QUOTE OF THE DAY
Chicago Tribune: Jobless claims fall to lowest level in 14 years
The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell to a 14-year low last week, a positive signal for the labor market that could counter doubts over whether the economy is shifting into a higher gear.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 264,000, its lowest level since 2000, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
That suggests the labor market is gaining steam and could bolster the view that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next year when the jobless rate is expected to continue to fall.
Chicago Business Journal: AbbVie will reconsider $53B tax inversion merger with Shire
AbbVie’s board of directors will meet to reconsider its proposed $53 billion merger with Shire next week after the U.S. Treasury took measures to prevent corporate inversions.
The Chicago-based drug company (NYSE: ABBV) announced on its website Tuesday evening that it intends to meet by Oct. 20 “to consider whether to withdraw or modify its recommendation.” It said the move was taken in part because of changes made last month to how the U.S. will tax companies which make such inversions less profitable.
Shire (Nasdaq: SHPG), which is based in Ireland, has about 6,000 employees worldwide.
Chicago Tonight: Illinois Network of Charter Schools Calls Report Inaccurate
The Illinois Network of Charter Schools says the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity’s report on Chicago charter schools is inaccurate.
Chicago Tonight: Study Says Charter Schools Are Underperforming
Read an interview with Jodie Cantrell, senior manager of external affairs at the Illinois Network of Charter Schools.
Q: What do you think of the Institute of Metropolitan Opportunity’s report on Chicago charter schools?
My Stateline: Should Illinois Consider ‘Right to Work Zones’ to Boost Employment?
“Right to work” hasn’t been a headline in the campaign for Illinois governor, but it could be one of the most controversial topics. The policy for a state, or municipalities inside it, to become a “right to work” community has been a divisive issue in states with large union presences. In Illinois, it could be just as divisive.
A right to work law would end mandatory payment of dues for workers in companies or government organizations with a union presence. Republican candidate Bruce Rauner has been on the record saying he would support “right to work” zones where a county or local municipality could decide for itself if it wished to implement the law.
Paul Kersey is labor policy director for the Illinois Policy Institute. It’s a conservative research group. Kersey says “right to work” is about giving employees back their rights.
Illinois Times: IDOT spends $143,000 on zombie-themed seat belt ad
In a dusty, dimly-lit warehouse, a horde of zombies closes in two men with high-powered firearms trying in vain to escape through a stuck door. The men radio for help, and outside, an armored car that looks like something from a dystopian Mad Max film unloads hundreds of rounds into the zombies with a rotary machine gun.
It’s a scene from an advertising campaign by the Illinois Department of Transportation pushing seat belt use. The department spent $143,000 on the video, even hiring an actor from the popular TV show “The Walking Dead” about survivors of a zombie outbreak. IDOT’s series raises questions about the appropriate use of tax money, as well as the depiction of violence to further a public health agenda.
Running just short of eight minutes long, the elaborate video depicts zombies covered in blood and human characters shooting the zombies with a variety of firearms. To narrate and star in the video, an advertising agency hired by IDOT drafted actor Michael Rooker, an actor who plays a racist character in “The Walking Dead.” The video features a souped-up 1960s-era Ford Mustang with grated armor panels and a large machine gun mounted on the front, along with several customized high-powered rifle props and numerous actors in zombie makeup.
Chicago Sun Times: Emanuel campaign gets over $125K from United, American employees
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has raked in more than $125,000 in campaign contributions from 51 employees of United and American Airlines in recent months as he prepares to make pivotal decisions impacting O’Hare International Airport’s two largest carriers.
The number of United and American donors to Emanuel’s campaign coffers has soared fivefold since Emanuel’s last mayoral race, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of state campaign records indicates.
The huge jump comes as the winner of the February 2015 mayoral election will face a thicket of issues that affect O’Hare’s two major carriers: the renegotiation of lease agreements; growing demands for relief from new O’Hare jet noise; and rising complaints about additional O’Hare runway expansion planned for debut in 2020.
Chicago Tribune: Facing fare hikes, Metra riders want all to pay
With Metra riders facing a 68 percent fare increase over the next 10 years, some of them are raising a common complaint — too many passengers are getting a free ride, because conductors either don’t or can’t check everyone’s tickets.
That’s often the case during events like Taste of Chicago, the Fourth of July and weekends when trains are so jammed that conductors can’t wade through aisles to check tickets. It was especially common during last winter’s polar vortex-induced deep freeze, with standing room only on many trains.
Rider Barbara Padiak, who takes Metra’s Union Pacific North Line from Glencoe, believes “the system is flawed” and that the nation’s second-largest commuter rail system should find a better way of collecting fares.
The Washington Post: These were some of the worst abuses of government charge cards last year
Government charge-card abuses have persisted in recent years despite a 2012 law aimed at curbing their misuse, according to federal auditors who testified at a congressional hearing Tuesday.
The issue prompted Reps. John Mica (R-Fla.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) to send a letter Tuesday to the Government Accountability Office asking the watchdog agency to conduct a thorough review of the purchase-card program, including investigations where appropriate.
“Federal government managers across the board need to ensure that departments and agencies are guarding against potential abuses,” the lawmakers said, adding that purchases can “add up to billions of dollars if not properly managed.”
Yahoo: Policy notifications and current status, by state
Millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance were informed this fall that their policies would no longer be offered starting in 2014 because they do not meet the higher standards of the federal Affordable Care Act. The actual number of people receiving the notices is unclear, in part because officials in nearly 20 states say they do not have the information or are not tracking it.
Some states tracked the policy notifications through their insurance departments or health care exchanges. In other states, the largest private insurers released the number of discontinuation notices they issued.
President Barack Obama then said insurance companies could allow the older policies to continue, but left that decision to the states and individual insurers. The response has been mixed.
Rare: Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it needs to be banned
First they came for your beer. Then they came to stop your charity efforts.
Now they’re after your vegetable garden—“they,” of course, being your local busybody bureaucrats.
I’m fortunate to live in a fairly garden-friendly city. My neighbors across the street have planted vegetables in most of their front yard. Two houses over there’s a chicken coop topped with solar panels. I’ve put in a few tomato and pepper plants in my tiny garden area. This summer, I’m even working with an urban farm that rents plots all over the city in empty lots and unused fields.
Bloomberg: California Politics Probe Cites 71 for Underwriter Gifts
California’s political watchdog is considering $18,400 in fines against 71 school superintendents, board members and other public officials who failed to report meals, baseball tickets and other gifts from a bond underwriter.
The California Fair Political Practices Commission, investigating gratuities from Stone & Youngberg, now a unit of Stifel Financial Corp. (SF), found that only 22 of 282 public recipients reported gifts worth at least $50 as required, according to a staff report from Gary Winuk, the commission’s enforcement chief. Stifel cooperated in the investigation and isn’t subject to any fines, according to the report.
Penalties against 71 officials ranging from $200 to $800 will be considered by the commission Oct. 16. Winuk recommended waiving fines for those whose gifts were valued at less than $100, and continues to investigate 22 cases, he said in the report.
TIME: Cities Have Found a New Way to Take Your Money
All yellow traffic lights are not created equal, it seems. Especially in Chicago.
Earlier this year, the city began issuing tickets to motorists who drove through yellow lights that turned red fractions of a second shorter than the three-second city minimum. The change was slight, but the effect for the cash-starved city was real: nearly $8 million from an additional 77,000 tickets, according to the city’s inspector general.
All of those $100 tickets were issued after cameras installed at intersections caught the drivers as they passed through. These systems, known as red light cameras, are an increasingly controversial tactic for policing roadways. Established in the name of public safety, critics contend the cameras have become little more than a way for municipalities to funnel money into their coffers.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
