After the BGA and FOX 32 report on a questionable land deal involving Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, her husband and a campaign donor, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office opens an investigation.

Following questions from the BGA, Chicago Public Schools says it will no longer work with an electrical contractor that has been paid more than $3 million since August 2012, when the company was banned by City Hall for allegedly lying about its ownership to win city contracts.

Roughly two years after the BGA and FOX 32 air a report about the principal of a Gold Coast school using a taxpayer-funded credit card on lavish expenditures, he and an assistant principal face discipline.

A bill designed to eliminate unnecessary units of government, which is sponsored by state Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo), and supported by the BGA, passes in the General Assembly and now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn to be signed into law.

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After questions are raised by the BGA and FOX 32 about a video that appears to show a Maywood cop stomping a man during a police call, village officials launch an internal investigation.

After the BGA reports a mini-casino is planned for a Village of Dolton-owned retirement home for low-income seniors, the Illinois Gaming Board says it may withdraw the gaming license. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart also is investigating the no-bid contract awarded to a catering company that would operate the casino. Dart is Dolton’s inspector general.

Amid BGA questions about whether doctors and other medical staff at the Cook County Health & Hospitals System were shortchanging taxpayers and patients by skipping out on work, administrators fired one physician, disciplined another and pledged tighter timekeeping controls.

HB 3796, a bill opposed by the BGA policy team, other open government advocates and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is vetoed by Gov. Pat Quinn because it would have weakened the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

Several groups, including the BGA, fight back legislation that would have significantly weakened the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, the state’s public records law.