Transforming Chicago’s most famous public housing complex will cost taxpayers $2 billion. It also came with often-unkept promises of jobs, city contracts and homes for those forced from the neighborhood.
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Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation
Cabrini-Green Residents Were Promised 2,500 Construction Jobs. They Got 40
To quell a rising controversy 25 years ago that threatened to derail his grand plan to raze the public housing complex, Mayor Richard M. Daley made promises to the residents he was kicking out — including jobs.
Posted inABC 7 Videos
Investigation examines costly side of dead-end drug arrests
Thousands of drug possession arrests in Chicago are tossed out every year because of an unwritten rule in the courts, an investigation has found.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation, Newsroom
The Costly Toll of Dead-End Drug Arrests
In Chicago, thousands of drug possession arrests are tossed out every year because of an unwritten rule in the courts, a Better Government Association/Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found. The cost to taxpayers? Millions. To those arrested? Jobs, housing, freedom.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation, Newsroom
Oregon Is First State to Ticket Narcotics Users, but New Reform Has Yet To Live Up To Promise
In Illinois, possession of even trace amounts of heroin residue is a felony. But in Oregon, it’s not a crime at all any more. Instead, people caught with drugs get a ticket. Oregon’s new drug reform is keeping users out of jail — but the goal of getting them help for their addictions has been elusive.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation, Newsroom
Kim Foxx’s Ex-Trainer Caught Up in ‘Unending Cycle’ of Drug Arrests
Drug issue hits every corner of Cook County. ‘It breaks my heart,’ the state’s attorney says.
Posted inFollow-Up, Investigation, Newsroom
Dead-End Drug Arrests: How We Reported This Story
The BGA and Chicago Sun-Times analyzed 280,000 total drug possession arrests made in Cook County over nearly two decades. The data used was provided by The Circuit, the collaborative journalistic enterprise led by the BGA and Injustice Watch.
Posted inABC 7 Videos
New update to compensation database for Illinois Employees
Every year, the Better Government Association compiles Illinois’ most comprehensive database of public employees’ salaries.
Posted inUpdates
BGA, Partners Net Six Sarah Brown Boyden Awards Including ‘Best of the Best’
The Better Government Association and its news partners Chicago Tribune, WBEZ, Injustice Watch and DataMade, won the awards from Chicago Journalists Association, which recognized ‘Fires’ investigation with its top prize.
Posted inABC 7 Videos
BGA digs into mayor’s proposal to hike rates as Joliet water crisis looms
Some Joliet residents believe private businesses should help fill the gap.