Illinoisans rely on food stamps for Christmas dinner

By Dylan Sharkey

12/20/2023

This holiday season, nearly 2 million Illinoisans will rely on federal food assistance. Illinois is eighth in the country for highest reliance on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

TAGS: SNAP

Holiday travel expected to be second-busiest ever

By Dylan Sharkey

12/18/2023

Holiday travel this year is expected to be the second-busiest since AAA started tracking it in 2000. For Illinoisans, it means driving across a state line could avoid the nation’s second-highest gas taxes.

Illinois again seeing one of most-contested elections in 2 decades

By Joe Tabor, Perry Zhao

12/12/2023

Illinois politicians have worked hard to protect incumbent state lawmakers and discourage newcomers. But that is changing for the second election cycle in a row as more Illinoisans work to get into the Illinois General Assembly.

5 jobs Illinois imposes heaviest licensing burdens on

By Joe Tabor

12/04/2023

Employment is the clearest path out of poverty, but these five low-income professions face more occupational licensing burdens than others in Illinois.

Illinois’ excessive job licensing keeps Chicagoans in poverty

By Joe Tabor

12/01/2023

Occupational licensing is more burdensome in Illinois than in neighboring states for many professions. Those barriers are unreasonably keeping poor Illinoisans and Chicagoans from finding work.

TAGS: occupational licensing

Illinois licensing makes escaping poverty harder than in other Midwestern states

By Joe Tabor

11/27/2023

Illinois could make it easier to escape poverty by letting more people work without first getting a license. Six neighboring states do a better job of easing occupational licensing on low-income professions.

Illinois’ 2nd-highest gas taxes drive up Thanksgiving travel costs

By Dylan Sharkey

11/20/2023

More than 55 million people are traveling for Thanksgiving this year, according to AAA. Illinois motorists can avoid the nation’s second-highest gas taxes by filling up in other states.

TAGS: JB Pritzker, taxes, Thanksgiving

Census: 97% of Illinoisans moving out head to lower-tax states

By Bryce Hill

11/01/2023

State-to-state migration estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau showed Illinois lost residents to 36 states and Washington, D.C. Nearly all the former Illinoisans moved to lower-tax states.

Illinois city outlaws trick-or-treating beyond age 12

By Dylan Sharkey

10/24/2023

Some Illinois communities see regulating any mischief on Halloween as a real treat. Belleville prohibits anyone older than 12 from trick-or-treating, with fines up to $1,000.

Fact check: 7 things school choice opponents got wrong about Invest in Kids

By Hannah Schmid

09/22/2023

Illinois Families for Public Schools released a pamphlet with misleading information about the Invest in Kids Tax-Credit Scholarship program and its effects on the public school system in Illinois. Here are corrections to seven things they got wrong.

TAGS: Invest in Kids

Midwestern United States

Illinoisans rely on food stamps for Christmas dinner

Holiday travel expected to be second-busiest ever

Illinois again seeing one of most-contested elections in 2 decades

5 jobs Illinois imposes heaviest licensing burdens on

Illinois’ excessive job licensing keeps Chicagoans in poverty

Illinois licensing makes escaping poverty harder than in other Midwestern states

Illinois’ 2nd-highest gas taxes drive up Thanksgiving travel costs

Census: 97% of Illinoisans moving out head to lower-tax states

Illinois city outlaws trick-or-treating beyond age 12

Fact check: 7 things school choice opponents got wrong about Invest in Kids

4 ways to break out of Illinois’ pension trap

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