David Jackson

One juvenile court judge asked: “What does a judge do when the department basically abuses a child?” Besieged Illinois child welfare director Marc Smith speaks out in a rare and passionate defense of his tenure, saying “every effort is being made” to protect children and workers.

Developer Onni Group wanted out of its obligation to include affordable units in its luxury Old Town highrises. Onni paid a Burnett friend more than $417,000 to lobby City Hall, helped sponsor a Burnett fundraiser and pledged $25,000 to a charity run by Burnett’s wife. Some tenants said the alderman abandoned them.

Purchase of stock highlights weakness of Pritzker’s blind-trust arrangement in preventing conflicts of interest for billionaire governor’s holdings.

The probe focuses on the city’s role in vaccinations done at the suburban church when West Siders were struggling to get their shots.

Milking Medicaid: State-contracted insurance firms balk at paying frontline medical providers, threatening the viability of leading hospitals and clinics, and imperiling Illinois’ entire Medicaid program.

Milking Medicaid: The state health care agency has a revolving door for executives from the insurance industry.

After reports that doses went to ineligible people with ties to hospital administrators, a federal grand jury is investigating.

A union for more than 200 Loretto workers said it’s asked to meet three times with hospital leaders amid the scandals — only to be ignored.

Locked inside Loretto’s psychiatric ward for five days, one man risked his life to flee.

The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is investigating the West Side hospital after the Better Government Association and Block Club Chicago disclosed insider contracts.