Community Corner

The Best Prediction of the GOP Gov's Race You'll Ever Read — Guaranteed

And gov candidate Bruce Rauner is raising "mind-boggling" amounts of campaign money.

BREAKING IT DOWN Prof. Paul Green, director of the Institute of Politics at Roosevelt University, is as keen an analyst of Illinois politics as you're going to find. His analysis of what it will take for each of the four Republican candidate for governor to win on March 18 is a must-read for anyone interested in the primary election and the general election to follow. It's here.

RAUNER'S MILLIONS Speaking of the GOP race, Bruce Rauner is raising mind-boggling amounts of money. His third-quarter fundraising was astounding even before he gave his own campaign another generous donation. And his ad blitz continues with an emphasis on schools. More here.

NEW LAWSUIT There's another lawsuit now seeking to overturn the new pension law. This one's from retired state employees. More here.

MORBID OBESITY With nearly 7,000 government taxing bodies (including 850 drainage districts!), Illinois is morbidly obese when it comes to government. Andy Shaw and the Better Government Association have vowed to put the state on a diet in 2014. That's a challenging New Year's resolution. Shaw explains how you pay for this gluttony here.

MOVIN' OUT Just like in 2012, United Van Lines in 2013 had a lot more customers moving out of Illinois than into it. Indiana is a different story. Bill Bergman of Truth In Accounting fills in the details.

MOVIN' OUT FASTER Where can you drive 70 in Illinois? This map shows you. (Click for detailed view.)

SOUND OFF A police chief retires, begins collecting a $100,000 pension and then is immediately re-hired as "director of police" at a slightly lower salary. Corporations threaten to leave the state unless they get generous tax breaks. Who knows whether they're bluffing. Are you tired of these all-too-common Illinois occurrences? So are we. We can help you do something about it. Find out more about pension double dips and corporate tax shakedowns and how you can be heard here.

CUTLER'S DEAL OK, you don't come to Reboot Illinois for sports news, but we thought some of you might get a chuckle, or perhaps some other reaction, from this cartoon commenting on Bears QB Jay Cutler's newly inked, seven-year deal. Click to view. Bonus challenge: See if you can guess the identity of the character below before you click.

HEADLINES Here's what's happening in Illinois government news today:

  • 5. Federal prosecutors say a former Chicago alderman should serve at least 14 years in prison. (Associated Press)
    4. CNN includes Illinois in its five governor races to watch in 2014. (CNN)
    3. Bruce Rauner raised $4 million for his campaign last quarter and says he’s the only candidate who can go “toe-to-toe” with Pat Quinn. (Chicago Sun-Times)
    2. Opinion: The lawsuits filed this week mark just the beginning of the tough road for the state’s new pension reform law. (The Telegraph)
    1. An organization representing retired state workers became the second to file a lawsuit this week to invalidate the new state pension reform law. (State Journal-Register)
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