Contacts:
Robert Reed (312) 453-0631
Robert Herguth (312) 821-9030

CHICAGO—The Better Government Association’s investigative reporting team and media partners have been nominated by the Chicago Headline Club for 23 Peter Lisagor awards, honoring the best work done by local journalists in 2014.

The nominations were for eight investigative news stories — five of the stories earned multiple nominations — that were published in a magazine or newspaper or broadcast on radio or TV.

“The nominations reflect the outstanding work of an extraordinary staff that epitomizes the BGA mission: Shining a light on government and holding public officials accountable,” says BGA President and CEO Andy Shaw. “It’s especially heartening that the nominations reflect partnerships across multiple media platforms and multiple media partners, which enables us to expand the scope and impact of our watchdog work.”

The BGA’s Lisagor nominations are:

  • Six reporting nominations for the BGA’s Brett Chase and Robert Reed and CBS2 for “Illinois Public Hospitals Pay $180 Million For Wrongful Death Cases,” which documented the cost of patient deaths at public hospitals across the state.
  • Five reporting nominations for the BGA’s Andrew Schroedter and Patrick Rehkamp and Chicago magazine for “The ABCs Of UNO,” an in-depth look at how the United Neighborhood Organization grew from a small community group into a multi-million-dollar enterprise subsidized by taxpayers.
  • Five reporting nominations for Rehkamp and CBS2 for “Fire Suppression,” which exposed how the City of Chicago tried to cover up reports about serious and costly ambulance delays.
  • Two nominations for the BGA’s Robert Herguth and WBBM-AM for “No Second Chance At City Pound,” a joint investigation that revealed how workers at Chicago Animal Care and Control, a long-troubled city agency, had allegedly killed two dogs.
  • Two nominations for Chase and NBC 5 for “The North Pour,” which showed a north suburb’s plan to build a storm water pipeline could harm Lake Michigan.
  • One nomination for the BGA’s Chuck Neubauer, Sandy Bergo and Rehkamp and the Sun-Times for “Poshard, The Prince Of Pensions,” which revealed how a former congressman is collecting four taxpayer-funded pensions totaling more than $200,000, in one of the largest takes among retired Illinois politicians.
  • One nomination for Schroedter and the Sun-Times for “Beyond Burge,” an in-depth report that found the City of Chicago had spent more than half a billion dollars on police misconduct-related legal claims over the past decade.
  • One nomination for Herguth, Rehkamp and NBC 5 for “Nuns And Strippers,” which revealed that a second adult-themed club was proposed near Catholic convent, the source of an earlier controversy.

The Chicago Headline Club’s 38th annual Peter Lisagor Awards dinner will be held on May 8 at Chicago’s Union League Club. Winners will be announced at that time.

The Better Government Association is a Chicago-based nonprofit, nonpartisan 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 public to achieve authentic and responsible reform.