The Chicago Teachers Union has threatened to strike over contract demands that would cost taxpayers an extra $397 million in the first year. Chicago teachers already make more than other big city peers.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called out Ald. Ed Burke after corruption indictments. Now she is reforming the city’s mismanaged workers’ compensation program that a lawsuit said Burke used to build a political army.
Fitch Ratings has issued a warning about a pension plan pushed by one Illinois think tank, which includes no reform and would harm the state’s credit rating. The response from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability proves how indefensible the plan really is.
A pension plan pushed by one Illinois think tank fails to reform the state’s broken pension system and risks repeating costly mistakes. Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker shouldn’t be fooled and should instead endorse meaningful, lasting reform.
The governor has vetoed a bill that opponents warned would encourage lawsuits, burden businesses and suppress innovation, without meaningfully strengthening privacy protections for mobile device users.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.