Category: Opinion

By Rich Miller After taking a pandemic-induced hiatus from proposing large, permanent base spending increases and instead using most revenue increases for one-time expenditures, Gov. JB Pritzker’s recently proposed Fiscal Year 2024 state budget appears to increase base operational spending by at least $2.75 billion, or 7.9%. Annual pension payments will also rise by a […]

. By Jessica Krim While there has always been an ebb and flow of teacher shortages and overages over time because of population, trends within generations of students, and enrollment in and support for university educator preparation programs, there are several factors that provide a unique twist to our current iteration of a teacher shortage. […]

. By Rich Miller The legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability released its latest monthly fiscal report last week. The report claimed the state is still on track to match the commission’s revised November estimate of a $4.1 billion revenue increase for the current fiscal year. Revenue had originally been projected to fall from […]

. By Ray Hanania Consumers are reeling over massive increases in Nicor Gas costs, and they can’t get answers because the system is rigged against them. Nicor Gas is owned by a massive conglomerate called Southern Gas, which has four gas subsidiaries serving 4.2 million customers. Nicor is the largest serving 2.2 million consumers in […]

. By Rich Miller State records show that Dan Proft’s People Who Play by the Rules PAC spent almost $36 million during the second half of 2022, mostly on advertising boosting Sen. Darren Bailey’s gubernatorial bid and opposing Gov. JB Pritzker. Of that, $2.4 million was spent on consulting. Former ABC7 political reporter Charles Thomas […]

By Ray Hanania They’re talking about how Social Security will run out of money by the year 2033. Run out of money? Social Security recipients have been putting money into the system every year that they have been working, saving to feed their families and paying their share to cover the costs of our nation. […]

By Richard Guebert Jr. As snow blankets our frozen fields, winter is a time of reflection for farmers. What worked well, what could we do better and what challenges will the upcoming spring bring? Those are questions we ask ourselves as we ring in the new year and begin planning for the next planting season. […]

By Rich Miller The Rockford Register-Star reported last week that the state of Illinois “has submitted what could be its best offer to keep the Belvidere Assembly Plant operating and save what could be thousands of jobs.” Stellantis announced in December it would idle its Jeep Cherokee assembly plant in February. So, there appears to […]