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In Illinois, about two-thirds of the state’s roughly 1,100 fire departments rely almost entirely on volunteers. And, with few exceptions, those departments are running out of volunteers. The alarming shortages come amid increased service demands driven by rising medical calls attributed largely to the state’s growing senior population.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Another factor, which may or may not have been mentioned in the story (since it’s behind a paywall): volunteer firefighters and ambulance personnel were subject to COVID vaccination mandates from DPH (which regulates the Illinois Emergency Medical Services system) during the pandemic. If they didn’t take the shot, they had to, literally, sit through up to 90 minutes of “education” on the (alleged) benefits and risks of the shot. I suspect a lot of first responders quit rather than go through that. In fact I suspect the vax mandates have a lot to do with the reported shortages of nurses… Read more »
yup
“ rising medical calls attributed largely to the state’s growing senior population”… you misspelled “opioids”. The rising number of medical calls are for Narcan.
Far left Illinois Democrats have demonized and defunded first responders — why would anyone do that job for free in this socialist shit-hole state