Author: Ted Dabrowski

Illinois becomes first state in America to go backward on school choice – Wirepoints

School choice in Illinois is dead. For now. The teachers unions were on a warpath to kill Illinois’ small tax-credit scholarship program, and their Democratic allies weren’t willing to cross them. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon failed to call a bill to a vote this week to extend the program and with that, the Invest in Kids Act sunsets at the end of this

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Gov. Pritzker shuns warnings from Biden Administration and top democrats about Chinese espionage – Wirepoints

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called critics of his decision to provide taxpayer financing to Gotion, Inc., a Chinese electric vehicle battery maker with CCP ties, as “xenophobes” and “MAGA Republicans.” That’s ironic given that some of the most urgent warnings about China on spying, intelligence and supply chain risks come from the top of his very own Democratic party.

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It’s not hard to see what Think Big is really about: Pritzker’s presidential ambitions – Mark Glennon on Cities 92.9 with Cat Petersen

That’s apparent in the material at the top of Think Big’s new website. First, the website says, “Think Big America builds on the progress that Governor JB Pritzker’s administration and its allies have made in Illinois and takes the fight to right wing extremists all across the country. A sentence on abortion comes next. Then there’s

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“Here’s what Venezuelans at the police station told me: ‘If the border is open, we’re coming.'” – Ted Dabrowski on with John Kass

Ted was on The Chicago Way with John Kass and Jeff Carlin to talk about his recent visit to the Chicago Police Station at Division & Larrabee, where he met with Venezuelan migrants who’d been recently bused from the US/Mexico border. What he found was nothing but chaos and a city with no plan for how to take care of thousands of migrants – never mind the

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Never mind last year’s 41% crime spike in Chicago. It’s up again another 55% this year. – Wirepoints

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection campaign claimed in a recent TV ad that “on crime, she’s got a plan”, and that “she’s put more police on the streets.” But there’s actually 1,400 fewer cops actually assigned to district patrol duty than at her term’s start. 

And as the latest evidence shows, crime’s not down. It’s up. Way up. Any useful

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Chicago Transit Authority violent crime aims for five-year high in 2022; Red Line stuck in “Wild West” – Wirepoints

City data shows total violent crime on Chicago’s transit system is on track to hit a five-year high by year’s end, even with full-year 2022 CTA ridership headed for just half of what it was in 2019.  To cut CTA crime and street crime, Chicago needs to re-deploy many more of the 5,500 armed city police officers assigned to non-patrol units.

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Pritzker’s big brag: A record 87% of Illinois students graduate…but only 3 in 10 students taking the SAT can read at grade level – Wirepoints Quickpoint

In another example of how education data continues to be bastardized in Illinois, take the recent spin Gov. J.B. Pritzker put on Illinois’ 2022 Report Card data. Rather than give a sober, realistic assessment of the still dismal results – namely, that so few of Illinois’ children can read and do math at grade level – the governor grasped at a host of other metrics to put

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Wirepoints in the Wall Street Journal: Illinois’ Shocking Report Card. The Land of Lincoln is failing its children and covering it up.

WSJ: “No one thought Illinois schools were a shining beacon in the education landscape, but we didn’t know how truly awful so many of them are. A new report by Wirepoints using the state’s data shows that an epidemic of indifferent instruction and social promotion has left children unable to perform at even the most basic educational level.”

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Petitioners Will Seek Term Limits Again For Chicago – Wirepoints

Chicago voters need a chance to weigh in on term limits because their city is plagued by endemic government corruption often involving city officials who have long overstayed their welcome. The city’s intractable corruption destroys trust. And a public vote on term limits – first for Chicago’s Mayor and later for the City Council – is the first spoonful of needed medicine.

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UPDATED TO REFLECT DEVORE MOTION AGAINST CPS: Chicago Teachers Union appeased yet again. CPS agreed to mask Chicago’s 330,000 students through August 2022 – Wirepoints

UPDATED TO REFLECT DEVORE MOTION AGAINST CPS: As part of a “safety” agreement signed between CPS and the CTU to resolve four-day January teacher walkout, Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed to keep Chicago’s 330,000 students masked through August 2022. Never mind that kids across the state are shedding their masks. The “safety” agreement is another example of a collective bargaining agreement gone awry.

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Cook County’s 2022 budget creates fiscal cliff, increases spending by nearly 40% over pre-COVID 2019 – Wirepoints

Two weeks ago the City of Chicago dug its fiscal hole deeper with an irresponsible budget and now it’s Cook County’s turn. Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle has proposed spending $8 billion in 2022, $2.2 billion more than the $5.9 billion the county spent in pre-COVID 2019. That budget sets Cook County residents up for a fiscal cliff once the free federal money is gone.

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Coronavirus could wreak additional havoc on Illinois – Wirepoints

Illinois has no financial reserves to weather a recession. The state had no plan to stop the state’s rapid fiscal decline even before the virus and it has no plans now. It’s impossible to know how the impact of the virus will play out and whether a recession is imminent or not. But one thing we do know. Illinoisans are totally exposed to the risks.

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Overpromising has crippled public pensions: A 50-state survey – Wirepoints Special Report

Most reporting usually focuses on the underfunding of state plans and blames the crises on a lack of taxpayer dollars. But a Wirepoints analysis found that it’s the uncontrolled growth in pension promises that’s actually wreaking havoc on state budgets and taxpayers alike. Overpromising is the true cause of many state crises. Underfunding is often just a symptom of the underlying problem.

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