Letting nonviolent former offenders petition to have their records sealed and protecting businesses from negligent-hiring lawsuits would do more to encourage hiring ex-offenders than “ban the box” alone.
Combined sales taxes in Illinois have leaped past those of every other state in the region.
More than two-thirds of fiscal year 2016 has passed with the state lacking an overall budget.
Illinoisans’ confidence in their state government is the lowest of residents of any state in the nation, and corruption stories from February 2016 don’t help.
Illinois Policy Action has been busy advancing its 2016 Legislative Agenda, arguing for bills that make local- government operations more transparent to residents, and promote efficiency.
Illinois’ manufacturing meltdown and weak jobs growth are pummeling workers.
“Indiana’s just a great place to be for manufacturing. You don’t see a lot of [manufacturers] going in the other direction. You don’t see a lot of manufacturing companies leaving Indiana to go to Illinois or any other state … “[Illinois has] done so much to discourage manufacturing. You have a business climate that’s poisonous...
City zoning policies serve to keep many neighborhoods segregated. These rules also keep lower-income residents of all races out of popular areas, allowing city officials to shape who can live where and making housing more expensive.
The Chicago Teachers Union has threatened to strike as early as April 1 over Chicago Public Schools’ announced plan to stop paying a portion of teachers’ required contributions to their pension fund. Under Illinois labor law, however, CTU cannot legally strike before mid- to late-May.
“The reason why I wear the jumpsuit is symbolic. “And it’s stark, but this is the thing: You see me today dressed in this business suit. I can go anywhere downtown. The way I talk, the way I look, I will have no problems. No one’s going to ask me to get on the ground....
Illinois needs much more in the way of reforms if state politicians are going to truly fix the state’s broken criminal-justice system.
Pension holidays, steep increases in teachers' salaries, and lopsided ratios of teacher contributions to pension payouts have caused the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund’s unfunded liabilities to shoot up to $9 billion in 2015.
Unaffordable salaries and pension benefits on top of a structurally unstable retirement system have pushed CPS to the brink of insolvency despite record tax revenues.