While the state infuses hundreds of millions of dollars a year into child care programs, the strict eligibility requirements and limitations for its largest child care subsidy exclude tens of thousands of families.
Madison Hopkins
Madison Hopkins is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist with the Illinois Answers Project, the nonprofit newsroom arm of the Better Government Association. Her past work includes reporting for The Kansas City Beacon and ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network. Hopkins holds degrees from San Diego State University and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Many cameras. Little focus. Blurry results.
Chicago police bet big on pricey surveillance cameras. Two decades later, the devices do little to solve most crimes.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Mayor Lightfoot’s ‘Scofflaw List’ Fails To Include Hundreds of Unsafe Buildings
The 98 buildings on City Hall’s new list of unsafe buildings — compiled after a BGA/Tribune investigation into its failure to enforce fire safety violations — would not have included buildings where 57 people died by fire in unsafe apartments. Lightfoot won’t comment.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
9 Potential Solutions to Keep Chicagoans Safer From Fires
A follow-up to a BGA/Chicago Tribune investigation finds other major cities have enacted reforms to improve building safety that could save lives in Chicago — if city leaders break from a pattern of neglect.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Public Officials, Advocates Call for Reform After Investigation Reveals Dozens of Fire Deaths Linked to Enforcement Failures
Mayor claims building code enforcement problems were part of the past, but advocates say actions Lightfoot has made haven’t gone far enough and fail to address systemic problems of inequity.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
42 Fires, 61 Deaths: A Story of Failed City Oversight
Look at photos. Listen to 911 calls. Read excerpts from key documents.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
The Failures Before the Fires: Dozens Die in Chicago Buildings Where the City Knew of Fire Safety Issues
Saying a federal appeals court mistakenly created a “watershed moment” that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sides with insurance titans that administer healthcare reimbursements
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Deadly Fires, Broken Promises
Chicago’s political leaders fail to enact safety rules that stick.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Fuego y Fracaso
En seis años, 61 personas murieron en edificios de Chicago donde la ciudad sabía de problemas de seguridad contra incendios.
