Investigation Taxpayers Covered Millions in Gym Costs Jesse White Promised to Pay Jan 11, 2019 11:30 AM Illinois’ Secretary of State said he would raise most of the funds needed to build a new Chicago home for his Tumblers gymnastics team. He didn’t, but taxpayers did.
Investigation The King of Recusals: How Ald. Ed Burke’s Private Law Business Intersects With His Public Power Chicago’s longest-sitting alderman has recused himself 464 times in the last eight years, far more than all other aldermen combined. Following recent federal raids, questions of his conflicts of interest have arisen again. Dec 26, 2018 12:18 PM
Investigation Taxpayer Tab for Chicago-area #MeToo Cases $55 Million and Growing Legal costs mount as hundreds of public bodies in the Chicago region over the last decade have faced allegations of sexual assault, harassment or abuse. Nov 26, 2018 10:00 PM
Investigation How Dolton, Illinois Reflects America's Changing Suburbs in 2018 BGA and WBEZ spent months in Dolton reporting on a growing national trend: for the first time, there is more poverty in suburbs than in cities. Nov 12, 2018 12:00 AM
PolitiFact Fact-Check: Preckwinkle Inflates Role in Shedding Light on McDonald Case As Cook County Board President, Preckwinkle shared details from McDonald’s autopsy with a journalist. But we could find no record of her pushing for release of the video before a judge ordered it. Jan 15, 2019 3:05 PM
PolitiFact Fact-Check: Mendoza Stretches the Facts on the Commuter Tax Mendoza isn’t wrong to point out so-called commuter taxes carry the risk of discouraging business and employment. But her sweeping generalization makes a much broader assumption that isn’t supported by the facts. Jan 13, 2019 2:00 PM
From Our President Greising: Mayor Emanuel, Commit Your Post-City Hall Life to Pension Reform December 14, 2018
From Our President Greising: A Critical Issue That's Been Oddly Overlooked in the Mayor's Race December 7, 2018
Analysis Lawmakers Introduced Nearly Two Hundred Bills With the Potential to Weaken Government Transparency December 17, 2018
Civic Engagement Analysis: Illinois Law Hasn't Stopped Public Agencies From Withholding Records January 10, 2019
What the Gov What the Gov: We Know About the Mayor’s Race — What Else Is on The Ballot on Feb. 26? December 13, 2018
Explainer Path Not Easy for Pritzker’s Tax-the-Rich Plan There is often a disconnect between tax policies voters say they back and those they vote for. That’s the dilemma facing Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker, who says he wants to amend the state constitution to allow for a graduated tax that will increase the burden on the wealthy. Dec 13, 2018 6:00 AM
Explainer A Corruption-fighting Attorney General? Easy to Say, Harder to Do The top lawyers in Illinois and most other states rarely investigate corruption. That’s by design, not political cowardice. Oct 30, 2018 6:00 AM
Explainer The Chicken Little Effect on Illinois’ Pension Crisis Years of unfulfilled warnings of imminent fiscal collapse due to pension debt have numbed Illinois voters to a still real threat and given politicians an election year escape hatch to avoid talk about the state’s most difficult problem. Sep 28, 2018 6:00 AM
Follow-Up Feds Charge Powerful Ald. Ed Burke With Corruption Burke, the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history, is accused of using his position as alderman to illegally seek business for his private law firm. The questionable intersection between Burke's public and private roles was the focus of a recent BGA/WBEZ investigation. Jan 3, 2019 4:30 PM
Follow-Up BGA Moves to Stop Musk’s O’Hare Express Until Public Can See His Bid A court motion seeks an injunction against any city deal for a new Loop to O’Hare transit system until a legal dispute is resolved over the Emanuel administration’s refusal to release records underlying the winning bid. Nov 19, 2018 3:16 PM
Follow-Up Emanuel Administration Promises Reforms to City’s Recycling Program After the BGA reveals how tons of recycling is diverted to landfills by a private company that stands to profit, a top city official tells aldermen he is moving to fix the problem. Nov 1, 2018 7:09 PM
