DeKalb Times

Demmer, running for treasurer, wants office combined with comptroller: 'Illinois taxpayers would be better served'

By Karen Kidd | Feb 4, 2022

State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) is running for treasurer and he wants the comptroller's job, too.

Pritzker sits on ethics reform bill after Legislative Inspector General resigns; Bourne calls for 'strong and decisive action,' amendatory veto

By Karen Kidd | Jul 23, 2021

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has neither signed nor vetoed omnibus ethics reform legislation after House Republicans called for an amendatory veto following the resignation of the state legislature's latest Legislative Inspector General.

From Prairie State Wire

U.S. Senate Resolution: No bailing out Illinois

By Karen Kidd | 5 years ago

The Land of Lincoln is suffering a number of financial woes, fueled in large part by unfunded pension liabilities, but neither Illinois nor any other state should expect a bailout from Uncle Sam, according to a resolution introduced into the senate last summer.

From Prairie State Wire

'Dirty tricks' alleged in 2016 primary were not illegal, Team Madigan claims in Speaker's defense

By Karen Kidd | 5 years ago

Even if Illinois state House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) used "dirty tricks" to fend off 2016 primary challenger Jason Gonzales, the strategy allegedly employed was not illegal, according to a re​cent court filing.

From West Central Reporter

Rep. Hammond renews call for fair maps, supports petition to end gerrymandering

By Karen Kidd | 5 years ago

A Republican Illinois House representative from the 93rd District earlier this week renewed her call for fair maps and pushed support for an independent map-drawing petition following a U.S. Supreme Court decision not to hear gerrymander cases.

From Prairie State Wire

Illinios education officials want half the state's budget, Wirepoints warns

By Karen Kidd | 6 years ago

Illinois education officials are out to get half of the state's budget—and they just might—to the detriment of the state's taxpayers, according to an online Wirepoints newsletter issued earlier today.

From Prairie State Wire

Legislature overrides some Rauner vetoes, fails on others

By Karen Kidd | 6 years ago

Illinois's outgoing Republican governor saw a few of his vetoes overridden during the Fall Veto Session in Springfield and a few new laws have been passed, a QUAD city area lawmaker said in a summary recap released last week.

From Prairie State Wire

State facing huge debt for public-sector retiree health benefits, says Wirepoints

By Karen Kidd | 6 years ago

Illinois's "other debt disaster" is $73 billion in unfunded state retiree health insurance benefits and more than twice that amount owed over the next four decades, according to a special report issued this week by an online news outlet.

From Prairie State Wire

FY19 Budget: 'Not one penny should be spent on pork,' Ives says

By Karen Kidd | 6 years ago

Illinois Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) believes state lawmakers need to reject political pork spending that was hidden in the budget passed earlier this year.

From Prairie State Wire

Pro-economic liberty group launches campaign against soaring Illinois property taxes

By Karen Kidd | 6 years ago

Supporting a proposal to cut Illinois property taxes in half and a slate of political candidates who would help make that happen is part of Liberty Principles PAC's recently announced "Save Your Home" campaign.

From Prairie State Wire

People in prime working age are fleeing Illinois, think tank reports

By Karen Kidd | 6 years ago

Not only is Illinois' overall population in deep decline, the number of people in prime working age also is going down in the state, a Chicago-based Conservative think tank said in a recent report.

Keicher understands 'negative impact' of Illinois' high taxes and burdensome regulations

By Karen Kidd | May 17, 2018

It takes a small business owner to understand the plight of other small business owners, especially in Illinois, a state that ranks in a recent poll among the worst in the nation in which to do business, the Republican candidate for the state House 70th District seat said during a recent interview.

From Prairie State Wire

Better Government Association says Obama didn't say fathers in the home is a solution to gun violence -- but he did

By Karen Kidd | 7 years ago

Sometimes the fact-checker needs a good fact-checking.

From Rockford Sun

Syverson says he sees no rigging in Cook County GOP's Rauner endorsement

By Karen Kidd | 7 years ago

Concerns that Gov. Bruce Rauner's recent Cook County Republican Central Committee endorsement was a rigged outcome are unfounded, a Rockford lawmaker and Rauner supporter said during a recent interview.

Illinois' student flight is about more than high tuition and pension costs, Pritchard says

By Karen Kidd | Dec 29, 2017

While high tuition and pension costs are a factor in why Illinois' college-age students are leaving the state, the entire story behind that flight is far more complicated, state Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley) said during a recent interview.

Erickson: Townships' view on property tax freeze less about opposition, more about education

By Karen Kidd | Nov 29, 2017

Comments in opposition to a property tax freeze by a spokesman for Illinois townships were less about opposing such freezes and more about education, Village of Poplar Grove Trustee Neeley Erickson said recently.

Candidate: Efficiency, effectiveness lacking in Illinois politics

By Karen Kidd | Nov 10, 2017

Elected officials in Springfield need to be better stewards of taxpayer money, not least because of an amendment to an existing bill that would require most llinois counties to implement property freezes via voter referendum, a Republican House candidate contends.

Budget described as no solution to Illinois insolvency

By Karen Kidd | Jul 21, 2017

While state lawmakers ended a two-year budget impasse, the measures adopted by the Illinois Legislature will not fix the state's fiscal mess, an analyst who co-wrote a paper that places the state 49th in long-run solvency told the Sangamon Sun.

Economist says something's got to give: pensions or public schools

By Karen Kidd | Jul 2, 2017

Public sector employees and retirees could accept less than their constitutionally protected pensions if they understand it's them or public education, an economist said during an appearance on a recent Chicago-based radio show.

'Panicked' Democrats fear House downfall after approving school funding bill, radio host says

By Karen Kidd | Jun 23, 2017

Democratic state lawmakers showed their true colors in May when they demanded an investigation into an article about apparently doomed school funding reform legislation, a radio show co-host said recently.