It’s not all bad news in Illinois. Sometimes our politicians get it right. Illinois lawmakers have made it a Class 4 felony to intentionally hide public records from the public. House Bill 4216, introduced by state Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights, was passed unanimously by both the Illinois House and Senate. It was signed into...
With improved state transparency laws and communities all over Illinois voluntarily becoming more transparent online, there’s never been a better time for citizens to get involved and hold local government accountable. But simply advocating for transparent government isn’t enough to identify waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, government watchdogs must make use of...
When it comes to Illinoisans and their cars, Gov. Pat Quinn can’t seem to make up his mind. This time last year, Quinn signed legislation upping the speed limit on rural interstates to 70 mph from 65 mph. He cited a fear that if Illinois didn’t keep up with higher speed limits in other states,...
An Illinois 7th Circuit judge has ruled that the state cannot make deductions from state retirees’ pension checks for their retiree health insurance coverage. Based on this temporary injunction, state retirees no longer have to pay 1- 2 percent of their pension check for their retirement health-insurance coverage. Judge Steven Nardulli of the state’s 7th...
The Illinois Policy Institute’s recent report on union spending focused on Illinois’ big, statewide public-sector unions, but there are lots of important locals that are misusing their members’ funds as well. One of the most interesting is Healthcare IL-IN, a Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, local that played a controversial role in organizing day-care...
Though Baxter International Inc. has denied reports that it is considering relocating to Boston, Illinois officials are in damage-control mode to ensure that the Deerfield, Ill.-based company stays put. On Aug. 27, the Boston Business Journal reported that Baxter, a biotech giant that has been based in Illinois since the 1930s, is looking to make a...
The unemployment rate fell in all of Illinois’ metropolitan statistical areas in July, according to a press release from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. In fact, unemployment rates have fallen in all metro areas for four consecutive months, which seems like welcome news. But these numbers are only encouraging at face value. As is...
For months, data suggesting that the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, is hurting employment have been dismissed by the White House as anecdotal. But a recent survey of businesses conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia seems to provide undeniable proof that the law is forcing businesses to fire employees and cut health benefits....
Illinois began August with a $4.4 billion dollar backlog of unpaid bills. If lawmakers would have kept the promises they made in 2011, the backlog would be zero today – or close to it. In January 2011, Illinois lawmakers pushed through a record tax hike that raised the income tax rate on individuals to 5...
Nearly three months after the Illinois General Assembly passed devastating restrictions on innovative ridesharing services such as Uber and Lyft, Gov. Pat Quinn issued a surprising blow to the taxicab lobby by vetoing the job-killing legislation in its entirety. This March, in response to the recent success and popularity of ridesharing programs such as Uber...
On Aug. 25 Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed a bill pushed by the taxi lobby that would have restricted ridesharing services such as UberX and Lyft in Chicago. The veto is good news for ridesharing consumers and drivers. Uber will now move forward with its plan to bring 425 new jobs to Illinois. The bill’s champion...
There’s no right more basic than the right to earn a living to support yourself and your family. And for decades, that’s what street vendors have been trying to do. From elote-cart owners in Little Village to ice-cream carts along North Avenue Beach, entrepreneurs – who are often recent immigrants – have supported themselves by...
In its first annual report, GetCovered Illinois touts “succeeding in enrolling more than 600,000 people in health coverage through the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicaid.” But by very selectively picking and choosing what information to make public, Illinois officials are failing to provide any real insight into whether the state has actually achieved its...
Illinois is dead last of all 50 states in recovering from the Great Recession – and two economic surveys prepared each month by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics prove it. The BLS and IDES surveys track employment and jobs growth in Illinois: both household surveys...