Brandon Johnson’s first 100 days

By Mailee Smith, Bryce Hill

08/18/2023

The city of Chicago faces a pension crisis, heightened crime and a failing public school system. New Mayor Brandon Johnson has taken no concrete steps to deal with any of it.

TAGS: Brandon Johnson

Vallas: A real strategy for containing out-of-control violence in Chicago

By Paul Vallas

07/17/2023

Chicago can’t afford to wait on immediate crime reduction efforts – the city needs a plan. Unfortunately, no concrete details have emerged on how the new administration plans to address public safety, the No. 1 issue on Chicagoans’ minds. Here are nine steps Chicago officials could take to begin curbing crime today.

TAGS: Chicago, crime

Vallas: Chicago teens are dying, committing more crimes: work-study can fix that

By Paul Vallas

06/29/2023

Much attention is rightly being paid to how city policy can address the need to provide young people with meaningful opportunities for work. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Poll: Nearly 3-in-5 Illinoisans say property taxes don’t deliver value

By Dylan Sharkey

04/24/2023

Fifty-eight percent of Illinois voters polled said their property taxes don’t provide enough value in public services. Illinoisans pay the second-highest property taxes in the nation.

Cook County seeks to implement permanent guaranteed income

By Patrick Andriesen

05/31/2022

Cook County officials promised to make the nation’s now-largest publicly-funded guaranteed income experiment permanent May 18 shortly after introducing the initiative. The trial will start accepting applicants in the fall.

TAGS: Cook County, UBI: Universal Basic Income

Chicago’s COVID-19 rules hit minority neighborhood restaurants harder

By Patrick Andriesen

01/19/2022

Restaurant owners in Chicago communities with low COVID-19 vaccination rates, mostly on the city’s South and West sides, say pushback against the vaccine proof mandate has hurt sales and cost them customers.

TAGS: Chicago, COVID-19, vaccine mandate

79,000 more Illinoisans are in poverty because state can’t fix its culture of corruption

By Orphe Divounguy

05/12/2021

If Illinois could have reduced corruption to the national average, an estimated 79,000 fewer people would be living in poverty, according to an analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute. State lawmakers can help by passing ethics reforms.

TAGS: corruption, economy, ethics reform, Illinois, income inequality, poverty

Full Text: Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s State of the State and Budget Address

02/17/2021

Delivered virtually Feb. 17, 2021, from the Illinois State Fairgrounds

TAGS: budget, COVID-19, JB Pritzker, State of the State

Report: Tax rain, plastic bottles and plastic bags to hire more state workers

12/17/2019

A new report recommends taxes on plastic water bottles, plastic bags and storm water as a way to hire more state environmental regulators.

TAGS: Chicago, IEPA: Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, JB Pritzker, plastic bag tax, plastic bottle tax, rain tax, Springfield, University of Chicago

Puzzled by property taxes: Improving transparency and fairness in Illinois’ assessment system

By Amy Korte

07/19/2018

Illinois should take steps toward more accurate and frequent property assessments to ensure the tax burden is distributed as fairly as possible.

The University of Chicago

Brandon Johnson’s first 100 days

Vallas: A real strategy for containing out-of-control violence in Chicago

Vallas: Chicago teens are dying, committing more crimes: work-study can fix that

Poll: Nearly 3-in-5 Illinoisans say property taxes don’t deliver value

Cook County seeks to implement permanent guaranteed income

Chicago’s COVID-19 rules hit minority neighborhood restaurants harder

79,000 more Illinoisans are in poverty because state can’t fix its culture of corruption

Full Text: Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s State of the State and Budget Address

Report: Tax rain, plastic bottles and plastic bags to hire more state workers

Puzzled by property taxes: Improving transparency and fairness in Illinois’ assessment system

Taxed out: 10 reforms to stop Illinois from losing people and jobs

Report Archive

Take advantage of the various ways to vote

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

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