More Bankruptcy Coming (to a city near you)

The top 10 biggest U.S. cities on the brink of pension bankruptcy. #1 Philadelphia – Unfunded liability of $9 billion, $16,696 per household, only 1 year before the pension accounts are empty #2 Chicago – Unfunded liability of $44.8 billion, $41.966 per...

Moody’s Downgrades Chicago’s Motor Fuel Debt

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded to A3 from Aa3 the rating on the City of Chicago’s (IL) $181 million of outstanding rated motor fuel tax debt. The outlook has been revised to negative. via Moody’s. Surprises no one.  Barely qualifies as news...

Most Shooters In Chicago Never Face Charges

Last year, gunmen who shot and wounded someone got away without criminal charges 94 percent of the time, according to a DNAinfo.com Chicago analysis of police data. That’s even worse than 2011, when 91.5 percent of shooters escaped charges, according to the data....

Gun Violence and Race

Chicago is home to some 2,707,120 people (U.S. Census.)  We’re also told that about 32.9% are black while 45% are white.  That equates to about 890,642 black people and 1,218,204 white people in Chicago.  So far, nothing unusual. Over at the Red Eye (a Tribune...

Chicago’s New Billboard Deal All But Signed

Kudos to Alderman Bob Fioretti: A Chicago City Council committee signed off Monday on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s latest privatization deal—even though, after nearly five hours of testimony, aldermen still didn’t quite know how it added up for taxpayers, what its...