Welfare programs are structured poorly and punish people for working to climb out of poverty. An estimated 710,000 Illinoisans have intentionally hurt their own economic advancement to keep welfare benefits.
While Illinois families face one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates, the nation’s highest property taxes and the highest state and local tax burden, state lawmakers just gave themselves another raise. They get $128,000 for 70 days of work.
The Chicago City Council will allow residential developments near public transit to build without imposing parking space minimums, offering a major boost for affordability and the city’s housing supply.
Illinois saw 1,782 mass layoffs in June. Two merged Chicago job search firms, Monster and CareerBuilder, is sending 390 workers searching for new jobs.
Congress just put work requirements in place for some receiving federal health care and food assistance benefits. What does that mean for the 1-in-4 Illinois residents currently on Medicaid?
More Illinois suburbs are ditching red-light cameras. Drivers should celebrate after the devices have issued over $1.5 billion in fines and failed to make roads any safer.
Illinois state lawmakers listened to teachers unions and killed school choice for over 15,000 low-income students in 2023. Now Congress has restored a scholarship program for needy kids, but Illinois leaders must allow families to access the money.
Legalizing additional dwelling units across Chicago would expand housing options, support families and boost affordability without changing the character of single-family neighborhoods. Chicago’s mayor is ready to move on the issue.
Illinoisans paid the highest state and local taxes for wireless cell phone services in the nation in 2024 – $136 per family more than the average. An increase in Illinois’ telecommunication tax July 1 just made them even higher.
Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery won’t be seeking reelection, and three other executive board members have submitted resignations. Those vacancies give the Chicago Teachers Union an opening to gain more power over the statewide union.
Money that could help address the teacher shortage is often the first to get cut in pursuit of keeping up with government pension debt. Supporting Illinois teachers will require constitutional pension reform and protecting Tier 2 cost savings.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is running for a third term in 2026. In two-thirds of the states, term-limit laws would prevent him from running.