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Editorial: Illinois can’t afford another public pension boondoggle – Champaign News-Gazette
"Illinois has been through this before. Anyone remember years go when legislators approved 3 percent annual cost-of-living increases for retirees without making any effort either to pay for the increase or having any idea of the cost? That ill-advised decision is one of the reasons Illinois’ five public pensions are underfunded to the tune of roughly $140 billion."
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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson recently traveled to Springfield with a big wish list, including $1 billion in extra funding for Chicago Public Schools. Among the reasons his demand should be categorically rejected: the growing rate of CPS teachers simply not showing up to school.
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49 Comments
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Gov. Pritzker’s ‘ethics reform’ eliminates competitive elections and choice for voters – Wirepoints on AM 560 Chicago’s Morning Answer
May 8, 2024
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Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about a new law passed by the Democratic supermajority and signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker that results in brazen election interference, keeping Republicans off ballots; about a referendum that tests the waters for a renewed progressive income tax hike; about how the Parental Notification referendum question was knocked off the ballot; and why laws like that pass so easily.
Most elected officials in Illinois couldn’t run a corner lemonade stand
The Illinois pension disaster – Crain’s Chicago Business Ryan declined an interview request from Crain’s. His plan, touted as a way to avoid nearly 7,000 layoffs, gave state workers and downstate and suburban teachers the option of speeding up their retirements by buying age and service credits needed to qualify for a pension. Initial forecasts by the nonpartisan Illinois Pension Laws Commission estimated that 7,365 people would take advantage of the plan at a cost to the pension systems of $543 million over 10 years. The law contained a payback provision requiring the state to compensate the pension systems for… Read more »
Damn straight.