The rating agency noted the state’s weaknesses included “An almost empty budget stabilization fund that would further limit budgetary flexibility; The remaining bill backlog; Pension funding practices … which is one of the least conservative funding methodologies in the nation among peers; and a recurring practice of relatively late audit reports,” the report outlined.

A recent study by the Boston University School of Medicine concluded that giving away millions of federal tax dollars and hundreds of thousands in college scholarships did nothing to improve Ohio’s COVID-19 vaccination rate.

The idea is to give a lump-sum payment to Illinoisans for returning to work. Similar programs in Arizona, Montana, New Hampshire and Oklahoma offer residents about $1,000 for getting a job. In contrast, 26 have suspended, or plan an early end to the $300 weekly federal unemployment supplement.

“Once again, Illinois leads the rest of the Midwest in a somewhat dubious category. I mean we already lead the Midwest in property taxes, gas taxes, the price of gas, unemployment, outbound migration, and, I’m guessing at this one, elected officials who wind up in prison. Shouldn’t we lead in the category of unclaimed checks?”

Illinois Policy’s outreach drive — a pilot for a possible more robust candidate training program in the future — is being launched in tandem with a new paper from three staff researchers at the organization. The paper argues that because Illinois’ legislative and congressional district maps are drawn with a low degree of competitiveness, incumbents go uncontested because a House or Senate district is all but guaranteed to a Republican or Democrat, leading to lower voter turnout.

“These responsible decisions are paying dividends, as evidenced by today’s upgrade from S&P, last week’s upgrade from Moody’s and our outlook rise to positive by Fitch,” the governor said. “My administration has worked diligently to make real progress, the rating agencies are acknowledging our progress and we remain committed to further strengthening Illinois’ fiscal standing.”

“We are going to preserve the integrity of our constitution, state and federal, and we’re going to take that divisive curricula and segregationist approach to education out of our classrooms,” Naperville parent Shannon Adcock said.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported 20,464 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of June 28 in Illinois, virtually no change from the previous week when 20,460 people filed.

There are more available apartments in Illinois than two years ago and rent prices have declined by more than 6%, according to a QuoteWizard analysis. Major cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles had 50% to 400% increases in their numbers of available rental properties.

Illinois lost 7,900 jobs from mid-April to mid-May, marking the first month of job losses for the state in 2021, data released June 17 showed. Most of the decline came from less-populated areas of the state, with the Elgin, Rockford and Bloomington being the only urban areas area to lose jobs.

“Our voices aren’t being heard,” said Simona Rhodes, a Lakewood resident who said her family immigrated from Mexico legally when she was young and spoke out against Biden’s pitch to expand eligibility for free community college.

Reaction has spanned the spectrum with market participants mostly saying it was deserved given the state?s fiscal progress and its COVID-19 pandemic recovery. Some said the upgrade was expected, a reason for the state’s narrowing spreads over the past few months. But they are quick to underline that’s the near-term view and chronic pension strains, past decisions that favored one-shots, an ongoing structural imbalance and out-migration weigh heavily on the state’s fiscal foundation.