Cahokia Heights residents have found E. coli in their drinking water through community-organized testing of samples from kitchen taps. The results raise new questions about infrastructure in a community plagued […]
Janelle O'Dea
Janelle O’Dea is based in St. Louis as an investigative reporter with the Illinois Answers Project State Investigations Team. Her beat covers Southern Illinois and the Metro East. Before joining the Illinois Answers Project, she worked in Colorado, Florida, at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and at the Center for Public Integrity. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and grew up in central Illinois.
Posted inFollow-Up
Feds accuse former Carlyle police chief of wire fraud, theft
Article Summary This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. A Metro East police chief spent more than $100,000 of public money intended to combat drug […]
Posted inInvestigations
Edwardsville Officials Assured Residents on Facebook The City Had ‘No Formal Proposal’ For a Data Center — But City Emails Tell a Fuller Story
The massive facilities are a hot topic in the Metro East, as a developer, Cloverleaf, eyes three towns as possible sites. Dozens of emails obtained by Illinois Answers Project show detailed discussions between Cloverleaf and Edwardsville officials, who stress there’s nothing official.
Posted inPartnerships
Search warrant reveals FBI is investigating former Carlyle police chief
Article Summary This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. CARLYLE — A search warrant executed by the FBI revealed the target of a […]
Posted inInvestigations
A Once Dying Mall in Southern Illinois is Getting a Mighty Makeover, Thanks to $112M Bond Deal, But The Project Has Hit a Speed Bump
Officials in Marion say the massive redevelopment is on track, but one of the three main developers has already dropped out, facing a slew of lawsuits.
Posted inStatewide Investigations
‘They are literally targeting people.’ ICE comes to southern Illinois
CARLYLE, Ill. — When Jose Jeronimo Guardian showed up at a Spanish language traffic court this week, he didn’t expect to be detained and face expulsion from a country he’d […]
Posted inInvestigations
A New Wastewater Plant in Carterville Could Stop Sewage Overflows — Why Hasn’t Construction Started Yet?
Carterville reported 40 sanitary sewer overflows in the past decade. City officials have known for years that a new wastewater treatment plant would resolve the issue. They promised it would be operational by last year. But construction hasn’t started yet. Meanwhile, residents deal with flooding and backed up basements.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Wasted Waters: How Southern Illinois is Coping with Decades of Sewage Flooding… and Why it Still Isn’t Solved.
Five dozen communities in Southern Illinois account for a third of the reported sanitary sewer overflows in the state in the last decade. But with low revenues, population declines, and bureaucratic delays, solutions are hard to come by. Meanwhile, residents face property damage flooded yards and basements and governments that still haven’t fixed the problem.
Posted inInvestigating Responses
Explainer: What is a sanitary sewer overflow?
Sanitary sewer overflows, SSOs, are a release of untreated or partially treated waste from a city sewer. Sanitary sewer overflows are illegal. But when normal systems become overloaded through heavy rain or a larger load from an increasing population, SSOs occur.
Posted inStatewide Investigations
People were Strapped to Chairs for Hours, Days at Madison County Jail. Many were Mentally Ill or in Withdrawal.
Of all Illinois jails, Madison County has the most incidents of restraint lasting longer than 10 hours–the upper limit set by the chair manufacturer. The jail said they’re not equipped to care for so many mentally ill detainees.
