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Newly released data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show air pollution from the city and 120 of its suburbs contributes more to smog violations in other states than any other county. The EPA projects Chicago and the Cook County suburbs will account for more than a fourth of this summer’s smog problems in Kenosha and about a fifth of the noxious air Wisconsinites breathe in Racine and Sheboygan.
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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