-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
http://www.bettergov.org/blogs/shaw_thoughts/pension_crisis_also_roiling_suburban_police__fire_pensions/
But no media coverage. http://www.illinoismirror.com/one-year-after-concealed-carry-chicago-homicide-rate-plunges-to-56-year-low/
Fantex Inc., a San Francisco-based company that lets investors buy and sell stock in a professional athlete’s “brand value,” announced today that it will pay nearly $8 million for 13 percent of Mr. Jeffery’s brand value. via Bears’ Alshon Jeffery’s income subject of IPO to be handled by Fantex – Blogs On Sports – Crain’s Chicago Business.
At Panek Precision Inc., a Northbrook, Ill., machine shop, 21 shiny new robots hum as they place metal parts into cutting machines and remove the parts after they are done. It’s a tedious and oily task once handled by machine operators who earn about $16.50 an hour. http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/robots-work-their-way-into-small-factories-1410979100?mobile=y
Pension funds including those in New Mexico, Ohio and Illinois said they don’t plan to exit the asset class after the $298 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement said this week it will pull its entire $4 billion in hedge-fund investments. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-17/ohio-illinois-sticking-with-hedge-funds-as-calpers-flees.html
For Illinois, wide spreads over other muni bonds continue; pensions make fixing structural deficit difficult. https://wirepoints.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Janney-MBMM-September-2014.pdf.pdf
By: Mark Glennon* Update 10/1/14: The bribe allegation against Senator Trotter was withdrawn. As we said originally at the bottom of this piece, there was never anything to this. Da papers are sayin some lawyers for for some guy named Turner sez a state senator named Trotter maybe got 2 Gs from some con who got da doe from a Fed pretendin tuh be some Indian guy. And dis Turner guy is lookin at time cuz da Feds sez he lobbied for some guy named Zimbabwe from Mugabe, or somewheres like dat. What da fuck? Hey,
Emanuel announced he is taking action to make sure that no other builder in the future tries to match “The Donald” when it comes to signage in one of the most architecturally-significant areas of the Windy City. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/17/donald-trump-chicago-rahm-emanuel-sign-ordinance/15783695/
The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation is launching a new campaign to buy bullet-proof vests for Chicago Police officers. http://abc7chicago.com/news/chicago-police-memorial-fund-aims-to-raise-$4m-for-bulletproof-vests/310715/
Hundreds of applicants, some from as far as Kentucky and Minnesota, have come to the northeastern Illinois Mississippi River town of Thomson to attend a three-day hiring fair at the town’s long-awaited federal prison. http://www.sj-r.com/article/20140917/NEWS/140919569/10511/NEWS?rssfeed=true
Mayors from municipalities around the Great Lakes are to meet in Chicago next week, officials said Wednesday, about a month after Lake Erie algae contaminated water in Ohio. http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/26558434/great-lakes-mayors-to-meet-in-chicago
Los Angeles, Oakland, Philadelphia and Chicago are among the municipalities racing against the clock to unwind costly interest-rate swaps. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mergermarket/2014/09/16/la-chicago-listen-up-clock-is-ticking-for-cities-sitting-on-costly-swaps/
By: Mark Glennon* Last week, the main political action committee supporting Pat Quinn used by public unions, particularly teachers’ unions, signaled an ugly turning point. The Illinois Freedom PAC released a piece titled Pay to Play Insiders Reward One of Their Own: Rauner. It blasted Rauner because he had a fundraiser hosted by a former Illinois teachers pension trustee, Jim Bruner, who voted to invest in Rauner’s old firm, GTCR. Bruner, according to the piece, “along with convicted political fixer Stu Levine voted to give Rauner’s GTCR $50 million in state pension business in 2003.” Levine was
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