Wirepoints’ seven most-read stories of 2024 captured most of what’s wrong with Illinois – Wirepoints

By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner

We couldn’t have planned it this way, but our seven most-read stories in 2024 each captured a different facet of what’s wrong with Illinois. Failing schools. Murders. Closing businesses. A bloated, overpaid government sector. Election interference. Population-loss denial. And Chicago’s twisted equity priorities.

Notably missing from the list were the migrant crisis and the DNC convention. We’ve added two heavily-read Wirepoints stories on those issues to round out the list.

Take a quick look at the short summaries we’ve provided. 2024 was another tough year for Illinoisans, even as we put covid further in the rear view mirror. Bad policies and bad politics further ingrained themselves into the state. 

Here’s hoping that next year’s most-read pieces will include some truly positive developments.

#1. Education fail: Not a single child tested proficient in math in 67 Illinois schools. For reading, it’s 32 schools.

This piece resonated so much that even Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and Jordan Peterson helped expose it on X. Their engagement revealed to the nation the thousands of students trapped in completely failing schools.

#2. Chicago led nation in homicides for 12th year in a row in 2023, murder rate still 5 times higher than NYC’s.

The title speaks for itself. Sadly, Chicago will retain that title again in 2024. Nation’s most murders for 13 straight years.

#3. Lawmakers fiddle as cities burn: Four more Illinois factories close or lay off workers.

While every factory closure is disappointing and another black mark on Illinois’ dismal manufacturing performance, the loss of Danville’s Quaker Oats plant was particularly meaningful to Wirepoints. One of the first articles we wrote in 2017 was about Danville’s struggle to attract and maintain jobs in a state that imposes crippling costs and regulations on both businesses and cities.

#4. Illinois government’s $100K salary and pension club: 150,000 members and rising.

Nearly 150,000 Illinois government workers and retirees took in more than $100,000 in salaries or pensions in 2023. Combine that with the fact that Illinois has the nation’s most units of local government and it’s not surprising Illinoisans pay the highest property taxes in the country.

#5. Brazen election interference: Illinois Democrats retroactively change law to knock Republican challengers off the ballot.

This brazen attempt at election interference was eventually struck down by the state’s supreme court. The attempt was yet another example of how one party maintains a stranglehold on political power.

#6. When it comes to population growth, there is no greater contrast than Illinois and Florida.

We laid out Florida’s ten fastest growing MSAs and compared them to Illinois’ eight MSAs, all shrinkers. The numbers speak for themselves. How much longer can Illinois’ leaders deny the state’s population woes, notwithstanding the latest increase due to the nation’s open borders?

#7. Chicago Public Schools’ twisted goal: End selective enrollment schools while keeping nearly empty, failing schools open.

The official policy of CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union is to eliminate selective enrollment, magnet and charter schools – Chicago’s top-performing schools – and to double down on neighborhood schools where just 25 of every 100 kids can read at grade level. Our most popular Instagram Reel this year captured the absurdity of that “equity” agenda. 

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#8. ‘Welcoming’ programs increase the cost of illegal immigration in Illinois by at least $2.2 billion.

Illinois and Chicago continue to incentivize more migrants into Illinois with free housing, free healthcare, free education and more. That’s led to more than $2 billion in extra taxpayer money spent on illegal migrants over the last couple of years. 

Those dollars come at the expense of many Illinoisans who are struggling. It’s not fair for anyone – not low-income Illinoisans, not taxpayers and not the migrants, either.

#9. Illinois’ Gov. Pritzker delivers Democrats’ national economic pitch at DNC. A look at his own record is revealing.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker spent several days hyping up Illinois to the attendees of the DNC, telling them “Democrats deliver.” What he failed to mention is that they deliver hardship for Illinoisans. 

Across the most important economic, fiscal and demographic metrics, Illinois is a national outlier. Take GDP growth since Pritzker took office – Illinois ranks 4th-worst nationally. The outcomes are just as bad for jobs and population and unemployment.