United States Department of Health and Human Services

Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

By Patrick Andriesen
05/28/2026
Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

Budget Solutions 2019: The responsible budget for Illinois

By Orphe Divounguy, Bryce Hill, Joe Tabor
02/06/2018
Even after a 32 percent income tax hike, the Illinois General Assembly passed a state budget in 2017 that will generate an estimated $1.5 billion deficit in fiscal year 2018. That deficit is projected to grow to $2.15 billion in fiscal year 2019, according to the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, or GOMB. The...

Reforming Illinois Medicaid: How to cut waste, fraud and abuse

By Jonathan Ingram
05/20/2015
Medicaid is one of Illinois government’s largest and fastest-growing expenses, accounting for more than 28 percent of the state’s total operating budget.1 It has also been a prime target of waste, fraud and abuse, earning a “high risk” designation from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.2 Most states, including Illinois, have focused fraud-prevention efforts on provider...
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Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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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