This Thanksgiving, about 17,500 more Illinoisans will be using food stamps. By New Year’s, about 50,000 Cook County recipients must find jobs or lose benefits.
“I’ve been teaching for 15 years. I was part of the 50 schools closings [in 2013]. “I remember being really involved with the [Chicago Teachers Union], even getting on the news for them. “Even during that time, it just seemed as though we were placed there to show, ‘Hey we’re equitable. Here look, we’re putting...
Most states require a wait before lawmakers become lobbyists. Recent federal probes point out the need for Illinois to do the same.
Faced with the impossible task of balancing Chicago’s budget without pension reform, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is forced to partially rely on phantom cuts and revenues.
Contracts went to relatives, associates of former vice chancellor in exchange for kickbacks, charges state. Some contracts required no work.
“[I moved to Illinois] from Germany in 1972. I came with my husband. “He went to school here after the army and got training as an HVAC person. When I came over here, I found work in a travel agency for two years and then was pregnant and stayed home until my children were in...
The new contract continues a moratorium on school closings despite plummeting student enrollment.
Federal authorities have obtained phone calls and emails from a key member of Madigan's political inner circle. Now that information is leaking.
A new report confirms what many Illinoisans already knew: the state is one of the most heavily regulated in America, with nearly 260,000 state rules.
Each year, tens of billions of dollars flow through Illinois state government.1 These flows all depend on methods of payment. In deciding on those payment methods, policymakers must consider a number of important factors, including security controls, cost effectiveness, accessibility, speed and allowance for choice. This report shows that by adopting best practices across all...
Illinois has nation’s worst pension debt. Maybe that’s because state lawmakers take a problem they aren’t sure exists, apply a solution they don’t know will work and never determine the cost.
The rapidly increasing cost of pensions is crowding out core government services.