The teacher shortage is a crisis unfolding at the district, state and federal levels, worsening student learning and threatening the stability of schools– with no end in sight. In Illinois, 5,300 classroom positions went unfilled in 2022, the highest percentag... More »
Niki Gianni, DVM is the veterinarian at Ravenswood Animal Hospital LLC in Chicago, IL. She is a 2019 graduate of the University of Illinois School of Veterinary Medicine.Crystal Heath, DVM is a shelter veterinarian, the Executive Director of the non-profit vet... More »
Six months after a gunman legally purchased a semiautomatic rifle and killed seven people in Highland Park, a northern Chicago suburb, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act into law, banning the sale and delivery of assaul... More »
Illinois voters have spoken: 2022 was the year of the organized worker. Adding to a mountain of evidence that workplace issues are on Americans’ minds, the 2022 general election saw the passage of a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing workers the right... More »
After a century of increasing life expectancy in the United States, 2020 witnessed a decline of 1.5 years. Although primarily attributable to COVID-19, the pandemic only exacerbated the persistent health crises of the “before-times,” further contributing to th... More »
A new analysis demonstrates that funding increases make a huge difference in schooling outcomes, especially for students from low-income families. More »
New research shows that perceived racial conflict is hindering the ability of black, public housing residents to integrate into predominantly white neighborhoods, an issue that the City of Chicago is doing nothing to address. More »
Budget cuts to the Child Care Assistance Program continue to wreak havoc on the children and families of Illinois. More »
“Illinois has added 257,000 private sector jobs.” This is what voters see when they look at Governor Quinn’s evaluation of job growth under his administration, but if they scroll over to Bruce Rauner’s Bring Back Blueprint, they will see “Illinois lost 26,000 ... More »
Good government advocate Andy Shaw discusses the roots of Illinois corruption, the current state of good governance, and suggests ways to clean up Illinois and Chicago politics. More »
Researchers find new data that contradict their previously held belief that cities push for community-wide green sustainability programs for their cost-saving benefits. More »
A study of elected versus appointed treasurers finds that cities could save millions of dollars annually by entrusting their finances to bureaucrats. More »