Contacts:
Mary Frances O’Connor (312) 821-9026
Robert Herguth (312) 821-9030
Sept. 25, 2013
CHICAGO—The BGA is proud to announce our investigative staff has been nominated for three Chicago/Midwest Emmy awards for its investigative reporting work with media partners CBS2, NBC 5 and FOX 32. The nominations were announced Tuesday night.
The story nominations are:
Protect and Served? – A Feb. 14, 2013, investigation by the BGA’s Patrick Rehkamp and NBC 5 found police union contracts in Illinois routinely allow officers to come to work with alcohol in their systems. The story (which prompted a follow-up investigation on firefighters with similar union clauses) led Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to propose a change in state law. In response, the Illinois Senate passed a resolution to create a task force to study the issue. That task force will make recommendations to the General Assembly by year’s end. The BGA/NBC 5 project was nominated in the Hard News category.
City Ambulances on Life Support – The BGA’s Patrick Rehkamp teamed up with CBS2 on May 22, 2013, to highlight severe mechanical problems with Chicago’s ambulance fleet. This story was nominated in the Health/Science category.
Politician Gives Felon Friend County Job – A Feb. 25, 2013, report by the BGA’s Robert Herguth and Patrick McCraney along with FOX 32 showed how Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough gave a taxpayer job to a longtime friend with a recent felony conviction for her role in a staged armored car heist. This was nominated in the Politics/Government category.
The winners will be announced at the annual Emmy ceremony on Nov. 3.
It’s the second year in a row the BGA has earned Emmy honors. Last year, a report by the BGA and FOX 32’s Dane Placko about a Chicago principal’s lavish travel spending won an Emmy in the Education category.
The BGA appreciates the hard work and dedication of our media partners on these more-recent Emmy-nominated projects, including Phil Rogers, Katy Smyser and Lisa Capitanini of NBC 5; Pam Zekman and Dan Blom of CBS2; and Placko at FOX 32.
The Better Government Association is a Chicago-based non-profit, non-partisan watchdog group that works for integrity, transparency and accountability in government by exposing corruption and inefficiency; identifying and advocating effective public policy; and engaging and mobilizing the electorate to achieve authentic and responsible reform.
