-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
In yet another jaw-dropping display of elite hypocrisy, Barack Obama’s Chicago Presidential Center – long derided as the “Tower of Doom” – now requires proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency just to enter a ticket giveaway for its grand opening ceremony on June 18, 2026.
March turned out to be another good month for state revenue collectors. Driven by increases in personal income and sales tax payments, the March totals jumped by $233 million (4.8 percent) over the same month in 2025. That makes two consecutive months of increased revenue after a bad start in January. February revenues increased by 9 percent.
Two landmark studies on the Chicago Police Department just dropped. Here’s what they revealed.
“The hardest part about Friday was to see all those people there, and the tears were because they knew it was over; they go back to the life they had before,” said Yvette Ewing, executive director at The Community Works, a nonprofit that helps recruit candidates for the CEJA hubs. “The hardest part, I’ll be honest, is knowing that there’s no job at the end specific to clean energy.
The City of Chicago has spent almost $160 million paying private lawyers to fight wrongful conviction lawsuits since 2016, but The Chicago Tribune found there is “little evidence that the strategy has paid off financially.”
Illinois lawmakers are advancing legislation that would significantly curtail where federal immigration detention facilities may operate in the state, further demonstrating the state’s willingness to obstruct federal law enforcement operations. The proposal, House Bill (HB) 5024, would prohibit immigration detention centers from being located within 1,500 feet of residential areas and numerous community locations, including schools, parks, daycare centers, forest preserves, cemeteries, and places of worship.
Read that again. A Walmart General Manager is the top leader at a facility responsible for billions of dollars in inventory and hundreds of employees. That person earns $218,317, which is at the high end for that role. Meanwhile, the Vice President of Operations at the Greater Chicago Food Depository—who has a much less demanding logistical role—earns $353,845. That’s
The report, authored by ILEPI’s Frank Manzo and UIUC professor Robert Bruno, found that a 3% surcharge on income over $1 million would generate $3.8 billion in its first full year and $4.2 billion by 2030 — revenue estimates the researchers labeled as “conservative.”
Chicago voters’ appetite for the union has shifted — drastically — and politicians have noticed. The CTU was a kingmaker, but its endless support for new and higher taxes coupled with organizational scandals, its latest “May Day” push to cancel school for a day and recent electoral defeats suggest the mighty
The Financially Distressed City Law allows home-rule municipalities in the top 5% of tax rates and the bottom 5% of tax income per capita to apply for fiscal relief via a state takeover of finances. The law was invoked once before, in East St. Louis in 1990. The Department of Revenue determined that while Harvey meets the requirement of being in the top 5% of tax rates, it is not in the bottom 5% for tax yield per capita, according to the letter.
“The door is open, then, for Illinois and Chicago to return to D.C. and ask for federal assistance. If granted, taxpayers nationwide will pay for the Windy City’s fiscal recklessness. And the bailouts likely won’t stop there. Officials in other cities, such as Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York, will be watching closely. If Chicago can get a bailout, why not the Big Apple?”
Illinois-based providers performed nearly one out of every four abortions for patients seeking the procedure outside of their home state, often as a result of outright abortion bans or prohibitive restrictions where they live.
Fat salaries, taxpayer funded.
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