Illinois residents can assist with the state’s recovery from the Nov. 17 tornadoes while building their professional skills and drawing a paycheck. Temporary, full-time positions are available locally with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
                                                               
FEMA has joined forces with the Illinois Department of Employment Security to recruit and screen individuals to work in positions including administration, writing and public information, television/radio broadcast production, planning, individual disaster assistance and logistics.

In response to revelations of a backroom deal that completely undoes the state’s efforts to save the Illinois Medicaid program State Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) and State Rep. Patti Bellock (R-Hinsdale) criticized the Quinn administration’s most recent efforts to dismantle the most important element of the bipartisan SMART act reforms.

“The administration has negotiated a backroom deal with AFSCME that would halt the state’s redetermination efforts using an outside vendor by April 30, effectively eliminating the cornerstone of the Medicaid reform,” Righter said. “The redetermination process goes to the heart of fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program, and without it there is no doubt that the state’s limited resources will again be directed to people receiving taxpayer-paid benefits fraudulently.”

Pensions – Illinois credit rating
Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s issue positive statements about Illinois pension progress.  After pension reform bill SB 1 was signed into law on Thursday, December 5, global credit-rating firm Moody’s labeled the move a “credit positive.”  Moody’s currently ranks Illinois’ general-obligation (G.O.) debt as A3 with a negative outlook, the lowest ranking among the 50 states, and this rating did not change this week.   The statement by the New York-based debt watchdog described itself as awaiting independent actuarial confirmation of the proclaimed $160 billion in savings “clawed back” from pledged future pension payments by the controversial measure.   The statement was issued on Friday, December 6.

The Illinois State Police (ISP) today launched a website to provide the public with information regarding the Concealed Carry application process.

The Concealed Carry License (CCL) website is being launched in advance of the January 5 application posting date to provide citizens with additional information that will assist with eligibility requirements, application fees, training requirements, official forms, information for firearms instructors, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Though they may find it hard to believe, Chicago property owners pay relatively less in property taxes than suburban owners do, particularly in the city's collar counties. And the difference continues to widen.

So says a new report issued today by the Civic Federation, a Chicago tax watchdog and research group, on the "effective tax rate" paid by owners — the percentage of a property's true market value that has to be paid in property taxes.

The study, as in previous reviews, found dramatic differences in who pays what within the metropolitan area, based on how much each town and school district needs in taxes and how big their property bases are on which those taxes can be levied. Seen over a 10-year period, the differences truly are striking. Read Greg Hinz's take in Crain's.

Through two months of open enrollment in new health insurance plans created under President Barack Obama’s health care law, nearly 365,000 Americans have selected policies, including 7,043 in Illinois, administration officials said Wednesday.

The numbers, which include sign-ups from Oct. 1 through Nov. 30, are still short of the roughly 500,000 the Obama administration estimated would sign up in October alone, the first month of the new health insurance exchanges designed for consumers to compare and purchase health coverage.

Officials did not break out enrollment figures by month, a decision they said would eliminate double-counting some consumers, who may apply, shop and select plans in separate months. Through Oct. 31, 106,000 Americans, including 1,370 in Illinois, selected policies, according to figures released last month.

The relatively low figures underscore the tumultuous first two months of HealthCare.gov, the federal website that operates the online marketplaces for 36 states, including Illinois, which has been beset by technical problems that prevented many from completing applications.  Peter Frost has the story in the Chicago Tribune.

Rep. Darlene Senger is concerned
about those who will be losing their
jobs with the Office Depot move.

Office Depot Inc.'s decision to base itself in Boca Raton, Fla., instead of Naperville, where predecessor entity OfficeMax Inc. had its headquarters, puts some 1,600 west suburban jobs at risk.

The timing of the move remains uncertain, but Naperville city officials noted that the office supply retailer, created by the merger of OfficeMax Inc. and Office Depot Inc.last month, has two and a half years left on its lease of its 344,000-square-foot former HQ. An Office Depot spokeswoman declined to comment on how many people ultimately will be let go.

"The whole city of Naperville is saddened by the fact that OfficeMax and Office Depot have decided to move to Boca Raton," Naperville Mayor George Pradel said in an interview this morning. "In addition to being Naperville's sixth-largest employer, they do all kinds of community work for our schools." Read the rest of the story by Brigid Sweeney in Crains.