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Property tax bills in Illinois arrive as a single intimidating number, but behind it sits a patchwork of levies spanning school districts, townships, and special service areas. We combed county-level levy data to show exactly where the money goes — and where the patterns get strange.
Illinois' pension databases tell a story the payroll records don't: salaries that leap 30, 40, even 60 percent in a final year of service, converting political loyalty into lifetime annuities. This is an argument for treating pension math as public math — in real time, not in retrospect.
Illinois awarded billions in state contracts last year, but how many went through genuine competitive bidding? We cross-referenced procurement records with lobbying registrations and campaign finance filings to show readers exactly how the money moved — and how to run the same checks themselves.