 2015, an average of 56 Illinois manufacturing workers, on net, received pink slips each workday during the same time.

TAGS: manufacturing

Pensions 101: Understanding Illinois’ massive, government-worker pension crisis

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner

02/03/2016

The crisis threatens to burden taxpayers with massive, ever-escalating taxes to bail out a system that is not sustainable – government-worker pensions consume a fourth of the state’s budget.

Michigan

Palatine-area District 15’s new 10-year contract ‘unprecedented’

It’s time Illinois ends civil asset forfeiture

Comptroller announces paycheck delays for Illinois politicians, state officials

The fall of Illinois manufacturing

Illinois Supreme Court ruling could give state workers more retirement options

Job creation finally besting food-stamp enrollment in Illinois

Governments in Illinois can take your property without charging you with a crime

61% of Illinois voters support Right to Work, poll finds

Illinois lost 56 manufacturing jobs per workday in 2015

Pensions 101: Understanding Illinois’ massive, government-worker pension crisis

FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

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