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Illinois A.G. Raoul's reckless call to cancel $1.7 trillion of student debt and the sad story of how we got here
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul this week urged President Biden to fully cancel federal student loan debt owed by every federal student loan borrower in the country. -
Parents, keep an eye on your school's sex ed curriculum. It may be more extreme than you think
It doesn’t matter where you stand on the issues of sex-ed, pronoun usage or transgenderism in school, you should know who’s teaching your kids, what they’re teaching them and whether there’s more than meets the eye. -
It's not just Illinois homeowners that suffer: Businesses pay some of the nation's highest property taxes too
We recently wrote about how Illinoisans are burdened by the nation’s highest effective property taxes. New research by ATTOM ranked Illinois residential property tax rates as number one in 2021, just ahead of New Jersey. -
Nine truths about Illinois’ 2023 budget
Are Illinoisans better off with the new 2023 budget? -
Students smack down Chicago 'Disinformation' Conference panelists, exposing far more than apparent about media
Traditional media beclowned itself last week at a Chicago conference on “disinformation.” That’s a story in itself, but the bigger story is how they covered up even that story, peddling disinformation about a conference on disinformation. The guilty include Illinois media, which is further guilty of still suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story that is part of what sparked the fireworks at the conference. -
Election year + Covid $ = Vote buying
Will the shiny objects in Illinois’ new budget bedazzle voters as intended? Here are some initial thoughts. -
New study ranks states' COVID policy results. Illinois gets an 'F'
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) last week published a working paper that is the most thorough review we’ve seen so far relating state government COVID policy to actual results. In addition to mortality, it considered effects on the economy and education in its rankings. -
Illinois' new crime bill task force poised to fail
We’ve reached a breaking point on crime in Illinois and supermajority Democrats in the state legislature know it. So as June’s primary elections approach, they’ve introduced legislation to create a Crime Reduction Task Force that would “develop and propose ways to reduce crime across the state.” Legislators, law enforcement, policy experts, victims and witnesses would “review research and best practices while taking expert and witness testimony” and then issue findings and recommendations to lawmakers and the Governor by March 1 of next year. -
New census release: 81 of Illinois' 102 counties lost population in 2021, Cook County lost the 3rd-most nationwide
When the U.S. Census Bureau released its state population estimates for 2021 last December, Illinois’ population drop of 114,000 was the second-largest in the country on a percentage basis. Illinois lost nearly 1 percent of its population. -
It's time for 'non-playing characters' to revolt in Illinois
Illinois has earned a reputation as the place people like to leave. Data from the IRS, the Census Bureau, U-Haul and United Van Lines, and most recently from the Allied-Zillow Magnet States study, all show that Illinois is bleeding more people than almost any other state in the country. Practically all of the fresh leakage is due to outmigration driven by high taxes, arrogant governance, and toxic corruption. -
The latest, brazen whoppers from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his party
Election years are “silly season,” it’s often said in Illinois, but this year is one for the record books. -
Don't downplay Chicago's crime this year. It's up 34 percent
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week touted a fractional drop in murders and a modest reduction in shooting incidents this year versus the same stretch last year. -
A stunning miscalculation: CDC cuts nation's reported child COVID deaths by nearly 25 percent
One of the greatest sins of our government’s approach to the COVID pandemic has been its oppressive treatment of children. Lockdowns, remote-learning and other mitigation policies have stunted the mental, physical, social and emotional development of children for two years. Research and coverage from NPR, New York Times, the Atlantic and other media increasingly show the damage to children has been enormous, though we won’t know the full impact for decades. -
This bad idea won't go away: Illinois bill would make general contractors liable for wage claims against subcontractors
Leave it to the Illinois General Assembly to find ways to make life more expensive and difficult for employers. -
'How much do we hate jobs in this state?' The fight over Illinois' unemployment insurance debt will hit job creators
There’s a battle brewing in the Illinois Senate over how much of the state’s remaining $3.5 billion in federal COVID aid should be used to repay the state’s $4.5 billion in unemployment debts. Illinois’ Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, normally financed by taxes on state businesses, was wiped out after hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans filed unemployment claims as a result of the pandemic lockdowns. The federal government loaned Illinois the $4.5 billion so the state could issue unemployment checks. -
Illinois used to have one competitive advantage over its neighbors: its flat tax. Now that's largely gone
One of the few positives in Illinois we’ve been able to cheer over the years has been the state’s flat income tax rate. For years, Illinois was a flat tax state surrounded largely by progressive tax states, including Iowa, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Missouri. -
More double-dipping Illinois school superintendents
Illinois school district superintendents keep finding ways to retire with generous Illinois pensions while continuing to get salaries to boot. -
Move by labor department may mean Illinois and other states never know full scale of pandemic unemployment fraud
Nearly a year after Illinois lawmakers requested an audit by the Illinois Department of Employment Security of fraudulent unemployment claims and a tabulation of losses during the pandemic, nothing has come forth. -
Gov. Pritzker falsely claims victory after Supreme Court ruling then surrenders on statewide school mask mandate
The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Pritzker Administration’s request to appeal a lower appellate ruling, thereby effectively ending the statewide school mask mandate. Individual school districts became free across Illinois to decide for themselves on school masks. After the ruling, Pritzker said his mandate will end on Monday, a mandate he has claimed is legal and still effective despite lower court rulings to the contrary. -
As many as 160,000 fewer workers: Illinois' poor jobs record continues during COVID
Illinois’ taxes, corruption, unfriendly business environment and high labor costs continue to take a toll on the state’s economic recovery. And job prospects for many Illinoisans, particularly in the leisure and hospitality industry, have been made even worse by the state’s COVID policies, some of the nation’s strictest.