Chicago Weekly Crime Tracker – Wirepoints
April 16, 2024
77 Comments
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 4/14/2024.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The CTA this week said it is losing more than $1 million a day as normally packed rush hour buses and trains roll around the city carrying little more than the operators behind the controls. Ridership is down 70%, and Metra is faring even worse.
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$30 million over four years: How teachers unions influence Illinois politicians. – Wirepoints
April 15, 2024
20 Comments
If you’re frustrated with Illinois’ educational results, you may want to follow the money from teachers unions. In the last four years alone, Illinois lawmakers and political candidates have taken nearly $30 million in contributions from teachers unions and their national affiliates.
One tricky way Illinois politicians are hiking your taxes – Wirepoints
April 13, 2024
22 Comments
Lawmakers conveniently ignore the full impact of inflation when it comes to ordinary Illinoisans. Take the personal exemption on the state income tax. For tax year 2023, the exemption will not rise with inflation as it should under current law. And that means a higher tax bill for everyone.
We must focus on cutting the cost drivers of Illinois property taxes if we’re ever going to deliver relief to taxpayers – Wirepoints testifies to the IL House Revenue and Finance Committee 4.10.24
April 11, 2024
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Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski testified on April 10, 2024 to members of the House Revenue and Finance Committee at the invitation of Rep. Joe Sosnowski. Ted told lawmakers that the state’s property tax burden has become dire for countless Illinoisans.
Pensions are the single biggest finance problem Chicago has…and it’s only getting worse – Wirepoints on WLS 890’s PM Chicago Show
April 11, 2024
16 Comments
Ted joined WLS 890’s PM Chicago Show to discuss Chicago’s worsening pension crisis, why the city’s crisis makes it such an outlier nationally, its negative impact on residents, government workers and retirees alike, and what Mayor Brandon Johnson should do about it.
A bit of cognitive dissonance — stay 6 feet away and ride the bus. I expect if they stopped the buses to preserve social distancing, the drivers would have to be paid anyway. Might save on fuel but the major costs are likely to be labor and administration. There is a social welfare network in place with unemployment insurance and food stamps etc. That network involves a careful balance between the interests of those who pay and those who receive. As we pay public employees for not working we totally disrupt that balance. Fair or unfair, that network was established… Read more »