Tag: Michael Madigan
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IL Public Pension Debt at $133 Billion
Ten U.S. states have public pension liabilities that are at least as big as their annual revenues, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report released on Thursday that found the Illinois pension bill was equal to 241 percent of its revenues. … According to Moody’s, Illinois has the largest net pension liability in the country,…
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More Money 4 Medical Malpractice Lawyers in IL
Medical malpractice lawyers are poised to make more money after Gov. Pat Quinn quietly signed a law allowing them to collect higher fees. Doctors groups criticize the change, arguing that it will result in less money for injured patients who need it for costly health care and therapy. They also contend the measure was quickly…
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Illinois Credit — Worst in the Nation
Illinois fell to the bottom of all 50 states in the rankings of a major credit ratings agency Friday following the failure of Gov. Pat Quinn and lawmakers to fix the state’s hemorrhaging pension system during this month’s lame-duck session. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service downgraded Illinois in what is the latest fallout over the…
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Mike Madigan: Speaker King
Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan has many advantages as he tries to extend his nearly uninterrupted three-decade control of the Illinois House. His Democrats have more campaign money. His party has home-state President Barack Obama to drive the vote. Perhaps most important, Madigan drew the district boundaries for each of the 118 House contests that will…
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IL Finances Heading to Social Unrest
“I think it’s going to reach a point where there’s either social disorder or bankruptcy before people will act,” he said. via Crain’s Chicago Business. Ya, that sounds about right. But let’s back-up a little. This is a quote from a story about how back the finances are in Illinois. A Blue Ribbon Panel put…
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$2M in Unemployment to Inmates
More than 1,100 people have collected nearly $2 million in unemployment benefits while they were in county jails or state prisons, including $43,000 that went to a person in the Cook County Jail, a state agency said Tuesday. Now they may face state or federal criminal fraud charges as well as having to repay what…
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Illinois – Worst Financial Shape Ever
Bloomberg L.P., the big New York financial data firm, is holding its fall municipal-financing conference on Wednesday, and guess what the title is for the special panel on the Land of Lincoln? Try Land of Entropy. Yes, sports fans, the panel titled “Illinois Treading Water” is set for 1:45 p.m. and, according to a synopsis,…
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Legislative Change Means $670 million More for Teachers’ Pensions
The state will have to come up with another $670 million for the teacher pension system in the next budget after a retirement fund panel crunched the numbers and adjusted its assumptions. The Teachers’ Retirement System lowered what it expects from investments from 8.5 percent to 8 percent. The pension fund’s leadership also increased a…
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IL, 3rd Worst for Business …again
Let’s first get some background on the winners: In Chief Executive’s eighth annual survey of CEO opinion of Best and Worst States in which to do business, Texas easily clinched the No. 1 rank, the eighth successive time it has done so. California earns the dubious honor of being ranked dead last for the eighth…
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Clout Boosts Ex-Police Chief $30k per Year
The Machine taking care of its own: At first blush, a pension bill adopted by the General Assembly in 2007 seemed to have a laudable goal: extending retirement benefits to local police force employees’ widows after they remarried. But buried within the legislation was something considerably less altruistic: a provision that enabled a member of…