Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday announced the state would spend $40 million to study potential fixes for Chicago's gridlocked Circle Interchange.
Delays at the junction of the Eisenhower, Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways typically run about 10 minutes per car, and the interchange is considered one of the worst in the country. Read more...
Gov. Pat Quinn, citing the need for "bold action" to rescue the state's public pension funds, this afternoon unveiled a plan calling for increased employee contributions, a reduced cost-of-living increase for retirees, and an older retirement age.
While some public employees can now retire at 55, the governor's plan would push that back to 67. Meanwhile, employees would contribute an extra 3 percent of their earnings toward their pension, and COLA increases would fall to half the rate of inflation or 3 percent, whichever is smaller.
Hospitals are lashing out at Gov. Pat Quinn over his new Medicaid cuts, saying they will lead some facilities to shut down.
Yesterday, Quinn announced a plan to repair the state Medicaid program's tattered finances with a $1-a-pack cigarette tax, benefit reductions and cuts in payments to health care providers.
The cigarette tax will provide $337 million in new money to the health-insurance program for the poor, and changes in benefits would yield a $675 million drop in payments to hospitals and doctors, according to the AP.
The Illinois State Board of Education is seeking to double its funding for investigations, citing increasing concerns that principals and teachers may be illicitly boosting their schools' performance on state exams.
The board currently has a caseload of 300 misconduct investigations, Deputy Superintendent Darren Reisberg tells WBEZ. One key probe involves analyzing ISAT test results to identify instances in which an unusual number of answers have been corrected or a group of students shows an unlikely jump in performance.
