Illinois businesses gave notice of impending layoffs in December as the state ended 2015 with fewer jobs than it had at the start of the year.
The state unemployment rate jumped to 5.9 percent from 5.7 percent, driven by an increase of 18,300 Illinoisans who are unemployed. Illinois also has 178,000 fewer people working compared to before the Great Recession.
CTU President Karen Lewis has acknowledged that CPS is in dire straits – and that her union may have to make concessions in contract negotiations, including ending the practice of the school district – meaning taxpayers – picking up the majority of teacher contributions toward pensions, which has cost $1.3 billion since 2006.
I have a loyalty to my company and my people because they’ve been loyal to me and the company for many, many years.
Gov. Bruce Rauner highlights the continued need for criminal-justice reform to save taxpayer dollars and restore opportunity. To get there, Illinois must embrace reforms that enable ex-offenders to provide for themselves and their families once they’ve served their sentences.
Illinois paid $53 million more to borrow money through its Jan. 14 bond sale than it would have paid had politicians not let the state’s debt and government-worker pension obligations spiral out of control, while driving out taxpaying residents and businesses through tax hikes and costly regulations.
Gov. Bruce Rauner and Republican state lawmakers have proposed bankruptcy for Chicago Public Schools; Mayor Rahm Emanuel has rejected the idea of bankruptcy, repeating his demand that Illinois taxpayers bail out the struggling school district.
On Jan. 21 Gov. Bruce Rauner reignited reform talks surrounding Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension crisis.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed 2 percent tax and new regulations would harm Chicagoans trying to make ends meet by renting out space in their homes, as well as tourists looking for less expensive lodging.
Illinoisans handed over a larger portion of their earnings to state and local governments than did taxpayers in 45 lower-tax states in fiscal year 2012, according to a new Tax Foundation study.
Here's what you need to know about Illinois' $111 billion state pension crisis.
A pending lawsuit by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, among other unions, is keeping dozens of workers on state payrolls – even though their workplaces have been shuttered for months.