Illinois’ comeback story starts here.

Joanne Troesch

Joanne Troesch

“When the most recent strike came around, I felt like I should be the one making the decision, so I said, ‘Forget it.’ I wasn’t going to strike.”

Pension apocalypse? COVID-19 exposes long-running fragility of Illinois public pensions

Pension apocalypse? COVID-19 exposes long-running fragility of Illinois public pensions

Illinois’ pension crisis has been a growing problem for decades, and its negative effects on state residents are well documented.1 Economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and related government shutdown orders threaten to bring that long-running crisis closer to its breaking point. The state’s five pension systems collectively held nearly $139 billion of debt at...