Illinois jobs are coming from where?

https://www.ilnews.org/news/economy/one-quarter-of-new-jobs-in-illinois-were-in-the/article_314340c2-ec3e-11e8-b477-5f300e90424a.html

Illinois decline in population

http://reason.com/blog/2017/12/21/illinois-decline-bumps-it-down-state-pop

Illinois fiscal woes

http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/mikeshedlock/2015/12/28/death-watch-illinois-despite-massive-stock-market-rally-illinois-pension-liabilities-go-up-and-up-and-up-n2097394?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Better Government

http://www.bettergov.org/ The Better Government Association (BGA) is a non-partisan Chicago-based watchdog group with the mission to "combat waste, fraud and corruption in city, county, suburban and state government".

Special purpose governments

and the perceived inefficiencies.   Mosquito abatement, West Nile Virus.....necessary but effective?   If the wages and pensions are more than the insecticide, that is the question!   Illinois is featured in its prominence with the most local governments.   More than any other state.   The article refers to these as feifdoms that provide handouts to a select few.   There is a chart to look at the other states as comparison across the nation.   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-28/reagan-revolution-misses-tax-fiefdoms-flourishing-in-u-s-.html

Rita Crundwell sentenced

for the Dixon fraud.   $53 million will get you almost 20 years.   http://www.cbsnews.com/crimesider/?keyword=rita+crundwell&tag=contentMain;contentBody

S&P lowers Illinois Bond rating

What again?  I thought this just happened back in August.   Are the citizens noticing this?   http://www.pionline.com/article/20130125/DAILYREG/130129916/pension-woes-drive-moody8217s-sp-to-lower-illinois8217-bond-ratings

Fragmented local governments

A good source for data about numbers of governments by states, as well as historical growth of these governments. These are called special districts, or special purpose districts 
http://www.governing.com/blogs/by-the-numbers/local-government-consolidation-fragmentation.html

Illinois Illinois, what you gonna do?

"By the rivers gently flowing Illinois, Illinois; O'er thy prairies verdant growing, Illinois, Illinois,  Comes an echo on the breeze, Rustling through the leafy trees, And its mellow tones are these, Illinois, Illinois, And its mellow tones"......

are screaming "How are you going to address these fiscal issues"?    Standard and Poors  yesterday downgraded the bond rating with the fair state (described above in idyllic terms in our state song) - the state that has the worst pension funding of any other state, among a host of other problems.  That is my pension we are talking about, so I have no answers, only questions.   How to fix this?  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-29/illinois-debt-cut-by-s-p-after-lack-of-action-on-pension-funding.html

Illinois proposed tax increases have stalled

Whew! a jump from 3% to 5.25% and a $1 increase per pack on cigarettes.  Who is surprised that this did not pass?  It is my opinion that we need to increase taxes in my home state, but what about some balance? It is a mix of cutting spending and revenue generation  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-10/no-sign-of-movement-on-ill-tax-proposal.html

Better government website

http://www.bettergov.org/
the Better Government Association (BGA) is a non-partisan Chicago-based watchdog group with the mission to "combat waste, fraud and corruption in city, county, suburban and state government." The "Government Payroll Database" section midway down the homepage, allows visitors to check out the paychecks of Illinois public officials.

Illinois pension woes

This article is describing the vast underfunded Illinois pension system.

http://illinoisissues.uis.edu/archives/2010/02/pension.html