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...
I wrote something short on the Facebook page of an old friend who called for more “gun control.” He wrote back. I wrote this response. I actually live on the “West Side” near [omitted.] My first comment on the Newton matter was to...
Residents in some Illinois counties sent a message to lawmakers this week: Give citizens the right to carry concealed weapons. Measures supporting concealed carry were on the ballot Tuesday in at least 10 mostly rural counties — Adams, Bond, Henry, McDonough, Mercer,...
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...
This sounds like a problem: The pension fund for most public school teachers in Illinois generated just 0.76 percent in fiscal 2012, a big drop from the 23.6 percent rate of return in the previous fiscal year, the Teachers’ Retirement System reported on...