BGA makes progress around key policy areas despite dysfunction in Springfield.
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Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
Tally Of Ethics Probes Tied To Emanuel Email Release Hits 14
Communications released by settlement of a BGA transparency lawsuit against the Emanuel Administration shine an ever brighter light on the special access afforded to favor-seekers with influence and power.
Posted inAnalysis, Perspective, Policy
Andy Shaw: Empty Voting Booths A Symbol Of Our Ailing Democracy
“By any statistical measure we’re a worse democracy today than 40 or even 20 years ago.” -Dick Simpson, political scientist
Posted inLegal
BGA Sues Emanuel’s Staff Over School Lead Disclosures
The mayor’s office and public health officials refused to fully comply with an open-records request, newly filed suit claims. Officials withheld information related to lead contamination in Chicago schools.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
Park District Police: Costly And Questionably Redundant
A handful of Illinois park districts operate taxpayer-funded police forces separate from the regular police departments that already patrol the same communities. With badges sometimes handed to the well-connected, the practice raises questions of redundancy, liability, nepotism and expense.
Posted inAnalysis, Perspective, Policy
Andy Shaw: Illinois School District Administration A Bureaucratic Boondoggle
Illinois school districts are so administratively top heavy that they’re depriving schools of valuable instruction dollars.
Posted inPress Release
Award Winning Red Light Camera Reporter To Join BGA
The Costly Toll of Dead-end Drug Arrests, published in December, examined how thousands of Chicagoans — mostly Black men — are arrested on drug possession charges judges, police and prosecutors all know will never stick.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
Chicago Light Overhaul To Cost Double That Of New York’s
The mayor appears to have generated more headlines than results with a privatized infrastructure spending proposal that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars more than he said it would.
Posted inEvents
BGA Announces 2017 Driehaus Award Finalists
The Costly Toll of Dead-end Drug Arrests, published in December, examined how thousands of Chicagoans — mostly Black men — are arrested on drug possession charges judges, police and prosecutors all know will never stick.
Posted inLegal
BGA To State Supreme Court: Make IHSA Records Public
Should the largest governing body for competitive high school sports in Illinois be required to comply with open records law? They don’t think so. We do.