The protesters were members of Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois, which represents 52,000 workers who have gone without a contract since last July.

A representative from the state-worker union called for collective action from governments of prison towns to force Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand in the budget debate, which could expose thousands of incarcerated Illinoisans to squalid, dangerous conditions.

“They’re going to hold up everything in the budget and these negotiations for Chicago Public Schools to get a bailout,” Rauner said. “Let’s be clear. That’s not fair. That’s not fair to the people of the state of Illinois.”

The pleas from Illinois’ local governments, schools, and state agencies for at least a stop-gap spending plan are growing louder, as the state careens toward the start of a second fiscal year without a budget.

The federal government provides Title I funding to hire teachers. The State of Illinois then assesses additional pension funds for the Teachers Retirement Program (TRS) because the teachers are paid through the federal funds.

Comment: You wouldn’t know it fro this article, but all major elected officials from both parties support comprehensive immigration reform including a path to normalization for those already here. With today’s Supreme Court ruling, that will have to be done by legislation, not executive order, which is as it should be.

It certainly was a rare display of chutzpah from regular moms and dads who are passionate about their school and determined to hold their elected senator accountable.

Spending on state-employee pension benefits grew an astonishing 586 percent, or $6.6 billion, from 2000 to 2015.

Working group members say they’re almost ready to hand over their work on a stopgap budget to the leaders. They say the plan would get the state through the end of the year, but there are just a few more issues the four tops and Governor will have to hammer out.

The day before the Orlando shooting, news broke about the founder of a Chicago trading company that was mysteriously appointed to serve on the International Security Advisory Board in 2011. The assignment gave Rajiv Fernando – CEO of Chopper Trading – top secret access. Fernando was found to have been a fundraiser for the Clinton Global Initiative and for candidate Hillary Clinton.

“Just another unfunded mandate foisted upon Moline-Coal Valley School District.” Businesses are constantly bullying states into competition with one another. Increasingly, state and local taxpayers throughout the country are footing the bill for state-sponsored charity toward for-profit business.

“It’s like having a $100 in your checking account and $8,000 worth of bills on your table to pay now and another couple of thousand dollars coming in the mail and $116,000 on your credit card that you owe. You have to make a monthly contribution on that for the pension payment. And you have $100, it’s very difficult,” said Munger.