Budget - Debt Rating
Bloomberg News analysis shows Illinois’ 10-year bonds trading at below BBB level. The actual level of safety and security perceived by global debt markets is set by the bond marketplace, with guidance from the three credit rating services (Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings). However, after the 2008 financial panic, many investors have become skeptical of credit rating services. A Bloomberg News analysis, published on Thursday, August 7, indicates that this skepticism may be weighing down the prices of Illinois bonds.

Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka launched a new mobile application that will put taxpayer and vendor payment information right at their fingertips.

“Illinois Pays gives you quick and easy access to the latest news and announcements from the Comptroller’s Office,” said Topinka.  “It also allows vendors to set up the app to view the most recent payments we have deposited in their bank accounts.”

This new free mobile application is available now at the Apple and Google Play stores.

A bill that directs the Young Adults Heroin Use Task Force to study the growing problem of heroin use among school-aged children was signed into law today.

House Bill 4542, now known as Public Act 98-0861, charges a 16-member panel with conducting a study of heroin use problems in grades 6-12.

“Heroin has unfortunately become the new drug of choice for school-aged children,” said State Representative Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), a Co-Sponsor of the bill. “Ease of access and affordability of the drug led to 46 heroin overdose deaths in DuPage County last year, compared to 29 deaths just five years ago.” Read more.

Other stories on the Heroin Crisis:
Heroin in the Suburbs
Illinois Lawmakers Study Heroin "Epidemic"
Legislation Establishing Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Approved by House

In response to a request initiated by Rep. Darlene Senger (R-Naperville), the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced they will review allegations that Federal grant money may have been misspent on a poorly managed program to market and promote Illinois enrollment in the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

In a letter from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) dated July 23 and announced by Rep. Senger today, the OIG states they will conduct a “review of potential criminal and civil fraud violations and misconduct related to HHS programs, operations and beneficiaries. On the basis of the review, we will determine the appropriate course of action.” Read more.

Getting riders to their destinations safely and on time. That's Metra's mission but now you could add another responsibility -- saving people from confusion.

Illinois Inspector General Ricardo Meza opened a can of worms last week when his office chided Metra for keeping false records of the hours engineers or conductors worked.

State investigators also disclosed a practice of swapping shifts at Metra, where one employee would pay another under the table for picking up his or her assignments.

Metra went on the offense, calling the Office of the Executive Inspector General's probe a waste of time and money. Although there were inaccuracies in logs, that no longer occurs nor does shift swapping, administrators said.  Marni Pyke has the rest of the story in the Daily Herald.

Business
IL workers’ comp rates to fall in 2015. Workers’ compensation insurance rates – a key item for many Illinois employers, particularly manufacturers – will drop 5.5 percent next year.

Governor Quinn announced Wednesday the cut in rates is being recommended by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which annually reviews payments and fees and proposes new premium figures.

Illinois Department of Insurance officials are estimating the latest proposed reduction in workers’ compensation advisory and loss cost rates could result in overall reduction of premiums of up to $143 million in 2015, with savings totaling $450 million since reforms were enacted in 2011.

As Gov. Pat Quinn's aides sought to pump up an anti-violence program ahead of his November 2010 election bid, they decided to add to the pot $3.76 million in federal disaster recovery funds from Hurricane Ike to make loans to small businesses.

In the rush to get the program launched, the Quinn administration hired a financially troubled West Side business development group to dole out loans, despite concluding the organization had recently misspent state grant funds.

The group, Chicago Community Ventures did not make a single loan, but was allowed to keep more than $150,000 when the contract was nixed, the Tribune has found.