Opinions
Illinois licensing makes escaping poverty harder than in other Midwestern states
Illinois could make it easier to escape poverty by letting more people work without first getting a license. Six neighboring states do a better job of easing occupational licensing on low-income professions.
Illinois’ 2nd-highest gas taxes drive up Thanksgiving travel costs
More than 55 million people are traveling for Thanksgiving this year, according to AAA. Illinois motorists can avoid the nation’s second-highest gas taxes by filling up in other states.
Illinoisans burdened with $207 billion in official state & local pension debts, $41,000 per household
The $200 billion Illinois’ public and private sectors got in federal covid bailouts pulled Illinois back from its decades-long, self-inflicted financial decline. Unpaid bills are now mostly repaid, state revenues are up and the state has received multiple credit rating upgrades.
Illinois becomes first state in America to go backward on school choice
School choice in Illinois is dead. For now. The teachers unions were on a warpath to kill Illinois’ small tax-credit scholarship program and their Democratic allies weren’t willing to cross them. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon failed to call a bill to a vote this week to extend the program and with that, the Invest in Kids Act sunsets at the end of this year.
Pritzker asks Biden to help Illinois attract more migrants
Gov. JB Pritzker met with Pres. Joe Biden for 45 minutes during Biden’s Thursday Illinois visit.
Chinese state-run publication cheers Gotion’s Illinois and Michigan projects as expansion of global supremacy in E.V. supply chain
The Global Times is a Chinese government publication controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Its October 31 column celebrates China’s expansion of its dominance over the the electric vehicle and battery supply line into the United States and the rest of the world.
1.2 million Illinois public school children can’t read at grade level, yet legislature, unions push to kill state’s only school choice program
It’s incredible that Illinois politicians and the teachers unions are focused on maiming – or even killing – the state’s tiny 9,700-student school choice program when states across the country are not only expanding school choice, but making it universally available for every single student in their state.
Gov. Pritzker shuns warnings from Biden Administration and top democrats about Chinese espionage
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said critics of his decision to provide taxpayer financing to Gotion, Inc., a Chinese electric vehicle battery maker with CCP ties, are “xenophobes” and “MAGA Republicans.” That’s ironic given that some of the most urgent warnings about China on spying, intelligence and supply chain risks come from the top of his very own Democratic party.
5 problems with report implying Illinois is growing. Problem No. 1: It's not
Authors left out key data that contradicted their findings to claim Illinois’ population is growing. Evidence Illinois is shrinking comes independently from the IRS, U.S. Census Bureau, Illinois Department of Revenue and multiple moving companies.
The game of politics: Home field advantages and a biased media
There is no bigger game than the upcoming 2024 election. We’ve all got to put our game faces on, pull our chin straps tight, and give it our best shots!
NewsGuard, part of the government-media censorship complex, promoted by Chicago Tribune to combat ‘misinformation’
This was Media Literacy Week, and the Chicago Tribune’s contribution was an op-ed by the executive editor of NewsGuard, a supposed warrior against media misinformation.
Illinois city outlaws trick-or-treating beyond age 12
Some Illinois communities see regulating any mischief on Halloween as a real treat. Belleville prohibits anyone older than 12 from trick-or-treating, with fines up to $1,000.
‘Illinois is growing,’ claims yet another group of political elites; It’s not true
Wirepoints has highlighted for years how Illinois’ failed public policies are driving residents out of the state. All the evidence, from the U.S. Census Bureau to the IRS to United Van Lines to U-Haul to Allied Van Lines, shows Illinois losing far more residents to other states than it gains. We’ve also shown how Illinois births and legal international migration into Illinois have dropped steadily. Illinois consistently ranks at the bottom of most population/migration statistics.
Kit Kat, Twix cost less because Halloween treat taxes are tricky in Illinois
A spooky statute in Illinois says sweets made with flour aren’t candy. Halloween shoppers can dodge Illinois’ higher candy tax by checking ingredients.
Former Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago says Venezuelans, now the majority of Chicago migrants, lie to get asylum
A majority of migrants bused to Chicago over the past year are Venezuelans, including at least 59% of the 8,360 people in city shelters. Nationally, they are also now the largest group of illegal border crossers.
What is the Invest in Kids scholarship program, and why it matters
Over 9,600 low-income students rely on the Invest in Kids scholarship program to attend schools that best fit their needs. Here’s what you need to know about the program and why it is important lawmakers extend the program this fall.
Chicago: Where violence and dismal education intersect
There’s a good reason why Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis-Gates is sending her son to a private school instead of the public one in her Roseland community. At Harlan Community Academy, the school Davis-Gates’s son would have attended, only 5 of every 100 students were proficient in reading in 2022. Roseland’s a dangerous place, too – 28 people were killed in the community last year.
New Poll: Pritzker’s approval rating sinks to 40.5%; Biden up 9% over Trump in Illinois
A new poll of Illinois voters by Emerson College says Gov. JB Pritzker carries a 40.5% approval rating.
Gotion’s Illinois-China Controversy Reaches Presidential Candidate Platform; National Attention Expands
Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy slammed plans for Gotion’s electric vehicle lithium battery plants in Illinois and Michigan at a Wednesday rally near the Michigan proposed site. Gotion, which is Chinese owned, is set to receive about $8 billion in taxpayer subsidies for its Manteno plant, which will cost only $2 billion to build, and the company has clear ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Convictions haven’t changed the Madigan method of ruling Illinois
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan is a man who needed blind loyalists to hold his power in Springfield over the last 40 years. Tim Mapes played that role well. Mapes was Madigan’s longtime chief of staff and held other titles as he worked alongside Madigan to control the Illinois House of Representatives and Democratic Party of Illinois.