This week’s The Policy Shop is by Mailee Smith, staff attorney and senior director of labor policy at the Illinois Policy Institute How to build a political machine: If our students can learn anything from the Chicago Teachers Union, it is how to use money and influence over time to amass power. The upcoming Chicago mayoral...
A new survey shows most Chicago voters polled were not satisfied with Chicago Public Schools. A majority supported school choice.
Crime tops the list of concerns for Chicago voters in the mayoral election after 2022 brought the most crime in five years and after 2021 was the deadliest year in the past quarter-century.
Chicagoans only have a few days left to register to vote by mail. If you apply by Feb. 23, you can vote from the privacy and comfort of your own home and take your time researching candidates.
Nine candidates are asking to be Chicago’s next mayor. The election is outside the normal election cycle, meaning voter turnout is low despite the mayor’s impact on crime, education, the economy and Chicagoans’ taxes. Here’s what to know about the nine candidates.
Steven Blake was homeless for years until another man showed him how selling fruit in downtown Chicago could rebuild his life. Now Blake employs other homeless people who are working their ways off the streets. “I do not hire people who already ‘have.’ I want to train the ones and teach the ones to be...
The Chicago Bears have purchased the former Arlington Park Racetrack for $197.2 million. Chicagoans are still on the hook for $640 million for Soldier Field renovations from 2002.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants to spend $440 million for universal preschool and other initiatives for low-income young children. But shouldn’t Illinois pay its old bills before taking on new expenses?
Here’s what Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker had to say about how Illinois is faring and what his priorities will be in the fiscal year 2024 budget.
This week’s The Policy Shop is by Bryce Hill, director of fiscal and economic research at the Illinois Policy Institute. Whether Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot wins re-election or one of her eight challengers unseats her, the next mayor has a lot of work to do. What do Chicagoans want from the next mayor? Crime is...
After years of enhanced revenue from federal aid, a return to the basic principles of budgeting can put Illinois on the path to long-term financial stability