John O'Connor, Associated Press Political Writer

• Illinois settles SEC fraud charge over pensions

  By John O'Connor  |  March 11, 2013

  Federal authorities announced Monday that Illinois has agreed to settle a securities-fraud charge that accused the state of misleading investors about the financial health of its public-employee pension systems, which are now $96.7 billion short of what's needed to cover promised retirement benefits.

• Illinois House GOP OK with new cost-shift on pensions

  By John O'Connor  |  February 28, 2013

  The top Illinois House Republican and the Democrats' pension point person proposed yet another solution Wednesday to the state's public retirement system debacle, one that signals the GOP's first concession toward shifting teachers' pension costs to local school districts.

• Rating agency sours on Illinois' financial outlook

  By John O'Connor, Associated Press Political Writer  |  January 11, 2013

  A major credit rating agency has soured on the economic forecast for Illinois after another failed attempt this week to rectify the $96 billion pension system deficit.

• Illinois pension system 'unfixable'

  By John O'Connor, Associated Press Political Writer  |  November 14, 2012

  Illinois' public-employee pensions system is so far in debt that it is "unfixable," Chicago's Commercial Club said Wednesday.

• Chicago mayor brings clout to Ill. pension debate

  By John O'Connor  |  May 10, 2012

  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel brought his clout and high profile to the public pension debate Tuesday by advocating money-saving changes to city retirement plans.

• Chicago mayor brings clout to Ill. pension debate

  By John O'Connor, Associated Press Political Writer  |  May 9, 2012

  Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel brought his clout and high profile to the public pension debate Tuesday by advocating money-saving changes to city retirement plans and — importantly for Gov. Pat Quinn — shining a light on similar troubles at the state level.

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  Illinois House panel targets retiree health care

  By John O'Connor  |  May 3, 2012

  Illinois lawmakers gave a preliminary nod to a money-saving move on Wednesday that would take away a big health care perk for retired government workers, part of a battle over cutting state pension costs.

• Troubled Illinois injury-claim system hit in audit

  By John O'Connor  |  April 26, 2012

  Illinois' troubled system for compensating injured state workers hands out money too readily, sometimes without medical evidence to back up a claim and occasionally paying benefits the hurt employee didn't even seek, according to an audit released Wednesday.

• Illinois gov. plans pension-reform announcement

  By John O'Connor  |  April 20, 2012

  Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn will propose that workers who get state pensions pay more toward their retirement and accept more modest cost-of-living increases when he lays out ideas Friday for cutting an $85 billion funding problem in the pension system, lawmakers said.

• Illinois House speaker seeks pension amendment

  By John O'Connor  |  April 13, 2012

  A top Democrat seeks to amend the state constitution to make it more difficult for legislators to boost public employee pensions in the future, given their huge debts.