Illinois’ comeback story starts here.

Caterpillar Inc. closing 5 plants, cutting 670 jobs

Caterpillar Inc. closing 5 plants, cutting 670 jobs

The East Peoria, Ill., plant will be the hardest hit, losing 230 jobs for office and production workers. As neighboring states grow factory work, Illinois is approaching an all-time low for manufacturing jobs.

By Austin Berg

Pennsylvania close to passing Illinois as 5th-largest state in U.S. for jobs and population

Pennsylvania close to passing Illinois as 5th-largest state in U.S. for jobs and population

Unlike Illinois, Pennsylvania has actually recovered the number of jobs it lost during the Great Recession, and now has 40,000 more jobs than it had at its pre-recession peak. Illinois, on the other hand, still has 90,000 fewer jobs than it had before the recession, the worst jobs recovery in the U.S.

By Michael Lucci

2016 State of the State BINGO!

2016 State of the State BINGO!

Play BINGO! with us during Gov. Rauner's State of the State address at noon on Wednesday! Win free stuff!

To fix education funding, Cullerton should focus on reforming pensions

To fix education funding, Cullerton should focus on reforming pensions

From 2009 to 2014, the state added $8.9 billion in new tax dollars to the education budget, over and above the base amount of $6.8 billion it spent in 2009. Of those new dollars spent, 89 percent went to retirement costs and just 11 percent made it to classrooms.

By Ted Dabrowski