An summit geared towards the immigrant community Saturday highlighted Illinois’ pro-immigrant policies and also controversy between Cook County and
federal immigration officials.
The Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which has 130 member organizations, held their 2nd annual Illinois Immigrant Integration Summit at Malcolm X College,
featuring appearances by Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, among
other officials.
Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed elimination of the natural gas utility tax wouldn't save Illinois households much
money -- but it could be a boon to large agricultural companies.
While the interests of big business seem to be very much so on the radar of Springfield politicians, as evidenced by the passage of recent corporate tax break packages, the needs of children — and the impact of passed legislation and cuts on Illinois' youngest residents — may not always be as prevalent in political discussions as it should be.
One state organization is hoping to change that with the unveiling of a new fiscal policy center aimed at promoting the interests of Illinois children while also detailing the impact of budget and tax policies on one of the Prarie State's most vulnerable populations.
AFSCME-represented public employee union workers protested outside Gov. Pat Quinn's office Thursday, over public employee raises the governor withheld last year.
That's the number of jobs lost each time the state reduces general fund spending by just 1 percent, according to a new report by Make Wall Street Pay Illinois and the Alliance for a Just Society.
The following is a statment from AFSCME on the Civic Federation's new report on the state budget.
The patient, state government, is ailing. Symptoms include chronic
failure to adequately fund basic services or pay bills, forcing harmful
cuts. But this report fails to diagnose the cause, while the bitter
medicine it prescribes offers no cure.
Illinois’s persistent
mismatch between costs and revenues—its structural deficit—results from a
broken and unfair tax system that fails to capture economic growth and
squeezes the middle class while granting rich people lower effective tax
rates and allowing two-thirds of all corporations to pay no corporate
income tax at all.
Ald. George Cardenas (12th) said Thursday that the health
committee he chairs will hold a hearing to review cuts in the city’s
2012 mental health care budget – including the outlined closing of six
of the city’s twelve mental health clinics.
An summit geared towards the immigrant community Saturday highlighted Illinois’ pro-immigrant policies and also controversy between Cook County and
federal immigration officials.
While the interests of big business seem to be very much so on the radar of Springfield politicians, as evidenced by the passage of recent corporate tax break packages, the needs of children — and the impact of passed legislation and cuts on Illinois' youngest residents — may not always be as prevalent in political discussions as it should be. 
That's the number of jobs lost each time the state reduces general fund spending by just 1 percent, according to a new report by Make Wall Street Pay Illinois and the Alliance for a Just Society. 
