David Kidwell

Criminal case against utility giant follows more than a year of reporting, including by the BGA, about the federal investigation.

This is the second subpoena the utility giant has received connected to a wide-ranging federal probe. It arrived 10 days after investigators searched Sandoval’s offices in Springfield and Cicero.

In a related move, the feds subpoenaed utility giant Commonwealth Edison about the company’s state government lobbying activity.

Prompted by a Better Government Association/WBEZ investigation, the city’s ethics watchdog hits Burke for $2k fine.

After CPS lawyer provides BGA with internal records about drowning death of teen with autism, a Cook County judge issues order temporarily prohibiting publication. School district lawyers say they released the documents by mistake.

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.

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.

An Emanuel administration drive to project an image of rapid improvement at City Colleges led to a national award for Kennedy-King College in Englewood. But the BGA found the improvement that led to the award was measured using data from an international pastry program located in the Loop.

The college system also improperly sought state taxpayer tuition reimbursements for courses offered for free.

A top teacher union official at the City Colleges of Chicago chastised Chancellor Juan Salgado for his “dismissive” response to a BGA investigation that found lowered standards and manipulated data created a misleading record of success.