Amendment 1 would give Illinois teachers a permanent right to strike, taking more class time away from teachers who believe their place is with their students instead of on the picket line. Voters will decide Nov. 8.
The village of Skokie issued $176 million in new bonds to fund shortfalls in public safety pensions. The village joins a growing list of municipalities forced to borrow to meet “unsustainable” pension obligations.
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.
According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Illinois has seen eight consecutive years of population decline. The official 2020 counts showed Illinois lost population for the first Census in history. It cost the state one congressional seat. One person leaves Illinois every 4 minutes and 18 seconds. Illinois is losing people and political power. Bryce Hill...
Chicago Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson was implicated in the plea agreement of a former bank employee who federal prosecutors said played a critical role in the embezzlement scheme. She said millions in theft was covered up before the bank failed.
Chicago Ald. Edward Burke was secretly videotaped in City Hall by federal authorities as part of the corruption probe into Illinois politics. Burke reportedly confided in an informant how they would avoid being caught.
A change to the Illinois Constitution on the 2022 ballot would effectively transfer power over tax dollars from the people and their elected representatives to special interests. It would thwart any efforts to curb the nation’s second-highest property taxes.
Illinois allocates more of its budget to pensions than any other state, but pension spending has only skyrocketed. A constitutional amendment is the only way to reform the state’s unsustainable and underfunded pension systems.
A bill to cut Illinois’ redundant school district bureaucracy could offer over $300 per student for classroom instruction. No schools would close as Illinois strived to cut administration costs that are double the U.S. average.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker argues his state agencies no longer need a federal minder to ensure hiring is not political. That federal watchdog has four recent examples of why state hiring still needs oversight.
“I feel like the unions have no consequences. It seems that whenever they feel like something isn’t going their way, they walk out and leave our kids hanging. My fear is that this is going to continue happening as time goes on.”
“Every family has a different situation. Not all families are able to be serviced by the public schools."
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services director was held in contempt of court for allegedly violating the right to proper housing of a 17-year-old boy. It’s the director’s third contempt charge in eight days, highlighting DCFS’ struggle to place kids.