Prosecutors look into state Rep. Dan Burke after a BGA/Sun-Times investigation raises questions about how he awarded taxpayer-subsidized college tuition waivers.
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Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
City Ambulance Confusion Delays Treatment for Wounded Man
The Better Government Association and CBS 2 report on the case of a stabbing victim whose care, according to sources, was botched and postponed.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation, Newsroom
Legislative Scholarships Ending but Lawmaker Abuse Lives On
Forty state lawmakers gave 120 scholarships to individuals living outside of their districts, based on a BGA review of legislative district maps and interviews with city and county election officials.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
Cash Poor Yet Clout Heavy
Some lawmakers claimed that legislative scholarships went to students who couldn’t afford college, but nearly one in every 10 scholarships went to politically active families – who collectively gave more than $1.6 million to state lawmakers and other politicians.
Posted inFollow-Up, Legal, Results & Reforms
CPS CRACKDOWN FOLLOWS CBS2/BGA PROBE
Prompted at least in part by a CBS2/BGA investigation, the Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general cracks down on abuses in the free and reduced school lunch programs, which are supposed to help lower-income students. Turns out numerous CPS employees, including principals, were inappropriately signing their children up for the programs, saddling taxpayers with the tab.
Posted inFollow-Up, Legal, Results & Reforms
LANSING KILLS PENSION PERK
On the heels of a BGA investigation, the Village of Lansing voted to repeal a pension spike for retiring first responders. Police officers and firefighters in the south suburb had been able to take a 25 percent raise or a $12,000 raise, whichever was greater, on their last day of work. The now-defunct boost enhanced their pensions by at least $6,000 in the first year of
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation, Newsroom
CHA Execs Get Around Salary Cap
Public housing CEO makes $216,000 a year, and could qualify for an additional $32,400 annual bonus. How are he and two aides getting around a $155,500 pay ceiling imposed by the federal government?
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
Lansing Kills Public Pension Perk
After a Better Government Association investigation found the Village of Lansing giving retiring police and firefighters raises on their last day of work, the board voted to repeal the pension sweetener.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
Cab-alier Spending?
Employees at small federal agency in Chicago rack up huge taxi bills, supposedly for official business. But the BGA and FOX found some rides were for just a few blocks, while one government worker expensed nearly $550 in cab fares during a trip to Miami. Prompted by our inquiries, the agency is conducting a “review.”
Posted inFollow-Up, Legal, Results & Reforms
BILL ELIMINATING LEGISLATIVE SCHOLARSHIPS ENACTED
After the BGA, the Chicago Sun-Times and others exposed repeated abuses in how Illinois legislators award college tuition waivers — and following an aggressive lobbying campaign by the BGA policy team — the General Assembly voted to end the decades-old program, which had been costing taxpayers more than $13 million a year. Gov. Pat Quinn signed the bill into law on July 11 and