Barclays Capital Looks at Illinois's Underfunded Pensions
The investment bank sees Illinois’s shadow and concludes that our pension-funding winter will continue for another generation. But they’re not panicked… yet.
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Falling Slowly
“Unless this has ever happened to you, you cannot understand the escalating sense of panic. I’d just get right back up, I thought. No. I could get my arms up on solid ice, but every time I did, another chunk broke off. Reach, crash. Reach, crash. The water had already saturated my parka, making my arms feel leaden. I don’t know whether the water was over my head or not, but I knew I could not touch bottom.”
Dorothy Brown and Rick Muñoz Debate at 43rd Ward Forum
Exciting races in the upcoming March 20 primary are scarce, so the race for the Cook County Circuit Court Clerk between three-term incumbent Dorothy Brown and Ricardo Muñoz, alderman of the 22nd Ward since 1993 is, in relative terms, the Romney-Santorum fistfight of Cook County. Tuesday night, the two Dems appeared at a forum sponsored by the 43rd Ward Democrats and moderated by Andy Shaw…
A New Push For Vocational Education in Chicago and the U.S.
In the city’s big moves on education yesterday, Malcolm X College is being reinvented to integrate with the Medical District, and Crane Tech will go through the same process. It’s part of a Great Recession trend back towards an old (and Continental) idea.
Long Reads Roundup
Boredom in Peoria from Kyle Beachy; a profile of Oak Park/River Forest’s wrestling coach; Seven Doe; why the carp must die; and more
Pat Quinn Puts Tamms On the Block
The state’s expensive, troubled supermax prison, long a target of lawsuits and human-rights activists, would give up its small number of inmates to Pontiac as part of the governor’s proposed budget cuts.
Rapid Bus Transit Gets TIF Dough and More Transportation News
New funding for BRT; public transportation is the new gay marriage, the fight over transportation funding, the decline in Illinois fuel tax revenues, and more.
Rahm Leaves Susana Mendoza Twisting in the Wind on City Sticker Controversy
When I interviewed City Clerk Susana Mendoza last November, I sensed that there was tension between her and Rahm Emanuel. In the wake of Chicago’s city sticker controversy, I have been reminded of the strained relationship between the mayor and the clerk.
Do Corruption and Transparency Drive Down Voting?
Learning how the sausage is made can turn your stomach, more so when you can see the reconstituted meat bits. Which may put people off their appetite for politics.
Corruption, Confirmation Bias, and Sexy Statistics
Is Illinois still really corrupt? Is Chicago still really segregated? It depends on who you ask, and how they decide to write their headlines.