Cook County has lost nearly 50,000 black residents since the 2010 census, and the rate is accelerating.

Chicago and Illinois have plenty of their own problems on the manufacturing front, with issues such as high property taxes and workers’ compensation costs driving production facilities to other states. But U.S. trade policy regarding sugar isn’t helping matters. For each one sugar growing and harvesting job saved through high U.S. sugar tariffs, nearly three confectionery manufacturing jobs are lost, according to the International Trade Administration.

Manufacturing workers continue to receive pink slips in Illinois.

The Land of Lincoln continues to send well-paying jobs to the friendlier business climate next door.

Illinois’ middle class is crumbling under the weight of the state’s political and legal classes.