From Bloomberg News | Illinois began taking orders from individuals on $1.46 billion in municipal bonds backed by tobacco settlement payments to help meet $2 billion in outstanding bills. The so-called Railsplitter Tobacco bonds are the week’s largest issue and the state’s biggest tax-exempt borrowing since a $1.5 billion refinancing deal in February. Get the full story>>
Inside these posts: State of Illinois
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Ill. gambling revenue lowest in 10 years
Revenue from legalized gambling in Illinois is the lowest it’s been in 10 years. A report from the Legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability found gambling revenue totaled just over $1 billion in the last fiscal year. That’s a 4.5 percent drop from the previous year.
Early bird gets today’s appliance rebates
By Kristin Samuelson and Julie Wernau | If you missed your opportunity in April to take advantage of the government rebates on new energy-efficient appliances, today’s your lucky day. But you better move fast.
The state of Illinois is offering consumers approximately $3 million in rebate money to replace their old clothes washer, dishwasher, freezer, or refrigerator with a new Energy Star qualified model at participating stores starting at 8 a.m. Friday. The rebates will provide a 15 percent discount (up to $250) on the appliances, but you have to act fast because the rebate program will stop once the funding runs out.
Illinois Lottery offers new ‘Cash 4 College’ game
The Lottery announced a new “Cash 4 College” scratch-off ticket Thursday. Five winners get full tuition and any mandatory fees for college. Lottery spokeswoman Tracy Owens says officials hope the new ticket will help fulfill the dream of continued education but without the worry about tuition. Get the full story »
State hires Northstar to run Illinois lottery
The state will pay a private company at least $15 million a year to take over day-to-day operations at the Illinois Lottery, but none of the department’s 170 workers will lose their jobs as a result.
More than 1,100 in Illinois warned of layoffs in Aug.
National Manufacturing Co., PNC Bank, Precision Dormer LLC and Northwestern Memorial Hospital are among about a dozen companies that notified the state of Illinois in August that they plan to close plants or institute “mass layoffs,” putting a total of more than 1,100 employees out of work. Get the full story »
Sep. 3, 2010 at 6:21 a.m.
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Filed under: Critics: Illinois lottery contract cloaked in secrecy
With less than two weeks before Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn awards a lucrative, first-of-its-kind contract for the private management of the state’s $2 billion-a-year lottery, some are criticizing the selection process as too secretive and questioning whether it favors one powerful bidder.
Quinn OKs grace period for back taxes
Taxpayers who owe the state will be able to pay up without facing fines for five weeks this fall. Gov. Pat Quinn quietly signed a measure into law today setting up a grace period that runs from Oct. 1 to Nov. 8. State officials estimate the amnesty could bring in about $250 million for Illinois’ depleted coffers.
The law covers unpaid back taxes from July 2002 to July 2009. If taxpayers fail to make good during the amnesty, interest and penalties will be doubled, according to a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue.
‘Medical home’ saving Ill. Medicaid millions
The “medical home” appears to be saving Illinois taxpayers tens of millions of dollars from the state Medicaid program, a new study shows.
Illinois health officials four years ago began steps to link people enrolled in the state Medicaid health insurance program for the poor to a medical home where treatment and patient referrals are coordinated centrally as a way to keep costs down. From 2006 to 2007, Illinois Medicaid assigned nearly 2 million people to primary care doctors who agreed to coordinate these patients health care for an extra monthly payment under a program called Illinois Health Connect. Get the full story »
Investors go for Illinois bonds
Investors demonstrated an appetite for Illinois bonds Wednesday when the state went to market with a $900 million issue, but as expected, they extracted a higher yield because of the state’s dismal financial condition.
More than $2 billion in orders came in for the taxable Build America bond issue, a show of strong demand, said John Sinsheimer, the state’s director of capital markets. Overall, the bonds drew 93 investors, including 17 from overseas who bought about 29 percent of the issue. Get the full story »
