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Opinion Headlines

  1. Illinois. “Blue State Turnaround Artist.” The Weekend Interview with Bruce Rauner by Collin Levy. [Can A Republican break up the union dominance of Illinois state government? Bruce Rauner explains how and why he’ll succeed.] 3-7-15
  2. Illinois. “Rahm Emanuel and the Trials of Progressive Payback.” By Emily Zanotti. [Disappointed liberals in Chicago may make him a one-term mayor. They expected a better deal from Obama’s former chief of staff.] 3-7-15
  3. Illinois. “New York Lessons for Chicago’s Fiscal Blues.” By Richard Ravitch. [Mayor Rahm Emanuel is facing up to the city’s long-neglected public pension burdens.] 3-30-15
  4. Illinois. “Rahm’s Second Chance.” [Chicago’s mayor should join Bruce Rauner in a reform double team.] 4-9-15
  5. Illinois. “Illinois Pension Blowup.” [State judges tell taxpayers to pay for political-union failure.] 5-9-15
  6. Illinois. “Why Chicago’s Bonds Are Junk.” [The average teacher’s annual pension in 2011 was $77.496.00] 5-14-15
  7. Illinois. “Rahm Emanuel Rolls the Dice to Pay Chi8cago’s Pension Bills.” By Allysia Finley. [The mayor wants lawmakers to authorize a city-owned casino whose revenues would exclusively fund pensions.] 6-6-15
  8. Illinois. “Rigging Contract Rules in Illinois.” [Democrats pass a bill that applies only to the current reform Governor.] 6-22-15
  9. Illinois. “Chicago Soaks the Cloud.” [The city will pick your pocket each time you stream music.] 7-8-15
  10. Illinois. “What Rauner Is Up Against.” [And you thought Washington, D.C. is a mess.] 7-22-15
  11. Illinois. LTE. “Rauner Takes on the Greek-Like Mob.” 7-31-15Illinois. “Chicago’s Killer Videotape.” [The tape of a police shooting finally surfaces after two elections.] 12-3-15
  12. Illinois. “The Chicago Fire.” [Justice should investigate City Hall as well as the cops.] 12-14-15
  13. Illinois. “Illinois Union Showdown.” [Afseme is trying to break Gov. Rauner, who isn’t bending.] 1-21-16
  14. Illinois. LTE. “Rauner Is Doing What He Was Elected to Do.” 2-3-16
  15. Illinois. “The Man Stopping Illinois From Digging a Deeper Fiscal Hole.” By Emily Zanotti. [Free-spending Democratic lawmakers have been blocked by the Republican governor. Result: No budget for seven months (so far). 2-6-16
  16. Illinois. “Chicago Pension Nightmare.” [A court nixes reform. Maybe the mayor should try bankruptcy.] 3-25-16
  17. Illinois. LTE. “Chicago’s Prodigal Pension Problem Persists.” 4-13-16
  18. Illinois. “Rauner’s Illinois Progress.” [The Governor isn’t bending under union and liberal pressure.] 5-27-16
  19. Illinois. LTE.  “Mixed Reviews on Rauner’s try to Save Illinois.”  6-2-16
  20. Illinois. “How Chicago’s Streets Became the Wild West.” By Heather Mac Donald.  [The Ferguson effect, failed city leadership and an ill-advised deal with the ACLU have made the city ever more dangerous]   6-16-16
  21. Illinois. LTE.  “Real Chicago Police Reform Needed for Peace.”  6-24-16
  22. Illinois. LTE. “ACLU’s Position Helps the Thugs in Chicago.”  7-5-16
  23. Illinois. “Illinois:  Land of Leaving.”  [The public-union exemplar leads the U.S. in out-migration.]  12-23-16
  24. Illinois. “Illinois Turnaround Project.”  [After another defeat, state Democrats begin to talk tax cuts.]  1-12-17
  25. Illinois. “Remembering a Detective and His Hope for Chicago’s Streets.” By Bob Greene. [‘What happened to our concept of the value of human life?’ Joe D said. ‘I see people killing for fun.’] 2-4-17
  26. Illinois. “Illinois Tax Heist.” [Democrats bet they can break Rauner or elect a tax raiser in 2018.] 2-23-17
  27. Illinois. “Illinois’s ‘Privilege Tax’ Proposal Forgets Citizens’ Right to Leave.”  By Kristina Rasmussen.  [The state can’t even pass a budget, but it wants to put a new 20% levy on fees to financial professionals.]  5-27-17
  28. Illinois. “Pennsylvania’s Lesson for Illinois.”  [A bipartisan reform begins to address the state’s funding abyss.]  6-14-17
  29. Illinois. LTE.  “Two-State Solution to Pension Underfunding?”  6-20-17
  30. Illinois. “The Illinois Capitulation.” [Gov. Rauner cries uncle on taxes and economic reform.]  6-21-17
  31. Illinois. “Junk by Any Name in Illinois.”  [Politicians and credit raters form a coalition for tax and spend.]  7-6-17
  32. Illinois. “Rauner’s Big School Victory.”  “The Illinois Governor wins a choice program for poor students.”  8-31-17
  33. Illinois. “Chicago’s Immigration Showdown Is More About Politics Than Law.”  By Allysia Finley.  [The feds are at an impasse with the city over is sanctuary policy.  There’s room for compromise.]  9-16-17
  34. Illinois.  “Illinois’s Latest Criminals.”  [Springfield now tries to make opting out of a union a crime.]  10-25-17
  35. Illinois. “Illinois Drives People Away.”   12-13-17
  36. Illinois. “Why Illinois Got Out of the Hedges.” By Marc Levine. [These funds are hard to understand and have lousy returns.] 2-1-18
  37. Illinois. “Illinois’s Magic Pension Trick.” [Close your eyes, issue 27-year bonds and watch liabilities disappear.] 2-5-18
  38. Illinois. “Bruce Rauner vs. the Illinois ‘Mafia.’” (The Weekend Interview with Bruce Rauner by James Taranto.) [The outsider governor recounts his battles with the political machine and explains why he thinks a second term would be ‘transformative.’] 3-3-18
  39. Illinois. “Illinois Progressive Tax Gambit.” [Despite a tax hike last year, Democrats and unions are back for more.] 3-10-18
  40. Illinois.  “Chicago’s Violence and its Leadership Deficit.”  By Gary McDougal.  [Residents don’t trust the police, whose morale is poor.  And mayor Rahm Emanuel has no plan.]  8-9-18
  41. Illinois.  “Chicago Has Another Bond for You.”  [The city may try to paper over its pension woes with new debt.]  8-18-18
  42. Illinois.  “Pritzker’s Illinois Exit Ramp.”  [The new Governor proposes blowing up the estate flat tax.]  3-16-19
  43. Illinois.  “After Smollett, Chicago’s Mayoral Runoff Turns Nasty.”  By Allysia Finley.  [The race to succeed Rahm Emanuel pits the Windy City’s new left against its old Democratic machine.]  4-1-19
  44. Illinois. “The Union Routs Students in Chicago.” [Teachers end their strike after the mayor caves on choice and accountability.] 11-1-19
  45. Illinois.  “Chapter 9 Is the Best Bad Option for Chicago’s Pensions.”  [Bankruptcy is inevitable.  Putting it off only increases the pain for the city’s residents and retirees.]  8-29-20
  46. Taxes.  “An Illinois Tax Crossroads.”   [A new progressive income levy would speed the state’s decline.]   10-6-20
  47. Illinois.  “Congrats, Illinois, You’ll by 47th!”  [A new progressive tax would send the state into New Jersey land.]   10-13-20
  48. Illinois.  “The Alternative to a Bailout for Fiscally Mismanaged States.”  By Jonathan Williams and Dave Trabert.  [If New York and Illinois spent like Florida and Texas, they’d save enough to put away the tin cup.]  10-17-20
  49. Illinois.  “Boss Madigan Teeters in Illinois.”  [He’s still short of the votes needed for another term as house speaker.]  1-12-21
  50. Illinois.  “Boss Madigan Falls at Last.”   1-16-21
  51. Illinois.  “Illinois Democrats vs. Chicago.”  4-13-21
  52. Illinois.  “Illinois Democrats Ignore Obama on gerrymandering.”  By Dan  McConchie  [He called for nonpartisan mapmaking.  They are rushing to draw theirs without Republican input.]   4-24-21
  53. Illinois.  ““The Incredible Illinois Gerrymander.”   6-4-21
  54. Illinois.  “Gov. Pritzker Breaks His Promise.”   6-9-21
  55. Illinois.  “Illinois Democrats Play Politics With the State’s Electricity.”  By Allysia Finley.  [Their climate bill would raise prices and kill jobs in heavily Republican southern counties.]   7-17-21
  56. Illinois.  “Lori Lightfoot’s Bad News Bears.”   10-4-21 […Chicago Bears and a new stadium.]
  57. Illinois.  “The Accelerating Illinois Gerrymander.”  [Democrats debate an even more extreme map than before.]   10-28-21
  58. Illinois.  “Murder and Mandates in Chicago.”  [Violence in the city soars as Mayor Lightfoot feuds with police.]    12-6-21
  59. Illinois.  “The Fleeing Young of Illinois.”  [Fiscal trouble looms for the state as its young adults flee.]  12-14-21
  60. Illinois.  “Why the Chicago Teachers Union Always Gets What It Wants.”  By Ted Dubrowski and John Klinger.  [It can strike and ignore children because Illinois lawmakers give it extraordinary power.]   1-15-22
  61. Illinois.  “Illinois’s Political Mob Hit.”  [Former Democratic boss Michael Madigan faces corruption charges.]  3-4-22
  62. Illinois.  “Pritzker’s Illinois Exit Strategy?”  [“…Running for President might be a nice diversion that spares him from dealing with the mess Democrats have made of Illinois.”]  7-19-22
  63. Illinois.  “Illinois Bids to Entrench Union Power.”  10-17-22
  64. Illinois.  “Another Democrat Flips on School Choice.”  By Corey DeAngelis.  [Illinois Gov. Pritzker backs a scholarship program he promised he would eliminate.]   10-20-22
  65. Illinois.  “Unions Ask Illinois Voters to Sign Over control of the State.”  By Ted Dabrowsi and John Klingner.  [A ballot measure would give unchecked power to organized labor in the public sector.]   10-22-22
  66. Illinois.  “I’ll Vote for the Lesser of Evils, if There Is One.”  By Joseph Epstein.  [In the governor’s campaign, heads Illinois loses; tails, it also loses.  Ditto in the last two presidential races.]   10-26-22
  67. Illinois.  “Illinois Is Government Union Heaven.”  [The state has 132,188 public employees who earn over $100,000.]   11-4-22
  68. Illinois.  “Democracy Dies in Illinois.”  [A case study in how progressives entrench themselves in power.]   11-17-22
  69. Illinois.  “Illinois’s No-Bail Experiment.”   12-13-22
  70. Illinois.  “Is It Too Late to Save Chicago From Progressive Misrule?”  by Collin Levy.  [The city has gone downhill fast, but it isn’t clear voters are ready to turn the page on Lori Lightfoot.]  2-11-23
  71. Illinois. (Chicago)  “Can Paul Vallas or Brandon Johnson Do Anything About Crime?”  by Joseph Epstein.  [If we refuse to speak openly about the problem – and we do – it may not matter who the mayor is.]   4-1-23
  72. Illinois.  “Chicago Teachers Fight a Union Ploy.”   4-3-23
  73. Illinois.  “The Second Tough-on-Crime City?  By Wm.  A. Galston.  [Chicago’s mayoral race could decide the fate of progressive antipolice rhetoric.]   4-5-23
  74. Illinois.  “Chicago Gets What It voted For.”  [Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson blames businesses for crime.]   4-8-23
  75. Illinois.  “Will Illinois Still ‘Invest in kids’?”  [A state scholarship program for low-income families is in jeopardy.]   5-24-23Illinois.  “The Illinois Scholarship Scandal.”  [Teachers unions block a small program that showcases their failure.]   5-27-23
  76. Illinois.  “Another Shoot-‘em-Up Weekend in Chicago.”  [The mayor attributes shootings to the ‘trauma’ of disinvestment.]   5-31-23
  77. Illinois. “Gutting Judicial Review in Illinois.”  [Gov. Pritzker signs a law to prevent his policies from being overturned.]   6-8-23
  78. Illinois.  “Chicago Lives Up to the Principles.”  By Benjamin Ogilvie.  [School administrators rebuffed law students outraged over my Journal contribution.]   6-22-23
  79. Illinois.  “J.B. Pritzker, Public Union Boss.”  [The Illinois Governor hands out huge raises at taxpayer expense.]  7-31–23
  80. Illinois.  “A Free-Speech Lesson for J.B. Pritzker.”  [A federal judge scolds Democrats for trying to silence abortion foes.]   8-14-23
  81. Illinois.  “Hamas and Black Lives Matter in Chicago.”  [Progressives disrupt the City Council to block a pro-Israel resolution.]   10-17-23
  82. Illinois.  “J.B. Pritzker and the Children.  [The Illinois Governor can save scholarship program.  Will He?]  10-26-23
  83. Illinois.  “Illinois’s Invest in Kids’ Hall of Shame.”  [Democrats in Congress want to kill scholarships for low-income kids.]   11-9-23
  84. Illinois.  “School Choice Dies in Illinois.”  [The union machine kills scholarships for 9,600 children.]   11-13-23Illinois.  “Illinois Concedes on pregnancy Centers.”  [The state won’t enforce its law targeting pro-life activists as fraudsters.]   12-16-23
  85. Illinois.  “The Equality of Failure in Chicago.”  [The city’s school board wants to cancel selective enrollment schools.]   12-19-23
  86. Illinois.   “Illinois’s Plan to Fund Public Universities on the Basis of Race.”   By Neetu Arnold.  [Schools with abysmal graduation rates would get more money simply for enrolling minorities.]   5-4-24
  87. Illinois.  “Chicago Will Need a Miracle to Escape Its Debt Burden.”  By Judge Glock.  [The city got a pandemic lifeline from the feds and did nothing to shore up its finances for the long term.]   5-11-24
  88. Illinois.  “Chicago’s Slavery Reparations.”  [Johnson follows the latest fad rather than fix the public schools.]   6-25-24
  89. Illinois.  “Chicago’s Mayor of Mayhem.”   9-24-24

 

 

 

Issue Headlines

Illinois. Drudgereport.com 6-1-17
S&P, MOODY’S Downgrade Illinois to Near Junk, Lowest Ever for U.S. State…

 

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