Pension showdown: The background

Posted by Mike Riopell on Mon, 01/07/2013 - 11:17

As Illinois House lawmakers are set for a showdown today over teachers' and state workers' retirement futures, we thought we'd provide a little background into the immensely complex issue - in case you want to do some reading to kill time at work instead of making yet another Starbucks run.

First, here's our story from April that lays out how the state got into the immense predicament it's in today and why it matters.

And this story describes how suburban schools had to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties when they gave teachers pay raises more than 6 percent.

And like many issues in Springfield, the battle over retirement benefits can be at times more about divisive regional politics than partisan differences.

Lastly, our story on Sunday breaks down the showdown that's brewing under the Capitol dome today.

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