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· Perhaps the gravest disappointment in Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State message on Wednesday is contained in a phrase that appeared in his closing remarks. “Illinois,” the governor said, “is back on track.” Such a statement ca
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· Can there be a more miserable chore for an Illinois governor than expounding on grand notions for the coming year in a flat-broke state? The exercise feels like Old Mother Hubbard standing in front of her bare cupboard and announcing plans
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· SPRINGFIELD — Touting a jobs platform, Gov. Pat Quinn pushed modest tax relief, Medicaid and pension reforms, more college grant spending and an end to the state’s natural gas tax in a State of the State speech Wednesday overshadowed by Illinois’ glo
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· CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn called for legislative action this year on pension and Medicaid reforms to stabilize the state’s fiscal house but offered few details on how to accomplish that goal in his state of the state address Wednesday during
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· SPRINGFIELD— Democratic Gov. Pat Quinnserved up a State of the State speech Wednesday full of ways to spend more money on college scholarships and preschool and cut taxes on natural gas and families with children. But with Illinois unab
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· All I want is a room somewhere, Far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair, Aow, wouldn't it be loverly? Lots of choc'lates for me to eat, Lots of coal makin' lots of 'eat. Warm face, war
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, responding to a dire new report on state finances Monday, said more clearly than ever that he wants schools and universities to help pay for their employees' retirement costs. A statement fro
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· Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will give his State of the State speech Wednesday amid reports that Illinois’ finances are shakier than ever. The latest bad news comes from the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan, Chicago-based budget watchdog, which
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· Springfield, Ill. — Gov. Pat Quinn, responding to a dire new report on state finances Monday, said more clearly than ever that he wants schools and universities to help pay for their employees' retirement costs. A statement from Quinn's bu
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· Illinois could see its pile of overdue bills climb to an unprecedented $35 billion in five years if the state fails to rein in pension and other costs, a watchdog group said in a report released on Monday. "Failure to address unsustaina
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· One especially telling aspect of Illinois’ financial mess is the fact that, no matter how much doom you see in it, no one will call you Chicken Little. The latest case in point comes courtesy of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan, Chicago
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· The Republicans are blaming the Democrats, and the unions are pointing fingers at greedy corporations and rich people. And Gov. Pat Quinn says he's already made tough decisions. Despite all that high-watt verbiage, no major group in state
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· Wow! If you believe the projection by the Civic Federation, Illinois in five years will owe more in back bills ($34.8 billion) than its total expected revenue for this year ($33.9 billion). If you know anything about the demographics of America and t
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· CHICAGO — A fiscal meltdown awaits Illinois in the coming years as its bill backlog rises from $9.2 billion this year to $34.8 billion in fiscal 2017 unless state lawmakers take action to rein in growing pension and Medicaid costs, a government resea
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· Illinois' bills are piling up and could jump to over $30 billion, according to a report released Monday on the state's fiscal crisis. The Chicago Civic Federation's 2012 report says that without immediate cuts in the amounts Illinois spend
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· With the opening of the Hull House social settlement house in 1889, Jane Addams forever changed Chicago for the better. Guided by the settlement house principle of neighbors helping neighbors, Addams’ Hull House opened its doors to those i
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· A year ago, Gov. Pat Quinn and his fellowDemocrats assured Illinois taxpayers: Yes, their huge income tax increase on families and employers — rammed into law without a single Republican vote — really would roll back at the end of calendar 2014. "A p
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ multibillion-dollar pile of unpaid bills will quadruple within five years unless steps are taken to curtail state pension and Medicaid spending, a government watchdog concluded Monday in a new analysis of the state’s budget.<b
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· Illinois' backlog of unpaid bills is on track to hit $34.8 billion within five years—and will hit $28 billion even if the "temporary" hike in the state's income tax is made permanent. That's the mind-boggling gist of a report being release
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· From the campaign to elect Karen McConnaughay to the State Senate (33rd District)… Will support SB 512 to create choices for state workers and reduce taxpayer costs; Will forgo legislator pension St. Charles,IL--State
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· Several months ago, I accepted an invitation to speak before the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference. The group wanted me to address the topic: How does the Daily Herald choose and write its editorials, and how can we municipal leaders have some in
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- It's all about the budget, or the budget crisis, for Illinois legislators who return to the statehouse on Tuesday. Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, said balancing a budget that is somewhere between $8.5 billion and $11 billio
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· A reality often lost in the fractious debate to solve our state’s budget crisis is an acknowledgment of its sheer complexity. A magic solution does not exist. No individual piece of legislation will stabilize our foundering fiscal footing; rather, a
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· SPRINGFIELD — It's tough being governor of a state weighed down by massive debt, overdue bills and rising expenses. It's even tougher when lawmakers seem happy to ignore your ideas when it suits their mood. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn introduc
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· With rising pension costs putting a financial strain on local budgets, municipal leaders in DuPage County are calling on state lawmakers to expand proposed pension reform so it applies to police officers and firefighters. Reforming the pen
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· In a crowded college dining hall brightened by white linen tablecloths, a Chamber of Commerce official delivered remarks into a bouquet of microphones on the lectern before him. But the microphones, from Chicago television and radio statio
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· Bolingbrook, IL — It’s one thing for self-sufficient people to feel the pinch of a sluggish economy. But it’s another thing for some of society’s most vulnerable members to be penalized for governmental inefficiency. When this happens, we
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· Whether the city of Springfield is facing a pension crisis in police and firefighter retirement systems depends on who’s doing the talking. Mayor Mike Houston and Bill McCarty, director of the city’s budget and management office, say th
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ 12 percent increase in higher education spending this year isn’t going to benefit students. Instead, the additional funding for fiscal 2012 is going into the State Universities Retirement System, or SURS, to address its underf
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· CHICAGO — The combined burden of unfunded local and state pension liabilities on Chicago taxpayers rose to $103 billion in fiscal 2010 from just $19 billion a decade ago as double-digit investment returns in 2010 failed to stave off further deteriora
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· Elmhurst, Ill. — Illinois is in for a long haul when it comes to pulling itself out of its financial mess, but lawmakers made a good start by passing a budget for this fiscal year that was $2 billion below the amount requested by Gov. Pat Quinn, Hous
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· In a rare public speech, House Speaker Michael Madigan on Tuesday blamed both Democrats and Republicans for spending Illinois into its current fiscal crisis, but said the budget passed last year with bipartisan support in the House was a good start i
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· State Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Springfield, is calling for the creation of a new constitutional office to get “partisan politics” out of Illinois’ five pension systems. Modeling the new office after that of the auditor general, Brauer said the
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· Moody’s has been at it again, this time with a little noticed downgrade of our illustrious State of Illinois debt from A2 to A1. First reported in the Chicago Tribune on January 6th, it hit the opinion page of the WSJ on Friday. This rati
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· "Our revenue growth is not enough to keep up with pensions and Medicaid. It creates a squeeze for everything else." Illinois Budget Director David Vaught, Jan. 3, 2012 Think back to 1/11/11, the night Democrats in the General Assembly
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· The state’s fiscal problems are immense, with multiple causes. But one thing is for certain: Illinois will never get back on solid footing without tackling the hotly debated issue of public pensions. And that has to be done now — not this
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· CHAMPAIGN — Calling it "the big alligator," State Treasurer Dan Rutherford said the state's ballooning pension system obligations must be addressed by lawmakers this spring. Even if pension costs are tackled, Rutherford said other spending also
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· The question isn't whether Illinois' finances are in dreadful shape, it's how to fix the problem. Or perhaps more accurately, will legislators have the political will to fix it when they return to Springfield for their spring session? Even thoug
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· SPRINGFIELD - Gov. Pat Quinn is set to outline his priorities for the upcoming legislative session during the State of the State address Feb. 1, but taxes, public pensions and Medicaid are expected to dominate the discussion here this spring. <b
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· A year ago this month, the Democrat-controlled General Assembly passed burdensome tax increases that hurt already struggling Illinois families and small businesses. Not a single Republican voted for the 66 percent income tax increase and 4
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· Is this the year the Illinois Legislature summons the courage to seriously address the state’s fiscal crisis? Or will this be yet another opportunity squandered by cowardly avoidance of tough budget issues? This isn’t a challenge just
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· CHICAGO – Even with added revenue from last year’s income tax hike, Illinois entered the new year with an estimated $8.5 billion in unpaid bills and pending Medicaid vouchers, employee health insurance payments, and other obligations. “One
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· GENEVA — It was near the end of the Metro West legislative breakfast Thursday morning that State Rep. Michael Fortner summed up two hours in two words. “The two biggest issues are budget and pensions,” Fortner, R-West Chicago, said. <
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· (Crain's) — House Speaker Michael Madigan has created an Illinois House special committee that will review the investment strategies of the state's pension funds. Mr. Madigan, a Democrat, appointed Republican House Minority Leader Tom Cross to c
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· Township Officials of Illinois is a private trade group, not a governmental agency, but its employees are eligible for public-sector pensions subsidized by taxpayers, the Better Government Association has learned. No one from TOI is curren
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· Gov. Pat Quinn has finally found his voice on the most important issue facing Illinois: A gargantuan pension bill that threatens to gobble up dollars needed to finance the most basic of state services — schools, prison guards, state troopers, univers
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· EFFINGHAM — Budget control and pension reform are the two most pressing issues for both Republicans and Democrats in this year’s Illinois General Assembly, according to representatives from both parties. State Sen. John O. Jones, R-Moun
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· We marked the first anniversary of Illinois’ “temporary” increase in personal and corporate income taxes on Thursday. Let’s take a moment and reflect upon the incredible effect our additional contributions have had on our fine state.
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· PEORIA — 'There is a major mountain to climb this year and I'm willing to lead the expedition." That's Gov. Pat Quinn offering up his leadership skills on what key public policy question? This should be easy if you've been paying attention
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· “Our rendezvous with pension reality will come this year. This is a major mountain to climb, and I’m willing to lead the expedition. We’re going to get this done once and for all.” With those words, Gov. Pat Quinn last week officially r
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· SPRINGFIELD – Illinois’ money woes have helped it top yet another list. TopRetirements.com ranks the Land of Lincoln as the second worst state to retire. It cites the state’s massive economic troubles including underfunded pension systems,
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· As you probably know already, Moody’s recently slapped Illinois with its worst credit rating of any state in the nation. But while Moody’s report was damaging, S&P’s rating was far more negative about the state’s future. Moody’s
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· Two weeks after former state Sen. William Marovitz settled federal insider-trading allegations last summer over his sale of Playboy stock, he gave up his work as an outside lawyer for two Chicago city pension funds — and applied for a city pension ev
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· While we’re not naive, we are encouraged by Gov. Pat Quinn’s initiative to build a bipartisan solution to the state’s public pension problems. In announcing the creation of a panel to address the issue, Quinn said earlier this week that he
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· Legislative leaders have made their appointments to Gov. Pat Quinn’s pension reform panel. Named were: Sens. Michael Noland, D-Elgin, and Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, and Reps. Elaine Nekritz, D-Des Plaines, and Darlene Senger, R-Naperville.
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· Gov. Pat Quinn signed a necessary and politically easy pension reform bill last week. The action, however, does not address the larger issue of the state’s pension payments taking up more and more of the state’s money. The bill
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· Gov. Pat Quinn this week finally found his voice on the most important issue facing the state of Illinois: a gargantuan pension bill that threatens to gobble up dollars needed to finance the most basic of state services — schools, prison guards, stat
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· Illinois borrowed $525 million Wednesday at what Gov. Pat Quinn's administration said was the state's lowest rate in decades. The problem, critics contend, is that the state could have gotten even lower interest rates if its finances we
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· Illinois plans to go to market Wednesday to sell $800 million in bonds for capital projects. Taxpayers, brace for a drubbing. This is going to be ugly. You are going to pay a lot to borrow this money because investors are worried that your
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn pledged Tuesday to reform the public employee pension system "once and for all" this spring. The Democratic governor said he's willing to take on the ailing program in a year when every seat
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· Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday he will jump into the fight over how to reform Illinois’ pension system. “Our rendezvous with pension reality will come this year,” Quinn told reporters at a Chicago news conference. “This is a major mountain to
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· Illinois faces "a rendezvous with pension reality" in 2012, Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday, promising to push hard for major changes in the state's cash-short worker pension funds in the Legislature's spring session. Speaking at a Chicago pre
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· Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday sought to ease concerns about a recent downgrade in the state's bond rating that cemented Illinois as the state with the nation's worst credit rating, saying he will push for major pension reforms this year to try to reverse
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· (Crain's) — CBOE Holdings Inc. CEO Bill Brodsky derided the State of Illinois for financial problems, such as underfunding of state pensions, just weeks after the state passed a new law that will reduce the taxes that his Chicago-based options exchan
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· Illinois plans to go to market Wednesday to sell $800 million in bonds for capital projects. Taxpayers, brace for a drubbing. This is going to be ugly. You are going to pay a lot to borrow this money because investors are worried that your
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· SPRINGFIELD— Gov. Pat Quinn today called on top legislators to appoint representatives to his pension working group that hopes to come up with a way to strengthen and stabilize retirement systems in Illinois. Quinn told the four legislativ
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· CHICAGO — Faced with the headwinds of negative credit action, Illinois is hoping to see demand from investors whose state paper holdings were paid off over the last year and recognize the state’s fiscal strides as its offers $800 million of general o
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· Being labeled a fiscal basket case is nothing new for Illinois. If state officials have any shame, however, they should be embarrassed — and prodded into action — by the latest report card on the state's finances. Moody's Investors Service
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) - Governor Pat Quinn says there’s no doubt the state must tighten its financial belt again this year. His comments come after his office released a budget outlook that shows most state operations should expect a 9 p
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • The pension reform law that Gov. Pat Quinn signed this week was about as politically easy as pension reform gets: It outlaws double dipping by union officials who were gaming the system to secure their own six-figure public pensio
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· The Illinois Legislature has passed and the governor has signed a "landmark new reform law to finally bring an end to fraud and abuse in Illinois' public pension systems," according to the bill's sponsor in the House, Republican Minority Leader Tom C
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· Recent reports have shown that Illinois’ attempts to deal with its crippling state budget deficit are being hampered by enormous pension obligations. Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn released his first budget proposal of 2012. Under the Budget
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· Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law what should have been the biggest no-brainer of a bill since the legalization of right turns on red. Quinn’s signature put into effect what we have come to call thePreckwinkle-Piccioli Law, name
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· A Wall Street Journal article, “Why Public Pensions Are So Rich,” uses the Illinois Teacher’s Retirement System (TRS) as its example of generous “defined benefit” plans that guarantee benefits regardless of how the plan’s investments perform versus t
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· Pension and related costs are soaking up a huge share of the new money Illinois is putting into the state's public schools, with total spending on retirees likely to exceed that spent on teaching by the next decade. That's the provocative
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· The realization that Illinois' public pension system is broken — and gradually approaching broke — now has Illinois' top Democratic leaders saying they're determined to find solutions. Or maybe they sense that their management of state finances, with
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn closed the headline grabbing double-dipping loophole in Illinois' pension system, but critics say legal questions and pension costs also must be addressed. On Thursday, the governor signed into law House Bil
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· The governor signed into law Thursday a measure that closes loopholes in the state’s pension system. The bill stops pension abuses that included double-dipping and substitute teaching for a day then getting a lifetime pension. T
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· SPRINGFIELD— Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday is expected to sign into law a major crackdown on lucrative public pension abuses that saw top union officials land hefty retirement packages, double dip and substitute teach for one day but win benefits for li
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· Illinois Senate President John Cullerton says he'd like to do something this spring about two critical issues facing the state, pension reform and revamping the corporate income tax, but he isn't saying how he'll overcome huge obstacles to both.<br /
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· Illinois in recent years has not done much right when it comes to its budget. But we’re willing to give credit where it’s due, so we commend our lawmakers for enacting the Budgeting for Results initiative in 2010. Without it, and its re
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· SPRINGFIELD — For months, Illinois SenatePresident John Cullerton has maintained that a high-profile measure aimed at getting a handle on the state's vastly underfunded pension system would be declared dead in the courts if it ever passed the General
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· CHICAGO — Illinois’ unfunded pension obligations grew by about $7 billion in fiscal 2011 but its funded ratio dipped just slightly to 43% from 45%, according to the state’s latest pension figures released Tuesday in the offering statement for its upc
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· Questionable practices involving public pension programs aren't limited to Chicago-area politicians, lobbyists and labor organizations. Illinois State University has been caught up in the latest disclosure of unlikely people receiving public pensions
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· Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday issued an outline of his likely budget for the next fiscal year. It won’t be pretty. Most state operations should expect a 9 percent reduction in the next budget, Quinn warned, and “further and larger reductions a
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The long-term forecast for the Illinois budget looks gloomy, with less state money available and government services facing cuts, Gov. Pat Quinn's office said Tuesday. Quinn's three-year projection shows state r
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· SPRINGFIELD —Gov. Pat Quinn on Tuesday issued an outline of his likely budget for the next fiscal year. It won't be pretty. Most state operations should expect a 9 percent reduction in the next budget, Quinn warned, and "further and larger
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· Could tiny Rhode Island serve as the proverbial mouse that roars? Will suburban Democrats, and all Illinois Democrats, hear that roar? Liberal Democrats in tiny Rhode Island did something truly astonishing last November. That st
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· The good news for Illinois in 2012 is that the state budget is in better shape than it was a year ago. The bad news is, well, pretty much everything else. Pension costs are still climbing dramatically. Unemployment remains stubbornly hig
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· Questionable practices involving public pension programs aren’t limited to Chicago area politicians, lobbyists and labor organizations. Illinois State University has been caught up in the latest disclosure of unlikely people receiving publ
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTW) — In interviews with The Associated Press, leaders in a variety of fields discussed the challenges facing Illinois in 2012. Here's what they think should be the top priorities for state government: — Jim Ardis, Peor
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· There is a saying commonly attributed to the innovative business organization scholar W. Edwards Deming: "In God we trust; all others must bring data." When it comes to proving they are logging enough time on the job to deserve their taxpa
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTW) — The good news for Illinois in 2012 is that the state budget is in better shape than it was a year ago. The bad news is, well, pretty much everything else. Pension costs are still climbing dramatically. Unemploymen
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· ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- For every thousand dollars we earn, fifty bucks are forked over to the State. That's 67-percent more than last year since Illinois lawmakers hiked the income tax rate to five-percent. That extra money is supposed to cover state pen
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· Contrary to common belief, Santa Claus is an equal-opportunity gift-giver. At least in this column All boys and girls — the good ones and the not-so-good ones — are remembered at Christmastime. They even can be Chicago aldermen, Tea Partyers, at
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· Middle-class and working families and the businesses that employ them need look no further for a clear, concise plan to allow the private sector to do what they do best: generate economic growth and prosperity. This month, House Republicans unveiled
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· Sunday's Tribune revealed one more in what evidently is an endless list of ways to legally loot Illinois retirement funds: State colleges and universities have sole discretion to add employees of private, education-related groups, as well as employee
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· East Peoria, Ill. — The Facts • If bills were sent to each Illinois household to cover the state’s debt the amount would be for $40,000. • Illinois’ debt amounts to $44.7 billion. • The debt in 2002 amounted to $12 b
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· (Chicago, IL) ¬– A top Illinois budget lawmaker today said state budget “predictability” for state vendors, such as Illinois human service providers, will be a top priority as Illinois leaders begin drafting next year’s fiscal plan. “What
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· Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday he will convene a panel to examine the state's troubled pension system and suggest changes to prevent abuses such as those highlighted in a series of Tribune/WGN-TV stories. Quinn said the working group will b
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration will announce Monday its cost-cutting has been more effective than projected: $83 million or $8 million more than the $75 million Emanuel targeted when he took office. Emanuel told department heads when
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· SPRINGFIELD – Fourteen months ago, Michael Madigan, the Democratic speaker of the Illinois House, and Tom Cross, the chamber’s Republican leader, were like spitting pythons as they waged an electoral battle over who would be in the majority amid a li
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· Jason Leahy hasn't set foot on the Illinois State University campus this school year, doesn't teach classes there and doesn't report to anyone at the school, an hour away from his office. But through a contract with ISU, he is deemed an "e
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· SPRINGFIELD — There have been nearly 700 revisions to Illinois' pension laws since 2003, a new analysis published Friday has found, and experts say that high number of changes could "create havoc" for the whole system. The state's pension
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· The Illinois Teachers' Retirement System — the worst-funded major pension plan in the U.S. — is pumping more of its assets into higher-risk investments while using accounting methods that some pension experts say understate its funding shortfall.<br
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· SPRINGFIELD —— Illinois' pension system was in precarious enough shape in 1994 that Democrats and Republicans came together to solve a crisis threatening the state's financial future. The agreement they forged was supposed to take polit
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· All it took for former state Rep. Robert Molaro to nearly double his public pension was spending one month as an aide to Ald. Ed Burke, the powerful chairman of the Chicago City Council's Finance Committee. Among Molaro's duties: Write a 1
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· (Chicago, IL) – The chair of a key Illinois House budget panel this week warned that next year’s state budget will be as “challenging” as the one lawmakers crafted earlier this year. “Next year’s budget is going to be as much of a challeng
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· Grants and tax credits are among a list of five ways cash-strapped Illinois could adopt public financing of candidates’ campaigns, according to a campaign finance reform task force report. The Illinois Campaign Finance Reform Task Force me
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· SPRINGFIELD —— Illinois' pension system was in precarious enough shape in 1994 that Democrats and Republicans came together to solve a crisis threatening the state's financial future. The agreement they forged was supposed to take politics
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· When it comes to state pensions and Springfield, nothing really is a surprise anymore. Lawmakers talk big about fixing the system and reforming an unsustainable model. But they don’t do anything about it. And they do even less to address t
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· Just when the Illinois Legislature gives you some hope that it’s not an assemblage of timid souls entrenched in the pockets of its leaders and lobbyists, something happens to snuff it out. The latest is a move by some House Democrats to re
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers’ decision to push through controversial tax breaks comes at a time when the state faces tough decisions in the upcoming session over taxation. This week’s agreement is going to take $350 million from state coffer
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· We don't expect the perpetrators — a slew of Democrats in the Illinois House — to confess. But let's all remember what they nearly achieved in Springfield late Sunday afternoon, when half of Illinois was shopping and the other half was watching the C
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· When it comes to state pensions and Springfield, nothing really is a surprise anymore. Lawmakers talk big about fixing the system and reforming an unsustainable model. But they do little about it. And they do even less to address the $85 billion hole
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· The Illinois Legislature has crept out of town, ending its veto session and again leaving the typical confusion, frustration and procrastination in its wake. They’ll be back next year. Darn the luck. Meantime, let us pick up the pieces:<br
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· Repairing the giant pothole created by unfunded public employee pensions in Illinois requires clear thinking based on real facts. So, we want to remind readers of two of those facts. The problem is almost entirely the fault of the Legislat
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· Freeport, Ill. — My sincere apology to the Illinois Department of Revenue — their auditors do not receive bonuses as I reported last week. I regret the error. “Illinois pension system is not sustainable.” That is a difficult pill for many
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· On Monday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich announced $60 million in state tax breaks to retain and attract more than two dozen companies. On top of that, he's reportedly bidding as much as $400 million to lure the headquarters of Sears Holdings away from north
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· Federal authorities have begun a criminal investigation into how nearly a dozen union officials became eligible for inflated city pensions, according to subpoenas obtained by the Tribune and WGN-TVthrough an open-records request. The Ch
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· Illinois' political and business leaders keep finding new ways to disappoint. In a model of dubious innovation, lawmakers last week passed a bill that prevents high-profile pension abuses by union bosses but does nothing to close the state
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· Federal authorities have begun a criminal investigation into how nearly a dozen union officials became eligible for inflated city pensions, according to subpoenas obtained by the Tribune and WGN-TV through an open-records request. The Chic
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· The Illinois General Assembly and Gov. Pat Quinn managed this week to shuffle the budget deck and avoid closing seven state facilities, saving the jobs of 1,900 state workers. The result is underwhelming. The result of the finan
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· BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois House Republican leader said Wednesday the pension reform bill is a step in the right direction, but the bigger issue still isn’t being tackled. State Rep. Tom Cross told WJBC’s Jim Fitzpatrick that the state’s underfu
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· CHICAGO — The Illinois General Assembly wrapped up a special, one-day veto session this week after approving budget changes that will allow seven state facilities to remain open while shooting down a $200 million to $250 million tax relief package th
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· PEORIA —Caterpillar was among those companies that found themselves handcuffed to a big fat loser this week, as in rejecting huge tax breaks for some Chicago-area corporations, the Legislature also squashed the extension of a research-and-development
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· SPRINGFIELD - State lawmakers took a strong stand Tuesday against union leaders fattening their public pensions, overwhelmingly sending the governor a measure that would close a series of loopholes in response to a Tribune/WGN-TV investigation that r
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· SPRINGFIELD— Numerous high-profile union leader pension abuses would be reined in under sweeping legislation that lawmakers overwhelmingly sent today to Gov. Pat Quinn, who had urged the General Assembly to pass the measure. The legisla
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· For decades, Illinois politicians have used public pension systems as their private slush funds. They've used those honey pots to provide favors and sweeteners and other goodies for their cronies — many of them officials of public employees unions. I
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· Reforms implemented three years ago to bolster the retirement plan for CTA employees are working satisfactorily so far, according to the results of a state audit released Tuesday. The pension code requires that the funded ratio of the r
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· The Illinois house voted down a proposal on Tuesday that would have given $100 million in tax relief to CME Group and Sears Holdings, which have threatened to move to other states. The state house voted overwhelmingly 99 to 8 to kill the t
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· Does the Illinois General Assembly have no shame? Is it capable of being embarrassed? In a state in which two governors in a row have been convicted of corruption, perhaps it is too much to ask lawmakers to enact reforms to stop misdeeds a
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· State legislators reconvene Tuesday in the Capitol in an extension of the fall session created to cut deals to keep Sears and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange based in Illinois. While we support keeping those two institutions here, especially Hoffman
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· An Illinois House committee Monday OK’d a scaled-back package of tax cuts aimed at saving jobs in Chicago, but approval by the full House is far from certain. Reps. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, and Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, both
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. Pat Quinn and legislative leaders agreed Monday to cancel plans for closing state facilities and cutting nearly 2,000 jobs by taking money from elsewhere in the state budget, including about $100 million originally earmarked
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· We expected the Illinois General Assembly at its recent veto session to approve an important package of reforms for McCormick Place, including union concessions to make Chicago a less costly destination in the global competition for conventions and t
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· Tom Cross and Michael Madigan say we need it. Chicago CEOs demand it. As a state employee, I think we need it. Pension reform. The only differences in ideas are where reform occurs. Cross, Madigan and the CEOs are saying it's needed with s
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· The Illinois General Assembly will meet Tuesday for its final time. To date, legislative efforts have been dismal. The body has failed to address the state’s ever-growing budget problem in any meaningful way, and it has passed very little
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· SPRINGFIELD —Every new dollar Illinois brings in next year is likely going to public employee pensions. Gov. Pat Quinn's budget planners are counting on Illinois' economy to grow about 3 percent next year, generating roughly $1 billion
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· A hotly debated tax break package designed to prevent two major Chicago-area companies from moving operations out of Illinois took clearer shape Sunday, with legislators scaling back its scope to ease cost concerns. The deal would give
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· State and local government revenues fund education, public safety, infrastructure maintenance, and other vital services. The continuing effects of the recent recession have been more severe than any since the Great Depression. But high une
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· SPRINGFIELD — Every new dollar Illinois brings in next year is likely going to public employee pensions. Gov. Pat Quinn's budget planners are counting on Illinois' economy to grow by about 3 percent next year, generating roughly $1 billion
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· Recall your reaction — ours traversed the short distance separating disgust from fury — to the Tribune front-page headline of Sept. 2: "$108,000 pension for a $40,000 job — Though perk was based on false information, officials with city fund gave uni
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· State Rep. Robert Pritchard stood before a room of about 100 people at Northern Illinois University earlier this month and said he did not support the pension reform contained within Senate Bill 512. Pritchard, R-Hinckley, didn’t have any
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· It’s not necessarily news that the state of Illinois is in serious financial trouble. This editorial page has pointed out the problem and lack of solutions several times. But the problem appears to be getting worse, illustrating that Gov.
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· Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Illinois will owe $1 billion more to its pension funds next fiscal year as smaller employee contributions kick in, according to projections released this week by state actuaries. The 19 percent increase in obligation
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· Illinois’ state government budget will be even tighter than expected in the coming fiscal year because of an unexpected $540 million increase in what the state will owe its five pension systems in fiscal year 2013. The five systems – the T
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· After desperately needed pension reform went nowhere in the state legislature this month, Republican House leader Tom Cross issued a warning: "If we do nothing, there's a real possibility down the road there will not be a pension system or
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — State analysts now expect Illinois to see a nearly $1 billion spike in pension costs next year, more than double what was originally projected, further complicating the budget picture for the cash-strapped state.
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· The non-partisan Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA) has identified Illinois as a "Sinkhole" state. It is one of five states in the worst financial position in the country. According to research conducted by IFTA, while Illinois has $55 billion
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· Some legislative bodies produce signature achievements ¬— deliberate, thoughtful work to enhance the common good. Others, such as the Illinois Legislature, are more known for signature failures. Even in a place where stinker years are comm
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· The Illinois General Assembly is set to meet again Nov. 29, in a last-ditch effort to try to resolve a few of the issues facing the state. If the just-completed veto session is any indication, they should just stay home. The leg
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· By pitching a shutout in his first big game on a new field, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has strengthened his hand when it comes to tackling the next big challenges ahead: pension reform and winning contract concessions from police and fire unions.
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· Springfield, Ill. — Notices have gone out to nearly 200 Tinley Park Mental Health Center employees letting them know that they will be laid off on Dec. 3 as their facilities prepares to close under orders from Gov. Pat Quinn. But Thursd
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· LINCOLN — The state’s biggest bill, already at $85 billion, will keep growing. Civic and business groups had hoped lawmakers would cut government pension costs during the fall legislative session. But those hopes ran smack into the realit
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· CME Group Executive Chairman Terry Duffy returned to Chicago from the General Assembly's recent veto session empty-handed, even though he had delivered a blunt threat to Illinois legislators. His big, successful company, parent of Chicago's homegrown
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois' fiscal woes are becoming a hard lesson in the difference between a promise to pay and a guarantee. The state's 44 regional superintendents learned the hard way that the state constitution does not automatically forc
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· HARRISBURG -- An unexpected problem is prompting the Illinois General Assembly to schedule an extra day this month. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Sears have threatened to leave the state unless they get a tax break. The exchange w
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· On Thursday, Illinois lawmakers fled Springfield for their homes after a do-little veto session spread over three autumn weeks. The legislators, who actually had convened for six days, couldn't claim exhaustion: As the headline atop Friday's Tribune
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· SPRINGFIELD — The state’s biggest bill, already at $85 billion, will keep growing. Civic and business groups had hoped lawmakers would cut government pension costs during the fall legislative session. But those hopes ran smack into the rea
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· At a time when the wages of the average Illinois taxpayer have been stagnant, while income taxes, utilities, food and fuel continue to rise, the news that the city of Pekin might have to raise its property tax levy this year probably won’t find a ver
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· SPRINGFIELD— A sweeping crackdown on pension abuses swiftly moved to the full Senate today as lawmakers sought to eliminate sweet deals for top union officials, including two lobbyists who lined up hefty teacher pensions after each served as substitu
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· It's decision time in Springfield — or at least it's supposed to be. Three huge issues are on the line in a fall veto session that, as of this writing, is due to end in just a day and a half. Will the state act to keep CME Group
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn is floating a retooled budget plan that could avert more than 1,900 layoffs and delay the closure of state facilities, including Logan Correctional Center. As part of an 11th-hour budget agreement being brokere
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· SPRINGFIELD— A major overhaul of the way Illinois government handles pension benefits for current workers won a key victory Tuesday, but its fate remains uncertain because of heavy union resistance. House and Senate lawmakers also advan
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· Here’s a Savage Truth, like it or not: Within the next 28 years, half the state’s general tax revenues will go to pension obligations, leaving little money for education, roads and bridges, prisons and law enforcement, or Medicaid programs. <br
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· Teachers, state workers, university employees and lawmakers who started work before Jan. 1 will have to pay significantly more to keep their existing pensions under legislation sent to the floor of the Illinois House on Tuesday. The House
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· On Tuesday, the Illinois House Personnel and Pension Committee approved a bill that would change the funding structure of the state’s public employee pensions. This sets the stage for the General Assembly finally to address the greatest looming threa
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Last fall, Ed Geppert, then president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, co-wrote a scathing public essay that alleged some politicians and pundits in Illinois were "waging a relentless war against public employees over state
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· Pension accounts for state and local government workers are underfunded by $4 trillion, according to one recent analysis. If America's households were to split that tab today, each would have to kick in $34,000. Don't have that kind of cas
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· SPRINGFIELD— — A major overhaul of the way Illinois government handles pension benefits for current workers won a key victory Tuesday, but its fate remains uncertain because of heavy union resistance. House and Senate lawmakers also advanc
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· Here’s a Savage Truth, like it or not: Within the next 28 years, half the state’s general tax revenues will go to pension obligations, leaving little money for education, roads and bridges, prisons and law enforcement, or Medicaid programs. <br
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· Illinois lawmakers head to Springfield tomorrow for the last week of the fall session. Several big items have been pushed to the back burner, including a bill that would overhaul Illinois' pension systems. It's proving to be one of the mos
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· The City of Evanston made small strides in addressing its current pension funding shortfall, according to the 2011 pension valuation report. Last month, the city's actuary determined that the police and firefighters' pension funds increase
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· Veto sessions of the Illinois General Assembly often come and go before most citizens realize that lawmakers are again on the loose in Springfield. Not this year. Casino gambling expansion, a 10 percent state jobless rate, the scandal-drenched tuitio
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· There comes a time in the life of every government when you find out whether it can do its job, or if it's pretty much a waste that ought to be tossed out at the earliest-possible election. Such a moment has arrived for the Illinois Genera
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· Illinois is broke. As a state constitutional officer, I am making a rare request of the General Assembly: Cut my budget. Illinois is not just out of money—even if all assets including cash, investments and property were liquidated and auct
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· SPRINGFIELD — After months of debate on a package of tax incentives intended to keep Sears Holdings Corp. in Hoffman Estates, the fate of that deal could now rest with a new proposal that will affect businesses across the state. The terms of Sea
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· There comes a time in the life of every government when you find out whether it can do its job, or if it's pretty much a waste that ought to be tossed out at the earliest-possible election. Such a moment has arrived for the Illinois Genera
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· Finally, Illinois lawmakers seem to be getting serious about fixing the state's underwater pension system, the worst in the nation. And it only took $85 billion in unfunded liabilities for them to get there. Next week, the House is to vote
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· What is it going to take to shake Illinois politicians out of their lethargy and make them address the serious financial problems facing the state? Last week’s veto session was an embarrassment — at least, it would have been if the state’
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· Last summer, I was sitting in the waiting room of a state outreach center and witnessed the angry tirade of a woman waiting to appeal an unemployment insurance issue. The people in her vicinity, and the person on the other end of her cell phone, got
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· Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- California state politics are often said to be as dysfunctional as Washington’s. We’ll soon see if the Golden State can rise above such defamation. Governor Jerry Brown proposed sweeping changes to state pensions last
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· CHICAGO – Illinois lawmakers are hustling to close loopholes in government pension plans to prevent abuses. They’ve already passed laws changing retirement provisions for future employees. But so far this fall, they’ve been almost silent on a much bi
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· On Friday, we concluded our five-part series “Broken Benefits,” which examined the state of pensions in Illinois and its effect in DeKalb County. The system is broken, as the title of the series suggests. In its current form, it is unsusta
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· What is going on in Springfield? It's a question every voter in Illinois should ask—loudly—in the wake of last week's actions in the Capitol. The answer is sadly familiar. What's going on is that elected officials are selling ou
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· Last summer, I was sitting in the waiting room of a state outreach center and witnessed the angry tirade of a woman waiting to appeal an unemployment insurance issue. The people in her vicinity, and the person on the other end of her cell phone, got
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· SPRINGFIELD — Some Illinois lawmakers will spend their week-long hiatus from the veto session working on an issue that got barely a mention during the first half of the session - plugging holes in the budget passed last spring. Working gro
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· Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said he will be ready to call a bill to set up a three-tiered pension system for state workers during the second week of the legislature’s veto session, which starts Nov. 8. But demonstra
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· Having promised too many billions in future spending, and having run up too many billions in debt, Illinois is racing to ruin: State government owes nearly $200 billion that it … doesn't … have. Reactions vary. Some lawmakers see the de
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· Rank-and-file Illinois lawmakers see no chance of immediate action to reduce state government's vast backlog of unpaid bills, but they insist the state is finally on a path -- a long one -- toward paying those debts. An income tax increase
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· SPRINGFIELD — State lawmakers on Wednesday advanced reform legislation aimed at thwarting lucrative pension abuses by some labor leaders. Inspired by disclosures in Tribune/WGN-TV investigations, a key provision aims to end the practice of
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· With all respect to Simon & Garfunkel, the sounds of silence may make for great music, but it's lousy government. Unfortunately, the sounds of silence are about all we're hearing in Chicago and in Springfield as the powers that be continue to du
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· Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said he will be ready to call a bill to set up a three-tiered pension system for state workers during the second week of the legislature’s veto session, which starts Nov. 8. But demonstra
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· The Illinois Retirement Security Initiative compiled a look at five of the six statewide pension funds in Illinois. The Daily Chronicle attempted to find similar information for the sixth fund – IMRF – as well as for Social Security recipients. In so
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· The Legislature has returned to Springfield for the fall veto session and they certainly have a full plate to deal with. A ComEd rate hike bill, expanding gambling in Illinois and the state budget. But there is one issue that should take p
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· ROCKFORD — School districts in the Rock River Valley are reeling from a fiscal double whammy, courtesy of cash-strapped Illinois. School closures, teacher layoffs, wage freezes and dipping into reserve funds are among the many ways scho
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· During their combined 74 years in the Illinois General Assembly, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have voted for hundreds of billions of dollars in state spending. Trouble is, Illinois doesn't have the money to meet a
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· (Bloomberg) -- It’s a prairie puzzler in Illinois: What happened to all the money? Ten months after the largest tax increase in its history, Illinois is unable to give scheduled raises to its workers. The backlog of unpaid bills is $4 bill
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· For the past nine days, The State Journal-Register and other newspapers throughout Illinois have run a series of stories that show the disastrous toll the state’s horrid financial condition is taking on individuals, businesses and local governments
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· PEORIA – When Illinois can’t pay its bills in a timely fashion, the interest penalties it’s required to add on by law deliver another blow to the cash-strapped state, but they do little to ease the pain of waiting vendors. Last year, delay
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· A new television spot aimed at pension reform for state employees made its debut Wednesday. The spot, sponsored by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, is part of the group's "Illinois Is Broke" campaign, which also inclu
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation last year barring government employees from drawing a pension while earning a separate public paycheck. But that law didn’t stop Quinn from hiring former state transportation chief Gary Hanni
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· The state of Illinois is a deadbeat. It's a slow bill-payer. It is using money that belongs to thousands of businesses and organizations to fund its own spendthrift ways. Our state makes "the check's in the mail" no longer funny. <br
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· Drowning in deficits, Illinois has turned to a deliberate policy of not paying billions of dollars in bills for months at a time, creating a cycle of hardship and sacrifice for residents and businesses helping the state carry out some of the most imp
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· Near the close of the spring legislative session, the treasurer of Illinois spoke hard truth to the people of this state. Dan Rutherford calculated that Illinois politicians have stuck taxpayers with nearly $200 billion in debt. That includes bonded
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· After months of mostly inside lobbying, a big-bucks business group is launching what I'm told is a half-million-dollar TV campaign to push reform of Illinois' pensions. The 30-second spots go up this evening on broadcast television in C
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· Brian Townsend doesn’t expect that Illinois’ lawmakers will solve the city of St. Charles’ budget issues this fall. But Townsend, St. Charles’ city administrator, said he hopes lawmakers can at least do something this year to further the p
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· Urbana, Ill. — Editor's Note: This story is the latest installment in a joint initiative by The Associated Press and Associated Press Managing Editors on the fiscal crisis facing U.S. states and cities, how state and local governments are dealing wit
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· Area school districts say late state payments have become the norm, prompting officials to be much more conservative in their budgeting. Four area school districts said the state has paid most, if not all, the money it owed for the 2011 fi
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· It’s not among the duties of a U.S. senator to supervise the budget of his or her home state. Kudos, then, to Sen. Mark Kirk for his report last week that, in 32 pages, neatly sums up the dire state of Illinois’ finances today and the looming disaste
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· Kenneth E. Pannaralla — once a top precinct captain for Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan — has made a good living in government. Pannaralla, 63, gets a pension from the city of Chicago in addition to the three paychecks from his t
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· As Illinois’ budget crisis worsens and the state lags further behind in paying bills, those that serve the state’s neediest are being forced to make dire decisions and at-times heroic sacrifices to pick up the slack. “The burden of surviva
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· CHICAGO -- When the owner of a southern Illinois child care center didn’t get the state funding he was promised on time and faced laying off employees and cutting service to low-income children, he borrowed money from family members to get by. <br /
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· CHAMPAIGN — Andrew Buffenbarger was expecting a check from the state of Illinois. What he got instead was a letter saying the Champaign County Nursing Home wouldn’t be paid for its Medicaid services for 120 days. That doesn’t seem like a
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· A mother of two children with autism, Wanda Malone needs a little help balancing their care with the rest of life's tasks. So a few times a week, a trained helper watches Jayden, 6, in their Aurora home or takes him to planned social activ
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· While we're on the ample topic of audacious stubbornness and denial among Illinois legislators: You cannot remind yourself too often of what Illinois Democrats' income tax hike — not one Republican voted for it — hath wrought. Almost all o
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· The city of Chicago is requesting information from officials for all four city pension funds about how they interpret state law regarding union officials' city pensions and what they know about potential abuses of the pension system, as the Emanuel a
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· SPRINGFIELD — The Democratic-led Legislature needs to reel in government pensions on its own during the upcoming fall veto session and not expect any financial lifeline from Washington, a group of leading congressional Republicans said in a letter Su
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· Illinois lawmakers are trying to close pension loopholes — they created — that are allowing union leaders to cash in on public pensions. Legislation from state Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, and House GOP Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, targ
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· During a breakfast meeting with area lawmakers, District 200 board members urged the legislators to enact pension reform that is meaningful, but does not burden the already strained finances of local education systems. Superintendent Brian
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Drowning in deficits, Illinois has turned to a deliberate policy of not paying billions of dollars in bills for months at a time, creating a cycle of hardship and sacrifice for residents and businesses helping the state carry
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· CHICAGO — With its coffers bolstered by an income tax increase, Illinois has whittled down its backlog of bills to $3.8 billion from $5.5 billion at this time last year, but Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka warned in her quarterly report that “staggerin
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· For 24 years, Bright Futures has provided services to at-risk children ages 4 to 6 in almost every Peoria County school district. But for the last two years, thanks to the state's late payment schedule, Bright Futures' own future has been
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· The latest installment of the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV's pension series grew directly from a story we wrote last month. In that story, we described how a handful of union leaders had been caught trying to get both a city pension and a union pension
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· CHICAGO (AP) — When the owner of a southern Illinois child care center didn’t get the state funding he was promised on time and faced laying off employees and cutting service to low-income children, he borrowed money from family members to get by.<br
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· Less than 24 hours after the Tribune and WGN-TVreported that at least eight union officials eligible for a city pension also stand to receive one or more union pensions for the same period of work, Illinois House Republican leader Tom Cross filed leg
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· Treasurer Dan Rutherford deserves a pat on the back for his very modest 2 percent cut in his office budget — not because it makes a huge difference in the grand financial scheme of nearly bankrupt Illinois, but because every little bit adds up and be
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· CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled a $6.3 billion 2012 budget Wednesday that whittles away a $635 million deficit with new revenue from a series of increases in fees, fines and taxes not including property or sales taxes, along with debt r
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· Last winter Chicagoans elected — by a landslide margin — a new mayor who had promised them tough actions to rescue their City Hall from slow-mo financial implosion. On Wednesday, Rahm Emanuel proposed to those same Chicagoans his first annual budget,
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· The public policy debate over use of government incentives to retain and attract businesses has become very real, very human and very intense in Hoffman Estates, home to Sears Holdings Corp. The shrinking retail giant, which won nearly
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· At least eight Chicago labor leaders who are eligible for inflated city pensions also stand to receive union pensions covering the same work period, thanks to a charitable interpretation of state law by officials representing two city pension funds,
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· In print or online Wednesday, this newspaper's latest expose of rampant public pension abuse ought to stir your fury, and your sympathy: fury that pension officials enabled this corruption, and sympathy for the rank-and-file union members, as well as
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· PEORIA —Prepare for your blood pressure to rise, if not boil over. If you're most people, that is. But not if you're among the 23 union honchos in the city of Chicago who collectively stand to pocket - not earn - $56 million in estimated r
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· Sen. Mark Kirk issued a report on Illinois’ economy Tuesday he termed “A Call to Action.” Dividing state, city and county debt for every family in Chicago, the average family owes $78,000, he said. “You owe twice as much as citi
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· CHICAGO -With reports that the State of Illinois faces debt concerns greater than any other state, U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today published the Report on Illinois Debt, advising citizens on how much their state owes and the danger of its mount
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel's first budget proposal will include increases in fines and fees and the closure of three district police stations. The stations on the chopping block are Wood, on the near West Side; Belmont, near North Center; and Prai
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· Could a nearly $9 million cash grant from the state of Illinois come to the rescue of cashed strapped Riverside-Brookfield High School? It could happen, but don't count on it. Back in 2003, District 208 applied for a grant of up
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· Springfield, Ill. — Michael Johnson didn’t wait until he retired as executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards to start cashing in on his public pension. Johnson earned $324,785 in compensation from the Illinois Ass
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· I remember talking to you nearly a decade ago, and at the time, Illinois and its municipalities were dead last among the 50 states in funding public worker pension obligations. The hole was $50 billion. We’re still dead last, and the hole has grown t
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· Michigan’s “radical reform” 14 years ago to rescue its retirement system by placing newly hired workers in a 401(k) program may show struggling states the way back from the worst pension crisis ever. Thirty-three states have assets less th
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· Illinois is broke, but its constitutional officers thought nothing of giving raises to staff. No, we’re not kidding. Secretary of State Jesse White, a Democrat, Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka and Treasurer Dan Rutherford, both Republicans,
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· CARBONDALE - It's a story that's playing out at charities across Southern Illinois and the state. At a time when more people are looking for help with food and housing, the shelters, like Good Samaritan in Carbondale, are finding they don't have the
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· A lot of people in James Farrell's position would choose to take on no greater challenge than getting into a good restaurant, getting out of a sand trap or getting away to someplace where the living is easy. Instead, the 69-year-old ret
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· Business should go nuclear in the battle over pension reform. Leaders of the local business community have tried for years to persuade Springfield bosses to bring state employees' pension costs under control. They've reasoned with the poli
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· State lawmakers are going to be busy when they return to Springfield later this month for their fall veto session. Among the items on the agenda for the session that starts Oct. 25: • Smart grid legislation: Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed Sena
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· Gov. Pat Quinn’s meat cleaver approach to budgeting received a setback last week, when an arbitrator ruled that Quinn’s plan to close seven state facilities and lay off 1,900 employees violated a labor agreement the governor forged a year ago. <
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· With the economy teetering on the brink of another recession, politicians are under intense pressure to foster job growth and corporate prosperity, and that pressure is intense for Gov. Pat Quinn. A temporary hike in the corporate incom
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· Money donated to Illinois charities and borrowed by the state last spring to meet a cash crunch has been returned, freeing up funds for crisis nurseries, food banks and medical research. The state borrowed $1.176 million in March from 11 t
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· CHICAGO — Warning that Illinois faces a financial meltdown over its rising pension obligations, a prominent Chicago business group is intensifying its push for pension reform with an advertising campaign aimed at pressuring lawmakers to act during th
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· Illinois is Broke – $140 BILLION in debt – and if you’re a teacher its bad news for you. It’s basic math. There is not enough money to pay benefits to current retirees, much less you. That money being deducted from your pay check each month is going
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· From Illinois GOP House Leader Tom Cross… In a speech at the City Club of Chicago this afternoon, Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross announced that he filed a bill that will help give more accountability to taxpayers by reconstitut
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· Abbott Laboratories chief Miles White had a pointed message for the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Illinois House when he met with them recently: "We have options." The statement, confirmed by reliable sources, was an unmistaka
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· The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates despised democracy, considering it weak and inherently corrupt, a governance form driven by the will of the many when, in his view, only an elite few are wise and competent enough to lead. Today he
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· Three major employers with deep roots in the region are pressing ahead with aggressive plays for state incentive packages, with two raising the volume on threats to leave if they don't get what they want. Sears Holdings Corp. is pitting Oh
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· LINCOLN —Lincoln resident Jean Anderson and the other Illinois regional superintendents of education are expecting to be paid by the end of the fall veto session, but how the men and women who oversee schools across the state will be paid remains unk
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· With the Illinois General Assembly’s Fall Veto Session less than a month away, look for the issue of state employee pension plans to start creeping back into the headlines, says Steve Cunningham, NIU vice president for Administration and Human Resour
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· The state of Illinois still owes SIU $80 million for fiscal year 2011, according to Executive Assistant for Government Affairs Dave Gross. "Even though we are still owed money for FY11, we are still continuing to get money for FY12," Gr
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ regional superintendents are expecting to be paid by the end of the fall veto session, but how the men and women who oversee schools across the state will be paid remains unknown. Gov. Pat Quinn in late June vetoed
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· The head of one of the largest labor unions in Chicago resigned Monday in the wake of reports that he had been receiving a six-figure city pension while participating in a second pension plan from his local union, in violation of state law. <br
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· You just can't make this stuff up. The Chicago Tribune has a front page report about union bigs drawing from city pensions while still working for their union at the same time -- a big no-no . But what makes the story even more shocking is the fact t
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· The income tax hike that Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic legislators engineered in January is taking an extra $7 billion or so per year from Illinois' private sector — employers, employees and their families. Individuals this year are sending the state
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· Selling out Illinois. We used that headline a year ago when news broke that Gov. Pat Quinn had cut a craven deal with AFSCME, the state's largest employees union. The governor agreed that the state, though it faced massive debts, would not lay off a
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· CHICAGO (AP) — A new state law barring government employees from drawing a pension while earning another public paycheck doesn't apply to the vast majority of current workers, leaving thousands free to "double dip" after retirement and doing little o
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· CHICAGO | Just as Atlas carries the weight of the world, some business owners policy experts say it seems Chicago wants its taxpayers to bear a similar burden. Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson released a slew of ideas Tuesday to p
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· Springfield, Ill. — Adam Andrzejewski says he’s not surprised by a new report showing that Illinois remains in a fiscal black hole despite a 67-percent personal income tax increase approved by the Legislature earlier this year. “The state
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· So, just how much is Indiana offering CME Group Inc. to move its headquarters and perhaps other operations to the Hoosier state? I hear the figure -- in net tax savings -- is a mouth-watering $150 million a year. That's from a reliable
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· In July 2010, The Associated Press sifted through state records and learned that Gov. Pat Quinn had given raises of up to 20 percent to 35 members of his staff at a time he was preaching a message of “shared sacrifice” as he prepared to cut $1.4 bill
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· Pension systems in Illinois are a mess. Whether it be a municipality or the state system, pensions drain budgets and create holes that have been difficult to fill. Throw in declining revenues because of the lousy state of the economy, and
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· Freeport, Ill. —Whenever the dire fiscal condition of Illinois is discussed, the subject invariably turns to pensions. Regardless of how generous these retirement benefits seem to be when compared to what private sector companies have arra
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· How's your pension these days? Are you worried about its health? If so, you're not the only one. Private and public pensions are on shaky ground, even though both are guaranteed -- the former by their sponsoring corporations, with the Pens
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· Just what will it take for Chicagoans to grasp the depths of the city’s budget crisis? Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson is hoping shock value will do the trick. To make clear just how severe is the city’s budget hole, F
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· In Illinois, budget belt-tightening has a whole different meaning than is generally understood. With the state effectively bankrupt, should top state elected officials be handing out pay raises to their staffs? That's the questi
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· SPRINGFIELD — Adam Andrzejewski said he’s not surprised by a new report showing that Illinois remains in a fiscal black hole despite a 67-percent personal income tax increase approved by the Legislature earlier this year. “The state of Ill
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· From the untouchable (dissolving tax increment financing districts) to the unthinkable (tolls on Lake Shore Drive) to the merely unpopular (higher cigarette taxes), city Inspector General Joe Ferguson has plenty of ideas to help Chicago out of its bu
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· JOLIET — Chicago officials this week tossed around the idea of a commuter tax — charging suburbanites who work in the city of Chicago a 1 percent income tax — as a way to bring in additional revenue. The idea was one of a list of potential
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· Illinois taxpayers are an unhappy bunch, overwhelmingly believing that the economy is on the wrong track and opposing the huge tax increase shoved through the General Assembly in January. That’s probably not startling news to anyone, excep
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· SPRINGFIELD -- At a time when Gov. Pat Quinn is pushing to lower the unemployment rate and boost investment in Illinois, the Chicago Democrat's plan to shutter seven facilities as part of his budget fight with lawmakers will cost the state more than
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· About 2,000 people will lose their jobs as a result of a recent shutdown of state-run facilities. Gov. Pat Quinn said he was forced to cut state-run mental health centers in order for Illinois to stay within budget and blamed the Illinois General Ass
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· Question: How do you turn a $15,264-a-year city job into a $157,752-a-year retirement pension? Answer: You follow Illinois law. That scenario was one of 23 such situations among Chicago municipal workers-turned-union offic
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· Illinois remains in deep budget trouble and could be $8.3 billion in the red by next June, according to a report released Monday by a Chicago watchdog group. The budget problems persist despite a significant boost in the state's income tax
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· Despite a two-thirds hike in the income tax rate at the start of the year, Illinois' financial condition continues to worsen, though arguably not as quickly as it was before. That's the red-ink-filled finding of a new report from the Ci
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· As Mayor Rahm Emanuelprepares to present his first budget next month, Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson is tossing out dozens of ways to raise more money and cut the size of city government. Many of them are politically poisonou
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Two Republican statewide officeholders critical of government spending have handed out pay raises to dozens of employees during a fiscal crisis. State Treasurer Dan Rutherford has awarded 19 pay raises to staff mem
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· (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Despite a reported budget shortfall that tops $8 billion, Illinois office-holders are still handing out raises to their staffs. According to the Better Government Association, two Republican statewide office-holders, bot
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· A required report by the state indicates the economic punch of losing the Jacksonville Developmental Center will be around $47 million to Morgan County. In addition to the direct loss of jobs at the facility, there would be a significa
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· As Chicago's 1991 municipal elections approached, Mayor Richard M. Daley was consolidating power for his first re-election campaign. In Springfield, two state senators — Daley's brother John and his political ally Jeremiah Joyce — introduced a "shell
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· Need more evidence that government pensions are out of whack and need reform? Look no further than a series of recent articles in the Chicago Tribune about outlandish benefits being received by union bosses who used to work for the city of Chicago.<b
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· Despite a major income tax increase, the state of Illinois is expected to end the budget year more than $8 billion in the red, according to a report set to be released Monday by a nonpartisan tax watchdog group. The Civic Federation analys
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· SPRINGFIELD — Despite an infusion of new tax dollars and budget cuts, state government’s deficit will grow to $5 billion by next July because of added pension and debt costs, a government watchdog group warned in a report being released Monday.
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· SPRINGFIELD — A new survey backs up the belief that Illinois is not a business friendly state. Development Counsellors International, or DCI, a New York-based marketing firm, Monday released a survey of 322 company executives who ranked th
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· In the midst of the worst budget crisis in Illinois history, the state's transportation agency has created a new layer of high-paying administrative jobs with duties that are already performed by current workers, according to records obtained by the
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· What if lawmakers passed a bill that allowed two dozen hand-picked political insiders to fan out across the state and walk up to you and demand your cash? Not ask but demand. Got a problem? There is no passio
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· All it took to give nearly two dozen labor leaders from Chicago a windfall worth millions was a few tweaks to a handful of sentences in the state's lengthy pension code. The changes became law with no public debate among state legislato
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· As the budget process for Cook County shifts into high gear this month, overtime expenses that are 50 percent over budget seem certain to draw scrutiny. The vast majority of the overtime, $19.7 million, was attributed to the Health and Hos
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· East Peoria, Ill. — What is a governor to do when faced with the prospect of not having a budget large enough to pay the state’s bills? In Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s case, the choice is to lay off close to 2,000 state workers and shut do
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· Recently, Gov. Pat Quinn announced a series of painful, difficult budget cuts. Ultimately, 1,938 workers will lose their jobs due to these cuts. That’s always bad news, but particularly now, when poverty is on the upswing, personal income is heading
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· In his Labor Day speech in Detroit, Barack Obama issued a ringing endorsement of government employee unions: Having a voice on the job and a chance to organize and a chance to negotiate for a fair day's pay after a hard day's work, that is
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· Pension reform is a big topic in Springfield and reform comes slowly. So we’re always encouraged when we see local governments taking action to reduce long-term retirement costs rather than sitting back and waiting for the state to act. Su
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· The city received a clean audit this year with no findings, but Councilman David Wood expressed concerns with the state of unfunded pension liabilities in the Police Pension and Firemen’s Pension funds. “We levy a pretty significant amo
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· Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, facing elevated unemployment and a budget shortfall, held talks with Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan in Beijing, seeking to boost exports and lure investment. “We see exports as a key driver of getting the eco
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· The new mayor asked Chicagoans for ideas on how to balance the budget, and he got thousands of them. Cut the electric bill by turning off every other streetlight. Make out-of-town motorists pay a toll to enter the city. Install a zip line and charge
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· A key state senator said he will try to push legislation during the upcoming veto session that would require retired state employees to pay premiums for their state health insurance. Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, said he is still worki
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· Springfield. With the state of Illinois being one of the worst fiscal disaster in the United States, the state’s leadership, the Chicago Democratic Machine, is dumbfounded that their tactic of repeatedly raising taxes isn’t solving the problem. Owing
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· Illinois ranked among the three worst states for business, according to a survey of U.S. corporate executives released Monday. Nearly one quarter of the survey's 322 respondents said Illinois had one of the least favorable business climate
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· The line now forms before 4 p.m. to get into REST Shelter — a respite from Chicago’s streets for those with no place else to go. Once a 24-hour homeless shelter for more than 100 people, the facility in a dingy old church has had to lay of
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· When the General Assembly gathers for its annual veto session next month, it should put pension reform on the agenda. That’s because reducing the state’s pension obligation would get the biggest bang for the buck in trying to solve the sta
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· Many government candidates including Barack Obama have long campaigned for increased transparency and a much more open government. Do you want to know how much the cop on the beat brings home? Do you want to know what your city commissioner sees on h
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· U.S. debt has been downgraded, and a budget deal is left to a “supercommittee.” The world holds its breath to see if Greece, Italy, Spain or Portugal will default and destroy the Euro. China is letting its currency rise, making exports more expensive
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· Illinois' unemployment rate shot up almost half a percentage point in August to 9.9 percent. It was a fourth straight month of diminishing job prospects that state officials blame on weak consumer confidence and the struggles of the national economy.
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· When the General Assembly gathers for its annual veto session next month, it should put pension reform on the agenda. That's because reducing the state's pension obligation would get the biggest bang for the buck in trying to solve the sta
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· I began to reminisce during Gov. Pat Quinn’s Chicago press conference last week. Quinn had called the media together to announce he was closing seven state facilities and laying off almost 2,000 state employees because the General Assembly had passed
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· Already eligible for a $250,000 pension, a public school retiree is getting started on a new public pension, courtesy of taxpayers. Staff members at a Schaumburg school spent a morning in Lake Geneva at a team-building retreat this summer
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· Gov. Pat Quinn embraces drama the way high school thespians embrace auditions for the spring play. He's also devoted to all the government money can buy and then some. Combine those traits and you get last week's threat to close seven state instituti
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· Well, well, well. As if I didn’t stir the pot enough last month, I’m going to agitate it into a frenzy today, mostly about our once great state — the one that Gov. Pat Quinn is trying to destroy faster than a moving high-speed train, with help from M
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· Less than a year after labor leaders were forced to give up union pensions because they already were getting lucrative city pensions, their lawyer attempted to tap into union funds for retirement benefits again, according to documents and interviews
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· To close the state’s budget shortfall, Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed closing a prison, a juvenile detention center and homes for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled. These provide essential social services by keeping criminals and crazy peopl
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· CHICAGO — Will closing state facilities and firing state workers solve the state’s financial problems? No, says state Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who says prisons, mental health centers and facilities for the developmentally disabled do cost
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· When it comes to enacting major public pension reform, Illinois must not accept a grade of “incomplete.” That’s the big lesson of the Better Government Association’s investigation into the surprisingly rich retirement benefits enjoyed by m
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· Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan said today he’s told Gov. Pat Quinn he’s willing to discuss shifting around money in the state budget to avoid layoffs of 1,900 workers and closure of seven state facilities. But the speaker warned
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· SPRINGFIELD - Forgive state lawmakers if they didn't necessarily take Gov. Pat Quinn at his word last week when he threatened to close seven state facilities and lay off more than 1,900 workers. In the last two-plus years, the Democrati
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· I began to reminisce during Gov. Pat Quinn’s Chicago news conference last week. Quinn had called the media together to announce he was closing seven state facilities and laying off almost 2,000 state employees because the General Assembly had passed
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· Here's the second question we would have asked Gov. Pat Quinn had his Thursday news conference, which started a half-hour late, run a little longer: Would you shut down all state services, and zero out the workforce, in order to keep fe
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· Gov. Pat Quinn took his first steps toward mass layoffs and state facility closings Thursday, budget-cutting moves designed to raise the pressure on lawmakers before they return to the Capitol next month. The Democratic governor warned
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· SPRINGFIELD — Amid all the politics and number-crunching, Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to close a mix of state prisons and institutions for mentally ill and developmentally disabled people raises a basic question: What happens to all the residents of those
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· JOLIET — Will County Board members agreed Thursday that the county should give two local state employees some financial help. Regional Superintendent Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant and Assistant Superintendent Shawn Walsh, like the state’s other
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· For many students, community colleges are a low-cost alternative to more expensive state and private universities. But Illinois taxpayers aren’t getting a break when it comes to paying for pensions awarded to thousands of retired community
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· SPRINGFIELD — Taxpayers gave Illinois a $1.2-billion shot of cash in August, or $464 million more than last August. Personal income tax revenue jumped by 68 percent for last month when compared with the same time in 2010, almost mirrori
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· When Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic state leaders pushed through a late-night, lame-duck tax increase in January, they said the hike wouldn’t hurt the economy. But the increase in the personal and corporate tax rate has proven to be a job k
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· Thirty-three years seems like a long time, until you figure that working that long for Cook County government will get you a pension of 80 percent of your final salary, as long as you’re 50 or older. Only judges, statewide elected official
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn faced blistering attacks Tuesday from state government’s largest public employee union and his 2010 GOP rival for potentially going back on a campaign pledge not to lay off state workers as a response to a $2 billion budg
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· CHICAGO - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's administration warned on Tuesday that some state agencies will run out of money in late April because appropriations will fall short. "The General Assembly sent the governor an incomplete budget that does
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· Friday’s dismal jobs report from Uncle Sam, in which essentially no jobs were created in August, sent the stock market on its latest plunge and caused some economic experts to again raise the specter of another recession. It also got us th
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· Gov. Pat Quinn plans to issue layoff notices to thousands of state workers this week as he deals with a budget shortfall he pegs in the hundreds of millions of dollars, a state government source with knowledge of the situation told the Tribune.
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· SPRINGFIELD — A fractured economy is swelling unemployment figures in Illinois, and a growing number of those out-of-work residents are state employees. The General Assembly has been forced to deal with less income from taxpayers and, a
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· Northern Illinois University has unveiled ambitious plans to increase enrollment by more than a quarter, raise its academic profile and become more self-sufficient in the wake of diminished state funding. NIU President John G. Peters to
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· After 16 years under the watchful eye of former Mayor Daley, Chicago’s public school system begins a new school year Tuesday — and launches a new generation of students — amid signs of promise as well as uncertainty. The Rahm Emanuel Gener
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· Rita Tarr Scheibe spent most of her career helping others as executive director of social service agencies, including Contact Ministries and Catholic Charities. The jobs were fulfilling, but not ones that would pay the bills after she got divorced an
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· Every month, Thomas Villanova gets a $9,000 reminder of how lucrative it can be to serve as a union leader in Chicago. The sum is part of a city pension that comes on top of the $198,000 annual salary he is paid to represent the interests of
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· Thomas Villanova isn't the only official from Local 134 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who participated in a city pension and a union pension at the same time, in violation of state law. Three other local leaders wh
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· GALESBURG — Mike Kroll, chairman of the Galesburg Public Library’s Board of Trustees Finance Committee, told the board at its Thursday meeting that an already tight financial situation may be about to get worse. Kroll said that three of four budget o
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· The board that oversees the Chicago Public Schools teachers’ pension fund filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court today alleging that the Chicago Board of Education owes the fund about $32.5 million. Based on a state law that estab
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· URBANA — The operating-budget request of the University of Illinois, which has hovered just below $5 billion in recent years, will top that mark by $11 million in fiscal year 2012, up by 5.2 percent from the year before. Last year, the UI
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· You might call it 21st-century citizen democracy at its finest. Or, you might say it's worth what you paid for it, which is nothing. Or some of both. But as Mayor Rahm Emanuel prepares to hold a public meetin
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· The state's business community appears to be getting across its message that tax reform is needed in Illinois, a possible boon for CME Group Inc. But as a legislative panel holds what is supposed to be the last in a series of public hea
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· EDWARDSVILLE - Madison County Auditor Rick Faccin says he is going to refuse a 4 percent pay raise scheduled to take effect in December, saying he can't in good conscience accept it with so many people out of work. Faccin, a Democrat, m
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· The state's cash shortfalls are still causing headaches for county financial officials. The county General Fund will be short almost $100,000 by Aug. 31, Treasurer Danny Ragan told County Board members Thursday night. Much of the shortf
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· The Human Service Center is laying off 27 employees and closing a residential treatment program for women after almost $2 million in state budget cuts. The layoffs, 10 percent of the agency's work force, take effect Sept. 23, the agency an
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· “What’s his life going to be like?” said Cathy Morgan, pondering her son’s future, as she again straightened the short stack of health advocate reports. Eddie, 8, has Down syndrome. He was diagnosed before birth with a mild to moderate gen
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· State budget constraints are creating real safety concerns in Illinois' prison system for some legislators. Already short-staffed, according to state Sen. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga, the Illinois Department of Corrections could lose up to 1
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· State Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville) held a constituent forum at Monarch Landing senior living community in Naperville Friday, reporting to the residents on her activities in Springfield. Not surprisingly, a good part of the hour she s
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· For most states, fiscal 2012 is shaping up as a brutal year. They've already had to close a collective gap of more than $100 billion between their projected revenues and previously budgeted expenses, mostly due to anemic sales taxes and personal and
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel, from my experience, has never been one to shy away from a lively discussion — or, if need be, a good fight. The mayor is likely to get some of both when he holds two town hall meetings with Chicagoans next week, and
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers, not the court system, must order that the state's regional superintendents be paid after not receiving a paycheck since July. Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Schmidtissued a three-page ruling, in wh
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· No one envies the challenges facing Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: too little revenue to pay for ongoing essential services, and far too little to catch up on massive unfunded pension obligations approved by past Democratic and Republican officials. <
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· Less than 48 hours after first hearing about it, the Chicago Teachers Union on Thursday threw cold water on an effort by Chicago Public Schools officials to extend the school day this year. Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard on Tuesday had of
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· LIBERTY, Ill. -- The Liberty School District plans to keep offering a pre-kindergarten program even after the state of Illinois rejected the district's request for a grant. The Liberty School Board decided last spring that the pre-k progra
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· Some public and private pension funds are working to revise their investment guidelines after they were thrown into question when Standard & Poor's Ratings Services downgraded U.S. debt, financial consulting firms said. A principal area of
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· Chicago Public Schools' governing board today unanimously approved a tax increase to support a $5.9 billion budget for next year amid growing concerns about the district's long-term financial health and an escalating public battle with the teachers u
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· Berwyn, IL — Students and parents may not notice specific programs that were cut as school begins this week, but it’ll still affect some Berwyn schools as they go without new textbooks and building repairs are delayed. The Illinois General
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· In these days of debt and deficit, Illinois is in the first rank of problem states. Last January the state legislature was finally forced to confront the fruit of decades of irresponsible spending policies and try to plug a $13 billion dollar hole,
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· CHAMPAIGN — Even as Gov. Pat Quinn hailed the start of a construction project Tuesday that will create 1,200 short-term jobs, Indiana and South Dakota kept up a push by other states to chip away at Illinois’ vulnerable economic image and lure jobs aw
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· CHICAGO — Ahead of the Chicago Board of Education's expected vote Wednesday on a new $5.9 billion budget, a local watchdog group endorsed the plan to eliminate a $712 million deficit through cuts, use of reserves, and a property tax hike, but warned
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel Monday took a 100-day victory lap of sorts, saying he's delivered on "a down payment" of his campaign promises in his first months in office. But at a City Hall press conference where he was flanked by a scoreboard of
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· SPRINGFIELD - It's clear that finding or keeping a job in Illinois is getting tougher, but it is much less clear as to why. Illinois' July unemployment numbers show that the state is bleeding jobs. The state's unemployment rate jumpe
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· To address the rising cost of pension obligations that are being passed onto taxpayers, legislation sponsored by state Rep. Karen May (D-58th) aimed at preventing artificially inflated public employees’ pensions has been signed into law. “
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· Ill. Comptroller Judy Barr Topinka said Thursday that lawmakers need to take action or the state next summer could end the budget year with another huge backlog of bills. Topinka said Illinois government is still paying bills that date back to April.
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· SPRINGFIELD — Republican leaders Thursday renewed their opposition to Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to borrow billions of dollars to pay off the state’s debt and overdue bills. Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford, Illinois Comptroller Jud
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel threw a political counter-punch on Thursday in the verbal battle with Gov. Pat Quinn aimed at pressuring the governor to sign the bill that will pave the way for a land-based casino in Chicago and slot machines at O’Hare and Midway
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· Of all the sad statistics related to the financial crisis at Chicago Public Schools, one of the most alarming is simply this: The school district is spending millions more every year to educate fewer children. Into this mess steps Jean-Cla
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· SPRINGFIELD — Top Illinois House leaders will hold private discussions about legislation to change pension benefits for current state employees. The framework is a plan floated during the session by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Hou
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· PEKIN, Ill. — Pekin’s public grade school district is starting its current fiscal year with a nearly $600,000 operating deficit, a stark detail in a budget picture that’s “the gloomiest I’ve seen since I’ve been on the board,” said Chris Spanos.<br /
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· Without access to a car, 49-year-old Lloyd McCullough walks more than four miles, six days a week, to get from Helping Hands shelter on the corner of 11th and Adams streets to his stocking job at Menard’s, on the northeast edge of town. Homeless sinc
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· CHICAGO — Political and fiscal challenges took a steep toll on Midwest municipal borrowing levels during the first half of 2011, contributing to a 47% nosedive in volume compared to the same period last year. Issuance fell to $21.2 billion
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday offered some specifics for fixing schools, roads and public transit with money from a proposed Chicago casino, stepping up his pressure on Gov. Pat Quinn to approve a wide-ranging plan that would expand gambling statewide
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· Illinois House leaders say they still are working on legislation that would ease the state’s crushing pension burden, although they are closed-mouthed about what those changes will be and when the General Assembly will be asked to consider them.<br /
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· U.S. debt has been downgraded, and a budget deal is left to a “supercommittee.” The world holds its breath to see if Greece, Italy, Spain or Portugal will default and destroy the Euro. China is letting its currency rise, making exports more expensive
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· As we are all too painfully aware, the past several days have been beyond crazy. Congress and the president took the nation to the brink of default. Standard & Poor’s lowered the federal government’s credit rating by a notch. The markets d
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· It’s never easy to have your pay or benefits trimmed. Too many of us know that all too well. In that regard, we empathize with the DuPage County employees who will see their vacation, personal and sick time trimmed starting Dec. 1. Still,
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· Joyce Pennington opened a letter from the state recently and got some unexpected news: At the end of this month, she will be dropped from an Illinois program that helps pay for prescription medications. The 62-year-old Midlothian woman,
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· The Illinois fiscal 2012 budget doesn’t address the state’s “sizeable" backlog of unpaid bills and an unsustainable ascent” in spending for pension benefits, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. The increase in state corporate and i
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· Chicago - Illinois taxpayers face at least $85 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. But Gov. Pat Quinn seemed to rule out a pension reform proposal pending in the General Assembly on Wednesday. "Their proposal laid an egg this past yea
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· What is Illinois state government worth? That is, what if you weighed all the state's assets against its liabilities? Companies do this all the time. Many households make similar calculations of their net worth if only to determine, "Are we making pr
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· ROCKFORD — Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey presented a sobering budget outlook at his annual address to the business community Wednesday along with a solution that lies in legislative reform. Morrissey played to the business-savvy crowd,
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· As Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford spoke Monday about the state’s bleak financial situation, Wall Street was taking another beating. The state’s problems might be the tougher of the two to fix, he indicated. While conceding that there’s
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· Every time a legislator spends the day in Springfield, it costs Illinois taxpayers an extra $111. Every mile those legislators drive to and from the state capital costs taxpayers another 39 cents. Mileage, per diems by name Mile
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· CHANNAHON — Like most area municipalities, the village of Channahon has been having some trouble making ends meet during the recession. The board of trustees approved dipping into reserves for the past three budgetary years, so a special w
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· Chicago and Illinois officials could face higher borrowing costs in the wake of the first-ever downgrade of U.S. debt late last week by Standard & Poor's. But the bigger cloud hanging over the municipal bond market is the prospect of ev
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· Chicago's projected budget deficit for 2012 is $635 million. If we do nothing, it will be $754 million in 2013 and $803 million in 2014. We can no longer afford to operate as we have in the past, and in this difficult economy we cannot ask taxpayers
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· ALTON - State Rep. Dwight Kay is worried about how the state of Illinois does its own business, as well as how it treats the private sector. Kay, R-Glen Carbon, paid a visit to The Telegraph newsroom last week, just a few days after the re
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· PERU, Ill. — State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris) said this week the recent report released by the Auditor General is just another clear sign of how Illinois desperately needs to control spending and reform the budget. The Auditor General’s
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· As investors waited for U.S. financial markets to react Monday morning to the nation's credit rating becoming less than perfect, some in Illinois business circles prepped themselves for turmoil — but not a full-blown crisis. Many focused on the painf
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· PEKIN —Five developmentally disabled and mentally ill patients will be forced from their home, and some of them their jobs, because of state funding cuts to Tazwood Mental Health Center. “We have three clients who have lived here for 15 ye
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· Illinois is a model for how NOT to set up a pension system. The system is set up to guarantee outcomes, yet there is no guarantee the money to make those payments will be there. That makes no sense. Throw in decades of failure to adequa
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· Attention, back-to-school shoppers: There will be no sales tax holiday in Illinois this year. With great fanfare, Gov. Pat Quinn held a news conference last year to announce he was signing legislation creating the first-ever sales tax
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· Central Falls, R.I., a city of 19,000 residents that filed for bankruptcy Monday, is a bondholder's dream. Thanks to a new state law that places bondholders ahead of other creditors, Central Falls plans to pay investors the entire $635,000
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois' regional superintendents will stay on the job so schools statewide can open on time, even though they don’t know when they will receive their next paycheck. The state has not paid its 44 regional superintendents
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· CHICAGO — Accompanying his announcement last week that Chicago faces a $635.7 million gap in its next budget, freshman Mayor Rahm Emanuel also released a 54-page report that lays bare the city’s stark fiscal woes in plain English for all eyes, from t
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ economic growth in a given year may be sluggish, but its overall productivity is well ahead of its neighboring states, according to a quarterly report by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. <b
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· More than 1,100 workers at 10 companies learned last month that they'll lose their jobs in plant closings or mass layoffs before year-end, according to state records posted online Tuesday. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economi
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· ASTORIA — Astoria Gardens & Rehab Center will close next week due to late payments from the state, Administrator Steve Axelbaum said Thursday. When asked why, he answered, "That can be placed at the door of incompetent leadership of t
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration will shut down its overnight emergency services shift for the homeless and lay off 24 employees in the city’s Department of Family and Support Services. The moves were necessary after a 49 percent reduct
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· Information on more than 90,000 city contracts dating back to 1993 will be available and easy to download on the Internet, thanks to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s latest move to shine the light on City Hall. In nearly three months in office, Emanue
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· Central Falls, Rhode Island, whose motto is “a city with a bright future,” cast a shadow across the rest of the state yesterday by entering bankruptcy. Rhode Island’s poorest city sought court protection after retirees failed to accept cut
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. That sums up Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford's approach as he reassured taxpayers on Friday that he's poised to move billions of the state's dollars into safer accounts
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· SPRINGFIELD — An outspoken critic of Illinois’ corporate tax increase may not attend a lawmakers hearing on the state’s business tax system, but his comment will dominate the debate. Craig Donohue, CEO of the CME Group, parent company o
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· Illinois ended the fiscal year as the most broke state in the nation. Illinois owed $37.9 billion more than all of its assets combined, including cash, investments and property, as of July 1, 2010, according to a recent statewide financ
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· State officials have quietly begun preparing contingency plans for handling state finances if a gridlocked federal government fails to reach agreement in the next week on a plan to raise the nation's debt ceiling, which could force Washington to rati
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· When Gov. Pat Quinn zeroed out the $11 million line item on the state budget for Illinois' 44 regional offices of education earlier this year, we thought it might not be a bad idea. After all, many have argued that the regional offices
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· The days of clout-heavy mayoral appointees collecting $25,000-a-year stipends, plus health and pension benefits for attending one monthly board meeting or less are apparently drawing to a close. In his quest to erase the city’s $700 millio
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· In Washington, congressional leaders and the White House are in a financial fight that's being watched around the world. But outside the Beltway, in cities large and small, mayors are grappling with their own economic challenges. In Chicag
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· The national debate over how to pay the United State's bills weighs heavy on the future of Illinois, which is also facing a multibillion dollar crisis of its own. A national default would slow or stop payments to Illinois providers and mil
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois ended fiscal 2010 as the most broke state in the nation. Illinois owed $37.9 billion more than all of its assets combined, including cash, investments and property, as of July 1, 2010, according to a recent statewide
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· Chicago - Political leaders in Springfield are talking about making pension cuts. House Republican Leader Tom Cross said he and House Speaker Mike Madigan met last week with leaders of Illinois's largest public employee unions.
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· Republicans and Democrats in Washington continue to disagree over how to handle the nation’s debt limit. Talks continued this week between both sides. But what if they don't reach an agreement? Illinois coffers are likely to suffer, accord
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· Spurred by last winter’s income tax increase and an improving state economy, Illinois tax revenues for the last fiscal year increased nearly $3.4 billion over the previous year. However, Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka warned in a report fro
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· CHICAGO — The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has assembled a group of 25 public employers and pension plans to “field test” the implementation of its proposed changes to state and local governments pension accounting standards, according to
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· Last year, the Illinois Policy Institute released a study that detailed the state’s lofty judicial salaries and generous retirement benefits. Not content with doing just one compensation study, the group has come out with another. <br
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· While state employees are marching around, waving signs calling for “fair” pay, a report has been issued concluding that government employees compensation packages exceed those in the private sector. We’ve heard for so many years about tho
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· With the national debt-ceiling debate threatening to turn from farce to tragedy, Chicago and Illinois could face severe fallout from the once-unthinkable ramifications of a federal debt default. Interest rates would rise, credit markets wo
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· Looking at the state’s financial picture — and the impact of the income tax increase, Illinois Auditor General William Holland said, “We’re not out of the woods.” We will go further than that. The state hasn’t even made it to the woods yet
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· A popular public worker benefit, once designed to make up for lower pay, now costs Rock River Valley taxpayers tens of millions of dollars a year at a time of unprecedented financial stress. All public employees are required by law to cont
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· State workers who belong to AFSCME picketed across the state earlier this month because they were denied their third raise in just seven months. Many of the picketers carried signs that said: "Public servants deserve fair pay." That begs t
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· CHICAGO — In a sign of Illinois’ ongoing fiscal challenges, its net assets deteriorated by $8.4 billion in fiscal 2010, pushing its deficit in that category of financial reporting up to a negative $37.9 billion, according to a new report from state a
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· ASTORIA, Ill. — A west-central Illinois nursing home will close next week because of late payments from the state, the facility's administrator said. Astoria Gardens and Rehab Center has had to wait six months to receive its payments, said
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· A joint legislative panel Tuesday opened much-anticipated hearings on the state of the state's business tax climate, but initial indications are that any changes will be pretty modest. In one development, Illinois House Revenue Committe
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· A discredited school superintendent in west suburban Cook County resigns, apologizes to his community … and walks away with a $100,000 severance payment after just a year on the job. A DuPage school superintendent resigns after just four m
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· SPRINGFIELD – The nation’s top banker is watching Illinois and California with a keen eye on their unfunded obligations and unpaid debts. "We watch those (states) very carefully," said Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Board of Governors
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· We have made some progress here in Illinois as it relates to fiscal responsibility. For the first time in a decade, we passed a balanced budget. Republicans and Democrats sat down together and came up with a conservative revenue estimate and voted to
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· A few years into John Butts' superintendent job in DuPage's Lake Park High School District 108, a lucrative perk showed up in his contract: 300 sick days. In an amendment to his contract, the school board signed off on 150 sick days in 200
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· Stanley Fields resigned after just a year as superintendent of a suburban Cook County school district where he was put on leave, faced with firing and ultimately required to apologize to the community. Still, he walked away with a $100,000 severance
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· CHICAGO — Budget cuts to programs that deliver meals to homebound seniors in Illinois may force some frail elderly into nursing homes, a more expensive option for both the individuals and the state, advocates say. Illinois lawmakers so fa
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· New York's billionaire mayor is handing out a combined $24 million in grants to five colleagues around the country to fund programs addressing various issues in their cities, from energy efficiency to handgun violence. New York City Mayor
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· Macomb, Ill. — Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford stopped by Macomb’s City Hall Tuesday afternoon to promote his office’s Cash Dash program but he also took the opportunity to express his concern over the state’s growing debt load. With Macomb M
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· AURORA — Debbie Larson’s life took a drastic turn for the worse a few years ago at a truck stop in southern Iowa. While she showered after a long car ride, her traveling companion made away with all her possessions. At one stage in her lif
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· Public pension plans don’t become poorly funded overnight. In most cases, it takes years of poor management for a plan’s financial standing to plummet. Illinois, unsurprisingly, is a special case. Although the bulk of the state’s $80 bi
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· CHICAGO — While its revenues have picked up, Illinois still faces "staggering long-term financial challenges" as it carried $7.4 billion in unpaid obligations — including $3.8 billion in bills owed to schools, transit agencies, health care providers
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois taxed residents more — instead of create more jobs — to amass about $1 billion more in revenue in 2011, according to a new report. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, or COGFA, a legislat
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· The state of Illinois paid fewer employees more money in 2010 than in 2009, a Dispatch/Rock Island Argus analysis of state payroll reports indicates. It was the second consecutive year that more money was paid to fewer workers. The anal
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· DANVILLE — Problems in Springfield are pushing Vermilion County close to facing its first tax increase in several years, according to recent audit numbers. The Clifton Gunderson audit of the fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 2010, scheduled t
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· CHICAGO (TUA) -- A just-released study by Taxpayers United of America of the Top 100 pensions received by retired government employees in Illinois, funded by the state’s pension programs, reveals “absolutely astounding” cash payouts, according to the
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· Not a day goes by without readers demanding that I write something about the economic chaos in Greece and the protests and riots there. Readers who know I'm an American of Greek descent want me to account for those angry, swarthy people
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· Gov. Pat Quinn is right to try to kill promised pay raises for about 30,000 state employees. Too bad he probably can’t do it. On Friday, Quinn unilaterally blocked a 5.25 percent raise due between now and next February to employ
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made a big deal about ethics in his first months in office, and he deserves some credit. Only today, he introduced legislation at the City Council meeting to restrict how much lobbyists can give and lend city work
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· Last week, Atlanta’s City Council voted unanimously to address a $1.5 billion public-pension liability by increasing worker contributions and reducing benefits. Florida also increased public-worker contributions. These are steps toward sol
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· When it comes to fiscal matters, Greece’s reputation is in ruins. With its self-inflicted financial calamity, the country is mainly an object of sympathy or scorn. But something about Illinois’ huge fiscal woes conjures references to Greek
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· Public employee unions and their protectors in the Illinois Legislature share a theory about retirement benefits that boils down to this: Whatever pension scheme was in place on the first day of a worker's career cannot be modified for the rest of th
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· CHICAGO | The pension fund for Cook County employees will run out of money in 2038, if nothing is done, according to a report released last week by county officials. "Without an increase in contributions, the fund will eventually go broke,
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· No one would confuse Illinois with austere Greece, but signs are afoot that our state government is finally learning to live within its means. Just hours before the new fiscal year began Friday, Gov. Pat Quinn signed the state budget, a le
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· Illinois public schools will take a $269.4 million hit next year after Gov. Pat Quinn signed a budget into law last week that further pinched education funding. Quinn slashed $376 million from the state budget that lawmakers sent him, i
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· The federal government may have run up a $1.3 trillion deficit in 2010, but that’s not the only government budget shortfall of note; a new report from the Pew Center on the States found a $1.26 trillion funding gap between states’ retirement promises
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· WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Investments made by U.S. public employee retirement systems are rising in value, Census data showed Thursday, but the gains will not close their shortfalls or end the nationwide fight over revamping them. Total ho
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· I begin every conversation with a public employee or teacher who calls to advise “no changes” to their pension plans “Teachers g – o – o- o -d, majority of politicians b – a – a – a – d!” In Shakespeare’s Henry VI, there is a scene where s
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· In a pair of rulings that may bolster efforts to roll back public pensions nationwide, judges in Minnesota and Colorado have thrown out lawsuits challenging recent cuts to certain retiree benefits. The judges said in separate decisions lat
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· In Illinois, you’re never too big or too small to get stiffed by the man. The strapped state government, awash in debt, is now $4 billion behind in paying its bills. At least 8,000 businesses, charities, and state agencies have been waiting patiently
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· SPRINGFIELD—Gov. Pat Quinn took aim at hospitals and school transportation late Thursday in cutting $376 million from the state budget lawmakers sent him. The idea is to take part of those savings and any increase in revenue from a hoped-f
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· CHICAGO (Reuters) - Just hours before a new fiscal year was to begin, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on Thursday signed a new state budget after vetoing $376 million in spending approved by the General Assembly. The Democratic governor sai
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· CHICAGO — Chicago could shore up its balance sheet by cutting employees, reducing future retirement benefits, slicing the City Council in half, and resurrecting efforts to lease Midway Airport, according to a new report from a Chicago-based governmen
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· WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is entering the next round of a nationwide boxing match over public pensions, with states approving changes to the funds, a leading municipal union challenging claims of yawning shortfalls and a research group
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· Back in 1989, Gov. Jim Thompson signed a law giving more money to most state lawmakers in the form of stipends, skirting a rule against midterm legislative salary increases. It took two years to get past legal challenges, but for the next
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· A leading Chicago watchdog group is throwing its weight behind a series of controversial ideas to revamp city government and save money—including halving the City Council to 25 aldermen. In a report set for release this morning, the Ci
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· It’s painful to consider the ways our state built its pension crisis. State lawmakers refusing to pay into funds when required by law. End-of-career salary bumps creating extravagant payouts. Employees double- and triple-dipping. There’s another
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· Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich could lose his state pension, as well as his freedom as a result of his conviction on federal corruption charges. Lawmakers on the General Assembly Retirement System board are moving to revoke a $63,864-a-yea
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· TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday signed landmark legislation that increases pension and health contributions paid by a half-million teachers, police and other public workers and removes the issue from collective bargaini
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· It is no secret that Illinois continues to suffer under the recession. The state government is cutting programs and borrowing money to keep itself afloat, and sometimes it seems as if it is fighting a losing battle. Nevertheless, there are appropriat
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· Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has received a lot of bad press, sharp condemnation from Republicans and even some quiet criticism from his own members over the past month. But Cullerton (D-Chicago) made no apologies during an int
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· With the start of a new budget year just two days away, thousands of Illinois businesses still are waiting for state income tax refunds dating back to 2009. The Illinois Department of Revenue said Tuesday it would end the current fiscal ye
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· TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Senate has given final approval to a bill raising pension and health benefits costs to the state's more than 500,000 government workers. The Senate voted Monday to knock out a provision of the bill th
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· NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Jersey Governor Chris Christie plans to sign into law on Tuesday a major overhaul of pension and health benefits, a spokesman for the Republican governor said. A provision in last week's accord on out-of-state h
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· Just what you needed on a rainy Monday morning: another indicator of just how precarious Illinois' financial condition remains. This one comes from the Institute for Truth in Accounting, and it shows that per-capita debt in Illinois — i
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn may sign the 2012 state budget Thursday, but the spending plan is not a one-and-done deal. "The budget is an on-going process," said Quinn. "We have to work on it 365 days of the fiscal year."<br /
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· An often-stated goal of public employee pension systems is to achieve fully funded pension systems in 30 years. In a newly released paper with Robert Novy-Marx, covered in a New York Times article, we calculate the increase in contributions that will
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· During the four decades he held public office — as mayor of Chicago, Cook County state’s attorney and Illinois state senator — Richard M. Daley paid a total of $393,679 into his government pension plans. He’ll get all of it back within 26
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· Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, boasts the 17th largest economy in the world. So how has the state that CEO Magazine ranked 10th among best "States to Start a Business" fallen to 47th? The state's budget numbers tell the story: •
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· CHAMPAIGN -- Illinois has borrowed more than $1 million this year to help cover its own expenses from money taxpayers give to charity. The state government has borrowed about $1.17 million this fiscal year from money that Illinois taxpayer
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· Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford had some dire predictions for the state’s fiscal future while visiting Palatine on Friday. “When the income tax increase was voted on, I was not supportive of it,” Rutherford said, adding that if the state
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· (Crain's) — The business tax structure of Illinois is coming under a special review by the General Assembly. A joint House-Senate Revenue Committee will examine this year’s increase in corporate taxes, which has led a flurry of firms to ex
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· Top Democrats in the General Assembly said Thursday they want to review Illinois’ business tax structure, but did not say what changes might be made to it. Senate President John Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan, both Chicago
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· SPRINGFIELD- Gov. Pat Quinn appeared to express displeasure Thursday with the state operating budget lawmakers sent him, hinting that he may rework it to better protect “core priorities.” Promising “there will be some changes,” the governo
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· Mass transit service cuts could occur as early as next month if the state fails to pay some of the nearly $400 million it owes the Regional Transportation Authority, agency officials said today. RTA Executive Director Joe Costello warne
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· It’s painful to consider the ways our state built its pension crisis. State lawmakers refusing to pay into funds when required by law. End-of-career salary bumps creating extravagant payouts. Employees double- and triple-dipping. There’s a
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· (Reuters) - U.S. state and local governments will need to raise taxes by $1,398 per household every year for the next 30 years if they are to fully fund their pension systems, a study released on Wednesday said. The findings clash strongly
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· INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mitch Daniels sits in his grand cave of a Renaissance Revival office and reviews Indiana’s economic fortunes, his self-effacing manner not entirely disguising satisfaction. The state’s pension funds are relatively healthy, the une
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· State lawmakers voted Wednesday to freeze their pay and take 12 furlough days in the fiscal year that starts July 1, but not before one legislator called the measure a gimmick aimed at duping taxpayers into believing the General As¬sembly is being fi
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· CHICAGO — The treasurer of Cook County, Ill., Tuesday said she was shocked by recent figures showing that the county’s local governments together owe $108 billion — nearly a quarter of which is due to unfunded pension liabilities. The report mar
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· Illinois’ fiscal problems go well beyond unfunded liabilities for pensions and health care, but those two retiree benefits are symbolic of the way Illinois lawmakers have done business for years: Give first, figure out how to pay for it later. <
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· Washington lawmakers have driven the federal share of Americans' total public debt to more than $14 trillion. In Illinois, legislators and governors have spent and borrowed state government into insolvency. Meanwhile, closer to home, local officials
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· Every household in suburban Cook County is $32,901 in debt. You can send the check to me, and I will make sure it gets to the right place. County Treasurer Maria Pappas believes it is important for all taxpayers to know just how much
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· Calling local government debt “staggering,” Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas announced Tuesday that the $108 billion debt tab across various governing bodies in the county translates to $63,525 per Chicago household and nearly $33,000 per suburban
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· In talking with Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas' folks, it's clear that they believe their numbers actually low-ball the problem and that, in fact, the collective debt of local governments in Cook County markedly exceeds the $108-billion figure ci
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· SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois Policy Institute don't agree on much, but they do agree that the 2012 state budget is out of whack by more than a billion dollars, pushing unpaid bills into an uncertain future. The
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· You might call it trading places, Chicago-style. The chief of staff to CTA Board Chairman Terry Peterson resigns to become Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s chief of staff. Theresa Mintle’s $175,000-a-year job is promptly filled by Joan Coogan, director
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· Cook County taxpayers are on the hook for a staggering amount of local debt, according to figures presented by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas today. Cook County's numerous local governments face mounting debts totaling more than $108 billion. And
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· (Crain's) — A $64.7-million state deal last September to keep Navistar International Corp. in Illinois lacks a guarantee that the truck and engine maker won't cut jobs here. The situation is similar to Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'s agr
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· Orland Hills has a library board, but no library. Norwood Park has a paid three-member board with the sole job of overseeing 40 streetlights. And a southern Illinois tuberculosis board has amassed more than $200,000 yet it treats only one patient eve
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· The average Chicago household now owes a staggering $63,525 to cover local government debt, according to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas. Suburbanites are deeply on the hook, too, with the average household owing $32,901, according to t
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· ROCKFORD — Most state employees don’t spend a dime on their health care premiums, but it’s costing the state a pretty penny. Illinois spends $750 million a year on retiree health care, which in most cases is provided free to former gove
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· We keep hearing from Gov. Pat Quinn and others how much the state's budget has been trimmed and how there's no place to cut without causing harm. Then we read about the hundreds of boards and commissions the state still has, including abou
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· Despite what you might have read in the newspaper, this one or any other, state government in Illinois is poised to spend more in fiscal 2012 than it did in fiscal 2011. Lawmakers aren’t admitting that. Many, in fact, have been hailing a $
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— Illinois is on the verge of approving a Medicaid budget that could mean doctors and hospitals wait months to be paid and poor people have a harder time finding care while state government falls deeper into a financial hole. <
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· Tax-break deals with 107 Illinois companies will expire in 2012, 2013 and 2014, according to records obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information request. Those deals, worth more than $100 million, run out at a time when other st
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· First came the pay freezes and unpaid furloughs. Then came the higher contributions for health insurance. Now, in the most definitive sign yet that the era of generous compensation for public-sector employees is ending, workers in more than half the
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· The median family income for a Freeport family is around $47,000 a year according to the 2010 U.S. Census. That compares to the U.S. median for a family of four at $50,006. One day of special session for the Illinois General Assembly would cost
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· The line of businesses looking for tax relief in Illinois keeps growing, with the latest plea coming from the owner of the iconic Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade. CME Group Executive Chairman Terrence Duffy told a shareholders
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· As jurors in the corruption trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich deliberated for a second day Monday, a senator and a congressman appeared in a courtroom 11 floors beneath them to urge that former congressmen in Blagojevich’s situation lose their pen
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· Hard up for money, Illinois is considering of selling advertising space on its state license plates. The idea is to allow corporate sponsors to put their business logos on the plates, which would be offered to drivers at a discount.<br
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· Maybe it seemed reasonable 14 years ago to give some collar county elected officials 80 percent of their final salary after 20 years of service, but it sure doesn’t seem so now. Daily Herald Tax Watchdog Jake Griffin recently reported that
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· You're sending an extra week's pay to state government this year thanks to the income tax increase passed in January. But what would you say if you found out money from that tax increase is being used to pay for highly-paid interns and a
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· CHICAGO | A report prepared by the Cook County Pension fund highlights some difficult financial challenges ahead. The pension plan has nearly $5 billion in unfunded liabilities. The smaller Forest Preserve Pension plan had just under $100
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· First Navistar International threatened to go. Then Motorola Mobility. Then Sears Holdings. Now CME Group is the latest signature company talking about leaving Illinois. You can bet it won't be the last. We are seeing a growing
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· CHICAGO— The suggestion by the owner of two major futures exchanges in Chicago that it could move jobs out of Illinois because of the state's business tax casts another spotlight on the unpopular increase Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn said was necessary
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· A taxpayers organization Thursday threw a spotlight on the salaries paid to New Trier District 203 employees and the resulting pension payouts that are financed primarily by Illinois taxpayers. “These outrageous government-employee pension
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn is withholding $52 million in transportation payments for Illinois’ cash-strapped schools so he can use that money instead to get the most out of federal Medicaid stimulus funds. “After the buses are in the
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· Gov. Pat Quinn has handed another plum job to another former legislator who voted for the governor's 67 percent income tax increase. This time it is Mike Smith of Canton, who was booted out of his House seat in November by the voters in hi
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· New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Wednesday unveiled a pension reform plan that, if enacted, would save the state and localities outside of New York City $93 billion over 30 years. The initiative would also affect New York City’s retirement syste
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· TRENTON, N.J.— New Jersey's Republican governor and Democratic state Senate president reached a deal Wednesday on legislation that would make public employees pay more for pension and health benefits, but Assembly Democrats refused to go along, leavi
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· Illinois gained nationwide notoriety in January when Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a 67% hike in the personal income tax rate while lifting the corporate tax rate to 9.5%, the fourth highest in the nation. How is that working out? The
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· Chicago business is partly defined by its concentration of financial traders, but the boss of the city’s two dominant futures exchanges said Wednesday that he might pull jobs out of the region in response to a state tax hike on corporations. <br
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· CHICAGO -- Chrisa Hickey, a northwest suburban mom whose 16-year-old son hears voices, has bought property in Wisconsin with an eye to the future. She wouldn't leave Barrington, Ill., for career, retirement or the more languid pace of sma
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· For 16 years, Bob Schroeder was a loud voice of fiscal responsibility on the DuPage County Board. But his mama didn't raise no dummy. While he voted against the legislation that gives him his $41,347 pension for serving on the p
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· Springfield, Ill. — The first six months of 2011 have been some of the busiest and most productive in the Illinois General Assembly's recent history. Lawmakers in Springfield, in the waning days of the 96th General Assembly and the firs
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· Now that the dust has settled, the spring legislative session has come to an end and we have returned home to address the concerns of our constituents, we wanted to share with you our thoughts on the session. For better or for worse, th
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· Illinois lawmakers got a lot done last week but left their most important task untouched. They wrapped up the spring legislative session without taking action to reform public employee pensions that are burying the state in promises it can
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· The circus under the dome in the State Capitol has folded its tent, but much work remains undone. Despite completing a state budget and making progress in key areas, most notably education and workers compensation reform, two efforts vital
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· Certainly, we were naive to believe it. Even though the Illinois Senate had passed the measure, even though the legislation was co-sponsored by Big Boss Mike Madigan, speaker of the House, and House Minority Leader Tom Cross, there was no way Illinoi
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· Illinois is still on track to push about $8 billion of unpaid bills and obligations incurred this fiscal year into the next year in the wake of its newly passed state budget, the state comptroller said on Thursday. Comptroller Judy Baar To
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· Don’t be fooled. The General Assembly may have adjourned on Tuesday, but lawmakers didn’t finish their work. If they were college students they would get, at best, an “incomplete.” For the budget, lawmakers are woefully short and deserve a
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· Gov. Pat Quinn said the state budget approved by lawmakers late Tuesday “clearly needs more work,” but he wouldn’t say what he’ll do to improve it. At a news conference Wednesday, Quinn again criticized lawmakers for cutting spending on ed
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· PEORIA —When it comes to the state budget passed by lawmakers in the waning days of their spring session, area human service and social service agencies still are more puzzled than anything else, still trying to figure out how much money will be flow
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· The state budget plan now in Gov. Pat Quinn's hands would slash $171 million in public school funding, erasing financial support for everything from teacher and principal mentoring to state writing tests for high school students. One of
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· Local government officials across the state celebrated a major victory Tuesday as the Illinois General Assembly adjourned with a budget that leaves municipalities' income tax share intact. Gov. Pat Quinn, who has not yet signed the $33.2 b
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Quinn signaled potentially serious trouble for a Chicago casino Wednesday. While he stopped short of saying he would outright veto the legislation authorizing the gambling venue, he told reporters the bill was “excessive
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· PEORIA — Unsurprisingly, the Legislature has kicked the can down the road on pension reforms for existing state employees. What had been proposed was a controversial and possibly unconstitutional remedy from the get-go, but given Illinois' pattern of
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· With the Illinois Senate’s Memorial Day vote to approve a budget, Springfield is finally inching its way toward a responsible approach to state finances. But there are still miles to go. The $33.4 billion budget spends as much a
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· SPRINGFIELD ——Education and social services are the losers under a state budget lawmakers put the finishing touches on Tuesday. The $33.2 billion spending plan is about $2 billion less than what Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn wanted. Spending l
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· Chicago - With so many states struggling to fill gaping budget holes, Illinois lawmakers say they have a solution: more gambling. Illinois leading states facing a pension crisis A bill passed by the Illinois Senate Tuesday, which clea
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— Illinois legislators capped their ambitious spring session Tuesday with a massive gambling expansion and an overhaul of the state's expensive workers' compensation system. They also backed a plan to raise Commonwealt
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· This is the way it usually goes, isn't it? The Illinois Legislature chokes on the decisions that would mean sound, disciplined spending and looks for easy money. It happened again on Memorial Day. House Speaker Michael Madigan and Minority
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· Over the weekend, while most people in Illinois were barbecuing or watching parades, our legislators in Springfield spent a goodly amount of time making legislative sausage. The process in recent weeks has been more productive than usual.
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· Illinois’ runaway pension system is placing the state’s fiscal health in jeopardy. State contributions to the pension system have already crowded out payments to social service providers. But less focus has been placed on current state workers and te
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· If you’re not a teacher or government worker hoping to cash in on a pension when you retire, you may be wondering why pension reform matters to you. Try this on for size: The rising costs of government pensions will cost you one week’s
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· A day before they are scheduled to adjourn, Illinois lawmakers approved a new state budget and sent it to Gov. Pat Quinn for his signature on Monday. In a series of mostly partisan votes, with Republicans voting against the plan, the Illin
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· SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate sent Gov. Pat Quinn a budget that cuts about $1.6 billion from his original proposal Monday as lawmakers charged toward their scheduled adjournment Tuesday night. The legislature's Democratic majority took
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· CHICAGO — Illinois lawmakers entered the homestretch of their annual regular session this week facing a crowded agenda topped by budget questions, including whether to use borrowing to pay down bills — a debate that prompted a threat from the treasur
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· You used to be able to lead a long life without ever knowing the name of an Illinois state treasurer. Now, though, you owe considerable gratitude to the current treasurer, a Republican first-termer named Dan Rutherford. This week, he blew a very loud
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· SPRINGFIELD --- Democrats advanced to the full Senate tonight a plan to borrow more than $6 billion to pay overdue bills owed to providers of state services, group health insurance bills, and debts to schools and local governments, but it’s question
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· This January, after two years of trying, Illinois governor Pat Quinn finally got his state’s legislature to pass a large, across-the-board tax hike that will raise over $7 billion per year, or more than 20 percent of the state’s general-fund budget.
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· In February, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker proposed increasing unionized state employees’ pension contributions to 5.8 percent, up from virtually zero. Walker’s plan, along with his proposed collective-bargaining reforms, sent Wisconsin into a dizz
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· State Government: The chief fiscal officer of tax-and-spend Illinois is preparing to warn lenders that allowing it to borrow any more money would be a major risk. Will his be the first state to go bankrupt? Treasurer Dan Rutherford is a Re
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· THEY PLAN TO to spend $35 billion. Whether the governor's, the state Senate's or the House's budget wins, Illinois can expect to spend about $5 billion more than the state takes in -- even after a historic, 67-percent hike in state income taxes. Plus
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· We understand the sentiment behind Rep. Rich Brauer’s statement on pension reform in Monday’s State Journal-Register. “I think Representative (Raymond) Poe had the best comment on that. He says, ‘If you don’t have any teachers in your d
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· (Reuters) - Illinois is "on the verge of a financial disaster" as payments on the state's debt have skyrocketed, Treasurer Dan Rutherford said on Monday. Illinois faces an estimated $45 billion in principal and interest payments on its out
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· Illinois lawmakers face the prospect of pleasing no one as they try to pay off $8 billion in overdue bills in the closing days of their budget session scheduled to end May 31. Months of negotiations over Democratic Governor Pat Quinn's pro
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· After 34 years of teaching sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, I recently retired at age 64 at 80 percent of my pay for life. This calculation was based on a salary spiked by summer teaching, and since I no longer pay into the retirem
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· A bill to increase what current public employees pay for their pensions stalled in the Illinois House last week, with resistance in both parties playing a role in the holdup. The measure, which still does not have finalized language with j
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· In looking at the proposed reforms to public sector pensions in Illinois - which would give most current employees three choices of retirement plans, none of them as good as what they have now - our first reaction was, "Welcome to the private sector.
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· Illinois is planning to spend millions of dollars to keep companies in the state after news surfaced that a big-name local company is reportedly leaving for California. The Chicagoist published a May 11 email from Pabst Brewing Co. CEO Joh
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· SPRINGFIELD — Shannon Davidson enjoys the freedom of living alone in her Alton apartment, after she stayed in two different nursing homes outside the city. "I used to say 'I missed doing laundry,' because I hadn't done it in four years when I
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· The Civic Committee functions as a private, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to stimulate and encourage the growth of the area's economy and its ability to provide for its people. My name is Nate, and I'm a teacher in a Chic
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· Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday he’s all for the idea of a Chicago casino, provided certain “conditions” are met, including municipal ownership long-demanded by former Mayor Richard M. Daley. “We have gambling, or casinos rather, in Chica
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· Imagine your family is broke — and you asked for it: For years you've spent more than you earned. You have no savings and don't remember when you last paid bills on time. Your ability to repay loans is so suspect that you could only borrow more
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· SPRINGFIELD, Illinois — The Illinois General Assembly has given itself five years to fix the state’s dismal fiscal situation. It will be a painful five years. The countdown is timed to new personal and corporate income taxes approved by
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· With the economy the way it is, just about every state in the country is frantically scrambling to keep their local corporations from leaving, or attracting new jobs by doling out huge government incentives. Illinois, of course, is a
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· SPRINGFIELD —Calling it a "big hit," Springfield Mayor Mike Houston and dozens of other Illinois mayors on Wednesday urged lawmakers not to reduce revenue that cities and villages share with the state. Gov. Pat Quinn's administration said such cuts a
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· SPRINGFIELD — The city of Moline’s public library is only open six days a week. Its public parks’ lawn is mowed once a month. And the city staff has been cut by 10 percent, while the remaining workers are taking more furlough days and a pay freeze.<b
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· Western suburbs — Let’s hold off on celebrating this milestone for our state government, OK? Illinois had the dubious distinction of being ranked No. 1 in the category of underfunded pension liabilities for fiscal year 2009. This informati
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· Thousands of retired state employees could see their health insurance premiums rise dramatically under a series of payment options being considered by state lawmakers. One of the scenarios laid out to lawmakers could result in retirees wit
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· Illinois in 2011 is on pace to provide much more money in financial incentive programs to businesses to retain and add jobs, with the total through early May exceeding $230 million pledged to 27 companies. That is nearly the amount pled
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· Mayor Emanuel on Tuesday ordered $75 million in cuts to former Mayor Daley’s final budget, an admittedly “symbolic” launch to the more difficult job of confronting Chicago’s $1.2 billion-a-year structural deficit. “We are very pleased that
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· Rahm Emanuel, the former Obama administration official known for his aggressive partisanship, was sworn in as mayor of Chicago today with a promise to unite the city as it confronts its challenges. At the same time, Emanuel directly challe
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· Most state, university, and school employees and state lawmakers – but not judges -- would have to pay more in order to keep their current pension benefits under legislation expected to move to the floor of the Illinois House next week.
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· There's plenty of screaming and yelling to come. One little spat over lines on a map could derail it all. And the always eclectic Gov. Pat Quinn surely has his own plans to prove his relevancy. But maybe—just maybe—the outlines of a budget
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· The state of Illinois owes more than $9.6 million to Springfield-area businesses for services ranging from cremating public-aid recipients to motor repairs, according to information obtained by The State Journal-Register. The disclosure sh
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· NEW YORK — As 2010 drew to a close, the mayor of Newark, N.J., was staring into a budget abyss so deep that he sold 16 city buildings to pay the bills. They included the architecturally significant Newark Symphony Hall and the police and fire headqua
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· CHICAGO—Sears Holdings Corp. is telling Illinois officials it may move its headquarters out of the state if a package of tax incentives is allowed to expire next year. The iconic retailer's warning comes as Illinois is fending off raids on its busine
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· One ad notes most of us are paying for 5 percent of the state population to retire early with too-healthy pensions. Another dueling ad features public workers noting they did their jobs and contributed significantly to their pensions, and politicians
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· First Navistar. Then Motorola. And now Sears. Some of Illinois' signature companies keep threatening to leave. We hope they all stay and create many more of the jobs that Illinois very much needs. But doling out state and local
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· SPRINGFIELD — House lawmakers today overwhelmingly approved a budget for schools that lowers state assistance and early childhood education funding. The vote sends the bill to a Democratic-led Senate that has struggled to come to agreement
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· SPRINGFIELD — Better late than never – that’s what Illinois hospitals are saying when it comes to their Medicaid reimbursement payments. The Illinois House Human Services Appropriations Committee is proposing a $463 million payment reducti
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· Suburban mayors have cut staff, frozen pay, reduced services and imposed furlough days to balance their budgets during the recession. So why can’t the General Assembly, dozens of local leaders wondered Thursday as they rallied against a pr
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· Illinois mayors continue to protest a plan that would delay payments to municipalities from the state. Governor Pat Quinn wants to withhold millions of dollars in monthly payments to municipalities if lawmakers don't approve his borrowing
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· Spend a few days in Springfield during the budget negotiations and you might feel like Alice in Wonderland. Strange things are happening. The Democrats — traditionally the party of “yes” to new programs — are leading the effort in the Hous
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· Back in January, when a lame-duck session of the Illinois Legislature approved a "temporary" increase in the state's individual and corporate income tax rates, there was some skepticism here about how "temporary" it really would be. Four y
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· If you look at neighboring states, Wisconsin and Indiana for example, you see governors making tough decisions and taking key leadership roles. You may not agree with what’s being done, but you know where those governors stand. <br
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· SPRINGFIELD - What Gov. Pat Quinn took away, the Illinois Legislature is giving back. Lawmakers restored millions of dollars in their final drafts of the education and human services budgets that the governor had cut from the 2012 spen
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· Indiana has stepped up its effort to lure businesses from other states by lowering its corporate income tax rate by nearly 25 percent. The state will start reducing its 8.5 percent rate by a half a point every year for the next four yea
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· Americans for Prosperity - Illinois has launched an effort to goad our lawmakers in Springfield to tackle the single most vexing problem the state faces: pension obligations. AFP has launched a website called "Fix Illinois Pensions Now" to
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· SPRINGFIELD — As the clock ticks closer to the May 31 budget deadline, Illinois lawmakers are rushing to find the magic fiscal number with some legislators expecting final figures by next week. Budget plans in the Illinois House for higher
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· On the night they voted to raise Illinois' income tax rate by 67 percent, Democratic leaders promised new austerity on spending. Their discipline would assure that, as written into the law, more than half of the hike eventually would vanish. Senate P
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· Sears Holdings Corp. has joined a growing list of companies threatening to move their headquarters out of Illinois, setting off a flurry of activity from government officials, including Gov. Pat Quinn, eager to keep thousands of corporate jobs in the
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· Good afternoon all. You've read Mike's piece on school districts pleading with the state to be merciful when it comes to budget cuts. That made me think of my not - so - distant days as an education reporter, when I'd hear, over
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· Though we're not always moved to shower praise upon Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, some of the ideas championed by the top dog in state politics are worthwhile. One such has to do with pension benefits for government employees, a
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· SPRINGFIELD—When Democrats pushed through a major state income tax increase in January, they promised more than half of it would go away in four years. Now as Illinois' political leaders bear down on a new state budget, the decisions th
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· It's crunch time in the Illinois Legislature, with less than a month until its scheduled summer adjournment and billions to go before they sleep. Though the House, Senate and Gov. Pat Quinn are within about $2 billion of each other, the battle lines
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· CHICAGO— Illinois' budget deficit could surpass $9 billion, according to estimates in a report released Monday that criticizes Gov. Pat Quinn for artificially inflating the amount of money the state has to spend and contributing to an unbalanced budg
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· Corporate Chicago got the man it wanted on the fifth floor of City Hall. He's selected the kind of team that would fit comfortably in any boardroom. But when Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel takes office in a week, he's going to have to start deli
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· Perhaps Abraham Lincoln said it best: “The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot, so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities.
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· Local officials in Will County are stirred up over the prospect of the state of Illinois paying its late bills with money taken away from cities, villages and counties. Will County Board Chairman Jim Moustis went so far as to call it “atte
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· Illinois schools are facing deeper cuts, which could impact programs, increase class sizes and reduce the number of teachers. Our schools are on the chopping block in Springfield again, and education leaders in our area are wondering wheth
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· "We're all familiar with the inadequate funding of the state pension systems. Again, tough decision-making, telling people, 'You're not going to get everything you thought you were going to get,' telling people, 'You may have to pay in more.' Not eas
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· CHICAGO -Strong investor relationships and diligent disclosure provide issuers with their best shot at keeping borrowing costs down amid headlines about fiscal stress that persist even as state tax revenues have rebounded, a conference panelist said
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· Illinois plunged nearly to the bottom of an annual list rating the best and worst states for business, as judged by the nation's chief executive officers. The state was third-worst for business, according to Chief Executive magazine, which
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· SPRINGFIELD — A 67 percent income tax increase helped pump up state revenues in April, but it’s still not doing much to help lawmakers fix next year’s budget. A new report by the Illinois General Assembly’s fiscal forecasting unit showed t
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· SPRINGFIELD —Unless Illinois lawmakers make drastic budget cuts, or find a pile of money, the state's backlog of unpaid bills could almost double by July. And that spells bad news for both the Village of Romeoville and its main school dist
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· Life in Chicago politics can be a roller coaster, something Tommie Talley has seen firsthand. In 2010, the Daley administration fired him from his job as a top official in the Water Department. His bosses said that he dispatched city water
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· SPRINGFIELD — A plan to vote on an ad hoc budget introduced by Illinois Senate Democrats fell apart before several scheduled budget hearings Tuesday evening. Republican and Democrat Senators alike complained that there wasn’t enough tim
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois school districts may soon get the answer to their multi-million-dollar question: Exactly how much money are they getting from the state? As the Illinois Legislature rushes to beat the budget deadline, lawmakers in th
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· Sizing up a looming budget gap of about $9 million, DuPage County officials are trying to figure out how to rein in the skyrocketing costs of employing people. Among the possibilities are adopting a self-insurance approach to most of the c
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· We applaud the Sun-Times for its editorial calling for the reform of pension benefits for current government employees (“Change pensions for current state workers,” April 28). This is a position that the Civic Committee has advocated for some time no
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· Illinois is dead last. Again. A new report puts Illinois in last place among states when it comes to putting away enough money for benefits promised to its employees in retirement. Illinois had just 51 percent of the $126 billion it needed in 20
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· Chicago - State pensions are badly underfunded – and the situation is getting worse, fast. That's the upshot of a study released this week by the Pew Center on the States, a nonprofit, public-policy think tank located in Washington. <
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· (Reuters) - Illinois is on track to end fiscal 2011 with $8 billion in unpaid bills and other obligations, the state comptroller said on Wednesday. "After years of hand-wringing about the state's finances and deficit spending, here we are
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers returned to the Capitol Tuesday to a fast approaching deadline for getting the next fiscal year’s budget passed. The House is expected to start voting on individual budget proposals by the end of next week. <br
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· SPRINGFIELD — A new report says Illinois is ignoring as much as $8 billion in potential tax revenue, but there is little support from either political party in Springfield for a grab at the money. The Legislature's Commission on Gover
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· SPRINGFIELD -- Thousands of Illinois business owners are owed tax refunds -- some dating to 2008 -- but they could be left empty-handed again because of disagreements over how to balance the state budget. Earlier this year, Gov. Pat Quinn
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· Springfield has only begun budget talks for fiscal year 2011-12, but already rumors are fluttering north that greater cuts in local funding are needed to help pull the state out of the red. Both Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois Senate Repub
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· Like other municipalities in Illinois, the Village of Mokena has struggled with a budget made tougher by the state's tardiness in distributing revenue. But to further complicate matters—and possibly set back some signs of economic recovery
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· SPRINGFIELD — A report released Monday shows Illinois has the nation’s worst record on supporting government retirement funds, setting aside only 51 cents for every dollar it has promised to pay out. Other states owed more to their retirem
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· NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- States are $1.26 trillion in the hole when it comes to their pension and retiree health obligations, according to a report released Tuesday. And taxpayers are ultimately on the hook for this shortfall, which soared 2
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Bad decisions and a sour economy combined to leave 31 states below the safety line set for investing money to meet future pension costs, according to a study released Monday. The double-whammy also has increased th
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· For the second year in a row, Illinois ranks dead last when it comes to saving money to pay promised worker pensions -- and the hole is getting worse. According to a new report being issued this morning by the Pew Center on the States,
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· Can the state change pension plans or overall benefits for Illinois, Inc. employees already on the job? As we've written before, the Land of Lincoln's 1970 Constitution would seem to indicate the answer is no way, no how. It declares that
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· Claiming 6,994 governing bodies, Illinois keeps busy. There are county governments (102), townships (1432), municipalities (1299), school districts (869), cemetery districts (70), streetlight districts (26), library districts (358), draina
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· Illinois' state pension system is in crisis. Professors Joshua Rauh of Northwestern University and Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Rochester estimate Illinois' unfunded pension liability is around $210 billion, accounting for future service, em
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· While the state won’t catch up on the debt it has incurred for existing teachers’ pensions for at least three decades, by 2036, it will basically stop having to pay for pensions for teachers hired after Jan. 1. An actuary’s report for t
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· Hundreds of Illinois teachers got word this month that they might not be needed in the classroom come fall, fueling another round of uncertainty at schools battered by economic woes. Pink-slipped teachers are scrambling to find jobs even a
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· GALESBURG —State Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, told the members of the Western Illinois Builders Association on Wednesday evening that the state’s business climate is not as good as that in surrounding states. However, the 37th District senator
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· SPRINGFIELD — The winds of change ushered in with the November election of new lawmakers apparently have quieted down to a subtle spring breeze. In their first 100 days in office, freshman Senate and House members saw many of their prop
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· State Treasurer Dan Rutherford is encouraged by the atmosphere around the Capitol this year as budget negotiations heat up. But he cautions more issues, such as workers compensation and pension reform, must still be addressed. Rutherford s
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· Western suburbs —If you oversaw an enterprise that racked up a deficit in billions of dollars, would you complain about having your salary reduced? With that kind of performance, most people would be grateful to still have a job. But a few
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· CHICAGO - Drawing deeply from the public finance industry well, Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuelon Wednesday announced a finance team led by advisory professional Lois Scott and supported by a project finance lawyer and public sector banker, both wit
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· Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel named a new city finance team Wednesday to tackle a massive budget deficit that he said is a threat to the city's economic future. Emanuel broadly estimated the budget hole at between $500 million and $700
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· SPRINGFIELD — Paying bills from your checking account usually isn’t a big deal, unless you’re the state of Illinois. The General Assembly approved a plan to pay about $4.5 billion into its various pension systems during the upcoming fis
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Private meetings between Gov. Pat Quinn's budget chief and state Treasurer Dan Rutherford indicate that Illinois finances may be headed down a positive path, Rutherford said Tuesday, days after Democratic leaders committed to a mo
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· Cicero resident Tina Harbus has been a participant at Seguin Services' day program for adults with developmental disabilities for more than 20 years. For the past two, she has been working at the agency's garden and gift store, spending much of her t
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· Teri Essex retired a year earlier than planned when she was offered $56,000 to leave her elementary-school teaching job in Elk Grove, California. Instead of accepting a salary cut, larger classes and less money for supplies from spending r
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· The National Taxpayers United of Illinois is hopping mad about public sector pensions, and wasn’t shy about naming names at its Wednesday press conference. “Governor Pat Quinn has proposed a 33 percent increase in the state personal income
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· Now that Standard & Poor’s has downgraded America’s credit outlook to “negative,” perhaps even politicians will begin to get serious about addressing the nation’s willingness to burden future generations with mountains of debt. But will
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· Illinois taxpayers are reminded every time they look at their paychecks that the lame duck General Assembly increased the income tax rate by 2 percentage points in an early morning session. But that day also should be remembered for promis
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· SPRINGFIELD — House lawmakers overwhelmingly passed legislation Friday to reduce the chances that local officials could win late-career salary bumps that make their pensions fatter, part of a comprehensive package aimed at preventing overly generous
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· The Illinois Senate on Friday passed legislation to pay the full required state contributions to the five state retirement systems — totaling $4.5 billion — for the next fiscal year without selling pension bonds, according to a statement from state S
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· A state income tax increase hasn’t reduced Illinois’ overdue bills, and legislative leaders can’t agree on how to deal with the problem. As of March 31, state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka’s office had $4.52 billion in unpaid bills, some o
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Senate Republicans and Democrats agree that cuts are a must to balance next year's budget, but they argue over exactly how to do it. After the Senate on Friday passed several measures to make payments to state pen
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· Who would you like to see managing your money? Someone who pays many of his bills late and other bills not at all? No. Someone who promises to do one thing with your money, but then spends it on something entirely dif
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· You might call it Amazon Tax II — a proposed sales tax "simplification" measure with potentially massive financial implications. Chicago-area officials say the bill could cost them hundreds of millions, and maybe billions, of dollars a
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· CHICAGO — The state is more than $4.5 billion behind in payments to doctors, hospitals, school districts, universities and businesses, according to state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. Topinka, the keeper of the state’s checkbook, says
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· SPRINGFIELD — Suburban mayors descended onto Springfield Wednesday with their colleagues from around the state to protest proposed cuts to cities and villages that they say would result in major cuts to essential services. The Senate Repub
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· Trying to rein in pension cost increases, DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said he will set up a committee Tuesday charged with ensuring county employee benefits more closely mirror those offered in the private sector. In one key
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· SPRINGFIELD — There are going to be some tough decisions made in Springfield. And not everyone is going to be happy with the outcomes. The Illinois House's appropriations committees will be outlining in the coming weeks specific spendi
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· Springfield Mayor Frank Edwards on Monday described the state of the city as “stable at best, fragile at worst.” Edwards, who is nearing the end of his four-month term as mayor, outlined a number of financial challenges the city faces. He
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· Even after the largest tax increase that will add $7 billion to state coffers, Illinois still faces the prospect of not paying its bills. Simultaneously, state cuts are impacting the areas that affect core services for infants all the way
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois has emerged from the worst of a violent financial storm, but the sun isn’t shining yet. A jump in revenue, some short-term borrowing and an income tax increase weren’t enough to keep the state’s backlog of bills from growi
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· A trio of local state senators repeated their call Friday for pension reform in Illinois. In a media conference call, state Sens. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, Chris Lauzen, R-Aurora, and Ron Sandack, R-Downers Grove, said that to get to the h
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· CHICAGO— Hundreds of elected county officials throughout Illinois -- including some who earn more than $100,000 despite working only part time for a portion of their careers -- enjoy far more generous pension plan benefits than those offered to other
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· Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman seemed to be under the impression after his meeting with Gov. Pat Quinn last week that the state’s income tax hike actually would expire in four years. “The tax increase is temporary,” Oberhelman told report
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) - Will Illinois’ temporary state income tax increase become permanent? Illinois Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) says yes, because the state’s financial condition won’t be any better four years fr
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· Kane County’s taken some lumps in the past year with double-digit unemployment, politicians suing each other and elected officials being indicted, but it is “still a great place to live.” That was the main theme of County Board Chairman Ka
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· Certain University of Illinois employees together received $9.7 million in raises this fiscal year, according to an Illinois Times analysis of UI salary data. Meanwhile, the state’s largest public university system instituted a 6.9 percent tuition hi
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· AURORA — The picture looks bleak for Illinoisans in need of mental health care services. “A person with no will to live and no one to help them cannot get the help they need,” said Christine Potts, speaking Monday at a legislative forum of
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· SPRINGFIELD – Illinois lawmakers could be seeing a pay cut soon. Or at least some lawmakers voted to cut their pay. Whether statehouse paychecks really shrink remains to be seen. The state House of Representatives approved a plan to reduce
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· Already straining to make ends meet as the longest downturn since the Great Depression grinds on, state and local governments are now facing a new, unwelcome question: What would a shutdown of the federal government mean for their struggles to balanc
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· SPRINGFIELD | When the dust settles after Tuesday's local elections, the winners could find themselves facing some painful financial decisions. Despite collecting additional revenue from a 67 percent increase in the state income tax, some
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· EAST PEORIA — Illinois is facing growing concerns among business leaders that its policies hurt the companies that drive its economy, the head of Caterpillar Inc. warned Tuesday as he met with Gov. Pat Quinn. The meeting was prompted by a
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· Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman delivered a timely reminder to Illinois politicians that the state's budget woes cannot be solved simply through higher taxation. In a letter to Gov. Pat Quinn, Oberhelman hinted that Caterpillar, an employer of some 2
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· SPRINGFIELD — Illinois judges and lawmakers may soon see fewer pension benefits after they retire. The Illinois House last week overwhelmingly passed House Bill 1447 that reduces the pension benefits state legislators and judges hired a
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· For the second consecutive year, local government officials are keeping an eye on Illinois lawmakers to see if shared tax revenue will be reduced as a way to streamline the state budget. A proposal last year by Gov. Pat Quinn would have cu
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· CARBONDALE-- Some Illinois lawmakers want more control over budgets at the state's public universities. They say tuition increases have gotten out of control. That has university officials pointing the finger back at Spri
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· State and local workers in Illinois are calling it quits at a faster clip these days, threatening to further strain the state's underfunded pension plans. Retirement rates at the five biggest public pension plans in Illinois jumped by doub
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· SPRINGFIELD — As the Illinois House of Representatives and Gov. Pat Quinn duke it out in the state budget ring, the House is about $3 billion lighter compared to the governor’s spending fund. From the House’s $33.2 billion fiscal year 2
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· In the countryside west of Peoria, local political figure George Shadid was fishing off his pondside deck a few years back when two neighbors pulled up. "I'm sitting there in my shorts, and all of a sudden I hear, 'Here we are!'" he rec
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· Haymarket Center, the largest not-for-profit community-based adult detoxification, residential, and outpatient substance abuse treatment facility in the City, for the second time in little more than two years has been forced to turn away clients.<br
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· More taxes are coming, more taxes are coming! During the American Revolution, we could have substituted “more taxes” with “the British.” We can’t blame old King George for our fiscal misery anymore. There are more taxes on the way as most
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· CHICAGO | Former Illinois Attorney General Tyrone Fahner said Thursday that Illinois' economic situation is becoming too reminiscent of Michigan, the state where he grew up. Fahner told a gathering of the Calumet Area Industrial Commission, a gr
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· Just a day after Illinois House leaders affirmed they will craft a budget using conservative revenue estimates, the House approved the first three components of that spending package. On a series of 110-0 votes, legislators approved bills
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· BLOOMINGTON -- State Farm Chairman and CEO Ed Rust Jr. on Thursday said business leaders need to inject themselves into the debate about "unchecked" government spending and borrowing, telling Twin City college students to get engaged and even conside
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· SPRINGFIELD —The Illinois Senate voted unanimously Thursday to eliminate the offices of state treasurer and comptroller in favor of a single constitutional office - comptroller of the treasury. The proposed constitutional amendment now goe
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· SPRINGFIELD - Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's school consolidation proposal could face some roadblocks moving forward. State schools Superintendent Chris Koch said Thursday he didn't think any proposal forcing school districts to merge would com
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· For governors cutting education and health care and going after public-sector employees to balance budgets, here's a message from Illinois Governor Pat Quinn: You're wrong. Not mistaken, not misinformed. “Just plain wrong,” said Quinn, 62,
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· Illinois ranks dead last among states in which to retire, according to website TopRetirements.com’s analysis based on taxes, the climate and the state’s fiscal health, or lack thereof. “Illinois is in terrible fiscal shape, even borrowing
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· After watching and listening and making a few phone calls the past two days, I've reached a couple of conclusions about just what Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman was trying to do with that leaked letter suggesting the company might move
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· Hoping to save some money by working together, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle are joining forces — maybe literally. The two announced Tuesday that they're forming a joint committee of civic and
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· NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Illinois recently passed a budget that ticked off a lot of business people because it raised taxes on companies and individuals. You might count Caterpillar CEO Douglas Oberhelman as among the aggrieved. In a le
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· Caterpillar Inc., suggesting that it could shift jobs out of Illinois, is prodding its home state to cut government spending and roll back tax increases. Doug Oberhelman, chief executive officer of the giant Peoria-based maker of construct
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· Public employees are retiring at a quickening pace around the U.S., providing a mixed blessing for state and local governments seeking to save money. The retirements mean employers can shelve some planned layoffs. And some of the departin
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· NIU President John Peters said the funding of next year’s budget, along with the employee health care and pension programs, is unsure. But it doesn’t look good. “The state remains in dire financial strait,” Peters said to the Board of Trus
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· Highlights from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability's Analysis of Proposed FY2012 (State of Illinois) budget released today. First, let's cut right to the conclusion: The increase in the state’s income tax rates (person
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· The Illinois budget crisis was food for thought at a State Senate Republican breakfast Thursday morning. Party members say Democratic Governor Pat Quinn's income tax increase does not take a big enough bite out of the state's deficit and t
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· Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel has broached a touchy subject during private meetings with aldermen to solicit their ideas on budget and ethics reform: cutting the nation’s second-largest City Council in half. Several aldermen, who asked to remai
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· Whether Prospect Heights can afford to recall police officers who have been laid off and how critical that is to safety in the city is one of the hottest issues for the April 5 municipal election. Mayor Dolores “Dolly” Vole, who is seeking
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· More than 360 teachers in the northwest suburbs could lose their jobs at the end of the school year. That's if the District 300 school board can't bridge a $5 million budget gap. The state owes the district $11 million in categorical funds. The Board
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· More than 1,000 students, teachers and parents packed the Westfield Community School gymnasium Wednesday night—many of them there to protest District 300's proposal to lay off more than 300 teachers. Students chanted, “Save our teachers,”
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· One day after the school board voted to lay off 363 teachers at Carpentersville-based Community Unit School District 300, nearly 2,000 students briefly walked out of its three high schools in protest. Officials said that they expect to
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· Illinois educators met Thursday in opposition to state funding cuts they say would devastate regional superintendents’ offices and the services they provide. Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed defunding regional superintendents to a tune of $13 m
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· SPRINGFIELD - Illinois' regional superintendents of education are realizing they might not make the cut for state money in Gov. Pat Quinn's attempt to close the $13 billion-plus budget gap. Quinn proposed taking away $13 million from th
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· SPRINGFIELD - Is Gov. Pat Quinn's latest plan a cash advance from the federal government or another multibillion-dollar borrowing plan? Quinn wants to borrow $2 billion in short-term loans to help pay off the state's backlog of debt, to
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· CHICAGO - With his proposal to borrow $8.75 billion to pay down bills floundering, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is pressing lawmakers to authorize $1.75 billion to $2 billion of short-term bonding to pay off Medicaid-related bills before federal reimburse
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· State Republicans seem to be the only ones in Springfield who understand what happened last November, not only here but across the nation. Last week, the GOP unveiled a hard-times budget plan, calling for $5 billion in cuts from a $35 billion state b
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· They don't mean to be prophets of doom. Or maybe they do. But Senate Republicans say Illinois doesn't have to be $22.7 billion in debt five years from now, as they predict will happen if Gov. Pat Quinn's budget plan is followed. Their outl
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· SPRINGFIELD – Freshman lawmakers inherited a multi-billion dollar budget deficit. And as they reached the spring legislative session’s mid-way point, they gave their views on their short tenure in the General Assembly. Freshman State Rep.
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· For teachers in Illinois, spring can be a nail-biter. By state law, that's when thousands of them are informed they may not be hired back until budgets are set in stone. That's typically been little more than a procedural step, with most being b
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· SPRINGFIELD — Tuition for new students at the University of Illinois is going up by 6.9 percent this fall. The school’s Board of Trustees approved the increase Wednesday, citing the state’s financial troubles as the main factor behind the de
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· In her second appearance in Ottawa within two days, state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, spoke on supportive living and other senior citizen issues Wednesday at Heritage Woods, an assisted living community on East Etna Road. Rezin, who won elec
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· GALESBURG — Freshman State Sen. Darin LaHood, R-Peoria, got a taste of the frustration among Knox County officials with the state’s inability to pay its bills, which could force the county to close the Mary Davis Juvenile Detention Home, when he visi
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· It's not exactly a huge surprise, but sales and income tax collections in Illinois dropped off more last year than they did nationally. According to a new report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, Illinois sales tax collections here were
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· The Teachers' Retirement System, the largest and costliest of Illinois' pension programs, is now almost $40 billion short of what's needed to cover future benefits — the deepest financial hole in 20 years of state records. And with lawm
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· It wasn’t one of Gov. Quinn’s finer moments. When Illinois Senate Republicans last week unveiled a hard-times budget plan, calling for $5 billion in cuts from a $35 billion state budget proposed by Quinn for next year, the governor dismiss
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· Republican and Democratic lawmakers appear to be in agreement that a sizable hunk needs to be cut from the state budget. But two different conversations are emerging from the respective sides of the aisle about just how to arrive there, to
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· Gov. Pat Quinn has tweaked a borrowing plan to help pay down the state’s backlog of bills after Republican leaders made it clear they would not support him. Quinn initially wanted to borrow $8.75 billion to pay off bills owed to schools
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· SPRINGFIELD - The University of Illinois may not be alone in considering a tuition hike. University of Illinois trustees are expected to vote Wednesday to increase tuition, meaning incoming students might have to pay 6.9 percent more for t
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· SPRINGFIELD — As Illinois lawmakers come to the halfway point, many expect there to be plenty of work on the budget before the legislative year is up. The 97th General Assembly has about two months before they depart for summer break, b
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· Tuition to the University of Illinois will increase 6.9 percent for undergraduates this fall if trustees approve the recommendation at their meeting Wednesday. New students at the Urbana-Champaign campus would pay $11,104 a year in tuition
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· SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate released its budget numbers Wednesday, joining three other groups vying to set the state’s fiscal year 2012 budget. The Senate based its $34.3 billion budget off the state’s Commission on Government Foreca
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· Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinklewants county employees to pay more toward health care costs and pension plans as part of a long-term strategy to rein in spending. "We're now in a position where public employees are seen as p
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· Fewer Illinois school districts are in serious financial trouble this school year — but apparently at the cost of more than 2,600 fewer teachers. The Illinois State Board of Education released data Wednesday showing that even counting the
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· Officials at Evanston Township High School are analyzing the costs and potential savings of offering retirement sweeteners to 39 noncertified employees age 50 and over in hopes of inducing departures as a step toward cutting $1.5 million from the 201
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· SPRINGFIELD, IL (KFVS) - The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released its annual financial profile of the state's public schools using revised Fiscal Year 2010 data that takes into account that the state is behind in payments to school dist
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· Lawmakers in Illinois say they may try to fix the state's ailing pension system by asking current workers to pay more into the plan, though the approach faces substantial legal and political obstacles. The lawmakers are also entertaining t
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· With the state’s $31 billion capital plan tied up in court, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, is pushing a $1-a-pack cigarette tax increase to provide money for construction projects. Under Cullerton’s plan, cigarette
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· SPRINGFIELD — On the same day Gov. Pat Quinn signed an income tax increase into law, his budget chief approved double-digit pay raises for two people under his command. David Vaught, who directs the governor’s budget office, also serves as chair
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· A combined crowd of more than 300 people came to hear their elected representatives and an outside expert explain the fast-paced changes taking place in public employee pensions at a pair of Town Hall meetings Saturday in Highland Park and Northbrook
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· SPRINGFIELD - Senate President John Cullerton wants to dig deeper into the pockets of cigarette smokers to help float a $31 billion state construction program whose main funding sources have been imperiled by a legal challenge. Cullerton p
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· University of Illinois officials are expected to approve tuition increases next week, but at a public meeting on the issue Monday, they avoided stating the numbers under discussion. Board members indicated in January that they want to keep
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· Major cuts in state funding for substance-abuse treatment centers and agencies serving people with developmental disabilities have been averted for the current fiscal year, advocates said Monday. An initial plan by the Illinois Department
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· The stock market’s turnaround in 2010 brought more money into the Illinois retirement systems’ coffers, but the bull market wasn’t enough to make a substantial dent in their $75 billion unfunded liability. A Register Star analysis of th
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· The bleak stories echo across Illinois: A school district, a social services provider or a group whose mission tugs at our heartstrings laments the consequences if it continues to lose public funding. Prepare to read more wrenching tales,
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· Labor unions at the heart of a burning national disagreement over the cost of public employees want to frame the debate as a civil rights issue, an effort that may draw more sympathy to public workers being blamed for busting state budgets with gener
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· It’s a pickle that, every other April, manifests itself at the suburban voting booth. Race after race — school board, park board, library trustee — has just one candidate per seat, if that, resulting in an automatic victory or special appo
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· SPRINGFIELD — With about three months left in the fiscal year’s budget, Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration this week finally settled on a $57 million budget cut to the Illinois Department of Human Services. The budget reduction initially was
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· SPRINGFIELD — Two major Internet retailers followed through Friday on threats to cut ties with Illinois businesses over a new law requiring them to collect sales taxes. Amazon.com Inc. and Overstock.com Inc. both announced they're dumping
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· Having lost the battle on collective bargaining, they may soon be asked to make more financial sacrifices. The state’s workers offered to start picking up part of the cost of their pensions and health insurance early in their showdown this
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· ROCKFORD — Winnebago County Board members elected in November 2012 or later will no longer be eligible for a pension. Republicans swept through a resolution Thursday, 18-6, to eliminate pension eligibility for future board members.<br /
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· SPRINGFIELD — As Democrats try to trim close to a billion dollars from Gov. Pat Quinn's budget for the upcoming year, Republicans are unveiling their own spending plan. Senate Republicans on Thursday suggested that the only way Illinois
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· Gov. Pat Quinn stepped into the Internet tax fray Thursday, signing into law a bill designed to collect a sales tax for certain online purchases, a move that Amazon.com Inc. said it would blunt by severing ties with Illinois affiliates.
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· His execution and timing were absolutely horrible. But Illinois Senate President John Cullerton threw out an idea worth debating on Monday when he proposed that Illinois begin taxing at least some pension and other retirement income. I
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· Special education teacher Colleen Kudla oversees a classroom of eight students with severe disabilities. Without the help of her three aides, Kudla says, she wouldn't be able to manage class. "All the students are nonverbal," said Kudla
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· The proposed elimination of a state-funded respite program has thousands of Illinois parents worried about how they'll get a break from the day-to-day effort of caring for their disabled children at home. The program's loss could put some a step clos
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· When Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn released his budget proposal in February, he targeted a specific change in the state’s current education system to relieve Illinois of some of its financial obligations. Quinn’s proposal to consolidate more
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· Senior citizens who thought they escaped the pocketbook pain of Illinois' major income tax increase soon could find they didn't elude the taxman's grasp after all. Influential Senate President John Cullerton on Monday suggested the stat
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· PEORIA —Reform of workers compensation, education, public pensions and the state's structural deficit are top issues central Illinois chambers of commerce are pushing for in Springfield. "We tried to identify things we feel are very import
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· State and local governments have serious financial problems, but ignoring Wall Street’s roles in them, minimizing the effect of unemployment and the resulting drop in tax receipts, blaming workers and rewarding the rich, and considering bankruptcy ar
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· EAST ST. LOUIS –(KMOX)– The Illinois state budget crisis is sending shock waves across the state’s economy — as businesses owed millions of dollars by the state are waiting to get paid, and waiting, and waiting. In East St. Louis, the Exe
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· A disabled Belleville man, and many more like him, is at risk for losing his home and his support services if the state makes the budget cuts that have been proposed. "I could be homeless," said Tony Hill, 47. Hill is a client of LINC Inc.
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· CARY – The state is more than $1 million behind in payments to school District 26, said T. Ferrier, director of finance and operations for the district. “We can’t force them to pay; at this point we just sit and wait,” she said Monday duri
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· Another 180 employees from Elgin Area District U-46 will receive a pink slip before the end of the school year, a move district leaders say will maximize staffing standards and protect the district in the event of further funding reductions. <br
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· State Rep. Pam Roth, R-Morris, is skeptical whether the recent state income tax increase will be phased down in four years as planned. The problem, she told La Salle County officials Monday afternoon, is that the state budget continues
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· PEKIN, Ill. —Illinois and Wisconsin are marching in different directions in responding to their financial problems. The political showdown in Wisconsin is more than a week old, and it’s not close to being over. The politic
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· If you thought Illinois government might get a tiny breather after raising income taxes, think again. The Illinois House’s new revenue projection for next fiscal year, which begins in July, is $759 million lower than the governor’s. Howeve
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· Countless Illinois businesses were forced to adjust their operating budgets amid the recession. The leaders of these businesses had little choice. A business that doesn’t meet its payroll and can’t cover its expenses isn’t a business, it’s
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· Hanover Park is offering an early retirement incentive program to 31 village employees in an effort to prevent future budget hardships. The village board approved the initiative last week, which could result in up to $2.94 million in savin
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· One of the most controversial proposals in Gov. Pat Quinn's Feb. 15 budget address was the formation of a commission to examine reducing the number of school districts through consolidation. Kelly Kraft, budget spokeswoman for the governor
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· The state potentially forcing school districts to consolidate does not sit well with many area school superintendents. Though some agree more could be done to facilitate consolidation for struggling districts, most disagree with elimina
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· Nearly two dozen current and former suburban officials already collecting pay or pensions are among those costing taxpayers more than $1 million a year in salaries or health-care benefits for serving on transit boards. A Daily Herald analy
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· It's going to be a tough year for the Illinois Department of Human Services if it can't find places to trim its budget, consolidate and address the rationale behind recent pay raises. Lawmakers last week grilled DHS Secretary Michelle S
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· SPRINGFIELD — The financial hole in Illinois’ government pension systems grew even larger last year, the state auditor reported Thursday — a problem that tends to increase pressure on a state budget already stretched too far. The long-term gap b
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· ROCKFORD — The Winnebago County Board may eliminate future members’ ability to receive pension benefits. It’s a move that wouldn’t save much, just about $32,000 annually, but would give board members credibility if they have to make hard decisio
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· SPRINGFIELD — The state’s next budget could be much smaller than Gov. Pat Quinn outlined last month. Or it could be the same. Or larger. Newly fiscally conservative Democrats in the Illinois House unveiled numbers Thursday they say will l
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· Illinois House members set spending limits for next year’s budget Thursday that are lower than revenue estimates made by both Gov. Pat Quinn and the General Assembly’s own financial forecasters. The House Revenue Committee determined that
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· SPRINGFIELD — Some lawmakers in Springfield got an earful in recent days from school board members and superintendents opposing proposed legislation that could jeopardize their jobs. A proposal to dissolve all school districts and school b
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· SPRINGFIELD — It's going to be a tough year for the Illinois Department of Human Services if it can't find places to trim its budget, consolidate and address the rationale behind recent pay raises. Lawmakers on Thursday grilled DHS Secreta
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· SPRINGFIELD – In a closed-door meeting with Illinois Senate Democrats, Gov. Pat Quinn Wednesday took questions about state budget cuts and the way some of them have been managed. "We've just got a lump sum of money and we've got to allocat
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn predicted continuing tough times for social service providers and others relying on state funding. Emerging from an hour-long meeting with Senate Democrats on Wednesday, Quinn offered little hope that the cash
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. Pat Quinn defended his proposal to merge school districts on Wednesday, saying the money saved from cutting district administrators will put more teachers in Illinois classrooms. Quinn said the state could save
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· Talk of budget cuts, borrowing, deficits, tax increases and pensions have dominated conversation throughout the halls of the Illinois Capitol this year. Legislators and staffers have debated whether the budget cuts actually cut the budget
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· Illinois Constitution: “Appropriations for a fiscal year shall not exceed funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.” Past borrowing by the state indicates that the proceeds of bond sales are generally incorp
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· Springfield, Ill. — Along with all of the other explanations floated so far about how the state managed to get itself into such a financial mess, we can add a new one. Maybe no one could figure out the state's books. Auditor General WIL
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· Helen Russell might have landed in a nursing home were it not for the tasty and nutritious home-delivered meals she receives courtesy of Aging Care Connections, a La Grange-based nonprofit that helps older individuals. "I don't even sha
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· Lawmakers and governors in many states, faced with huge shortfalls in employee pension funds, are turning to a strategy that a lot of private companies adopted years ago: moving workers away from guaranteed pension plans and toward 401(k)-type retire
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· SPRINGFIELD —Seventeen new Illinois lawmakers have been busy since taking office in January, proposing 160 pieces of legislation in both chambers of the General Assembly. Just what have these freshman legislators been up to? We continue ou
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· SPRINGFIELD — Changes to Illinois’ budgeting process will put more responsibility in the hands of the General Assembly this spring. Committees in both the state House of Representatives and state Senate will have to decide how to spend
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· Freeport, Ill. — The City of Freeport has collected almost $600,000 in shared revenue from the State of Illinois in the first two months of 2011, City Accountant Duane Price confirmed Monday. Price said the city received “double payments”
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· Recently, I was made aware of Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to immediately halt all general revenue funding for addiction treatment services in Illinois. With this decision, the vast majority of those who are receiving substance abuse services
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· Gov. Quinn knows what it’ll take to pull Illinois from the brink of bankruptcy, but he’s got his priorities wrong. On Thursday, the same day we implored the governor in an editorial to get to work on one key solution — negotiating with pub
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· Naperville City Manager Doug Krieger on Wednesday praised the Illinois House of Representatives’ approval of a police and fire pension bill as “a great first step towards meaningful reform.” After receiving approval Tuesday in the Illinois
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· CHICAGO — Illinois received $6.1 billion in bids from 128 investors on its sale this week of $3.7 billion of taxable eight-year general obligation bonds to cover its 2011 pension contribution, a level the state touts as a sign of investor confidence
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· SPRINGFIELD — Senate President John Cullerton wants suburban school districts to pay more into teachers’ retirement plans, an idea that makes cash-strapped districts nervous. Shifting the responsibility to pay for educators’ pensions to sc
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· Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said Illinois state budgets will have some "pretty significant cuts over the next few years" even after $7.3 billion is generated annually by hikes in income taxes and
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· As a 25-year business executive and now the treasurer of the state of Illinois, I cannot support the notion of a state having the ability to file for bankruptcy. I am aware that political criticism often befalls elected officials when t
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· Any temptation by Illinois lawmakers to borrow to pay the state’s backlog of bills must be accompanied by measures to keep the state from falling so far behind in the first place. Eliminating, or reducing the time frame for, lapse-perio
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· Cut the fat. Eliminate the waste. That’s what voters tell government officials. So here’s the response: Addiction treatment programs in Illinois were notified that Gov. Pat Quinn planned to halt state funding for their services
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· The Great Divide in Tuesday’s mayoral election was not race or ethnicity or even the Loop vs. the neighborhoods. It was city workers vs. the rest of us. Unionized city employees voted in lopsided numbers for Gery Chico, worried that a
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· He reportedly dropped the “F-bomb” in bailout negotiations with the United Auto Workers during the U.S. auto industry meltdown two years ago, one book author claimed. Now, labor proponents in economically troubled Chicago are left to wonder what thin
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· Illinois enticed hedge funds, mutual funds and non-U.S. buyers to purchase $3.7 billion in new pension bonds, but the cash-strapped state had to pay dearly to get the deal done. Illinois officials were forced to promise a yield that is abo
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· The honeymoon began at precisely 11:05 a.m. Wednesday in an ornate chamber of the private Union League Club in downtown Chicago. Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel addressed a room of obedient, seated reporters while standing at a podium with a crys
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· CHICAGO — Even before he was elected Chicago's new mayor, Rahm Emanuel hinted there would be changes at City Hall: deep cuts to the budget, a possible shift in the city council power structure and the expectation that unions would negotiate on pensio
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· A Chicago legislator says she will request a symbolic vote in the Illinois House today that calls on Gov. Pat Quinn to rescind an immediate $28 million cut in state funding for substance-abuse treatment programs. Swift action by Quinn is n
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Groups that treat people addicted to drugs and alcohol accused Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday of perpetrating a "cruel hoax" by suddenly imposing deep spending cuts that will take effect almost immediately. The groups
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· Public employees have been cramming the Wisconsin State Capitol to protest the governor's plan to cut their take-home pay and gut their collective bargaining rights. You can't blame them for objecting when the state reneges on a deal. But they should
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· Having fallen behind in funding its state pensions, Illinois is seeking to raise $3.7 billion through a bond issue this week, as the debate over government budget shortfalls roils state capitols. The Illinois bond sale is viewed as a sign
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· CHICAGO — Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel won't have much time to celebrate his victory as Chicago's new mayor. Emanuel, who overwhelmed the race with truckloads of money and friends in high places from Washington to Hol
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· Rahm Emanuel, a top adviser to two U.S. presidents who returned to Chicago just months ago, swept into the mayor's office Tuesday, inheriting a city reeling from recession and promising to reshape City Hall. He achieved what was once co
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· The last three months have not been pretty in the municipal bond market. Spooked by predictions of government bankruptcies and defaults, investors — especially those in big mutual funds — have fled the field, selling off $20 billion worth of state an
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· The crowds mobbing the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison are right: Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill is indeed an attack on organized government workers. And it's about time. Labor compensation is the largest component of buste
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· "We're all familiar with the inadequate funding of the state pension systems. Again, tough decision-making, telling people 'You're not going to get everything you thought you were going to get,' telling people 'You may have to pay in more.' Not easy
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois financial experts question the wisdom of Gov. Pat Quinn's proposal to borrow billions of dollars to pay a stack of overdue bills, unless it's part of a broader plan to fix the state's financial problems. T
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· Gaping holes at state and local-government pension plans are probably a lot deeper than municipal-bond investors already fear. To see why, look to the Netherlands or Canada. Those countries use far-more conservative approaches to value pen
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· As state and local governments face daunting pension shortfalls, some pension systems are taking controversial steps to stay solvent. As lawmakers in Wisconsin attempt to cut benefits, Illinois officials are taking a different approach: bo
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· It's time for Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois Legislature to get tough—and creative—on the state's finances. Tough because they must cut more costs. Despite a 66% income tax hike, Mr. Quinn's budget relies on borrowing to pay the state's b
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn is considering a plan to consolidate Illinois' current 868 school districts to no more than 300, officials said. Quinn brought up school consolidation in his budget address Wednesday, and a spokesw
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· SPRINGFIELD — A move by Gov. Pat Quinn to cut funding to social service programs will leave troubled youth "to fend for themselves" if his call for "budget restraint" is answered. Percy Dace, 61, who counsels "troubled youth" in the East S
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· Gov. PAT QUINN’s proposed budget takes some pretty big swipes out of human service programs. So much so, you’d think the thing was put together by a Republican deficit hawk rather than a Democrat. Given that a significant part of the st
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn promised to lead Illinois to “economic prosperity” Wednesday in laying out a $52.7 billion budget proposal built on a massive borrowing plan that faces sharp criticism from local legislators. “In the past year,
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· MADISON, Wis. (AP) — It took Scott Walker only a few weeks to push the Capitol into political chaos. The newly elected Republican governor of Wisconsin has set his sights on forcing public workers to pay more for benefits as he looks to
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· Based on the details of the state budget he's proposing, this is the speech Gov. Pat Quinncould have delivered Wednesday: "Fellow Illinoisans, I'm thrilled to report that your higher income tax payments already are pouring into Springfi
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· He wants to increase spending by $1.7 billion — but says that's well below the state's "tough" new spending caps. He does slash portions of the budget, particularly in medical expenditures — but also wants to borrow $8.75 billion and, b
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· SPRINGFIELD — Despite January’s income-tax hike, the $52.7 billion budget Gov. Quinn proposed Wednesday relies on near-historic amounts of borrowing and cuts programs that pay for prescriptions for the elderly, health care for the poor and bus servic
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· Just about a month ago, the Democrats who control Springfield approved a plan that increased our state income taxes by 67 percent, for what is supposed to be four years. Now Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is trying again to borrow $8.7 billion to pay off
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· For the most part, Southern Illinois lawmakers had a resounding message after Gov. Pat Quinn's budget address Wednesday: Cut spending first, then get back to us. Quinn's proposed budget, which relies heavily on $8.7 billion in borrowing, w
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· Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget proposal Wednesday was followed by an outpouring of reaction from lawmakers who will now start reviewing the plan — and changing it — before a final budget is approved. Here’s what some suburban lawmakers had to say. <br
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· At the State Capitol on Wednesday, Gov. Quinn walked to the podium and recalled, just one year ago, when “our state’s financial house was on fire.” “In the past year,” Quinn intoned during his annual budget address, “Illinois has begun an
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· More than two-thirds of Illinois’ school districts should be eliminated by merging them into other districts in a quest to save the cost of paying their superintendents, Gov. Pat Quinn said Wednesday. Quinn, in his budget address, called f
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· If you've ever watched this program, I’m sure you know where i stand on labor unions. I think they're sucking this country - specifically state governments - dry. And I’m not alone. The latest Wall Street Journal points out that the people
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· Even as I was watching last night's mayoral debate in real time I could sense the emptiness of the answers from the candidates on the city's pension woes. The cold transcript of the opening exchange is truly dismaying: MODERATOR CAROL MAR
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Quinn will propose a $52.7 billion budget for next year that does not increase any additional taxes or fees, relies on massive borrowing and imposes spending cuts of about $1 billion, according to legislative sources briefed on the
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Even with a tax increase to pump new money into the Illinois treasury, Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing a budget that would cut aid to the poor, skimp on many services and count on borrowing billions of dollars to pay overdue bill
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed budget would increase spending overall while cutting some services, including state police training and pharmaceutical assistance for the elderly. Here's a look at some of the major age
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· Most Illinois residents don’t trust their state government. Politicians in Springfield seem oblivious to that fact. Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to unveil a state budget today that includes a plan to borrow more than $8.7 billion
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn proposed a slight increase in education spending Wednesday but wants to save state money by pushing school consolidation and eliminating regional education offices, two ideas that have gone down in flames o
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· SPRINGFIELD — Even as Gov. Pat Quinn unveils his budget proposal Wednesday, suburban schools owed millions of dollars by the state continue to make their own spending plans not knowing if and when they’ll get what they’re owed. “It’s diffi
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· Happy “year of financial crisis plus three,” as reported in The Herald-News. Mokena’s school board is weighing a decision to close Mokena Intermediate School as the district faces a budget deficit of more than $2 million this year. Plainfi
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· In his more than two decades as Illinois's top power broker, House Speaker Michael Madigan has been a stalwart backer of unions, regularly supporting public-pension benefits with long-term obligations. The unions have returned the favor in campaign d
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Just weeks after signing a major tax increase into law, Gov. Pat Quinn gets the privilege of telling Illinois lawmakers and taxpayers that the state's budget is still a mess. Even with higher income taxes, Illin
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· In January, Gov. Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats in the state Legislature told all of us we have to surrender an additional $7 billion in income taxes so that deadbeat Illinois can pay its old bills. Now Quinn and some Democratic lawmak
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· Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Pat Quinn will take the podium to walk lawmakers through his proposed 2012 budget. He's promising "a lean year." We'll see. Trying to bolster his credibility ahead of the upcoming speech, Quinn is eagerly - if bel
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· Michael Madigan isn't known for kidding around, so we're inclined to believe him when he says the state Legislature will move to change pension benefits for state workers when it convenes this spring. Another reason to trust the speaker's
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· As Illinois’ pension crisis reached a crescendo last year, lawmakers enacted a two-tiered reform bill that went into effect this year. The reform changed the system for new employees hired on Jan. 1, 2011, or after, so they will retire
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· Taxpayers might have expected that state government was back on solid financial footing after lawmakers approved a major income tax increase that's already being docked from their paychecks. But Gov. Pat Quinn says Illinois' books were so
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· SPRINGFIELD — Only weeks after signing off on the income tax increase that was his defining budget proposal for years, Gov. Pat Quinn will take to a podium in the Illinois House Wednesday to deliver his budget plans. Quinn’s spending propo
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· In excruciating detail, a new report by the Civic Federation details just how big a financial hole the next mayor of Chicago will have to fill. But beyond standard advice and a couple of suggestions, the Chicago watchdog group isn't get
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· Public employees aren’t the only workers left in the Chicago area still drawing pensions when they retire. But the number of private sector workers who might enjoy the security of a pension when their working years are done continues to
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· When it was reported last summer that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn had doled out pay raises to 43 staffers in his office, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle criticized him for doing so in the midst of the state’s budget crisis. “It’s insult
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· Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez and county board President Toni Preckwinkle made peace with a brokered budget compromise Thursday, as Alvarez agreed to a 10 percent cut for her office while taking on additional county business.
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· The City of Chicago and related local governments like the Chicago Park District collectively under-funded their worker pension plans by $5.1 billion in the past decade, according to a new report by the Civic Federation. As a result, t
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· Continuing to sound the alarm on local pension funds,Chicago's Civic Federation will release a report Thursday that shows the unfunded liabilities for 10 city and county pension funds grew sixfold from 2000 to 2009, with shortfalls now totaling nearl
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· Bills filed in the General Assembly and uncharacteristic tough talk from the House Speaker could hint that lawmakers are serious about further reforming Illinois’ pension system. Proposed legislation would build on reforms approved last ye
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· The prospect of receiving a pension upon retirement was enticing to Joe Frega when, at age 29, he began working for the Geneva Police Department nearly 33 years ago. During his career, he was told his pension would amount to 75 percent
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· To the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, former Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti is retired. In fact, it is paying him a monthly pension of $6,459.75. Yet Barsanti continues to work, now as a circuit court judge in the 16th
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· SPRINGFIELD — The top House Democrat delivered potentially sobering news Tuesday to the state workforce, saying for the first time publicly that he’s open to a discussion about scaling back existing state workers’ pensions thought to be sacred under
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· Chicago's public pension funds, already reeling from years of inadequate contributions, took another financial hit when Mayor Richard Daley's administration and the city's unions agreed to require workers to take unpaid furlough days, according to a
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· Is Illinois using fuzzy math? At its core, that's the question being posed in a federal probe into the state's troubled, wildly underfunded pension systems. But before anyone starts applauding in the belief this inquiry might produce so
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· Chicago's next mayor quickly will be tested by a budget that experts say could be more than $1 billion short after years of one-time fixes, lagging revenue and soaring costs. The choices the city's new leader makes in dealing with that
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· WASHINGTON — The top Democrat on a House panel that plans to hold a hearing Wednesday on “State and Municipal Debt: The Coming Crisis,” believes states and localities need to reform their pension systems, but is uncertain about whether states in seve
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· SPRINGFIELD - Illinois lawmakers will have their work cut out for them when they reconvene today as they work to finally pay off the state's $6.6 billion in backlogged bills to vendors. In its current form, Senate Bill 3 calls for borrowin
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· CHICAGO — In a Great Recession that has seen billions of taxpayer dollars pumped to keep companies afloat, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has two words for anyone talking bailout for the state: No thanks. Brie Callahan, spokeswoman for the govern
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· A warning to Chicago's next mayor and the mayors who follow: Someone, someday, will ask you when the financial downfall of Chicago began. Your answer: Dec. 30, 2010. On that date,Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a requirement that the city —
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· SPRINGFIELD - Child care advocates are cringing at the idea of cuts aimed at the Illinois Department of Human Services, especially because a new 67 percent personal income tax hike was supposed to stave off budget cuts. With a little m
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· Illinois’ general revenue fund is $314 million richer as a result of the tax amnesty program that ended in November, according to the state Department of Revenue. The total going into the general revenue fund from the amnesty was $408 mill
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· What happens when public pension funds go bust, as so many state and local ones are on pace to do? For those who think the unthinkable cannot occur, an Alabama small town’s horror story is a wakeup call. Prichard, a city of 27,000 outside
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· As the rest of us try to put the Groundhog Day blizzard behind us, the state Legislature is heading back to Springfield. There they will debate a plan that could put a fiscal iceberg right in the path of the Illinois ship of state and guarantee that
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· Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield Tuesday for the first time in a month facing a key piece of business left over from January — borrowing $8.75 billion to immediately pay off the state’s backlogged bills. It’s uncertain, though, if
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· The state’s Secretary of Human Services met with a group representing child care providers last Monday and gave them some bad news. Prepare for $100 million in cuts to child care programs, Secretary Michelle Saddler told the group. Accordi
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· State lawmakers, especially the new ones: Get tough. As we watch Cook County formally begin its budget process with President Toni Preckwinkle’s budget address last week, we are reminded that state government is readying its own. Gov. Pat
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· With unemployment stubbornly high and the old blue-collar industries that gave rise to Chicago's "big shoulders" image vanishing, voters in the Feb. 22 race for mayor are understandably nervous about the city's economy and jobs picture.
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· Barely three weeks have passed since the Illinois General Assembly voted to raise the state’s personal and corporate income tax. This was a moment we saw coming for years, as the state’s budget deficit grew to $15 billion and its credit
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· U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk talks about the public relations problem the Illinois he represents has created for itself as a high-cost, high-tax, high-regulation, high-corruption, high legal liability state, and the difficulty that poses in trying to market I
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· The four years I spent in Washington, D.C., taught me something very important about myself. That realization is that I am not cut out for politics. With Illinois' recent decision to raise taxes, I have chosen to break my vow of political silence and
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Quinn and a top Mitsubishi Motors executive are planning a joint announcement Friday that could mean the introduction of a new product line or lines at the Japanese automaker’s plant in downstate Bloomington. Details of
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· State funding for preschool programs may be in jeopardy for the 2011-12 school year as Illinois takes aim at the Early Childhood Block Grant to help solve its budget crisis. The block grant program is designed to help at-risk children 5
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· The National Taxpayers United of Illinois is hopping mad about public sector pensions, and wasn’t shy about naming names at its Wednesday press conference. “Governor Pat Quinn has proposed a 33 percent increase in the state personal income
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· Just weeks after Illinois raised its income tax to address a backlog of unpaid bills and a projected $15 billion deficit, some state lawmakers are proposing legislation that would create new state agencies and cut into revenue by issuing new tax cred
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· New Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinklewon praise Tuesday for her plan to "end spending without control," in part by laying off more than 1,300 workers in a government long notorious for its bloated payroll. She wants to spend $3
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· NEW YORK — Big companies like General Motors file for bankruptcy. Some cities do, too. And last year 1.5 million Americans did it. But U.S. states aren't allowed. Now a few policymakers and pundits are debating whether it's time to give st
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· In a move prompted by the Securities and Exchange Commission's heightened scrutiny of pension-disclosure practices, Illinois unveiled overhauled reporting standards in its latest bond offering statement that also announced a rise in unfunded pension
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· The lead to our story Sunday about legislators’ interests this session included an important phrase. There are, Mike Riopell and Jeff Engelhardt said in their front-page story, “other priorities.” And there are. But, as the story also stat
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· Two weeks ago, Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres invited feedback on what areas are most critical as Torres and his team prepare the 2011-12 budget. Parents and staff in the district are already starting to respond
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· Bismarck, the German chancellor, established the world's first public pension for German workers in 1889. If a worker reached the age of 70, he could retire and draw a pension. It wasn't much of a stretch. Young workers would pay into the system, and
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· We welcome the scrutiny by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into Illinois' underfunded pension system. Somewhere out there is the answer to this multi-billion-dollar question: How much is the state in the hole for obligations to its past a
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· Amid strong opposition from the police union, the Daley administration urged the Illinois General Assembly on Friday to soften the blow of a bill that would choke Chicago homeowners and businesses with a $550 million property tax increase in 2015 to
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· Hank Bangser collects a $261,681 state pension after retiring as superintendent of New Trier Township High School District. Now, he's a full-time superintendent in Southern California, earning $170,000 at a job he'd be barred from in Illinois if he w
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· SPRINGFIELD — Given the state's sorry financial condition, it can be tough to catch state lawmakers talking about much else. But there are other priorities. And as the legislature reconvenes this week, the Daily Herald polled 46 suburban l
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· In the wake of the largest tax increase in Illinois history, the most important question for the new General Assembly is this: Will legislators become champions for bringing jobs to Illinois? The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is not waiting
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· More than 360,000 notices have gone out to Illinois employers on new withholding tables resulting from an increase in individual income-tax rates. Depending on the timing of paychecks, some workers may already have noticed the change, and
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· Moody's Investors Service has joined a growing number of analysts that have begun presenting the total debt load of the states as a combination of bond debt and unfunded pension obligations. The ratings firm, a unit of Moody's Corp., relea
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· Illinois' fiscal woes have translated into another dubious distinction for the state: A newly released analysis by Moody's Investors Service ranks Illinois among the five states with the highest debt and pension funding needs. Connecticut
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· Realizing legislator pensions are a tiny fraction of the state’s overall pension issues, we wholeheartedly support efforts to end them for Illinois lawmakers. State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, has proposed House Bill 260, which would elim
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· Newt Gingrich, the Republican firebrand whose "Contract with America" shook up Washington in 1994, now wants to shake up cash-strapped states like Illinois and California. To help them change their spendaholic ways, the former House speake
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· Amid all the debate about bankruptcy and bailouts and all the headlines about local-government layoffs, benefit cuts, reduced services and tax increases, ponder one simple question: How the heck did state and local governments get in such
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· Last March 24, the pols who run Illinois nearly ruptured multiple vertebrae by slapping themselves so enthusiastically on the back. In one day they had rammed through the Illinois General Assembly a bill establishing scaled-down pension be
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· Moody’s Investors Service has begun to recalculate the states’ debt burdens in a way that includes unfunded pensions, something states and others have ardently resisted until now. States do not now show their pension obligations — funded o
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· Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration confirmed Tuesday that the federal Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an inquiry into statements made by Illinois officials about prospective long-term savings from pension reforms passed last year.
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· We’ve said time and again that the income tax increase that’s going to take more money out of the pockets of Illinois taxpayers has to be accompanied by cuts, cuts and more cuts in state spending. We called for cuts during the long ramp-up
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· A proposed bill will make a second attempt at reforming the state pension system by eliminating pensions for future state elected officials. House Bill 260, filed Monday by state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, proposes closing the General As
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· CARPENTERSVILLE — The Illinois General Assembly may have passed a 66 percent personal income tax hike to pay its bills, but Community Unit School District 300 CFO Cheryl Crates said she’s still not optimistic the Carpentersville-based district will r
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· SPRINGFIELD — Another day. Another Republican governor taking potshots at Gov. Quinn and the whopping income-tax increase he helped implement this month. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appeared in a series of ads that debuted Tuesday in Il
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· The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has started an inquiry into public statements by Illinois officials about the state's underfunded pension fund, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The state's governor's office confirme
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· Illinois, the worst is yet to come. All you state retirees: Do you really believe that your pension was in any way secured by those blow-off-the-roof income tax increases? All you hospitals and social services that are owed billions: Think
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· We're so accustomed to misnamed legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act (card check) that it's hard to believe that a welcome proposal called the Public Employee Pension Transparency Act describes what it actually purports to do. To wit, prohib
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· SPRINGFIELD — State lawmakers, fresh off of passing a major income tax increase, are turning toward a trio of other ideas as they try to capitalize on a newfound mood at the Capitol of dealing with long-festering budget problems. The new p
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· When I go over my personal budget, I have to make sacrifices. Perhaps I don't eat out as often, or I turn my thermostat down, or even limit my purchasing of non-necessity items. We all do this because we know we can't live in the red for long without
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· What would you do with $62.3 million? If you're the state of Illinois, you could: - Hire 1,298 new state troopers. - Subsidize hiring 1,809 new teachers. - Cover the costs of the Illinois Department of Agri
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· SPRINGFIELD – Wisconsin and Indiana’s GOP governors have seized on Gov. Quinn’s big tax hike, but the higher income taxes Illinois companies and residents now pay are actually lower in some cases than in surrounding states. In Wisconsin, w
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Wisconsin has added "Open For Business" to its state welcome signs along Illinois' northern border. Indiana's governor has publicly equated Illinois to television's Simpsons, "the dysfunctional family down the block." <b
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· The state's stack of unpaid bills will soon double despite an income tax increase, according to state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. A four-year personal income tax hike of 67 percent was approved on the final day of the Legislature and
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· A new bill introduced last week in the Illinois House of Representatives would cap pension benefits for all state employees hired before Jan. 1. The reduced benefits already are in effect for new state employees. Extending the cap to current workers
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· As state governments struggle with the fiscal damage caused by the recession, an income tax increase has become a rarely used remedy. Governor after governor has publicly forsworn the prospect of raising income taxes, preferring to talk la
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· With Naperville Councilmen generally pleased with their work in the last year, state legislators representing the city were given a hearty “atta boy” and a pat on the back and told to get back to work. City officials sat down Tuesday after
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· Different times call for different mayors. Mediator, manager, uniter, developer, good cop, bad cop, salesman, visionary … in 21 years, Mayor Richard M. Daley has been all of those things, though never all at once. What Chicago needs now is
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· Several Northwest Indiana groups are gearing up to take a piece of Illinois' economic pie. Last week, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed off on series of tax increases in order to close an $8 billion budget deficit, and residents and businesse
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· Wisconsin and Illinois are two very different states (and we are not just talking about Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears fans). In Springfield, Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers approved massive tax increases on individuals and employers.
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· Human services organizations owed money by the state figure that the tax increases approved late last week will reduce the risk of drastic cuts and help the state to pay its bills more quickly. “The tax increase is to avoid draconian cuts,
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· A newly filed bill that seeks to reduce future pension benefits for current public employees should become law, even if it’s followed by a lengthy legal battle. State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, filed House Bill 146 last week. The legisla
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· US public pensions face a shortfall of $2,500 billion that will force state and local governments to sell assets and make deep cuts to services, according to the former chairman of New Jersey’s pension fund. The severe US economic recessio
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· Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pledged to implement an "emergency" agenda because "the state of New York spends too much money." Governors across the country are making similar promises, but the obstacles to achieving fiscal sustainability in many stat
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· SPRINGFIELD — New Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka strongly criticized the 66 percent personal income tax increase signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn. Topinka, a Republican sworn into office after a four-year hiatus from state office,
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· It was no surprise that the Democratic party-ruled General Assembly waited until last week’s lame-duck session to approve an income tax hike for Illinois families and businesses. As the state’s budget crisis deepened over the past two year
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· The fiscal malady that plagues Illinois — and its painful treatment — may be coming to a state, county or municipality near you. What will cure this spreading pox on the populace? Higher taxes, lower spending and that rare commodity: polit
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· Reforming or overhauling the state’s pension systems is a contentious issue among members of the General Assembly. There’s the risk of angering powerful public employee unions whose contributions can make or break a candidate, and the matter of
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· When it comes to pensions in Illinois, a day can mean all the difference in the world. Thanks to the eight-month span between Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval of a pension reform bill last spring and its implementation Jan. 1, any public worker h
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· A decision by lawmakers earlier this week to block a plan to borrow $8.7 billion to pay off the state's bills means schools, businesses and social service agencies owed long overdue payments won't be getting relief any time soon. "Borrowin
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· A Democratic state legislator arguing in favor of last week's tax hike admonished colleagues to act like grown-ups and face Illinois' fiscal problems. It's hard to imagine a less-adult solution than the one Democrats chose. Even 5-year-old
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· You’ve seen the action movie scene dozens of times. The vehicle goes over a cliff, crashes into the water and begins to sink. Pockets of air trapped in the body and the buoyancy of the tires keeps the thing afloat for awhile, but it ev
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· State Finances: As Illinois passes a draconian tax increase on people and businesses, surrounding states with GOP governors are moving in the opposite direction, ready to pick the Land of Lincoln's bones. The Founding Fathers envisioned th
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· While the size of the state corporate income tax hike ultimately was whittled down a bit, Illinois businesses still feel gored, and neighboring states began circling immediately to woo relocations. The 11th-hour modification "is a joke," s
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· CHICAGO — Hours after Illinois lawmakers chose a major tax rate increase to ease this state’s desperate budget crisis, questions lingered on Wednesday: Would new income and corporate tax rates stunt the growth of businesses and jobs here and, in turn
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· They didn’t reform anything. They didn’t cut anything. All Illinois lawmakers agreed to do in the wee hours Wednesday morning was raise taxes at an alarming rate. The only people who benefit from the increase are those who get a state p
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· Facing one of the biggest budget shortfalls of any state, Illinois took the risky step of jacking up income and corporate taxes even as its economy struggles to shake off the recession. In a deal hammered out by the state's Democratic l
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· CRYSTAL LAKE – A longtime tax fighter said that McHenry County residents had “lavish” public-sector pensions to blame for the massive income-tax increase befalling them. National Taxpayers United of Illinois President Jim Tobin came to McHenry C
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· SPRINGFIELD — While many states consider boosting their economies with tax cuts, Illinois officials are betting on the opposite tactic: dramatically raising taxes to resolve a budget crisis that threatened to cripple state government. Neighborin
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· One big selling point for this week’s hike in the income tax was that Illinois could finally start paying off the huge backlog of bills it owes to schools, hospitals, social service agencies and almost everyone else who does business with state gover
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· Almost every Democratic legislator elected from the Southland for more than a decade promised to support an income tax increase to improve school funding and provide property tax relief. This week, the Illinois Legislature passed a 67 perc
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· "You guys are nothing if not entertaining. It's like living next door to the Simpsons — the dysfunctional family down the block." —Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, commenting on Tuesday's spectacle in Springfield in an interview on WLS-AM's "Don Wade
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· Mention pensions and until recently most people pictured a secure income in old age, leisurely trips and visits from grandchildren. That assumes they were lucky enough to have a pension. But their eyes would quickly glaze over if the conve
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· The Illinois House passed a massive income-tax increase to help the state dig out of a $13 billion deficit, despite opposition from Republicans and business groups. The measure passed by a vote of 60 to 57 and was sent to the Illinois Senate, wh
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· Chicago – Illinois lawmakers narrowly approved an income tax increase to ease the state’s fiscal crisis and $3.7 billion of bonding to cover pension payments, but rejected other key pieces of a fiscal bailout plan including a $1 cigarette tax hike an
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· Déjà vu! Hurry and cram a 5.25 percent income tax increase down everyone’s throats before today, when there will be more Republicans in the state Legislature. This seems to have been the Democrat modus operandi in a lame duck session. No w
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· At least 1/11/11 will be easy to remember. On that day, with the state of Illinois mired at 48th place nationwide in job creation, Democratic leaders dragged through the lame-duck House a tax plan sure to make many employers do their hiring somewhere
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· Two years ago, lawmakers were sworn in at a January ceremony as they always are. But things changed quickly when, minutes later, new lawmakers took their first vote — to impeach then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. This year, the 97th General Assemb
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· A few years ago, when he was chief executive of Illinois Tool Works, W. James Farrell oversaw a global company with billions of dollars in sales — churning out things like bolts for cars and trucks, industrial filters and steel strapping for shipping
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· Mixing pomp, partying and talk of a tax hike, Gov. Quinn was sworn into office Monday, promising to create a “government of ideals” and to resolve a suffocating fiscal crisis “very, very soon.” To the rockabilly of The Million Dollar Quart
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· The inauguration of a governor ought to signal fresh approaches, new energy and grounded anticipation of better days ahead. If you focused just on Monday's oath-taking in Springfield, you might have believed that's all in the cards.Gov. Pat Quinn dec
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· It's time for Illinoisans to take a hard look at what's happening in Springfield. In a time when we need to encourage investment and attract jobs to Illinois, current tax proposals threaten to do just the opposite. I understand the state's
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· Illinois lawmakers are looking at trimming the massive income tax increase proposed just last week, knocking one-quarter point off the personal income tax hike and cutting the proposed increase in the corporate tax rate by about half. Thos
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· It’s time for Illinoisans to take a hard look at what’s happening in Springfield. In a time when we need to encourage investment and attract jobs to Illinois, current tax proposals threaten to do just the opposite. I understand the stat
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· Prospect Heights voters will be asked to approve $5.5 million in bonds to pay the deficit in the city's police pension fund, as well as to increase sales tax by one-half percentage point. The city council voted unanimously Monday night to
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· SRINGFIELD — The bid to raise Illinois’ income tax remained stalled Sunday as Gov. Quinn and top Democrats in the Legislature huddled privately to tweak the troubled package enough to win over a divided House Democratic caucus. The tax-hik
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn and his fellow top Democrats are pushing a huge income tax hike largely because the state's budget hole is enormous. Set aside the sticker shock, though, and the lingering question that arises is whether this p
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· The proposed state financial fix, with its income tax increases and steep borrowing to pay bills and pension obligations, does not go far enough to assuage many bond investors' concerns about the risks of lending to fiscally teetering Illinois, accor
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· If you thought California had the ugliest budget outlook in America, think again. California's deficit is at $21 billion, or roughly 20%, of the state budget. But in Illinois, the budget deficit of $15 billion is greater than 40% of the state's annua
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· SPRINGFIELD — As Gov. Pat Quinn spent the last two years begging lawmakers to raise taxes and begin lifting Illinois out of its nearly bottomless budget hole, people who depend on state programs in their daily lives struggled. For example,
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· Illinois businesses are lining up against a proposed increase in the state's corporate income tax, though only about one-third of Illinois companies pay those taxes annually. At issue for corporations wasn't just the size of the increase,
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· As Illinois lawmakers huddle behind closed doors this week trying to find ways to plug the state's $13 billion deficit, municipal-bond investors are sizing up how to wager amid the state's woes. Investors who have been skeptical about the
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· Cut spending, raise taxes and fees, and accept billions of dollars from Congress. That's been the formula for states trying to survive the worst economy since the 1930s. As Republicans prepare to take control of the House and exert more in
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· Finally, Springfield has given us a sign of meaningful, cost-saving reform with the General Assembly’s passage of a measure to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program. Many of the provisions in this proposal have been talked about for years
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn and top Democratic lawmakers reached a tentative agreement Thursday on a major, post-election income-tax increase and a $1-a-pack cigarette-tax hike to stabilize the state budget and provide a cash infusion for schools.<b
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· SPRINGFIELD — Top Democrats have agreed to ask lawmakers to raise the state income tax rate to 5.25 percent from 3 percent for the next four years and borrow about $8 billion to pay off the state’s growing piles of unpaid bills. Senate Pre
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· Illinois is in tough shape financially, and the state's pension systems often get the blame. The legislature is working on a way to make it harder to boost public pensions. An Illinois House committee has advanced a measure that would have the state'
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· When it comes to a comfortable retirement, two pensions are always better than one. But a FOX Chicago News investigation has prompted some pension headaches for a number of Chicago's top labor leaders. Tom Villanova is organized
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· From a purely mathematical standpoint, it's no great surprise that the Legislature is moving toward an income tax increase in this lame-duck session to help close a budget deficit that threatens to blot out the sun. Pragmatically legislators can't ge
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· SPRINGFIELD - Public employees who take a furlough are still going to miss out on a day's pay, but soon it could be more affordable to keep their pension benefits. An Illinois Senate committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a plan that wo
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· Most of the wing-flapping in Springfield this week is about how to bring more billions of dollars into the state treasury: Raise the income tax? How much? Borrow for pensions and overdue bills? How much? License more casinos in a grab for more revenu
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· SPRINGFIELD — Top Illinois Democrats huddled behind closed doors for hours Tuesday as they scurry to piece together a major income tax increase to ease the state's long-festering budget woes before a rapidly closing window to get something done shuts
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· Land values soared. States splurged on new programs. Then it all went bust, bringing down banks and state governments with them. This wasn't America in 2011, it was America in 1841, when a now-forgotten depression pushed eight states and a desolate t
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· "Illinois has experienced long-running and intensifying operating fund liquidity pressure, given faster growth in expenditures than in revenues." —Moody's Investors Service, Dec. 29. The state of Illinois' debts and unfunded liabilities no
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· Illinois voters may get the chance in 2012 to decide whether increases in state spending should be tied to increases in their own personal income. The Illinois House State Government Administration Committee on Monday approved the so-calle
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· Some elderly people in Kane and McHenry counties are going to be hungrier come Jan. 18, due in part to the state not paying its bills on time. The home delivery portion of Golden Diners Service will stop bringing a second meal to them. Tho
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· Police officers and firefighters deal every day with this principle: When there’s a disaster, you step in and try to keep everything from getting worse. But as public safety workers have been going about their jobs, a different kind of dis
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· Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is floating an idea for what he calls a “debt bond.” Think of it as the mother of all bill consolidation loans — a $15 billion loan to pay off all of the state’s debts in one fell swoop. Of course, the state would s
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· Illinois lawmakers will try this week to accomplish in a few days what they have been unable to do in the past two years -- resolve the state's worst financial crisis. The legislative session that begins today will take aim at a budget def
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Several lawmakers said Tuesday that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has been discussing plans to borrow billions of dollars to help soak up the state's pool of red ink, which could be a hard sell when legislators reconvene next month.
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· Borrowing a bit to get through a rough patch is understandable. Even borrowing a lot, or “strategic borrowing” as the governor’s office calls it, can make sense. But borrowing $15 billion, as Gov. Quinn is considering, is out of
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· A plan being pitched across Springfield to borrow billions of dollars to soak up the state’s pool of red ink has gotten the attention of area legislators and local nonprofit organizations alike. Gov. Pat Quinn is considering borrowing up t
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· The cost of insuring Illinois’s bonds against default rose to the highest level in five months as the state headed for the new year without a plan to finance a $3.7 billion pension-fund contribution. The cost of credit-default swap insuran
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· As the state's stack of unpaid bills grows, Gov. Pat Quinn is floating the idea of borrowing roughly $15 billion to alleviate the pressure, though taxpayers would be saddled with loan payments for years. The governor has approached seve
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· Most of us are immersed in the daily demands of our loves and lives — friends, families and work, punctuated by occasional sadness or jubilation. Around us, the superstructure of a great metropolis functions and, during its good epochs, flourishes: A
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· When the police found the body of the town's 58-year-old retired fire marshal, the lights had been turned off in his house and he had no running water. He had no money to pay his bills and he was too proud to accept help from his neighbors. <br
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· ROCKFORD — Members of the city’s Police Pension Board are skeptical of the city’s plan to shift $1.5 million from the police and fire pension funds to bolster the city’s general fund budget — largely because the bill authorizing the move hasn’t been
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· For most of this year, the state of Illinois has lacked the money to pay its bills. Some of its employees have been evicted from their offices for nonpayment of rent, social service groups have laid off hundreds of workers while waiting for checks, p
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· Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is poised at the opening paragraph, leading a critical chapter in Cook County history. Expectations of her? High. Budget pressures? Perilous. Voter support? Strong. <b
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· ST. CHARLES — The head of a state taxpayers group Wednesday called government employee pensions in Illinois “looney” and cited the example of a former local school superintendent who retired on more than $200,000 a year. Jim Tobin, preside
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· Government transparency doesn’t just mean making information public; transparency includes making that information easy to find. Therefore, Illinoisans should be happy to see a new “page” on the state of Illinois website that provides more
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· Gov. Patrick Quinn has $4.5 billion in overdue bills and no cash to pay them. His credit's still good — or, more accurately, good enough for the time being. So he's juggling, borrowing here to pay there, until the inevitable day of reckoning when the
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· On the eve of her first regular Cook County Board meeting, President Toni Preckwinkle issued her first executive order today, imposing a moratorium on all nonessential capital projects and professional-service contracts. The order places 9
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· Times have gotten so tough for the Illinois state government that it has begun turning to Wall Street trading houses and hedge funds to help pay its bills. The state owes more than $4.5 billion to vendors large and small, ranging from pris
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· GALESBURG —New recruits to Galesburg’s police and fire departments are likely to have to work longer than their predecessors for less generous retirement benefits. But the changes to a creaking system could save local taxpayers millions
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· If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was good news. After months of being a deadbeat, the State of Illinois is finally on track to pay off its outstanding bills for fiscal 2010 by the end of the month, according to the state comptroller’s o
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· Gov. PAT QUINN said last week his inauguration ceremony Jan. 10 will be “frugal,” but not “chintzy.” It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in a few weeks, because one person’s frugality is another person’s chintz. Quinn isn’t e
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· As Cook County grapples with how to close a half-billion-dollar budget deficit next year, top bosses at the county’s health and hospitals system have doled out pay raises to a smattering of top administrators, the largest a $40,000 pay bump. <br
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· Chicago — like the state of Illinois — does not fund its employee pensions at their true cost level (as determined by actuaries). If it did, the city would have to provide an additional $700 million or so in funding in 2012. By 2015 the number could
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· Plenty of folks are aware of the best states for retirees. But what are the 10 worst states in which to spend your golden years? People of Illinois, California, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Connecticu
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· The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has agreed to defer part of a pay increase due state workers in order to fulfill an agreement with Gov. Pat Quinn. AFSCME pledged before the Nov. 2 election to find $50 milli
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· SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is sounding a bit like Popeye as he tries to flex his muscle and get a vote on his long-sought tax increase. Quinn on Thursday said lawmakers are going to need to face the realities of the state, a
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· AURORA — City leaders are proposing to raise the tax rate 4 cents next year in what they say is an attempt to combat the rising costs of public safety pensions. But former Alderman Chris Beykirch has an idea of his own he’s shopping around
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· As usual, the Illinois Legislature's so-called veto session dealt very little with measures the governor rejected or altered over the last year. Instead, it offered an opportunity for lawmakers to confront some long-talked-about proposals and even -
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· The National Taxpayers United of Illinois is hopping mad about public sector pensions, and wasn’t shy about naming names at its Wednesday press conference. “Governor Pat Quinn has proposed a 33 percent increase in the state personal income
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· Amid all the talk in Washington, D.C., about cutting the federal budget deficit, there is little public discussion of what might be among the most contentious issues that will face the new Congress in January – whether to bail out the states. <b
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· CHICAGO — Three weeks ago, one of the state's largest social services provider almost ran out of money. It was saved by a multi-million dollar government infusion, but this was no bailout – the state was merely paying off part of the money it owes Lu
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· It's probably no news flash that Illinois' budget woes have zapped the state's social services providers right in the wallet. But now a new survey shows just how badly they've been hit. According to the study conducted by Illinois Colla
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· PEORIA —It may not help the city's budget woes immediately. But a public safety pensions bill now working its way through the process in Springfield appears to be a step in the right direction. Police officers and firefighters hired after Jan. 1
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· Crippling police and firefighter pension obligations facing our communities could be eased under legislation that was approved by the Illinois House and sent to the state Senate for revisions and final approval. The legislation falls short
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· Naperville City Manager Doug Krieger on Wednesday praised the Illinois House of Representatives’ approval of a police and fire pension bill as “a great first step towards meaningful reform.” After receiving approval Tuesday in the Illinois
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· Much conversation in our state has centered on the budget crisis in Illinois and the possible solution through budget cuts, revenue enhancements or both. Unfortunately, every day that we continue to talk without any resolution to this growing problem
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· The Illinois House just passed a major pension reform bill for future police and fire employees. The changes, which will reduce pension benefits for new hires effective Jan. 1, 2011, was approved by a 95 to 18 vote. The bill was a compromi
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· SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a series of cuts trimming the potential pension benefits for police officers and firefighters hired after Jan. 1, 2011. Under the proposed system, which has yet to be
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· Mayor Daley sounded the alarm on Tuesday about a Springfield power play that, he warned, could saddle Chicago homeowners and businesses with an $800 million property tax increase in 2015 to solve the city’s pension crisis. Daley said it wi
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· Illinois lawmakers are expected to move a bill to the House floor today that would reduce pension benefits for future police officers and firefighters. Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin called the plan, developed after negotiations involving ci
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· Illinois on Monday begins a $1.46 billion bond sale that will allow the cash-strapped state to use future payments from a legal settlement with tobacco companies to pay its bills. The sale comes at a nervous time for municipal debt mark
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· The average Chicago fire fighter who retired last year with at least 20 years of experience will receive a pension worth more than $1.3 million — not counting health care. And the typical police officer retiring with the same experience
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· Property tax bills that arrived in Cook County mailboxes recently turned many taxpayers into Scrooges. It's no wonder. From phone solicitations to bell-ringers to Santa lists and property tax bills, perhaps we should write our bank account
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· Suburbs from wealthy to working-class have combined to dig a $5 billion hole for taxpayers on the hook to pay for the pensions of police officers and firefighters. A Tribune analysis of the Depression-era pension system found that subur
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· Countryside Earlier this year Countryside officials asked the state to weigh in on a pension-boosting pay bump in the police union contract — years after it had already been used to beef up retirement checks for outgoing officers. <br
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· We have such sweet dreams, here in metropolitan Chicagoand across Illinois. And we have such noble plans for fulfilling them! Though the needs be many, by golly, we'll extend history's march to betterment: Through our governments and schools, we will
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· Republicans may not have gained control of the Executive Mansion or of either chamber of the General Assembly in the election this month, but starting in January, they’ll have new clout over the state’s finances. That’s because Illinois vo
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· One of the consequences of Gov. Pat Quinn's laser-like focus on Chicago and Cook County during this fall's campaign is that he won just 20 to 22 of the state's 59 Senate districts, according to recent estimates by the Illinois Senate Democrats. That'
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· DANVILLE — The state of Illinois has slipped further behind in its payments to Danville Area Community College and officials here are worried the situation will get worse. Board of Trustees President Vickie Miller called the situation “
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· SPRINGFIELD -- A bill that would reduce pension benefits for local public safety workers hired after Jan. 1 could move out of a legislative committee Wednesday, but mayors and unions representing police and firefighters still disagree on what should
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· Rahm Emanuel wants to tap special taxing districts to pay for 250 police officers who would go into high crime areas. He wants to launch a Race to the Top style sweepstakes to improve Chicago's schools. Gery Chico would slash the Chicag
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· Western suburbs —Now that voters have sent a clear message about pension reform, it’s up to state legislators to decide if they want to listen. In the Nov. 2 election, 44 communities placed an advisory referendum on their ballots regarding
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· Legislature must take next vital step in reforming public employee pensions. In April, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law a "major and unprecedented" bill reforming the state's generous - and chronically underfunded - pension system, creating
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· Perhaps last week was just the warm-up for the Illinois General Assembly as lawmakers look for ways to get the state’s financial ship back on track. Perhaps when lawmakers reconvene Nov. 29, they’ll be ready to do the heavy lifting requ
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· Illinois mayors last week pressured state legislators to reduce retirement benefits for police officers and firefighters based on the fear that, without immediate and dramatic reforms, current generous pensions soon will force many municipalities int
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· In celebration of his Nov. 2 victory over Republican Bill Brady, Gov. Pat Quinn stayed pretty much hidden from view last week. His official schedule listed no public events while the General Assembly was in town for the first three days of
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· Privatization, once a gold rush for City Hall, has lost its luster as a budget-balancing tool. Whoever takes over from Mayor Richard M. Daley next spring will confront political and financial challenges that could doom efforts to sell off
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· The votes of suburban lawmakers will undoubtedly have to be part of any solution to pull the state out of its financial disaster, but solid support for specific plans to increase taxes or decrease spending is hard to find. Among West and Northwe
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· CHAMPAIGN – The city will join a group of Illinois municipalities looking to reform pension benefit laws for police officers and firefighters after the city council on Tuesday night approved of Champaign's membership. City officials say th
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· SPRINGFIELD - Potholes and even re-election bids had to wait Tuesday for dozens of Illinois mayors, as the local leaders flooded the Illinois Capitol to plead with lawmakers to change the retirement rules for cops and firefighters. More
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· A group of elected officials from DuPage County took voter frustration, and some of their own, to Springfield’s front door Tuesday. Local representatives used a noon press conference in the state Capitol building to air their grievances ov
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· A bill that would reduce pension benefits for local public safety workers hired after Jan. 1 could move out of a legislative committee Wednesday, but mayors and unions representing police and firefighters still disagree on what should be in the bill.
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· Chicago's public pension funds are teetering on the brink of insolvency in large part because city officials and union leaders repeatedly exploited the system, draining away billions of dollars in the last decade to serve short-term political needs,
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· With some city pension funding levels dropping below 40 percent, a question arises that seemed unthinkable just a decade ago: If a pension fund runs out of money, who pays for the retirement security promised to city workers? The answer is compl
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· The University of Illinois plans to slash administrative overhead by as much as 10 percent over the coming two years. But given all the high-priced hiring, we wonder when the cutting will begin. In an effort to centralize leadership of
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· Additional cuts could be ahead for Springfield city government next year, Mayor Tim Davlin said Tuesday. Davlin said he plans to release his recommended spending plan for fiscal year 2012, which begins March 1, by Christmas. “We’re de
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· (WIFR) -- No matter what stateline city you live in there is a giant elephant in the room when it comes to city council budget talks. That's pension reform. According to PEW center research Illinois ranks dead last in the country when it c
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· (Crain's) — The Teachers' Retirement System of Illinois says taxpayers will owe more than $6 billion over the next three decades if the state fails to make its required annual contribution to the state pension fund before June 30. The fund
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· CHICAGO — Illinois lawmakers return to work Tuesday for their annual fall veto session with a full plate that includes a proposed income-tax hike, a pension borrowing plan, and a gaming expansion bill — all to help address the state’s fiscal crisis.<
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· With the election over, legislative Republicans and Democrats say they are ready to work together, and getting Illinois out from under a $13 billion deficit depends upon it. “Look, we were in an election cycle, and now, the policy hats are
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· If Illinois borrows to make its annual contribution to state retirement systems for a second year running, the back-loaded payment plan on those bonds will cause interest costs to skyrocket, a Civic Federation analysis found. Interest cost
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· Lombard, IL —After high numbers of Lombard residents voted to support pension reform, the village will be sending its manager to push for change in Springfield. Nearly 84 percent of the 12,992 votes counted in 47 precincts of Lombard were
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· Illinois lawmakers return to the Capitol on Tuesday for the first week of their annual fall veto session. They'll have quite a bit on their plates when they get there, most of it wholly unrelated to the legislation the governor has vetoed that ostens
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· Trying to find ways to stop the bleeding by social service providers it is not paying on time, the state of Illinois last month allowed a handful of vendors to sell financial institutions the rights to their overdue payments. The pilot program, whic
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· CARBONDALE - Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard said the university's financial situation has changed for the worse, enough to warrant administrative closures on the Carbondale campus. In a letter addressed to Southern Il
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· Once considered sacred cows of municipal budgets, police departments around the Chicago suburbs these days are more akin to ground chuck. A number of communities are cutting police staffing in an effort to reduce citywide costs. In past ye
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· Gambling experts caution a new casino in Ford Heights may not be "all roses" as some lawmakers presume, pointing to a listless economy that has some Indiana casinos in bankruptcy and others in Illinois bringing in less money. Illinois legi
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· "Why on Earth should the taxpayers support a tax increase when elected officials have not demonstrated they are capable of managing Illinois' finances and creating a proper budget? … If elected state representative, I will vote NO on any bill that in
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· Freeport, Ill. —Illinois legislators return to Springfield Tuesday for the veto or lame duck session — the last before recently-elected representatives and senators are seated. Gov. Pat Quinn, who barely survived a challenge by Republic
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· On the heels of a 19,000-vote victory, Gov. Pat Quinn claims he has a voter "mandate" to raise Illinois' income tax. In fact, a 1 percentage point election win for an incumbent in a state as deeply blue as Illinois is not a mandate for
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· Armed with vote totals from 45 Illinois communities where residents overwhelmingly say they support pension reform for police officers and firefighters, some suburban leaders are heading to Springfield next week to urge legislators to do just that.<b
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· Why are pensions a problem? For decades, local and state governments have guaranteed employees that they can retire on comfortable—and in some cases, lavish—pensions. Officials assumed that taxes, investments, and other revenues would r
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· In New York, a 44-year-old firefighter retires with a $101,000 a year pension, for life. Near Chicago, a parks commissioner quits and begins collecting a $166,000 pension – a sum sweetened by $50,000 thanks to a one-time retirement year windfall of
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· DeKALB – The Illinois State Board of Education is taking suggestions from local residents for the state’s education budget for the fiscal year that starts in July 2011. ISBE’s Finance and Audit Committee is hosting a public hearing to
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· There are two emerging choices for lawmakers who are looking to try and dig Illinois out of its fiscal mess. Gov. Pat Quinn wants an income tax increase. Some lawmakers want to expand gambling. Legislators say one is much easier to pass than the ot
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· Revenue from legalized gambling in Illinois is the lowest it's been in 10 years, a victim of a sagging economy and a smoking ban on riverboat casinos, according to a new report. The Legislature's bipartisan Commission on Government Forecas
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· SPRINGFIELD — There are two emerging choices for lawmakers who are looking to try and dig Illinois out of its fiscal mess. Gov. Pat Quinn wants an income tax increase. Some lawmakers want to expand gambling. And legislators say one is much easie
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· Teacher pensions may not sound like a sexy or even high-profile issue, but keep reading: they're threatening the fiscal health of many states and could cost you — yes, you — thousands of dollars. And like the savings and loan crisis at the end of 198
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· Mayoral candidates Gery Chico and Rahm Emanuel are making proposals designed to attract business support and receiving a mostly, but not completely, positive response. Mr. Chico's idea, unveiled Wednesday morning, is to ban the city fro
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· Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico says the city must stop using parking-meter lease money to plug budget holes so it can restore its battered bond rating. Chico, a former chief of staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley, said the repeated drawi
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· Could the CTA get some extra revenue if the Addison stop on the Red Line became the "Wrigley" or the 35th Street stop "the Cell?" The CTA is willing to find out. The cash-strapped transit agency wants to sell naming rights to its L stops,
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· Park visitors may soon see advertisements on Chicago Park District property such as lifeguard stands, garbage cans and tennis courts, as officials look for ways to plug a $22 million hole in next year's budget. Officials suggested corporat
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· CHICAGO (WLS) - A tax watchdog group is sounding the alarm about the high cost of government pensions in Illinois. Jim Tobin of National Taxpayers United of Illinois says one chief reason Illinois is broke is because we spend so much money
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· Time for a, gulp, real solution. "Senate poised to tackle $4 billion borrowing bid: Measure to close state budget still faces hurdles." -- Actual headline in a newspaper (thankfully, not ours). Now, headlines
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· SPRINGFIELD — Democrats largely will control the crafting of a new state budget next year. But the only two Republicans to win a statewide office last week say they will have their say as well. Comptroller-elect Judy Baar Topinka and Tr
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· About 40 jobs in Lake County government would be cut and another 72 would remain unfunded if the County Board approves a proposed new budget this month. At the same time, because of declining revenue, the county's 2,700 remaining full-time
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· PEORIA —Restructuring or eliminating the Economic Development Department and cutting back on traveling and training highlighted the latest 2011 budget talks by the City Council on Tuesday. In addition, the council received a revised budget
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· Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is dropping a big apparent hint about what Gov. Pat Quinn will have to do to get an income tax hike through the Legislature: Use the proceeds strictly to pay bills, rather than fund new spending. I
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· On Nov. 2, voters in 44 Illinois communities approved advisory referendums calling for "meaningful public safety pension reform." We doubt many of those voters fully understood the issues behind the referendums. But if they did, we're gues
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· The following information was released by the Illinois State Senate Democrats: Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton told colleagues in the Senate to take their best shot at cutting billions of dollars from the state budget in an eff
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· Six months shy of his 14-year anniversary with the Prospect Heights Police Department, Todd Godair was forced to look for a new job Monday. Godair was among six patrol officers laid off Sunday, dropping the number of sworn officers in Pros
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· Palatine's proposed 2011 budget is, as Councilman Scott Lamerand put it, the best the village could come up with considering the cards it was dealt. And the hand isn't very good. In addition to eliminating up to 12 positions, re
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· So much for speculation that Mayor Daley’s lame-duck status would invite aldermen to re-write his final budget. Aldermen facing re-election in a difficult year for incumbents are every bit as eager to keep their hands out of taxpayers’ poc
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· The city of Chicago's general obligation bonds took a hit by Standard & Poor's, which lowered its long-term debt rating, citing ongoing budget strife. The ratings agency assigned Chicago's general obligation debt an A+ rating, down one
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· Voters expressed overwhelming support in Tuesday's election for immediate, meaningful pension reform. More than 84 percent of voters in Woodridge responded “Yes,” to an advisory referendum question asking constituents if the General Assembly and Gove
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· It will take Olympian effort and discipline in Springfield to rescue our state from fiscal chaos and secure its future. So let the games end. For too many years, one-upmanship has eclipsed statesmanship in a perpetual campaign. Those who s
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· When aldermen vote Nov. 17 on a budget for 2011, they are expected to help close the city’s $655 million fiscal hole by again requiring all employees to take almost five weeks off without pay. But some elected officials have not been pr
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· The numbers say it all. Aurora’s Hesed House homeless shelter was serving 130 people on a busy night in 2000. Today, the shelter consistently houses more than 200 people per night. The Northern Illinois Food Bank has seen a 65 p
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· SPRINGFIELD — Just days after the election, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno was back in a Senate committee room, arguing the state shouldn’t borrow more money to pay its bills. The Lemont lawmaker echoed her party’s campaigns, p
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· Gov. Pat Quinn may have won the governor's race by the narrowest margin in nearly three decades, but he's not letting that stop him from claiming he now has a "mandate" from voters to raise the state income tax for schools. "I think our
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· Pretend you're the governor-elect. Your state has hemorrhaged employment. The natives are restless — they want you to deliver more jobs. If you succeed, you'll help them and yourself: With new income tax revenue rolling in, you're better situated to
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· You could win a lot of bar bets in Illinois by asking people how much the average state employee makes from his pension. The answer: $26,663 a year. Teachers have a higher average annual pension, but it is still far lower than most pe
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· LOMBARD, Illinois--Lombard voters expressed overwhelming support in Tuesday’s election for immediate, meaningful public safety pension reform. More than 83% of voters in Lombard responded “Yes” to an advisory referendum asking constituents
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· Illinois senators will try again in two weeks to figure out how to make $3.75 billion in payments to state pension systems this year. After hurriedly returning to Springfield two days after the election to address the issue, the Senate adj
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· SPRINGFIELD - A controversial $4.1 billion pension borrowing proposal still is on hold after the Illinois Senate returned to Springfield two days after a contentious general election. For months, Illinois lawmakers have discussed borrow
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· SPRINGFIELD - Two days after an election that kept the Illinois Legislature and most likely the governor's office in Democratic hands, state lawmakers were predicting a 2011 agenda of more of the same. But what that "same" is depends on
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· Congratulations, Gov. Quinn. Unless something unusual happens, it looks as if you’ve been elected to a full term. Your main rival for the job, Republican Bill Brady, isn’t ready to concede yet, but it appears you’ve eked out a slim vict
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· Illinoisans voted their anger Tuesday — although not enough Illinoisans and not enough anger. We'll see as soon as Thursday whether state Senate Democrats who dodged the national rebuke of their party, or who face a primary election in 16 months, wer
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· The Democrats who run Springfield appear to have survived the Republican surge that changed the game in Washington, but they should take note of voters' anger over government spending, job loss and the economic malaise, Illinois business groups warne
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· Considering the squeaky close elections state Sen. Bill Brady has won in the past, it’s natural that he is not ready to throw in the towel in his race against incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn. After all, he started his political career with an eig
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· SPRINGFIELD -- Just two days after the election that decided many of their futures, Illinois senators return to Springfield today to tackle pension funding. Whether they will vote to borrow up to $4 billion to make this year’s pension p
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· Western suburbs, IL —If local voters agreed overwhelmingly on one aspect of Tuesday’s election, it was their desire to see lawmakers reform police and firefighter pensions. A nonbinding advisory referendum on the ballot in many communities
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· General state aid, mandated programs and pre-kindergarten funding have been and should remain top education priorities for the state as it muddles through yet another budget process with record-breaking deficit projections, area educators told the Il
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· CHICAGO — Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bill Brady were stuck in limbo Wednesday instead of launching a transition or tackling one of the nation's worst budget problems, as the Illinois governor's race dragged on along with a handful of ot
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· To: Our next governor From: A hopeful constituent First, stay humble. More people voted for "not you" in Tuesday's election than voted for you. And many of those who did vote for you were actually voting for "no
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· Toni Preckwinkle had barely declared victory in the race for Cook County Board President Tuesday night in front of a crowd of supporters when, at the urging of one fan, she announced the “party’s over.” The veteran Chicago alderman wasn’t
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· One thing is clear from unofficial polling results: Voters want pension reform. Several towns within in Cook, Kane, McHenry Lake and DuPage counties overwhelmingly supported a pension reform advisory referendum, based on unofficial results. <br
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· CHICAGO — With a water revenue deal pricing Wednesday and a pending general obligation deal, Chicago has stepped up its investor-relation efforts as it seeks to minimize the premium demanded by buyers of paper from Illinois-based borrowers due to the
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· While any candidate who won office on Tuesday will wake up challenged by a budget deficit, Cook County Board President-elect Toni Preckwinkle will face a double whammy. Not only will Preckwinkle have to deal with a budget gap that could be
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· The closing of a small residential program for the mentally ill at the Austin YMCA on Chicago's West Side has raised neighborhood concerns over the future of the deteriorating building and the community center it houses. A YMCA spokeswoman
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· Even in the face of a massive Republican national wave, the state of Illinois remains split between the major parties. Republican Mark Kirk’s capture of President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat is a feather in the GOP’s cap nationa
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· Voters on Tuesday will pick someone new for a U.S. Senate seat long enveloped in high drama, elect the state's first governor since the last one was thrown out and decide whether Illinois will join what the pundits predict will be a national Republic
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· The Teachers' Retirement System for Illinois said Monday that its unfunded liability swelled by $4.8 billion in fiscal 2010. That amount now puts the total unfunded liability for the plan at nearly $40 billion, which represents 52% of tota
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· Mount Prospect could lay off 34 employees next year to plug an anticipated $3 million general fund deficit in 2011, village officials said Monday. Mount Prospect Village Manager Michael Janonis said the proposed layoffs are unavoidable as
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· At this point, many of you are so sick of the election process that you’d gladly sit through a few more Rod Blagojevich pistachio nut commercials to avoid the onslaught of attack ads flooding the airwaves. You’ve endured the nonstop, ba
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· Illinois' unfunded pension liability, already the worst in the nation, is expected to spiral to even higher levels because the financially desperate funds are revising their investment goals downward. The funds are desperate on more than o
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· School superintendents, early childhood education advocates and special education coordinators are calling for state administrators to maintain education funding in light of the state's budget troubles. In the second of six planned publ
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· GALESBURG — For the second year running, the Galesburg Public Library may be forced to reduce its operating hours and cut jobs. The library has reduced staff numbers from 36 to 31 in recent years and a combination of funding problems may m
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· Aurora officials are offering their police union a painful choice: either take more than $2 million in cuts to salaries and benefits or accept between 20 and 25 layoffs. City officials say they want to cut 10 percent from personnel costs f
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· The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability put out a new study late last week on Illinois’ tax policy and budgets. At nearly 90 pages, with tables, charts and graphs, it is detailed, to say the least. It’s too bad the study wasn’t rel
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· Quick — What time Tuesday are you voting? Whom will you take with you to your polling place? Whom will you nudge with phone calls? Consider bringing your children or grandchildren. They're tomorrow's voters. They're also the intended v
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· CHICAGO (AP) — The next governor of Illinois will walk into office and find himself staring at a budget deficit that could top $15 billion. In California, the hole will be $12 billion. In larger-than-life Texas, the two-year total is $18 billion or m
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· Decision time looms for the American voter. And the choices couldn't be clearer: At the national level, it's whether to reward or rebuke a Democratic president and majority in Congress that ignored the will of the American people to pursue
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· The University and the state of Illinois are in a deep hole and getting out of won’t be easy. The state began this year with a budget shortfall of about $13 billion out of a $26 billion budget, or 50 percent of the budget. Horrible management of the
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· Chicago's bond rating has suffered another hit, this one from Fitch Ratings. The New York-based firm on Thursday lowered its rating on $7 billion in outstanding general-obligation city debt to AA- from AA, particularly citing the city'
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· Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Illinois, which shares the worst state credit rating with California, is draining its pension funds as candidates for governor promote plans that would cover less than a quarter of a record budget gap. Democratic inc
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· URBANA – President Michael Hogan on Wednesday challenged University of Illinois students to help him find ways to keep tuition low without further hurting faculty who are vital to the value of their degree. Addressing the "800-pound gorill
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· The 56th state House seat currently held by Paul Froehlich is in play Nov. 2 because he is not seeking re-election. Schaumburg residents, Michelle Mussman, a Democrat, and Ryan Higgins, a Republican, are running for the seat. Here are excerpts from t
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· So let's get this right: Kinky contracts and illegal patronage are things of the past in Chicago. That's one conclusion you could draw when City Hall's inspector general, the person who's supposed to investigate all that shady stuff, has e
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· SPRINGFIELD - The state's financial difficulties continue to handcuff state and local school administrators. State Comptroller Dan Hynes has indicated the state could face up to a $15 billion budget deficit next year, a combination of s
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· If they want to explore a wider world of books or get help with research from a trained librarian, children in Chicago often have to look beyond their school. Many of the city's public schools lack libraries, a situation that made a gro
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· Like petulant children, millions of Illinois citizens voting Nov. 2 will refuse to believe that the state can no longer afford their wants and needs. Restraint is not in their vocabulary. The household — the family of Illinois —
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· Chicago's top internal watchdog on Monday offered up ideas to improve the bottom line at City Hall in the face of chronic budget shortfalls, but Mayor Richard Daley's administration and several aldermen dismissed his suggestions as warmed-over.
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· SPRINGFIELD -- There won't be much time for any post-election celebrating among state senators and the two candidates for governor. The Illinois Senate is scheduled to return to the Capitol on Nov. 4 -- two days after the election -- to ta
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· Faced with an unprecedented budget abyss, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn says he'll raise taxes and make reasonable cuts. Republican challenger Bill Brady says he'll slash his way into the black. Both pray the economy rebounds to help the st
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· SPRINGFIELD - Democratic Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn appears to be closing the gap with Republican challenger Bill Brady, while the state's U.S. Senate race remains a virtual tie, according to a new poll for the Herald & Review and St. Louis Post-Dispatc
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· Illinois’ pension funds could run out of money to pay its retired employees in less than 10 years, according to a new report. The Northwestern University study, co-authored by Joshua Rauh, a professor specializing in pensions at Northweste
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· CHICAGO — Some states may face a severe pension-fund reckoning, but the problems are manageable if lawmakers act now to address them through a combination of increased contributions and benefit cuts, according to Loop Capital Markets LLC.
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· A statewide service through which libraries share books and other resources soon will receive an infusion of state cash, but library officials say the long-term outlook for the service is bleak if more money doesn't arrive from Springfield. <br
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· Gov. Pat Quinn says it will take a growing economy, a tax increase, more spending cuts and four years to erase billions in red ink from the state budget. While Quinn said he continues to look for savings, he portrayed the state government
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· Our View: Voters who believe our state can cure its budget crisis through simple, pain-free steps are living in a fantasy world. We need to elect realists on Nov. 2. Take a look at a calendar. There are less than two weeks between today an
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· Gov. Pat Quinn is pouring a bit of cold water on the prospect of pension cuts for police and firefighters being approved in the Legislature's post-election veto session. In an appearance before Crain's editorial board late Monday, Mr. Q
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· NORMAL — Consider the societal value of social service programs for the less fortunate, not just the dollar cost. That’s a message for state political candidates running for election Nov. 2 from McLean County residents who have been assisted by
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· BLOOMINGTON — Bill Brady, the Republican candidate for governor, said Tuesday he was ready to work with Democrats on pension reform and other controversial issues if elected, adding he thinks powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan “is looking for a l
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· The next Illinois Governor will inherit a public pension system that is considered the most underfunded the country. It's been a problem for years, as Governors and lawmakers have failed to put enough money into pensions. Illinois
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· Des Plaines city leaders Monday night said they would work with the municipal library to keep it from closing in December for lack of operating funds due to an anticipated delay in Cook County property tax receipts. Though the city council
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· In a nobler world, each failed leader responsible for the Illinois death spiral would resign to, um, "devote more time to my family." Grateful beneficiaries of all their spending, borrowing and pension giveaways would fete them at farewell banquets.
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· HELP WANTED: Jaded, angry electorate looking for next governor of Illinois. Optimal candidates should have a realistic plan for bringing jobs back to the state, closing a $13 billion budget deficit and fixing an $80 billion pension liabili
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· CARBONDALE -- Illinoisans are largely unsure what can be done to quell a growing deficit in the state budget, according to a recent poll done by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. A majority
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· SPRINGFIELD -- No other issue dominates Illinois' five-way governor's race like finding a way out of the state's historic budget mess. Comptroller Dan Hynes has suggested that deficit could grow to a staggering $15 billion by the state's n
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· The state of Illinois is close to finalizing reimbursement payments to public universities for the last budget year. But with the academic year in full swing, the state must now start cutting away at the millions of dollars the universities have
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· Illinois’ finances are a mess of late bills, lagging revenue and long-term debt — not exactly the kind of issues that can be solved by a ballot proposition. The pension reform referendum appearing this November does not aspire to fix the pro
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· Fifteen months ago, DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett (right) was one of the most prominent Republican politicians in Illinois. He was a two-time party nominee for statewide office and the odds-on favorite to be the GOP candidate for attorne
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· Chicago’s Board of Education, stung by delayed aid from Governor Pat Quinn and a credit-rating downgrade, is paying almost twice as much as comparably rated schools for taxable Qualified School Construction Bonds. Fitch Ratings lowered its
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· Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn calls his Republican challenger "heartless" for his budget tax cuts, while Bill Brady accuses the incumbent of cutting a shady deal with a key union to help his campaign. The two swapped those accusations in the l
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· Sheila Simon, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, says that if she and Gov. Pat Quinn win November’s election, they won’t cut Medicaid eligibility standards in an effort to reduce the state’s Medicaid costs. Simon, speaking at
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· With statewide unemployment rates at double-digit levels for most of the year, the struggling economy has hit many Illinois families hard as jobs remain scarce for people who are out of work. The latest state unemployment figures showed Il
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· Mayor Richard Daley accentuated the positive during his final budget address Wednesday, talking up Chicago's transformation under his watch from an aging Rust Belt city to a modern global metropolis instead of the unpleasant reality of making ends me
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· EVANSTON — Prior research by the Kellogg School of Management has found $3 trillion in unfunded legacy liabilities from state-sponsored pension plans. However, new research finds additional liabilities from municipalities which magnify the growing pu
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· Mayor Richard Daley this morning is proposing a $6.1 billion budget for next year, up nearly $49 million from this year. According to a series of placards set up in a conference room behind City Council chambers, the mayor's final budget proposa
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· Sometimes a local issue perfectly illuminates a larger national problem. Such is the case with the opposition of theNew Jersey governor, Chris Christie, to construction of a newtunnel between his state and New York. Christie argues th
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· Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes has become one of our favorite writers over the last 12 years. As three governors and legislators have disregarded his warnings about the state’s fiscal condition, his quarterly reports have become ever more
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· Prior research by the Kellogg School of Management has found$3 trillion in unfunded legacy liabilities from state-sponsored pension plans. However, new research finds additional liabilities from municipalities which magnify the growing public pension
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· The nation's largest municipal pension plans are carrying a total unfunded liability of $574 billion, which comes on top of as much as $3 trillion in unfunded pension promises made by the states, according to a report released Tuesday. The
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· Public employment has long been considered a sacrifice due to what seems to be better pay and opportunity for workers in the private sector. To compensate for this apparent inequality, government entities have responded by providing pensions and othe
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· SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn and state Sen. Bill Brady are poles apart when it comes to solving Illinois’ budget problems, but their approaches do have one thing in common. Neither appears to come close to addressing the massive deficit we
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· Illinois hemorrhaged hundreds of thousands of jobs in the last decade. The state stands to lose yet another congressional seat as vibrant population growth, good jobs and economic vigor migrate to business-friendly states. Illinois ranks in the wrong
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· A Chicago business group has launched a media blitz to focus attention on the state's massively underfunded employee pension plans. Illinois Is Broke, an organization pretty much put together by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club
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· For the past decade, Illinois' political leaders have failed us. The Nov. 2 election offers our state a chance for a much-needed fresh start. Business leaders must engage in elections at all levels if Illinois is to regain its standing as
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· With a multi-billion dollar bag of unpaid bills and a $13 billion operating budget deficit, one of Illinois’ largest fiscal watchdogs has released its latest pork report. But there is a lot of opposition to what the group is calling wasteful sp
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· Shouting in an empty room. That's how we characterize reception to the clarion calls warning that Illinois cannot sustain a crisis that has the state $160 billion in the hole. Everyone shudders at such a mind-boggling number at first, but
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· Residents of five of the nation's most fiscally distressed states harbor a deep distrust of state government, which they view as too big, too wasteful and too quick to pass their costs along to future generations, according to a new survey. <br
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· Buffeted by huge deficits, higher taxes and service cuts, voters are deeply frustrated with the efforts of state officials to bring budgets in line. Although they would rather endure further spending reductions than see taxes go any higher, they are
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· Republican governor candidate Bill Brady has been blasting Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn for taxing, spending and borrowing, but today Brady refused to rule out borrowing a record $50 billion to shore up state finances. "All options have to b
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· Preschool and other early childhood education programs are widely regarded as a wise investment for education. “The research is clear that the return on the investment is very significant,” according to Dan Marenda, superintendent at La Sa
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· Illinois capital-markets director John Sinsheimer and Citigroup Inc. bankers took a globe-girdling trip from the U.K. to China in June to persuade investors that the state’s $900 million of Build America Bonds were a bargain. The seven-cou
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· Illinois’s deteriorating financial condition threatens to swallow up more than half its general- fund budget in the next fiscal year, Comptroller Dan Hynes said. The financial picture drawn by Hynes in a report yesterday projects a fiscal
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· One of the better questions GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Brady hasn't answered is exactly how he'd fill a staggering hole in the state's budget without raising taxes or utterly kneecapping vital services. In an appearance before Crain
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· CHICAGO — While Gov. Pat Quinn has accused his opponent of telling voters fairy tales about balancing the budget, he provided only a hazy picture Monday of how he would close the $13 billion deficit and then move Illinois forward. In an i
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· Panicked by parsimonious social-services allocations in Illinois' 2010 budget, Chicago non-profits and government leaders are crafting a plan to track where public and private funding lands for families and children in need. "It was a doom
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· One area of deep contrast between the two major-party candidates for governor is their stance on taxes. The short version is that Republican state Sen. Bill Brady is against new taxes and has proposed cutting some, while Democratic Gov. Pa
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· ROCKFORD — Services for seniors are not immune to the state’s poor financial health, as local nursing groups have learned this year. When Gov. Pat Quinn trimmed $1.4 billion from the state budget this summer, the Illinois Department on Agi
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· SPRINGFIELD - In the race for governor in Illinois, it is clear which candidate is preferred by the business community. State Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican homebuilder from Bloomington, has received endorsements from business groups such a
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· Both candidates for the 25th District State Senate seat agree that Illinois lawmakers must fix the underfunded state pension system. But Republican Chris Lauzen and Democratic challenger Leslie Juby disagree on how it should be done.
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· At a time in Illinois when politicians everywhere seem to turn us off and tune us out, a rare, refreshing thing happened this week. Trustees in Schaumburg fulfilled two promises made last year to cut the property tax levy and eliminate $20
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· Republican state Sen. Matt Murphy said Wednesday that Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn is using "deceptive numbers" and "fuzzy math" to claim he's made $3 billion in spending cuts. Echoing a "fuzzy math" claim made by his party's candidate for go
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· MT. VERNON — While the first quarter of the state’s fiscal year 2011 concluded Thursday, area schools are still awaiting payments from the state for fiscal year 2010. General state aid payments have been made to schools since the start of
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· Republican Bill Brady's early advantage in the Illinois governor race has evaporated as voters have gotten to know him a bit better and grown to like Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn a bit more, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll found. Quinn has hammered
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· The first major debate in the Illinois governor's race was a brutal verbal battle that at times sounded as though the candidates were trying out for a "Wizard of Oz" revival as they jousted over who's best to fix the state's shambolic finances.
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· GALESBURG — The state owes KCCDD $2.2 million in backlogged payments and the group is being forced to borrow to meet its bills, a problem it shares with agencies that provide social services across Illinois. KCCDD has been struggling with
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· It is an irrefutable fact that Illinois is broke. A non-partisan, non-profit coalition of concerned business leaders organized around that fact is traveling the state, discussing the consequences if Illinois' budget practices aren't soon r
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· MOLINE, Illinois - Illinois business leaders are calling to reform the state's pension and retiree health care costs. The group, Illinois is Broke, wants elected officials to reduce the state's mounting debt with no time to wait. This tick
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· "The General Assembly… gave us a $5 bill to pay $20 worth of groceries." —Gov. Pat Quinn The governor's right on that. The Illinois House and Senate completely failed in its duty to deal with this state's financial crisis. Lawmakers told t
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· CHAMPAIGN – The gap between what students can afford to pay for college, including scholarships, and the actual cost is about $60 million a year at the University of Illinois. That gap grows by $16 million with every 10 percent increase in
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· The Des Plaines Public Library might need to borrow up to $1.5 million from the city to remain open through the end of the year if Cook County property tax receipts don't come in on time, officials said. The library board has sent the requ
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· PEKIN, Ill. — Let’s say you decide to give your household budget a severe pruning, and that you take the state of Illinois as your budgeting role model. Perhaps you have a goal of cutting $500 from your monthly expenses. A quick and easy r
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· Streamwood may make it through 2011 without cutting services or dipping into its reserves, but beyond that, the village may have to. That's the hard truth trustees and village staff heard last week during a budget workshop meeting. <b
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· Freeport, Ill. — There is simply no escaping the breadth of the budget problems that confront Illinois. This state has ventured into new and dangerous territory, with a plan to address these ills well past due. All eyes and ears need to focus on the
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· The paper trail of Illinois' budget crisis reaches hundreds of letters high, each pleading missive an example of a state too broke to pay its bills. The disabled soon won't have a place to live. The drug-addicted could be turned away for t
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· In June 2009, more than 250 people from 16 social service agencies in Elgin gathered in front of the Larkin Center, decried state budget cuts and demanded that lawmakers "Just fix it!" Sixteen months later, a smaller group gathered at anot
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· For the first time in four years, the Community Unit District 300 school board approved a budget showing a multimillion-dollar deficit. Board members approved the district's $200 million budget Monday with a $6.3 million shortfall in the o
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· Millburn District 24 knew it was in trouble well over a year ago as home values dropped, the state fell behind in its payments and grant money thinned. So, district officials began to cut. They reduced spending $1.3 million last year by el
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· Bill Brady stopped by the newspaper Monday to meet the Editorial Board. Brady, the Republican candidate for governor, painted with a broad brush, as has been his practice on the campaign trail. Neither Brady, a homebuilder and state senato
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· A major Illinois pension fund is proposing that local governments be penalized for using one of two common tactics to pad the pensions of its employees before retirement. Following a Tribune investigation showing widespread pension padding
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· Two soon-to-retire administrators in Downers Grove High School District 99 received pay raises and bonuses that will boost their pensions, according to records released last week. The two administrators are the only senior district officia
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· When it comes to pension reform, debate between the candidates for the state's 54th District House seat boils down to radical overhaul vs. measured tweaks and adjustments. Republican Tom Morrison, a small-business owner from Palatine, said
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· When Gov. Pat Quinn signed pension reform into law in April, legal experts split into two camps: those who felt lawmakers had done the best they could and others who felt legislators could pursue further reforms. That division is reflected
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· There was mix of fear, support and anger Thursday at a Wauconda town hall meeting where about 150 residents turned out to discuss a Nov. 2 referendum to change the way fire service is paid. One resident became so angry during a second turn
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· Lake County officials for the second consecutive year are considering millions of dollars in budget cuts in light of continuing dips in revenue and a flat outlook for an economic recovery. The proposed 2011 budget, presented to county boar
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· URBANA – Following a report that said the state budget is doomed without pension reform, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees adopted a 3.9 percent increase in its operating budget. The UI's total budget for the 2011 fiscal year, w
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· If you were running a failing business, would you hand out 7 percent pay raises, a two-year “no layoff” guarantee, a pledge to close no branches, and then another round of pay hikes topping 8 percent? No private-sector business facing bank
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· The state's budget crisis isn't likely to improve in the near future, regardless of who wins the gubernatorial race in November, according to local legislators. State Sen. Gary Dahl, R-Granville; state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley;
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· CHICAGO — Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn suggested again Thursday that his Republican opponent, state Sen. Bill Brady, isn't being square with voters when he rejects the idea of raising taxes. Quinn accused Brady of having a "secret set" of bud
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· URBANA, Ill. — The University of Illinois' new president said Thursday that stagnant faculty pay, along with last year's admissions scandal, the state's financial mess and the legal troubles of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, have hurt the school's nati
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· Gov. Pat Quinn visited the Journal Star for his editorial board interview last week, and he was better - more cogent, passionate - than we had seen him in many years. We find few reasons to laugh during a campaign, but he got a giggle when he suggest
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· In Plainfield’s elementary schools, first-grade students who are having trouble learning to read get intensive attention from a teacher: one-on-one time every school day until they have caught up (which usually takes from 12 to 20 weeks). Evidence th
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· CHICAGO — Municipal and union officials from throughout Illinois gathered in Chicago on Tuesday to discuss proposals to change the pension structure of public safety workers. At one end of the divide stand city officials like Rockford May
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· DeKALB – The DeKalb City Council recently listened to presentations from the presidents of two local pension boards on the current funding situation for pensions. But the questions and discussion among aldermen were limited to facts, and n
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· Western suburbs — Given the state of our economy, many people are asking, “How secure is my nest egg?” Public employees are no different. Much of what they have socked away for retirement depends on prudent planning by government bureaucra
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· Gov. Pat Quinn’s deal with the largest union representing state government employees is bad on so many levels it is difficult to know where to start. To highlight a few of the low lights: • The deal ties the hands of the next go
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· CHICAGO — A deal brokered by the administration of Gov. Pat Quinn with one of Illinois’ largest labor unions has provided fresh fodder for a close governor's race centered on the state budget and ethics. Gov. Pat Quinn reached a deal with
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· ROCKFORD — The more than $25 billion-a-year hospitality industry can be part of the solution to the state’s economic woes, tourism officials told state legislators during a luncheon today at the Clock Tower Resort. But amid its financial c
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· A question facing Wauconda voters on the ballot in November relates to fire and ambulance service, but village officials say the implications are much broader. And, that's why they have been figuratively hitting the streets in a hard sell
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· The near default on bond payments by Harrisburg, Pa., has stoked fears of a wave of municipal bankruptcies. But the chairman of the Illinois Finance Authority says the speculation is overblown. "Municipal bond defaults aren't the end of th
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn has reached a deal with a major union that could save the Illinois government between $50 million and $100 million while barring layoffs of most state employees, both sides said Monday. Under the agr
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· Politicians are lying (not a new concept) about this: They’re planning to raise your taxes next year. A lot. On the local level, the deceptively named “tax cap” law causes people to think that property taxes can’t go up without a referendu
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· After more than a year of negotiations, the Des Plaines city council on Monday approved a three-year contract with its firefighters' union, granting wage increases of up to 2.5 percent through 2012. The agreement is retroactive to Jan. 1,
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· Freeport, Ill. — We have a sinking feeling that, if elected, both of the major party candidates for Illinois governor will bring more “business as usual” when it comes to solving the state’s financial crisis. We make this statement because
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· State Sen. Terry Link compares it to winning the lottery. Local government executives get fat bonuses and retire. Their pensions also are inflated by the bonus amounts, and so their retirement checks get fatter, to the point that they make more
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· Naperville officials blame pension bills, in part, for having to slash their workforce by nearly 100 positions over two years. The City Council declared this spring that municipal pensions were "outdated, not sustainable and too rich." At the same ti
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· Earlier this year, Illinois said it had found a way to save billions of dollars. It would slash the pensions of workers it had not yet hired. The real-world savings would not materialize for decades, of course, but thanks to an actuarial trick, the s
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· Scott Lee Cohen remains the longest of long shots in the race for governor, but we’ll give him credit for honesty when he says, as he did last week, that he doesn’t have a clue how to fix the state’s $13 billion budget deficit. “Sometimes
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· CHICAGO — Illinois is mired in financial crisis with a $13 billion deficit and an eye-popping backlog of unpaid bills from vendors who provide goods and services to the state, including school districts, utilities and landlords who lease buildings.<b
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· Illinois students and their parents pay more to send freshmen to the state's flagship university than all but one other Big Ten public school. In-state freshmen at Penn State are paying marginally more -- $724 -- this school year for tuiti
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· CARBONDALE, Ill. — William Freivogel knew the Southern Illinois University's School of Journalism would be hit hard this year by the proposed 4 percent budget cut. So Freivogel, the school's director, asked to take a two-month unpaid educa
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· Say you're in the Illinois Legislature. The state can't pay any of its bills. It's months behind on payments to contractors, local governments, and, most painfully, to not-for-profit social service providers. Would you support any measure that could
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· ST. CHARLES — The 22 candidates for state and county offices didn't exactly preach to the choir, even though they gathered at a church. In the audience were representatives of 21 social service agencies, clients and families who rely on the programs
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· The economy is on everyone's minds these days, and well it should be. With the United States still mired deep in recession, a great many people have lost their jobs, and even those who are still at work are very nervous about the prospect
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· After two consecutive years of bare-bones budgets, Sangamon County officials are having a hard time finding more fat to trim. As they seek to balance the $93 million fiscal year 2011 budget, county officials hope to save $1.15 million by c
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· Lax pension rules are costing suburban taxpayers millions of dollars by allowing job perks and hefty pay hikes to inflate retirement checks for local leaders, the Tribune has found. In Glencoe, a free Jeep, bonuses and other perks to an ou
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· What is IMRF? The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund is the second-largest pension fund in Illinois. It covers most municipal, county and park district workers outside Chicago. It includes sheriff's deputies but not police officers or fire
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· SPRINGFIELD -- What if the Illinois budget mess was a family financial crisis? How would the proposed solutions by the two main candidates for governor compare? Imagine a family with annual expenses of $26,000, mirroring Illinois' general
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· The District 214 school board unanimously approved its 2010-11 budget on Thursday night but not before Board President Bill Dussling criticized late funding from the state. "The state is two to three million dollars behind on a regular bas
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· A meeting of more than 20 social service agencies - and even more local, county and state political candidates - provided about 400 senior citizens and people with disabilities with several ideas for how to solve a funding debacle those agencies say
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· Brookfield, IL —When Gov. Pat Quinn signed the public pension reform bill in April, it was touted as a way to save more than $200 billion tax dollars in 35 years and protect retirement for pensioned workers. Pensionable salaries are capped
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· Illinois is 0-3 this year with major bond rating agencies, thanks to a growing pile of debt, including pension debt, based on a compilation of reports by the state Comptroller’s Office. Here are summaries of each agency’s evaluation:
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· A headlight was burned out. Thankfully, it was not the other one on my wife's Toyota Prius. The first of those cost $120 for the bulb and took me about 90 minutes to replace — an effort motivated by a dealer estimate of $800 to have it don
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· CARPENTERSVILLE -- Orange 37 has a dark brown ponytail and a pink flowered backpack. She goes with a green pickup truck, where a man waited to scoop her into his arms last week after her morning preschool program ended at the deLacey Family Education
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· Illinois is facing “financial Armageddon,” in the words of one of the organizers of the Illinois is Broke campaign. But it’s also a problem that’s “not terribly sexy,” so the fear is that voters are not paying attention — even though there
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· What are Illinois' options for closing its budget gap? Here are some of the proposed solutions, together with comments from R. Eden Martin, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, whose group is part of the Illinois i
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· U.S. state pensions such as Illinois, Kansas and New Jersey are in a “death spiral,” with assets at many insufficient to cover benefits, payouts consuming a growing portion of resources and costs rising twice as fast as investment gains. L
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· URBANA – Good financial news has been hard to come by at the University of Illinois, but the Urbana campus is in much better shape than a year ago, top officials said Monday. It's not that the state's financial situation has improved. Stat
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· Less money was both a positive and a negative as the St. Charles Unit District 303 school board met Monday night. The good news was Superintendent Don Schlomann voluntarily agreed to take a pay cut. The district is operating with a budget
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· The public didn't have much to say at Monday's public hearing on Elgin Area School District U-46's 2010-11 budget. That may be because the state's second-largest district is expected to pass a balanced budget this year - though not without
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· BLOOMINGTON - The high profile help continues for Bill Brady. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani raised $100 a plate for Brady in Bloomington and the two had an evening event in Chicago. Giuliani was also in the state to raise money
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· Chicago’s next mayor will take over a city that is almost out of cash after Richard M. Daley spent most of the $3.5 billion gained from leasing parking meters, garages and a 7.8-mile elevated toll road. The third-biggest U.S. city by popul
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· If Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady is successful with his plan to cut a dime out of every dollar to close Illinois’ budget deficit, how will schools deal with reduced funding and not make harmful cuts or raise property taxes? <br /
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· As the last school year came to a close, school districts throughout the area were prepared to make significant cuts to their pre-kindergarten programs this fall to cope with a projected loss in state funding. Most of the districts, howeve
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· As the burden from the state's fiscal mismanagement continues to trickle down to the municipal level, one suburb is exploring ways to protect its own coffers. Palatine officials this week discussed what to do about the $2.3 million in dela
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· Everybody who is anybody in Chicago politics has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Mayor Richard M. Daley after his shocking retirement announcement this week. But rather than pondering their chances, potential candidates might take a good
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· DECATUR - Raising taxes is the only way out of the state budget crisis, and members of the General Assembly know it. That was the word from Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, before an audien
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· PEORIA — A plan proposed by Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady to freeze teachers' salaries to help close the state budget deficit was viewed skeptically Wednesday by area educators. The state senator from Bloomington wants to cut
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· SPRINGFIELD -- Earlier this year, Illinois universities fought for months for the authority to borrow money to pay their bills. But so far, the state schools largely haven't needed to take out loans. Though the state remains far
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· Every Illinois resident is more than likely tired of hearing bad news about the state budget. But the bad news keeps coming, and pretending it doesn't exist won't make it go away. The General Assembly has proven that beyond a reasonable do
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· The state's budget crisis is hammering Illinois - and nailing Oak Park in the process. Already, the village has laid off 62 employees, or eliminated their positions - more than one in seven - shrinking the workforce to 377. Payroll has been cut by $4
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· Some of Chicago's top business leaders, shocked by Mayor Richard M. Daley's decision not to seek re-election, are bracing for a political free-for-all they fear could stall prized business projects like expansion of O'Hare International Airport.<br /
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· As though there weren't enough casualties - schoolkids and teachers, the elderly, disabled and their caregivers, to name just a few - in the fiscal trainwreck that is the Illinois budget, now we can add more. Retirees. And taxpayers, of course, who a
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· Peter Anthony, president and CEO of UGN Inc., an auto parts-maker based in Tinley Park, is weighing where to invest $14.5 million on a plant expansion next year that will create 30 jobs. Anthony is juggling three eager suitors — Indiana, K
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· JOLIET -- When City Councilman Anthony Uremovic made a surprise announcement about his retirement last month, he explained that he was spending more time out of town on research and on a consulting business. He didn't mention that retiring right away
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· Park commissioners in Highland Park deliberately inflated the compensation package of their retiring executive director to bump his pension by tens of thousands of dollars per year. Bellwood officials were surprised — surprised! — to learn their vill
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· Just when you thought the state of Illinois' fiscal trajectory couldn't get worse, Springfield has done it again. The major Illinois pension funds are selling off core assets to pay benefits. The biggest fund, Teachers' Retirement System, may have to
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· The state government's inability to adopt a reasonable budget, combined with borrowing billions of dollars, will cost taxpayers an extra $551 million. That's the conclusion of a new study by the Civic Federation of Chicago, a nonpartisan r
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· SPRINGFIELD — This school year, many parents across the state are having to pay a little more to send their kids to school. District officials throughout the state say they have bumped up their fees to account for late state payments to th
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· Huntley District 158 soon could get $1.1 million from the federal government. Carpentersville-based District 300 could get $1 million. And Crystal Lake District 155 could get $868,929.36. But, the key word is “could.” The I
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· It's all but official now. You can see it in the sudden explosion of campaign signs on suburban lawns, the steady increase in political commercials on television, the growing ubiquity of candidate appearances at debates, luncheons and town meetings.
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· A warning to Illinois politicians cranking up their post-Labor Day hype machines to woo voters: They're blasé at best about you, and they sure don't think the state or federal government is going to help them through uncertain times. Yet t
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· Illinois' $13 billion budget deficit was the topic and target of a candidate forum Thursday in Naperville featuring a dozen DuPage County legislative hopefuls. The event was sponsored by the DuPage Work Group, an advocacy group for people
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· As we head into the homestretch of the campaign season this Labor Day weekend, to say we are disappointed in the discourse of the governor's campaign would be an understatement. Surprised? No. Dismayed? Absolutely. We focus here
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· SPRINGFIELD - This school year, many parents across the state are having to pay a little more to send their kids to school. District officials throughout the state say they have bumped up their fees to account for late state payments to th
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld was in session in Springfield earlier this year when he got a call from his secretary back in his district office. She was calling from her cell phone because the district office phones, whic
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· Two Highland Park Park District commissioners resigned in the wake of an outcry over huge bonuses awarded employees, officials said Wednesday. Commissioner Stacy Weiss tendered her resignation Wednesday, while Nancy Rosenbaum handed in her
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· SPRINGFIELD - State Sen. Bill Brady, the Republican candidate for governor, is taking heat from a teachers union over suggestions that school districts could consider forgoing teacher pay raises. Brady said his proposed cuts to the state b
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· After passing what it thought was a tough budget, city officials in Champaign are looking for more to cut. Declining tax revenues and shortfalls in promised state appropriations are pushing local governments, including Champaign, into tough budg
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· The new finding that Illinois politicians squandered $551.3 million due to their own bumbling confounded us: What would 551,300,000 dollar bills look like? Well, if we have our math straight, they would stack 37.4 miles high, give or take more raises
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· Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady gave some details on Tuesday about his plan to create more jobs and acknowledged that parts of his plan would add as much as $1 billion to the state’s $13 billion budget deficit. Brady, who als
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· The state's budget problems continue to hit close to home. One of the latest examples is the news last week that the Decatur school district's transportation reimbursement from the state will be reduced by $1.4 million this year. The cut i
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· Forget about gun control, energy, abortion, public safety and all the other issues that are cluttering up the Illinois gubernatorial race. The only things that matter in the race between Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger
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· Western suburbs — The ripple effects of Illinois’ financial crisis are hitting some people like a tsunami. Being owed about $1.8 million by the state, Seguin Services in Cicero had to raise revenue to keep its doors open. The organization,
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· Red ink is splattered across Morgan County’s 2011 ledger book. County commissioners still passed a $6.3 million budget Monday, even though projected expenses exceed revenue by $279,000, which is 4.4 percent of the General Fund budget.<br /
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· It’s been one of the flashpoints of the 2010 campaign for governor: Is Illinois’ business climate friendly enough to bring in new employers and encourage existing ones to expand? The Republican candidate, state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomingt
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· Many hear "tour" and think rock star or exotic travel plans. But several conservative-leaning organizations are seeking to change that through newly formed spinoff campaigns, all aimed at getting candidates to be precise about solutions an
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· Illinois' pension crisis entered a dangerous new phase last week when the large state employee retirement funds said they would have to sell off big chunks of their investment portfolios to raise cash for payments to retirees. As first rep
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· CHAMPAIGN – His newly revised income tax increase plan, Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday, includes calling on school districts to use property tax cuts to return about one-third of the new money they'd receive. The governor also said that there
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· Illinois’ five state-funded pension systems are faced with selling assets to pay for retiree pension benefits, in part because state government isn’t paying its share of pension costs. The sales will drive the systems even deeper into debt
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· Suburban school officials are a little leery of Gov. Pat Quinn's call to link an income tax hike and property tax cuts. While they welcomed the idea of property tax relief, they also expressed concerns about becoming even more dependent on
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· Illinois employee pension funds are sending up flares warning they may have to sell off as much as 10 percent of their investment portfolios unless lawmakers find a way for the financially hobbled state to make its pension contributions this fiscal y
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois was shut out on a whopping federal education grant for a second time Tuesday despite building support and adopting school reform laws after losing out on the first round of money. The state was hoping to use as
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· Illinois is facing financial ruin unless something is done to address its estimated $130 billion debt related to pension and retiree health care costs, according to a coalition of organizations and residents seeking reform. Members of the
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· Illinois State Universities Retirement System, Champaign, expects to sell $1.2 billion in investments this fiscal year to raise liquidity to pay pension benefits to participants, said Daniel L. Allen, chief investment officer. SURS could u
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· PEORIA — The state is late with its funding commitment to RSVP of Peoria and Tazewell Counties, and that potentially could jeopardize the organization’s ability to supply volunteers to its 125 partner agencies. The Retired and Senior Volun
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· SPRINGFIELD - Illinois Republicans are raising questions about the dismissal of an ethics inspector who had been investigating a top aide to Gov. Pat Quinn. On Aug. 13, Quinn announced he was replacing Executive Inspector General James Wri
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Republican candidates for Illinois treasurer and comptroller said Monday they want to merge the two positions into a single financial office for the state. Dan Rutherford and Judy Baar Topinka say the merger would s
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· While their individual approaches differ, both 56th District state representative candidates agree that pension reform is a key ingredient to solving Illinois' financial woes. In fact, Republican Ryan Higgins and Democrat Michelle Mussman,
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· The federal government’s crackdown on the State of New Jersey this week for misrepresenting the condition of its pension funds raises a question: Who else might have pension numbers that could draw regulatory fire? Cities and states are sc
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· In April, the New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, issued a damning report on the Empire State's financial practices. Albany's budgets, he observed, increasingly employ "fiscal manipulations" to present a "distorted view of the State's financ
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· Illinois is broke. In the short run, it is running out of cash - and borrowing to cover its own operations as well as to fund health care, schools, local governments and social services. Or it simply fails to pay its bills - borrowing, in effect, fro
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· Dozens of Highland Park residents confronted their Park District commissioners Thursday night, demanding that they resign for approving a series of exorbitant bonuses, salary increases and pension boosting payouts to top district executives between 2
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· Illinois voters have waited long enough -- too long, in fact -- to learn how politicians intend to resolve the state's financial crisis. As the Republican candidate for governor, state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington has to do more than say
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· The summer is always a slow time for schools (and school reporters), but the return of students in the fall has a way of quickly bringing issues back to the fore. In most school districts in Illinois, the main issue right now is the state's budg
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· Gov. Pat Quinn said he is showing the "guts and fortitude" to tell Illinoisans that it will take huge budget cuts and a tax increase to get the state budget back on track. Quinn said during an exclusive phone interview Wednesday that his p
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· Taxpayers must cover at least a third of a $3 trillion bill for public employee pensions even if lawmakers eliminate cost-of-living increases and raise the retirement age, according to an academic study. “Even if states uniformly eliminate
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· The next big issue on the national political horizon may be whether the federal government should bail out the many budget-strapped states and municipalities across the country, especially their overly generous and badly underfunded pension plans.<br
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· Dennis Byrne's Aug. 10 column on Illinois' financially imperiled pension system struck a nerve. The presidents of the Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers have responded with an essay that says the Tribune is being u
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· Leaders of the state teachers unions ask, "How much longer will the Chicago Tribune allow itself to be used as a tool of terror" by reform advocates in their "quest to deprive hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans of the reasonable retirement they, in
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· Yes, Rod Blagojevich had his federally recorded tantrums about the opinion pages of this newspaper. But for all his sworn spluttering, the then-governor stopped short of exposing what the Illinois Federation of Teachers and Illinois Education Associa
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· Gov. Pat Quinn likes to attack Republican challenger Bill Brady for failing to have a budget plan. Brady says he’ll slash the state’s budget and scrutinize every dollar spent to root out waste and fraud. Both candidates need to
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· PEKIN, Ill. — Watching state funding for education in Illinois is almost like watching a slapstick comedy. School officials have watched the governor, the comptroller and the Illinois State Board of Education run here and there saying this and t
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· SPRINGFIELD -- Republican Bill Brady said Tuesday he won't be able to offer a detailed plan for balancing Illinois' crumbling budget until after he becomes governor. Brady has made the budget crisis a major part of his campaign, accusing D
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· A majority of Illinois’ registered voters prefer to balance the state budget through spending cuts than by borrowing or higher taxes, according to a poll commissioned by a conservative think tank. The Illinois Policy Institute says the pol
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· Chicago, whose credit rating was cut by two companies this month, is selling $164.1 million of municipal bonds for schools as its cost of borrowing has risen about 40 percent for taxable Build America securities. The city plans to issue de
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· Cutbacks, budget problems and funding concerns are headlining the Champaign City Council’s agenda this fall. “We’re in such bad shape. I don’t understand how we’re going to do it without raising taxes,” said Tom Bruno, council member-at-large.<b
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· PEORIA — A federal stimulus grant could pay for 10 police officers next year and potentially keep the department from having to lay off additional men, Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard said Monday. But the grant - the COPS Hiring Program -
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· More than 20,000 students packed their bags and headed out the door Monday morning for the first day of class in Community Unit District 300 schools. District 300 started school earlier this year so students would have more time to prepare
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· State Rep. David Miller, D- Dolton, wants you to know he makes $76,000 a year as a member of Illinois' General Assembly. And if Miller, the Democratic candidate for state comptroller, has his way, you'll soon be able to easily access an on
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· Gov. Pat Quinn Friday criticized his Republican opponent for saying it was wrong for Congress to approve more education and Medicaid money for states, including Illinois. Illinois expects to get about $500 million more for Medicaid program
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· Public pension systems in Illinois have long served as vehicles for the government to borrow money out of the view of taxpayers. In place of even higher public employee salaries, politicians have made unfunded pension promises extending far beyond th
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· Even as the Obama administration promotes charter schools as a way to help raise the academic performance of the nation’s students, half of Chicago’s charter schools have been running deficits in recent years, an analysis of financial and budget doc
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady said Thursday that Congress was wrong to pass an aid package that will give Illinois nearly $1 billion for teachers and health care. Brady said the $26 billion legislation wi
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· GALESBURG — The $415 million Illinois school districts will receive from the federal government to help save teachers’ jobs is meant to provide cash-strapped districts some relief. But while local districts would welcome the ass
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· Local charities are struggling to survive under current financial conditions and government decisions. Meanwhile, the disadvantaged pay the price. On paper, many charities seem to have relatively stable financial records. But their black o
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· It's August, with autumn looming, and that means something bad is happening. No, not Brett Favre scheming for attention. The bad thing is the spectacle of state governments from Texas to Vermont trying to buy off voters with their own money. <br
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· Western suburbs — If a reality TV show were based on how legislators conduct business in Springfield, nobody would believe it. The utter implausibility of government operations is laughable. But the real joke is on us. A sales tax holiday
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· Illinois lawmakers might have to return to Springfield in a special session if the state wants to spend more than $400 million in education aid it expects to receive from Washington. Then again, maybe they won’t. State officials
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· The Republican candidate for Illinois governor appears to be backing away from an astonishing claim he made yesterday in the western part of the state. Bill Brady told an audience in Quincy, Ill. that he would balance the state's devastate
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· David Vaught, Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget director, told Bloomberg News last week that the governor, if re-elected, would seek to increase the state income tax on personal income from 3 percent to 5 percent next January. The campaign of his Re
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· Glen Ellyn, IL — The state’s only educational facility for children that are both deaf and blind, the Philip J. Rock Center and School in Glen Ellyn, might be closing its doors in the coming months due to a budget crunch caused by $1 billion it is ow
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· Illinois public employees who think the state constitution guarantees that they'll get all their pension benefits may have another think coming. Politicians' and public labor unions' assurances aside, there's another, not-well-publicized s
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· Numerous programs and as many as 68 teachers could be coming back to Cary Elementary District 26 one month from now if the school board accepts a donation of more than $4.3 million. District 26 staff and board members have been in discussi
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· DANVILLE – Danville school officials are projecting that the district will end the current fiscal year about $2.4 million in the red. "That's even sort of a guess," Superintendent Mark Denman said Friday. "We simply don't know what's going
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· State pension officials are re-examining the retirement of a west suburban village administrator who the Chicago Tribune revealed was paid $472,255 last year under 10 different job titles, spiking his pension by tens of thousands of dollars. <br
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· Gov. Pat Quinn has been dealt a tough hand. Not only did he enter the governor’s office unexpectedly, without much preparation, he was faced with numerous financial problems and a Legislature not inclined to help him, even though both houses are cont
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· SPRINGFIELD — As Illinois faces a $13 billion budget deficit, a separate $2.2 billion debt has quietly accumulated during the recession – and because of the recession. Illinois started borrowing from the Federal Unemployment Account last s
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· Four years ago, Peter Robertson thought he was leaving the uncertainty of a freelance writing career for the stability of teaching. He'd always wanted his own classroom, and the 52-year-old was pretty sure he'd get hired — schools were eag
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· A combination of extravagant retirement benefits and a lack of fiscal discipline have made Illinois’ pension system the worst in the nation. How much the state needs to contribute to fully fund its obligations ranges from $79 billion to $200 billion,
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· SPRINGFIELD - State aid to some college students, money for community human service providers and staffing at the Department of Children and Family Services all came under Gov. Pat Quinn's budget knife this week as he completed making $1.4 billion in
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· Gov. Pat Quinn detailed additional cuts to Illinois’ cash-strapped state budget Tuesday, taking more money out of school transportation grants, cutting operations funds for psychiatric hospitals and developmental centers, and eliminating a subsidy to
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· The Chicago Teachers Union has filed a federal lawsuit against the Chicago Public Schools in an attempt to halt the dismissals of hundreds of teachers and support staff. CTU President Karen Lewis said Tuesday the school board is arbitraril
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· Non-union state employees will not be required to use holidays to fulfill their furlough day requirement, according to rules issued by the Department of Central Management Services. However, CMS said employees may voluntarily use that opti
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· Two Illinois lawmakers on Monday called for hearings to look into local government pension practices after learning how officials with the Park District of Highland Park intentionally used large bonuses to hike the pension of a district executive by
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· As the economy was taking a historic nosedive, parks officials in Highland Park were paying three of their executives far more — $435,203 in one case — than anyone in similar posts across the suburbs, the Tribune has found. Parks officials
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· States are deciding it's time their workers retire later. Lawmakers in at least 10 states have voted this year to require many new government employees to work longer before retiring with a full pension, or have increased penalties for ear
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· NEW YORK -- The states are broke, and like many consumers, they're borrowing big time to get out of their fiscal binds. The amount of debt that states are carrying spiked 10.3% last year to $460 billion, according to Moody's Investors Serv
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· Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget director, David Vaught, gave some insight into what part of the solution to the state’s budget deficit might be when he told Bloomberg News last week that the administration intends to raise the income tax from 3 percent to 5
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· CHICAGO– Gov. Pat Quinn appears to be having a problem with message control concerning his tax policies, thanks to one of his top aides. The governor’s budget director, David Vaught, said lawmakers intend to increase the individual tax rat
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· Recently, under attack for giving big raises to his staff, Governor Quinn issued an order requiring all State nonunion employees to take off 12 more days of unpaid work this year - which now makes a total of 24 unpaid "furlough" days. These days of n
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· Countless barrels of ink have been spilled in lamenting Illinois' fiscal crisis brought on by the staggering growth in unfunded pensions and retiree health obligations, now amounting to $130 billion. But consider the matter from the standp
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· It's kind of like maxing out your credit cards. If you and your neighbor each lose your jobs, you'll both be in trouble, but if you've already rung up big debts, you will end up worse off. It's the same with the states. Most continue to st
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· GALESBURG — Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Sheila Simon thinks the state needs to start raising incomes taxes and isn’t shy about admitting it. Simon campaigned Thursday in Galesburg, meeting local Democrats at Innkeeper’s co
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· Chicago, Ill. — While thousands of state workers take a month of unpaid time off and the state wallows in economic distress, the Illinois Policy Institute finds state lawmakers continue to enjoy one the nation's highest state salaries. Acc
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· LOVES PARK — Staff members at Illinois Growth Enterprises were celebrating last month — the end of the fiscal year — after making sacrifices during the past 12 months to keep the organization afloat. Then, state officials pulled the rug ou
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· Just in case you blinked, here's a summary of Gov. Pat Quinn's actions on the state budget in the last several days. A couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that Quinn had awarded raises averaging 11.4 percent to his staff at a time when he
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· Just a small percentage of about 2,700 nonunion state workers in agencies under the governor will be exempt from Gov. Pat Quinn’s new administrative order to take 24 furlough days in the fiscal year that began July 1. But for most of the n
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· Several recent news reports have indicated that Illinois is planning on selling pension obligation bonds in order to come up with the cash to make its contributions to the five state public retirement systems for the next fiscal year. This is by no
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· When Gov. Pat Quinn’s office issued an administrative order last week requiring non-union state workers to take 24 furlough days this fiscal year, the declaration said the resulting pay reduction would not affect pensions. On Tuesday, the
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· Tears well up in Michelle Lefrere’s eyes as she talks about all the people she worries will go without services if Springfield’s 32-year-old Epilepsy Resource Center closes as planned in late July, the victim of state budget cuts. “It’s ju
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· Comptroller Dan Hynes tried to hammer home the seriousness of the state’s budget problems in a quarterly report issued last week. Here’s how Hynes succinctly summed up the state of the state. “Illinois ended the year in the wors
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· Shortly before Tim Baldermann retired as Chicago Ridge's police chief, the town boosted his salary by more than $70,000, handing the 44-year-old as big a paycheck in retirement as he earned full time on the police force. The deputy police
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· Illinois budget director David Vaught received a 20 percent raise. I was talking to my mom on the phone last week and just as I was about to hang up she stopped me short and insisted that we talk about Gov. Pat Quinn’s bigtime raises to h
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Illinois is going to market today to borrow $900 million through bond sales. It's part of what may ultimately be some $4 billion in borrowing to get the state through this fiscal year. Illinois is looking at a potential
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· And so it was prophesied: Illinois is headed into a public-pension death spiral even sooner than predicted. The Land of Obama leads the way. The state of Illinois — broke, overleveraged, and still refusing to get its accounts in order — is
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· Downers Grove resident Edris Byers reads about three mystery novels a month. Some of the books she finds at her local library, but other, harder-to-find titles are ordered through an online interlibrary loan system and delivered to her hom
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· NEW YORK -- Just two weeks after Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn chopped $1.4 billion from the budget, the cash-strapped state is turning to the debt markets to get it through the fiscal year. On Wednesday, it plans to raise $900 million through B
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· While Illinois continues its biggest borrowing spree in recent years, it is paying a steep premium for loans because of its failure to significantly address its financial crisis, observers say. In peddling another $900 million in Build Ame
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· The state, selling the federally subsidized taxable debt to pay for transportation and various capital projects, borrowed $8.7 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, the most since it sold $10 billion to fund its pension plan contribution in fisca
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· Almost 2,000 fewer meals will be served each month to senior citizens in Sangamon and Menard counties, and transportation services to seniors will be cut in half as part of $55,000 in cuts scheduled to take effect Monday. Previous budget c
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· SPRINGFIELD – It's no surprise, but devastating nonetheless: Revenue into the state's coffers for the fiscal year that ended last Wednesday dropped a breathtaking $2 billion, or 7 percent, from the year before. In terms of dollars, it's th
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· We give Gov. Pat Quinn a hard time quite often, and we recognize that. Thing is, he makes it so easy. Here's another editorial idea he served up to us, big and delicious: At the same time he's been traveling Illinois
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· July 9 (Bloomberg) -- States may face increased retirement- fund deficits and pressure to stop skipping pension contributions under proposals being reviewed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Pension-forecasting proposals from
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· " Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises — some of more than 20 percent — to his staff while proclaiming a message of 'shared sacrifice' and planning spending cuts of $1.4 billion because the state is awash in debt." —The Associated Press
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· Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn apparently believes that his own staff is immune from the "shared sacrifice" he says is necessary to address the state's horrific financial situation. At the same time he was planning on spending cuts of $1.4 billio
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· SPRINGFIELD -- The last budget year was a record-breaking one for Illinois finances, and all the records were bad. Comptroller Dan Hynes’ office on Wednesday issued its final report for the 2010 fiscal year that ended June 30. Among its fi
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· Don't say you didn't see it coming. This spring, the Illinois House leadership declined to call a vote on Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed full-percentage-point increase in the income tax. House members, sensing public sentiment, wouldn't have ap
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· Whew! Gov. Pat Quinn's new Illinois budget came along in the nick of time, just hours after the state's fiscal year began July 1 and a day before Quinn and the other state politicians headed out for a long weekend of parade appearances. It
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· CHICAGO — Even by the standards of this deficit-ridden state, Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes, faces an ugly balance sheet. Precisely how ugly becomes clear when he beckons you into his office to examine his daily briefing memo. Pa
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· Gov. Pat Quinn boasted about budget cuts that ... he can't specify. Budget director David Vaught asserted that balancing a budget by borrowing is a swell idea. By the end of their Thursday news conference -- intended to project frugality and good ste
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· Gov. Pat Quinn signed the new state budget into law Thursday, making what he said are $1.4 billion in budget reductions and warning that more could be on the way. But anyone hoping for a detailed look at how state government plans to spend nearl
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· More than 6,000 new moms and their babies will need a new route to find basic medical care as the Kane County Health Department prepares to lay off at least 50 employees. The announcement came Wednesday after Paul Kuehnert, executive direc
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ― Illinois legislators stuck Gov. Pat Quinn with the task of managing the worst budget crisis in state history, and now he's about to reveal what he plans to do. Quinn is slated to announce Thursday, the first day of the s
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· Critics of creating a 401(k)-style retirement benefit for public employees Wednesday pounced on gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady’s suggestion that the state move away from its current pension programs and into a system widely used in private indust
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· From the disabled who need help to stay in their homes to school districts trying to balance their own budgets, people who rely on state spending are bracing for Gov. Pat Quinn's budget scalpel. Quinn said Monday he's preparing to deal wit
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· CHICAGO — With Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn poised to sign the fiscal 2011 budget today amid a drumbeat of negative financial news, experts recently offered suggestions for tackling the state’s budget crisis that range from expanding the sales tax base to
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· Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday he will make “serious cuts” in state spending Wednesday, although he declined to give any specifics. Quinn said he will take action on the state budget Wednesday afternoon, the last day of the state’s current fis
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· If you've been forced to cut back family finances, you know the dilemma: Something's gotta go, but no one agrees on what. The debate easily can become acrimonious, with everyone pushing his own interests. So it goes with the lat
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· DANVILLE – People keep calling and asking, why aren't you open on Fridays any more? Steve Laker, administrator of the Vermilion County Health Department, answers by reminding people of the deep budget cuts that forced the county health dep
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· Illinois cannot solve its budget problems without generating new tax revenue. That's not me talking, it's Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, a company that objectively evaluates the fiscal viability of governmental entities. It noted the "cumulative
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· For the second consecutive year, the Illinois General Assembly has confronted the state fiscal crisis by “passing the buck.” Last month, the legislature passed a General Funds budget for fiscal year (FY) 2011 that would give most state agencies lump-
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· Based on raw numbers, other states have more serious financial problems than Illinois. Nevada and Michigan, for example, both have unemployment rates close to 15 percent. California has a $19 billion budget deficit. But does any
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· If you go to Sacramento this week, don't be surprised to hear champagne corks popping and chants of "We're #2! We're #2!" The cause for celebration? Illinois has overtaken California as the worst credit risk among American states. As of Monday,
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· The website address says it all: IllinoisIsBroke.com. That is the name chosen by a coalition of businesses, civic groups and social service agencies pushing for budget reform in the state. The group is spearheaded by the Civic C
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· Tough June for insolvent Illinois, the deadbeat state. First, Moody's Investor Services whacks the state with yet another downgrade of its creditworthiness. Moody's criticizes "a chronic lack of political will that indicates further erosio
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· Many states are acknowledging this year that they have promised pensions they cannot afford and are cutting once-sacrosanct benefits, to appease taxpayers and attack budget deficits. Illinois raised its retirement age to 67, the highest of
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· Two sides of Illinois’ pension systems need to be fixed to bring the state out of its retirement funding quagmire: the benefits, which some say are overly generous, and the funding, which is $78 billion in the red. The first half got a boost las
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· All pension funds are not created equal, but the most active unions bring home the best deals for retirees. Although each government pension plan in Illinois has its own peculiarities, a GateHouse News Service analysis of statewide and locally f
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· Illinois' premier public university may be owed as much as $700 million from the state by year's end, threatening its "entire financial underpinning," its president told a group of regional business leaders Monday. The prediction by University o
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· One of the most troubling social trends in recent years has been the pension gap between state and local employees (who can retire early — often very early — with instant, guaranteed, taxpayer-paid benefits) and the private sector workers whose taxes
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· Pension crises in Chicago, in Illinois and in cities and states throughout the nation threaten the retirement security of public employees, investors' confidence in public securities and, ultimately, the economic recovery on which businesses, consume
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· Seven states will run out of money to pay public pensions by 2020. That hasn’t stopped them from hiring new employees. The seven are Illinois, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, Hawaii, Louisiana and Oklahoma, according to Joshua D. Rauh of the K
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· For decades, the state of Illinois has put part of its pension tab on plastic, while charging up earlier and more costly retirements without socking away savings to cover the bill. Lawmakers put off tough choices by making the minimum payments t
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· Illinois’ bond rating has been cut a notch by Moody’s Investors Service as a new report shows state revenues continue to slide and the pile of unpaid bills continues to grow. Moody’s cut Illinois’ rating on general obligation bonds from Aa3 to A
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· Although Illinois Democrats claim the state's pension systems today are more secure than they were three years ago when Gov. Rod Blagojevich took office, Republicans argue the future of the pension systems - and the increasing liability of the state
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· SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — As a provider of in-home assistance for seniors, St. John's Home and Community Care of Collinsville partners with the state of Illinois, operating on grants through the state departments of Aging and Human Services. But Illin
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· Over 20 years -- a generation or more -- of following the path of least resistance, deferring the pain of necessary cuts and tax increases in favor of continuous borrowing has led Illinois to the abyss of fiscal collapse and constitutional crisis.<br
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· A union representing state employees warned that legislation passed last week to trim pension benefits for newly hired state workers is "opening the door to slashing pensions for existing workers." If only we could believe it. We see the measure
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