Drivers on road nearby quiet city park known for bird watching slammed with hundreds of bike lane infractions
Casey Toner
Casey Toner, a Chicago native, has been an Illinois Answers reporter since 2016, taking the lead on numerous projects about criminal justice and politics. His series on police shootings in suburban Cook County resulted in a state law requiring procedural investigations of all police shootings in Illinois. Before he joined Illinois Answers, he wrote for the Daily Southtown and was a statewide reporter for Alabama Media Group, a consortium of Alabama newspapers. Outside of work, he enjoys watching soccer and writing music.
Posted inSolutions
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 inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
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 inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
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 inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
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 inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Una Investigación sobre Corrupción Pesa sobre la Contienda Electoral por la Alcaldía de Lyons
Mientras se postula para un cuarto mandato, el alcalde de Lyons Chris Getty, ha gastado casi $100,000 en cuentas legales vinculadas a una amplia investigación de corrupción
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Corruption Investigation Hangs Over Mayoral Race in Western Suburb
Lyons Mayor Chris Getty has spent nearly $100,000 on legal bills tied to a wide-ranging corruption investigation as he runs for a fourth term.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
A Veteran Cook County Judge Has Been Repeatedly Blocked from Hearing Sex Offense Cases. Here’s Why.
An unprecedented investigation of court data finds systematic effort to keep Judge James Linn from deciding sex charges after a controversial ruling he made years ago.
Posted inInvestigations
Un Juez Veterano del Condado de Cook ha Sido Bloqueado Repetidamente para Que No Trate Casos de Delitos Sexuales. Esta es la Razón.
Una investigación sin precedentes de los datos judiciales comprueba un esfuerzo sistemático para evitar que el juez James Linn decida sobre casos de sexo después de un controvertido fallo que dictó hace años.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Meet the Cook County Judge Defense Attorneys Least Want to Appear Before
Judge Diane Gordon Cannon criticized for verbal outbursts, a pro-prosecution bent and jailing of probationers for sometimes-minor infractions.
