HONG KONG, April 8 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares were set to start flat on Monday, as strength in Chinese footwear retailer Belle International offset weakness in local property developers after weekend sales volumes disappointed. The Hang Seng Index was set to open flat at 21,733.8. The China Enterprises Index of the leading Chinese listings in Hong Kong was indicated to start up 0.2 percent.

HONG KONG, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares were set to start flat on Wednesday, with strength in local property stocks ahead of an annual policy address by the territory's chief executive offsetting weakness in Chinese insurance and property sectors. The Hang Seng Index was set to open steady at 23,390.2. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings was indicated to start down 0.3 percent.

With most of the state's school districts running deficits, a governor's task force called on political candidates Tuesday to address education funding before Election Day. "Voters should demand that," said Robert Leininger, chairman of the Education Funding Advisory Board. "Mere platitudes about education being a top priority will not prepare students to be successful." The advisory board is recommending a $5.3 billion plan to overhaul the way Illinois pays for public...

Debt issues As our legislators in Illinois begin to draft and refine legislation to address the teacher pension fund debt issues, two related factors also need to be considered with respect to public school funding and the state budget. First is the equity of public-school funding in Illinois. In many school districts throughout our state, the local property tax is the primary source of funding for public schools. Where a child lives in Illinois often determines the quality of his or her...

It's back to school time, and parents across Illinois are scrambling to fill their kids' backpacks with enough notebooks, folders and pencils to get them through the school year. But on Thursday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved a budget that will leave local property taxpayers scrambling to finance their share of the school funding bill, or face another round of cuts in the classroom. In many districts, back-to-school means back to crumbling school buildings, overcrowded classrooms, and...

As Gov. Pat Quinn seeks to overhaul Illinois' public employee pension system, one of the more politically tricky elements also happens to be the one he's talking about the least. The Democratic governor is calling on universities, community colleges and school districts across the state to pick up more of the tab for their workers' retirement costs after decades of relying on state government to pay. It's a move supporters say could save the state billions of dollars...

On Sept. 1 (Voice of the People), Sen. Marty Butler stated that "the state does indeed have an obligation to tax and contribute to the cost of education." He then went on to conclude: "But I suggest it does not have a responsibility to continually raise statewide taxes to fund a larger share of purely local decisions on increasing spending." He also presented budgetary data to support his conclusion. I was puzzled, because I used the same data presented by Sen. Butler and came up with an entirely...

The book is free. The contents run anywhere from $305,000 to $4 million. Its author is Millie Rosenbloom, a Baird & Warner real estate agent in Chicago who doesn't tweet or blog but wanted to try something new this spring. At considerable personal expense — she won't say how much — the longtime real estate agent packaged 24 of her listings in a book called "The Essential Collection of Real Estate" and had 1,500 copies printed. With high-end photography and...

The issue is money. And when it comes to schools, there usually is a need for more of it. But in some cases, according to a November lawsuit filed by 40 Illinois school districts, some schools have too much of it. Some of the wealthier school districts, such as those in Deerfield and Highland Park, are preparing for the coming legal battle by seeking a common position proposing equitable funding for Illinois public education without restricting local...

The Illinois attorney general's office filed suit Thursday against a Chicago-based rental-property listing service, alleging the company wrongly charged consumers a membership fee to access a database with fraudulent or outdated rental homes and apartments. In its suit against Chicagoland Publishing and owner David L. Werner, the state charged that many of the company's rental listings had disconnected phone numbers, were listed without the property owners' consent or...

Occupation: Registered nurse, retired. Education: Diploma in nursing, University of Illinois Cook County School of Nursing; B.S. in nursing, De Paul University; master of science in nursing, De Paul University. Additional experience: Professional experience: Staff nursing up through administration at Cook County Hospital; U.S. Army Nurse Corps, 2 years, Korean conflict; taught health occupations to inner city youth in Chicago public schools. 1. What is your top...

It's back to school time, and parents across Illinois are scrambling to fill their kids' backpacks with enough notebooks, folders and pencils to get them through the school year. But on Thursday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich approved a budget that will leave local property taxpayers scrambling to finance their share of the school funding bill, or face another round of cuts in the classroom. In many districts, back-to-school means back to crumbling school buildings, overcrowded classrooms, and...

Spurred by major school-funding initiatives, the percentage of state money paying for public schools is on the rise. The state's share of funding for elementary and high school districts in Illinois had fallen to 32.1 percent in the 1996 school year but has rebounded for the upcoming school year to 37.6 percent, according to a study to be released Monday by the Metropolitan Planning Council. The state's share peaked at 48 percent in 1976. The increase gives hope to advocates who have...

With most of the state's school districts running deficits, a governor's task force called on political candidates Tuesday to address education funding before Election Day. "Voters should demand that," said Robert Leininger, chairman of the Education Funding Advisory Board. "Mere platitudes about education being a top priority will not prepare students to be successful." The advisory board is recommending a $5.3 billion plan to overhaul the way Illinois pays for public...

As a federal official I try to avoid meddling in state issues, but I feel compelled to write on the need for school finance reform. If all Illinois youngsters are to receive the quality education they deserve, the current funding method must be overhauled. Unfortunately, too many taxpayers and public officials view education as an expense. Instead, it is an investment, and one that can pay enormous dividends. As I see it, every dollar invested in education is also a dollar invested in fighting...

Eleven DuPage and Cook County jurisdictions surrounding Argonne National Laboratory are scheduled for a retroactive pay raise. Since 1950, five school districts and assorted other local governments have gotten modest annual payments from the federal government in lieu of property taxes that would have been paid had the Argonne property remained in private hands. This year, as part of the federal budgeting process, the payments were increased to nearly seven times the original...

A court's dismissal of a lawsuit seeking changes in how Illinois schools are funded is only another round in what everyone expects will be a long fight. The ultimate goal has always been to force the state to spend more money on education. The suit focused on the fact that wealthy Illinois school districts spend as much as six times more per student than the state's poorest, largely because of wide disparities in the value of local property that districts can tax to support schools.