Wirepoints

Read the full article at: https://wirepoints.org/illinoisans-would-pay-40-less-in-property-taxes-if-the-state-spent-at-levels-where-students-perform-better-florida-wirepoints/ Ted Dabrowski joined Jeanne Ives of Breakthrough Ideas to talk about crime, Governor Pritzker’s five phases of restoring Illinois, Illinois’ fiscal problems, how much residents will have to pay to repay the federal government’s loans, and how Illinois’ education system is failing. To learn more about Illinois’ education system: https://wirepoints.org/poor-student-achievement-and-near-zero-accountability-an-indictment-of-illinois-public-education-system-wirepoints-special-report/ #shorts #illinois #pritzker #lorilightfoot #florida #education #educationreform #schoolchoice

Read the full article at: https://wirepoints.org/chicago-carjackings-on-pace-for-a-21-year-high-and-theyre-getting-more-and-more-weaponized-wirepoints/ Chicago’s growing #carjacking problem is a microcosm of what’s gone wrong in the city. Carjackings are more frequent, they are more weaponized, and there are fewer consequences than at almost any time in recent history. A #Wirepoints analysis of city data shows that if 2022 year-to-date trends continue, #Chicago carjackings will reach a new high this year, at least since 2001. It’s clear: the City of Chicago’s political leadership does not have the will, the capability, or the competence to tamp down on this insidious crime. Without a major course correction, it spells even deeper trouble for the city. At its current run-rate, Chicago will hit 1,960 carjackings in 2022 – the highest since at least 2001.* That’s up from a previous high of 1,848 carjackings in 2021 and more than triple the pre-Covid, pre-George Floyd 2019 baseline of 603 carjackings. It’s not only that we’re on pace for a new record. Some 76 percent of Chicago carjackings this year so far have been classified as “aggravated,” another record. Aggravated usually indicates the use of a #weapon during a hijacking. And while carjacking #arrest rates have averaged 10 percent from 2010 through 2021, so far this year they are at a near-record low of 6 percent. The data on Chicago carjacking through the years, and especially through the first half of 2022, serves as an unfortunate example of what happens when a city becomes “open” for crime, with no real deterrence or consequences in most instances. It all points to the failure of #CookCounty courts and Chicago City Hall to meaningfully curtail violent disorder here. #shorts #shortvideo #illinois #crime #crime_news #chicago #cpd

Read the full article at: https://wirepoints.org/gov-pritzker-is-still-proclaiming-illinois-a-covid-disaster-area-how-does-he-do-it-with-a-straight-face/ #Governor J.B. #Pritzker recently declared #Illinois a Covid disaster area for the 31st consecutive 30-day period. For more than two years, the governor has invoked a “disaster” to rule by executive order. It’s what allowed him to lock down businesses, impose mask mandates, close schools and micromanage healthcare across the state. His most recent emergency declaration of June 24, 2022 continued to use the same language: “I find that a disaster area exists within the State of Illinois and specifically declare all counties in the state of Illinois as a disaster area.” Even if you were sympathetic to Pritzker’s disaster declarations during the height of the pandemic, you’d have to admit his pronouncement is absurd today. Every major metric, from vaccinations to hospitalizations to deaths, tells us that. By the end of June, 78% of adults and nearly 90% of Illinoisans aged 65-plus – the most-vulnerable population to #Covid – were #vaccinated. Just 3% of ICU beds, on average, were filled with Covid patients over the past three months. It’s the same with regular hospital beds. Illinois has averaged eight Covid deaths a day over the last three months, and even then, it’s hard to know whether they died because of Covid or with Covid. 88% of Illinois’ 744 Covid deaths since April 1, 2022 have been over the age of 60 and the average age of those deaths has been about 75, not too distant from Illinois’ average life expectancy of 79. Not a single person under the age of 20 has died in the last 3.5 months. The fact that Pritzker’s disaster proclamation declares all counties a disaster area is also indefensible. Some counties, like tiny Putnam and Edwards, have Covid cases appearing in single digits and haven’t experienced a single Covid death in over three months. Instead, Illinois remains just one of 14 states, and the only one of our neighbors, to “manage” Covid via an emergency order. #cookcounty #lakecounty #chicago #springfield #peoria #rockford #waukegan #naperville #champaign #joliet #reform #follow

As crime continues to roil economic and social life in post-George Floyd, post-#covid19 #Chicago, getting policing and criminal justice right are crucial. City officials are failing at that task. We’re already seen anemic rates of arrest and prosecutions in Chicago, accompanied by finger-pointing between politicians over crime and the court system. And years of no support from city leadership, anti-policing legislation and the damaging rhetoric of the “defund” movement have taken a toll on Chicago police morale and manpower. All that has spread the #police force so thin that, in #2021, one of law enforcement’s most basic functions, responding to high-priority #emergency service calls in a timely manner, was regularly beyond their capacity. New data uncovered by Wirepoints through public records requests to the Chicago Police Department (CPD) reveal that in 2021 there were 406,829 incidents of high-priority emergency service calls for which there were no police available to respond. That was 52 percent of the 788,000 high-priority 911 service calls dispatched in 2021. Read the full report at: https://wirepoints.org/new-2021-chicago-data-shows-400000-high-priority-incidents-where-dispatchers-had-no-police-available-to-send-wirepoints/ #video #illinois

In #Champaign #Illinois’, only 10% of black 3rd-grade students in the public schools are proficient in reading. Next door in #Urbana it’s even worse for 3rd-graders, where only 6% of blacks and just 4% of Hispanics read at grade level. In Champaign, these trends continue all the way through high school, where only 38% of all Champaign 11th-graders are proficient in English on the SAT. Despite those dismal results, 82% of all students graduate and 99% of districtwide teachers are rated “excellent or proficient.” Similar results are seen statewide. In #Decatur just 2% of black and 16% of white 3rd-graders could read at grade level in 2019. In #Rockford, it was 7% for blacks. And in #Elgin, it was only 11% for Hispanics. Champaign is part of Wirepoint’s statewide #report that indicts Illinois’ #educational system. Our assessment is harsh because student outcomes are beyond dismal and no one, it seems, takes any responsibility for them. Social promotion, hyper-inflated teacher evaluations and misleading “accountability” designations from ISBE all help to deflect blame. The system is perpetuated by a complex weave of labor laws, hundreds of districts, generous salaries, constitutionally-protected pensions, powerful superintendents and even more powerful unions. It’s why the state’s $38 billion education system – propped up by the symbiotic relationship between unions and lawmakers – can only be described as an educational-industrial complex. It’s no wonder 80% of Illinois parents now support #schoolchoice. Read the full report at: https://wirepoints.org/poor-student-achievement-and-near-zero-accountability-an-indictment-of-illinois-public-education-system-wirepoints-special-report/ To get engaged visit: https://wirepoints.org/ #youtube #fyp #educationmatters #chicagoland #chicago #centralillinois #southernillinois #information #research #quincy #chicago #elgin #education #educationmatters #aurora #Peoria #reelsvideo #shortvideo

Caterpillar’s move from #Illinois to #Texas encapsulates the lopsided migration relationship between the two states. Illinois, with its fiscal, economic and governance problems, is the big loser to a state with low taxes, fewer regulations and fiscal stability. https://wirepoints.org/caterpillar-executives-to-join-the-nearly-400000-illinoisans-who-have-left-for-texas-since-2000-wirepoints/ Not only does the IRS report that Illinois loses thousands of taxpayers and their dependents to Texas every year, but the Illinoisans who move there are far wealthier than the Texans who move into Illinois. Since 2000, more than 395,000 Illinoisans have made the move to Texas, but only about 236,000 Texans have made the reverse journey, according to the IRS’ annual migration data. That’s left Illinois with a net loss to the Lone Star State over the last two decades of nearly 160,000 residents – equal to about the population of Naperville. Overall, Illinois has lost a net 1.37 million people (tax filers and their dependents) to other states since 2000. Only New York and Alaska have lost more people than Illinois when measured on a percent of population basis. The tax filers who left Illinois for Texas in the latest year reported by the IRS had, on average, adjusted gross incomes of more than $106,000. In contrast, the Texans who moved into Illinois earned on average just $71,000. That’s a record gap of $35,000 in 2020. Count on the CAT personnel who do move to Texas to make that income gap even bigger. The top five CAT executives alone took in $16 million in salaries and $55 million in total compensation last year, according to Salary.com. The loss of Caterpillar is yet another sign that the state’s taxpayer subsidies and a devotion to “woke” causes can’t make Illinois attractive to businesses. What’s actually attractive are low taxes, fewer regulations, less corruption and fiscal stability. Until Illinois embraces those policies, big names like Caterpillar and Boeing will continue to join the more than one million residents who have fled the state over the past two decades.

Wirepoints was on the ground in #rockford #illinois to uncover what's behind the district's dismal #student achievement. Following a scalding statewide report on Illinois' education system, Wirepoints focuses on Rockford. Wirepoints unveils systemic problems that have been allowed to persist for years. #schoolchoice may help. Watch the full statewide video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAv1HTn8Mk&t=2s Read the complete report at: https://wirepoints.org/poor-student-achievement-and-near-zero-accountability-an-indictment-of-illinois-public-education-system-wirepoints-special-report/ #shorts #education #reform #shortvideo #shortsfeed #shortsvideo #parenting #children

Poor student achievement and near zero accountability can be seen in districts across Illinois. Take, for example, reading proficiency for 3rd-graders in 2019 in Rockford, Decatur, Peoria, Mount Vernon, Chicago, Elgin, and Waukegan. Why are student outcomes so dismal? How can you as a parent help ensure your child receives a good education? Find out more at Wirepoints. To learn more read the full report at: https://wirepoints.org/poor-student-achievement-and-near-zero-accountability-an-indictment-of-illinois-public-education-system-wirepoints-special-report/ Watch the full video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAv1HTn8Mk&t=1s @Wirepoints #education #illinois #school #shorts #shortsvideo #shortsfeed #decatur #waukegan #chicago #peoria #rockford

When Wirepoints first noticed the pre-pandemic scores of Decatur 3rd-graders, we thought they’d been misreported. The State Report Card said just 2% of Decatur’s black 3rd-graders met or exceeded reading requirements. Really, just 2%? What’s worse, we found a similar story could be told in Rockford, Waukegan, Peoria, Quincy, Chicago or any one of a hundred Illinois cities. Just 7% of Rockford’s black, 11% of Elgin’s Hispanic and 10% of Waukegan’s black 3rd-graders met reading proficiency requirements in 2019. We didn’t believe the results could be so dire, but the bad numbers are there, district after district, year after year. Who is it that’s allowing such bad outcomes to persist without intervention? Administrators? School boards? The Illinois State Board of Education? State lawmakers? And where are the parents in all this? Does anybody care? Wirepoints looked across Illinois’ education system to find out. The result was our latest report: Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system. https://wirepoints.org/poor-student-achievement-and-near-zero-accountability-an-indictment-of-illinois-public-education-system-wirepoints-special-report/

Illinoisans continue to flee. The state's population dropped by 114,000, or almost 1 percent, in 2021, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. It’s a record loss for Illinois. Only New York lost more people on a percentage basis. There's a lot to break down about the new Census numbers. For more information, go read our new piece: The 2021 Census numbers are horrible for Illinois. (https://wirepoints.org/2021-census-numbers-are-horrible-for-illinois-population-decline-second-worst-in-country-behind-only-new-york-wirepoints/)

Illinoisans continue to flee. The state's population dropped by 114,000, or almost 1 percent, in 2021, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. It’s a record loss for Illinois. Only New York lost more people on a percentage basis. There's a lot to break down about the new Census numbers. For more information, go read our new piece: The 2021 Census numbers are horrible for Illinois. (https://wirepoints.org/2021-census-numbers-are-horrible-for-illinois-population-decline-second-worst-in-country-behind-only-new-york-wirepoints/)

Rising costs for Illinois’ 650 local pension funds are wreaking havoc on city budgets, taxpayer wallets and the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of police, firefighter and municipal workers and retirees. Learn more at – https://wirepoints.org/175cities/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wire... Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

The growth in Illinois’ retirement debts to half-a-trillion dollars is yet another grim reminder that lawmakers refuse to address the pension crisis. Today, most politicians won’t even discuss the possibility of reform. But there are a few. Wirepoints recently co-hosted a Facebook Live event with four Illinois candidates for governor: Darren Bailey, Gary Rabine, Paul Schimpf and Jesse Sullivan. Gov. Pritzker didn't respond to our invitation. To learn more, read Wirepoints' latest report: https://wirepoints.org/illinois-pension-shortfall-surpasses-500-billion-average-debt-burden-now-110000-per-household-wirepoints-special-report/

Illinois just reached an alarming milestone: each Illinois household is now on the hook for, on average, $110,000 in government-worker retirement debts. That figure is the result of dividing Illinois’ $530 billion in state and local retirement shortfalls among the state’s 4.9 million households. In 2019, the burden was $90,000 per household. Wirepoints hosted a virtual press conference with four of Illinois' gubernatorial candidates to highlight the pension issue. Governor Pritzker was also invited. Ted Dabrowski, Wirepoints President – 00:30 Darren Bailey – 11:13 Gary Rabine – 16:13 Paul Schimpf – 20:57 Jesse Sullivan – 26:27 Learn more at – https://wirepoints.org/illinois-pension-shortfall-surpasses-500-billion-average-debt-burden-now-110000-per-household-wirepoints-special-report/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints​ • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints​ • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/​ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wire... Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

$110,000. That’s what every Illinois household is burdened with to pay down the state’s massive pension debts. It’s an impossible amount that Illinoisans can’t afford. Illinoisans need a solution that reduces state pension debts, makes government-worker retirements more secure, and makes this state more affordable for everyone. Wirepoints has created a reform plan that can do all that, with three key steps. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirepoints Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Illinois has the worst pension crisis of any state in the country. It’s the nation’s extreme outlier. Every Illinois household is on the hook for nearly $50,000 in pension debts just for the state alone. Learn more at – https://wirepoints.org/pensionsolutions/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirepoints Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

This video is the updated version of our September 8, 2020 video. Illinois is shrinking. It’s losing more people than almost any other state in the country. Decades of bad policies have made it too expensive to live here. There aren’t enough good jobs. And Illinoisans no longer trust their government. Over the last 10 years, Illinois’ population has declined by 18,000 people, the second most in the country. Illinois is the nation’s extreme outlier. Learn more at – https://wirepoints.org/pensionsolutions/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wire... Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Ted Dabrowski appears on Newsmax to talk about Wirepoints research of IRS data showing people are fleeing blue states for red states. See Wirepoints analysis here: https://wirepoints.org/new-irs-data-reveals-which-states-won-and-lost-the-competition-for-people-and-their-wealth-in-2019-wirepoints-special-report/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints​ • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints​ • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/​ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wire... Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Rising costs for Illinois’ 650 local pension funds are wreaking havoc on city budgets, taxpayer wallets and the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of police, firefighter and municipal workers and retirees. Learn more at – https://wirepoints.org/175cities/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wire... Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Highlights from Wirepoints joint press conference with lawmakers on May 5, 2021 in the Blue Room at the Illinois State Capitol to present the key findings of a new report: "Communities in crisis: More than half of Illinois cities get “F” grades for local pensions." Ted Dabrowski, President of Wirepoints, was joined by several lawmakers representing various parts of the state: Rep. Dan Caulkins, Rep. Joe Sosnowski, Sen. Jason Plummer, Rep. Adam Niemerg, Rep. Chris Miller, Rep. Blaine Wilhour, Sen. Win Stoller, Sen. Craig Wilcox, Rep. Brad Halbrook and Rep. Tom Morrison. New Wirepoints research shows that 102 of Illinois’ 175 largest cities get an “F” for their local pension crisis. That’s a dramatic increase compared to 2003, when only seven cities received an “F” grade. Among Illinois’ 20 largest cities, Peoria was the state’s worst-off municipality with an “F” grade. Naperville was the best-off with a “C” grade. View the whole press conference here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dF6UwzvGDk --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints​ • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints​ • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/​ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wire...​ Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Wirepoints hosted a press conference on May 5, 2021 in the Blue Room at the Illinois State Capitol to present the key findings of a new report: "Communities in crisis: More than half of Illinois cities get “F” grades for local pensions." Ted Dabrowski, President of Wirepoints: 0:00 Senator Win Stoller: 4:53 Senator Craig Wilcox: 6:02 Representative Blaine Wilhour: 7:23 Representative Dan Caulkins: 11:08 Representative Joe Sosnowski: 13:38 Representative Tom Morrison: 15:45 Question and answers: 17:18 New Wirepoints research shows that 102 of Illinois’ 175 largest cities get an “F” for their local pension crisis. That’s a dramatic increase compared to 2003, when only seven cities received an “F” grade. Among Illinois’ 20 largest cities, Peoria was the state’s worst-off municipality with an “F” grade. Naperville was the best-off with a “C” grade. Learn more at – https://wirepoints.org/communities-in-crisis-more-than-half-of-illinois-cities-get-f-grades-for-local-pensions-wirepoints-special-report/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints​ • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints​ • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/​ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wire...​ Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Wirepoints' President Ted Dabrowski discuses the new 2020 Census data and what it means for Illinoisans. Illinois had the worst population losses over the decade. Learn more here – https://wirepoints.org/new-2020-census-shows-illinois-population-shrinks-for-7th-year-in-a-row-six-facts-you-should-know/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirepoints Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Shrinking local tax revenues as a result of COVID-19 means hundreds of Illinois municipalities are likely to underfund their public safety pension plans this year. That’s sure to push many of the state’s 643 local pensions closer to insolvency. More than 200 of those plans were less than 50 percent funded even before the pandemic hit. That may soon pit two sets of local government officials against each other: pension fund trustees who are responsible for keeping the funds healthy vs. city officials who've underfunded pensions so they can have enough cash to pay for their active public safety workers and other services. Learn more – https://wirepoints.org/will-covid-19-lead-to-pension-intercepts-and-cuts-to-core-city-services-across-illinois-wirepoints-special-report/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirepoints Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Illinois residents pay some of the nation’s highest taxes. One of the big reasons - Illinois has 7,000 units of local government. That’s by far the most in the nation. Consolidation would help ease the outrageous tax burden on the average Illinoisan. Real reform is what Illinois really needs. Learn more at – https://wirepoints.org/pensionsolutions/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirepoints Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video

Ted was on Univision on Sunday, September 27 warning Illinoisans about the negative impacts of tax hikes like the progressive income tax. "Este estado es el más corrupto del país. Si damos miles de milliones de dólares mas a los políticos, empeorará la situación." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Wirepoints for more original research and commentary on Illinois • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/wirepoints • Twitter – https://twitter.com/wirepoints • Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wirepoints/ • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wirepoints Hit the SUBSCRIBE button just below the video