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Frango production moved out of state in 1999 to the dismay of civic leaders and local mint chocolate aficionados. More than two decades later, chocolate has made its return to the upper floors of the building now anchored by the Macy’s department store, where candy giant Ferrero is opening its first North American research and development lab and innovation center. Ferrero’s local production is spread out across several facilities; In Illinois, it includes Franklin Park, Pullman, and downstate Bloomington, where a $214.4 million expansion that will allow the production of Kinder products in North America for the first time is on track for completion next year.
Summary and audio linked here.
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.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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