(SPRINGFIELD) The former Chief Grant Accountability Officer for the Illinois Department of Public Health is being held accountable for working a private job while on the taxpayer’s dime. The State’s Inspector General’s office says the case against Vena Nelson shows that she failed to disclose outside employment to the state agency and conducted that work while working for the state. Both Nelson and her supervisor were terminated before the investigation concluded.
(SPRINGFIELD) The Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System’s unfunded ratio is decreasing. The latest Auditor General’s report for the TRS was released yesterday, showing a total liability of $162 billion, with just over $77 billion on hand. That makes the funding ratio 47.7%, which is up nearly 46% from the previous year. Also within the newly released report, the audit for the State University Retirement System showed that it is currently 45.5% funded as well.
(SPRINGFIELD) The average gasoline price in Illinois had dropped below $2.90 per gallon, according the Triple A Motor Club. The state’s current average as of yesterday was $2.89 for regular unleaded, which is down from $2.93 a week ago and down from $3.06 a month ago. But, the per-gallon price in Illinois remains higher than the national average of $2.82 and higher than the price in every other Midwestern state. Illinois has the second-highest gas tax in America.
(CHICAGO) Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker told reporters in Normal yesterday that the state will not build a stadium for the Chicago Bears because it is not in the best interest of statewide taxpayers. Although the Governor did say he is open to state funding of infrastructure for a new stadium in Illinois. While House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch says spending taxpayer money for a new Bear’s stadium is insensitive to people who are going through cost-of-living issues, many say such a move didn’t seem to bother the majority of lawmakers in raising the cost of living with other issues over the past several years. Soldier Field in Chicago, the home of the Bears, is the oldest stadium in the NFL. Officials announced last month that the Bears have expanded their search for a new stadium site now to include northwestern Indiana.