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From the Chicago Sun-Times | The unemployment rate in Illinois fell to 9.3 percent in December from 9.6 percent in November, the ninth straight decline. But the state lost 9,400 jobs over the month, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Friday.
The rate is down from 11 percent in December 2009. Over the year, the state added 46,300 jobs. Get the full story>>
The chief executive of Chicago’s biggest homegrown bank says the city’s business community expected the state to hike taxes, but that the Illinois legislature needs to also quickly address spending that’s contributing to deep budget deficits.
Illinois’ corporate income tax rate recently rose from 4.8 percent to 7 percent. Earlier this week Northern Trust Corp. said it expects the tax hike to reduce its earnings by about $4 million a year. Get the full story »
On the heels of disappointing fourth-quarter earnings that drove its stock down 5.7 percent Wednesday, Northern Trust Corp., Chicago’s biggest locally headquartered bank, said the recently announced hike on Illinois business taxes will reduce its profits by an estimated $4 million a year starting in 2012.
“If it doesn’t get vetoed, and we don’t think it will,” Northern Chief Financial Officer William Morrison said during an hour-long conference call to discuss fourth quarter results. Get the full story »
Gov. Pat Quinn has signed legislation providing a $2,500 tax credit to employers hiring trainees from the Put Illinois to Work temporary jobs program. The measure signed Monday takes effect immediately. Quinn says the new law gives employers an incentive to continue providing jobs to those who need them. Get the full story »
New statistics from the Illinois food stamp program show an increase in those receiving assistance, and food pantries are reporting that more people are coming to them for help.
Numbers from the Illinois Department of Human Services show about 857,000 households enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in December. That’s 12.7 percent more than a year earlier, The Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday. Get the full story »
A triumphant Gov. Pat Quinn congratulated fellow Democrats early today after the Illinois Senate and House sent him a major income tax increase without a single Republican vote in favor.
Quinn smiled and shook hands on the floor of the Senate around 1:30 a.m. after the Senate voted 30-29 for the bill, which would raise the personal income tax-rate by 67 percent and the business income tax rate by 46 percent.
The House passed the bill hours earlier Tuesday night — likewise without a vote to spare and with nary a Republican in support.
As Illinois lawmakers huddle behind closed doors this week trying to find ways to plug the state’s $13 billion deficit, municipal-bond investors are sizing up how to wager amid the state’s woes.
The state’s bonds have the highest spreads — a measure of the perceived risk of default — of any state, according to Thomson Reuters data. Meanwhile, the cost of insuring against the bonds’ default keeps rising. Many muni-bond investors are avoiding Illinois even as they buy bonds of other cities and states. Others believe the state may prove a good bet, either because it will get its financial act together or be aided by the federal government. Get the full story »
Illinois lawmakers are considering a major overhaul of the program that provides medical care to the poor, part of an effort to control costs during a budget crisis and build support for a tax increase.
The legislation would emphasize HMO-style “managed care” and reduce the use of costly institutions for people with physical and mental disabilities. It would require the state to pay Medicaid bills sooner, reducing late-payment penalties. It also would take steps to ensure ineligible people don’t sign up for medical care. Get the full story »
A panel that will make recommendations on how Illinois implements the national health care law is delaying its report to Gov. Pat Quinn by one month. Spokesman Mike Claffey says the Health Care Reform Implementation Council now plans to submit a report to Quinn on Jan. 31. The original target was Dec. 31. Get the full story »
The unemployment rate in Illinois fell to 9.6 percent in November, the eighth consecutive month of improvement. The jobless figure is a smidge below the October rate of 9.8 percent. Get the full story »
DirecTV Group Inc. has agreed to pay $13.3 million in civil penalties and costs, including $185,000 to the state of Illinois, to settle allegations that the satellite-TV service provider used misleading sales and marketing practices. Get the full story »
A company that makes and distributes copper and copper-alloy products is considering moving its headquarters from southwestern Illinois to Kentucky. Get the full story »
A post-bicentennial drop in tourism numbers reduced attendance by more than a third at some Lincoln sites in Illinois this year.Hotel stays also fell.
But tourism and historic-site managers say the fall-off from the 200th anniversary celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birth in 2009 was anticipated. They remain encouraged that numbers in most cases were ahead of 2008 Get the full story »
Illinoisans can often dodge sales taxes by shopping online, but the state of Illinois is hoping to collect on those taxes next year by offering a sales tax amnesty.
A new law allows people who didn’t pay sales tax on items bought online, through the mail or over the phone between June 20, 2004, and the end of 2010 to pay what they owe without penalty. The tax amnesty runs from Jan. 1 through Oct. 15. Get the full story »
Plenty of folks are aware of the best states for retirees. But what are the 10 worst states in which to spend your golden years?
People of Illinois, California, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Ohio, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Nevada — you probably already know the answer. The list, with Illinois leading the pack, comes from website TopRetirements.com.
According to John Brady, president of TopRetirements.com, the 10 states earn this dubious distinction largely because of three factors: fiscal health, taxation and climate. Get the full story »
