The conversations have been hushed and private, and in some circles considered preposterous. Would a Democrat in the Illinois House consider challenging 74-year-old Michael Madigan for the role of speaker? The vote is Jan. 11.

By: Dalton*   When the Illinois pols who destroyed the state are swamped by news of Illinoisans voting with their feet to leave, they probably know who will try to put out the fire. Greg Hinz is their man.   The Census migration report was a blockbuster today. Illinois’ net loss of residents to other states was 114,000 people for the year, the worst on record for Illinois. As a result, the state population shrank by 37,500; the worst in the nation and the worst ever on record for Illinois. Pennsylvania will likely pass Illinois to become the nation’s fifth

While eight states lost population between July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016, Illinois lost the most, with 37,508, the numbers show. Much of that shift is due to Illinoisans moving to other states. Comment: Utah is the fastest growing state. Their state emblem is a beehive and their state motto is one word — Commerce. Hmm.

Comment: That’s because of the new energy bill just signed into law. What is the cost to consumers of the renewable energy mandates in that new law — just for that, segregated from other elements of the bill? Nobody has that study. Nobody cared. A blank check was signed.

“Consider the permanent loss of the combined populations of Illinois’ 10 largest cities outside of Chicago: Aurora, Rockford, Joliet, Naperville, Springfield, Elgin, Waukegan, Champaign and Arlington Heights, along with Peoria. The loss of these 10 cities’ combined populations approximately equals Illinois’ net loss of population to other states since 2000. Illinois has lost some 1.22 million people, on net, over the past 16 years.”

Comment: CTBA is basically a union operation and we’ve harshly criticized some of their reporting, but there has a least been some improvement lately. This piece is correct as far as it goes but doesn’t mention that pension contributions are a huge part of the “autopilot” spending this article is about. Taxpayer pension contributions consume about 25% of the budget but are automatic, continuing appropriations.

A look at the new census data on population gain or loss for all states.

A flabbergasting reminder that Illinois is still in the denial stage from Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s mouthpiece.

This morning the U.S. Census released new data on national population trends and reported that over the last year, Illinois suffered the greatest population loss in the nation. From July 2015 to July of this year, Illinois lost 114,144 residents to other states, on net. This massive exodus to other states caused Illinois’ overall population to decline by 37,508 people, the U.S. Census reported. “Picture the entire city of Peoria packing up and moving across state lines – that’s how severe Illinois’ out-migration was over the last year.”

The union has been filing lawsuits all over the state in an effort to force state taxpayers to heavily subsidize platinum-level health insurance for state workers and cover pay increases up to 29 percent.

A new analysis confirms that the average industry’s regulatory risk has increased nearly 80% from 2010—and that this burden particularly hurts manufacturing and heavy industry.

The Illinois attorney general’s office said Tuesday that David’s Tea, Aeropostale, Disney, PacSun, Zumiez and Carter’s have each ceased using this type of scheduling at their stores after discussions related to the probe — a move that benefits some 50,000 employees. It’s about requiring workers to be on standby for being called in to work.

Job-hungry Illinois is getting a nifty holiday gift from Amazon: another 1,000 jobs, this time in Aurora. The move brings to 7,000 the number of full-time positions the internet behemoth has announced it’s adding here in the past two years.

Comment: So many opinions on foreign trade miss the real point, which is whether our trading terms are fair to the United States. Yes, trade and trade agreements are good, but that doesn’t mean they have been smartly negotiated. They haven’t been.