Evanston Mathemetician Attempts to Solve Pension Problem In First Senate Term

Evanston native and former mathematics professor Daniel Biss has moved up to the Illinois Senate determined to work on the state's pension liability.

Illinois has been struggling to fund pensions for a long time, but an Evanston native with an exceptional math background is pushing to ease the pension mess during his first term in the State Senate. Lawmakers could vote as early as Tuesday on a bill sponsored by freshman Sen. Daniel Biss, one he hopes will make a serious dent in the state's unfunded pension liability. If passed, Biss has promised that his bill would cut the state's current $95 billion unfunded liability by $28 billion and reduce the state's total pension payments by $159 billion over the next 32 years, according to the News-Gazette. Biss's rise to the senate floor has been rapid. In 2010, he won the Illinois House seat with his second bid for the office. A year later, …

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Going Green

Go Green Wilmette Participates in State Rep’s Environmental Forum

Daniel Biss, of Evanston held an environmental fair to educate on sustainability.

Go Green Wilmette’s participated in Illinois State Rep. Daniel Biss’s final monthly forum of 2012, which doubled as an environmental fair concerning how residents can reduce their ecological footprint. The group set up a booth and handed out informative materials at the Dec. 13 event, which was held at Wagner Farm, a multipurpose facility comprising a 1920s-style working farm, a museum, a classroom and a special event space. Biss, who was recently elected as a state senator, invited various local environmental organizations to join him in educating community members on how to reduce their carbon footprint and live more sustainably. Experts on composting, trash disposable, transportation and solar panels were in attendance. At the event, …

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Nekritz, Biss Introduce Sweeping Pension Reform Bill

Possible changes to the current Illinois pension system, as proposed by the bill, include shifting teacher pension obligations onto school districts, raising the retirement age and capping cost of living adjustments.

In an effort to curb the state's budget woes without bailing on current Illinois public sector pension obligations, a press release announced Illinois lawmakers Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) and Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) introduced House Bill 6258 in Springfield today. "The pension debate has featured too much finger-pointing and progress has been disappointingly slow," Biss said in the release. "This bill contains ideas drawn from business, labor, and civic groups as well as our colleagues in the General Assembly. We believe that it is a roadmap for solving this problem in January..."  Changes to the state's public employee pension policy, as proposed by the bill inlclude:  “Daniel and I understand this is a difficult issue for all of us, …

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Gary

2:38 pm on Friday, December 7, 2012

Willie, that's a great idea. Let's take it one step further. Take whatever each State employee put into the retirement system and use the same calculation they use to calculate our Social Security benefits, and tell them they have to live with that. They keep complaining they don't get Social Security benefits. Fine... let's move them over to our wonderful plan. If it's good enough for the rest …   more ›

Voter Turnout in New Trier Township Among Top 5 in Suburban Cook County

New Trier Township had one of the highest levels of voter turnout in suburban Cook County this year.

Although fewer people voted for the presidential election in New Trier Township than in 2008, New Trier was still among the townships in suburban Cook County with the highest levels of voter turnout this year.  According to unofficial results from Cook County Clerk David Orr's office, a total of 972,272, cast their ballots for president in New Trier Township on Tuesday, compared to 1,056,242 in 2008. Voter turnout was 75.2 percent, behind Oak Park (79.8%), River Forest (76.1%), and Rich (75.7%). Evanston Township took the fifth spot for high voter turnout with 74.9 percent, the Clerk's Office reported. Overall, voter turnout in suburban Cook County was about 69 percent on Tuesday.  Barack Obama and Joe Biden took 53.82 percent of the votes…

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Biss Wins 9th State Senate District Race

Evanston resident Daniel Biss won against Glenn Farkas.

Updated 10:40 p.m. With only three precincts left to report votes, Glenn Farkas has confirmed he conceded the race to Daniel Biss. “I can’t say that it’s unexpected,” Farkas said in a phone interview. “We came in late, we knew it had been won by Schoenberg in the past.”  During a telephone interview, Biss said he was humble and proud that his campaign has been successful.  The Democratic candidate says as the new state senator he will be working hard on fiscal stabilization.  “We need to find ways to leverage our economic strength and help accelerate our economy as fast as possible.” Updated 9:35 p.m. With only nine precincts yet to report votes, Biss has a comfortable lead with 66 percent or 61,100 of the votes.  Updated 8:23 p.m. With …

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Legislative Hopefuls Talk Jobs, Taxes, Corruption at Evanston Forum

17th District Illinois House candidates Laura Fine and Kyle Frank, 18th District Illinois House candidates Robyn Gabel and Eric Lieberman, and 9th District Illinois Senate candidate Glenn Farkas spoke in Evanston.

At a forum in Evanston last night, Illinois legislative candidates sparred over how to create jobs and reduce corruption, but agreed on one thing: that the state needs a massive budget overhaul.  Hosted by the Central Street Neighbors Association at Haven Middle School, the forum included State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) and her 18th District Republican challenger, Eric Lieberman, as well as 17th district house candidates Laura Fine (D-Glenview) and Kyle Frank (R-Skokie.) Ninth district Illinois senate candidate Glenn Farkas (R-Glenview), was also in attendance, but his opponent, State Rep. Daniel Biss, had a previously scheduled appearance. Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl took his seat, answering questions on behalf of Biss from …

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17th, 18th District House Candidates Debate Thursday in Evanston

18th District House candidates Robyn Gabel and Eric Lieberman, 17th District House candidates Laura Fine and Kyle Frank and 9th District Senate candidate Glenn Farkas will appear in Evanston.

Candidates for the 18th and 17th district house races and the 9th district senate race will appear at a moderated forum in Evanston Thursday. 18th District incumbent Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston), challenger Eric Lieberman (R-Evanston), 17th district house candidate Laura Fine (D-Glenview), 17th district house candidate Kyle Frank (R-Skokie) and 9th district senate candidate Glenn Farkas (R-Glenview) are scheduled to appear at the forum hosted by the Central Street Neighbors Association. State Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston), who is also running for the 9th district senate seat, had a previously scheduled appearance that evening. "While the national presidential race is naturally the focus of most interest this election year, critical fiscal…

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Senate District 9 Candidates on the Economy, Medicaid

Find out where candidates Daniel Biss and Glenn Farkas stand on different issues.

Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) and Glenview resident Glenn Farkas recently shared their views at a debate held at Glenbrook South High School.  See where the candidates stand on the Education and the Pension System. The candidates' answers have been lightly edited.  The unemployment rate in Illinois is almost 1 percent higher than the national average. At the same time, both Indiana and Wisconsin are doing better than Illinois when it comes to jobs. What do you believe we need to do to create more jobs in Illinois?  Farkas: First thing I would do is to repeal the corporate income tax. We’ve raised that from 4.7 percent, it’s now plus the 2.5 percent replacement tax at 9.5 percent; it’s the third highest in the nation. Number one, we’ve got …

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Senate District 9 Candidates on the Education System

Find out where candidates Daniel Biss and Glenn Farkas stand on different issues.

Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) and Glenview resident Glenn Farkas recently shared their views at a debate held at Glenbrook South High School.  The candidates' answers have been lightly edited.  Want to know where the candidates stand on the pension system? Read: Senate District 9 Candidates on the Pension System Over the last decade, college tuition has skyrocketed. This jump in tuition costs has made college less and less affordable for families throughout Ilinois. During this same period, the state has simultaneously decreased the amount of funding it provides our state universities, What, if anything, can the state do to help more people afford college?  Biss: Today the state of Illinois is sending less money to University of Illinois …

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Senate District 9 Candidates on the Pension System

Find out where candidates Daniel Biss and Glenn Farkas stand on different issues.

Rep. Daniel Biss (D-Evanston) and Glenview resident Glenn Farkas recently shared their views at a debate held at Glenbrook South High School.  The candidates' answers have been lightly edited.  According to the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois pension fund is underfunded by about $80 billion, which would make it the highest underfunded pension system in the country. Do you believe it is possible to save our current pension system as it stands today without decreasing benefits for retirees?  Farkas: No, we can't solve it without reducing benefits.  We are going to need to start all new employees on 401k plans that are defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans like the private sector has. I’m going to need to ask retirees to look at the…

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