-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The CTA, the nation’s second-largest public transit operator, reported an 80% drop in ridership during the early months of the pandemic. For METRA, the drop was 90%. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
FOLLOW US
WIREPOINTS ORIGINAL STORIES
Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
29 Comments
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
2 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
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.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
March 31, 2026
11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
Who is Pritzker going to blame for this? Santa–his sleigh had some room?
Learn how to promote your site at zero cost!
Check out this amazing list consisting of the best website directories here ->https://bit.ly/free-ad-website-directory
Interesting comment from the Wood Dale Metra rider. I drive through the Wood Dale station RR crossing twice a day, five days a week. Prepandemic, I often had to wait for trains three or four times a week. Since March, I recall waiting for trains only twice, so Metra has really cut the number and length of trains, and reduced the bottleneck at the crossing. Are Metra employees furloughed with fewer, emptier trains? Also being snide, with schools being remote, hardly any school busses, so no waiting for students to board, no congestion around schools with cars dropping off and… Read more »
I took the metra for many years up until March. Then I stopped and haven’t been on it since. I used to enjoy it, have a little ‘me’ time on the phone or computer. It just was. But now that I am free from the commuter train, I realize that don’t miss it one bit. it’s a slog to get to the station, wait in the cold, cram into a packed train, and then have to walk 15 minutes, wearing business shoes and clothes, to the office. It was nearly an hour commute round trip and I don’t live all… Read more »
Ditto here, no more. Even if its just for a pleasure visit. My new measure to resume mass transit in any form of commuting is very simple, when masks are not mandatory I will board. Masks are societies indication that you need to live in fear and slavery, leaders who want to impose fear and suppress freedom forever will one day pay dearly is my hope. And the country will return to being a nation of free Men and women, who took back their country.
I hear you loud and clear. What you describe I did for many years. So glad that’s all behind me. (In process of leaving Illinois). I expect many, many others will take a fresh look at this commuter lifestyle as vaccine is becoming available and find alternatives.
“But Chicago has been the only major city to continue providing normal service on trains and buses”
unbelievable! These insane nut jobs are so disconnected from reality they need to be institutionalized. I suppose the city telegraph offices are fully staffed too
They’re either nut jobs or criminally corrupt hacks that leach off the taxpayers in a financial death spiral.
But hey wear your mask.
Maybe if they try hard enough and are complicit enough with the worst impulses of their govt paymasters they can get ridership to zero.
Why should Florida, Texas, Wyoming, South Carolina ect. pay for Illinois train service when they get nothing?