Northwest Herald | Suggestions for state cuts

• Reopen negotiations with state employee unions to eliminate 4 percent salary increases, or cut staff by a percentage that would equal the pay cut;

• Reduce pension benefits to all state employees and elected officials;

• Institute a two-tier state pension system to trim pension payments for new hires;

• Increase employee contributions for health care and other benefits;

• Regionalize pay so that a job title in a lower-cost area of the state would pay less than the same title would pay in a higher-cost area such as Chicago;

• Consolidate the state treasurer’s and comptroller’s offices;

• Eliminate state grants that pay overtime to police officers to staff safety belt checkpoints;

• Invest in home health care options to drastically reduce the cost of institutional care;

• Push to consolidate some of the state’s 870 public school districts

Northwest Herald | Suggestions for state cuts

Northwest Herald | Job seekers face long odds

it’s definitely a hirer’s market. Those looking for a job are treading water in the deep end of the applicant pool.

At the newly reopened Algonquin Wal-Mart, there were between 100 and 200 applicants for each of the 130 jobs its renovation created.

Northwest Herald | Job seekers face long odds