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In announcing $160 in state aid, Gov. JB Pritzker dinged “bottlenecks” in Chicago’s shelter system that he said must be smoothed out so migrants do not freeze to death this winter. But he also revealed that the state will begin cutting off a rental assistance program for new arrivals not already in the shelter system and reduce the time limit to three months from six for those already in the city’s shelters. Both Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson framed the change as one that will maximize the number of individuals who can get this aid.
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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It would be terrible if Chicago had a record cold winter! Terrible I tell you!
Pritzker’s plan is like putting band-aids on a massive head wound. He must curse out Gov. Abbott every night for sending these inconvenient illegals to Illinois to mess up JB’s presidential plans.