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.
Madison Hopkins
Madison Hopkins rejoined the newsroom in April 2023. Before returning, she was the health accountability reporter for The Kansas City Beacon, where she collaborated with ProPublica's Local Reporting Network to investigate Missouri's oversight of sheltered workshops for adults with disabilities.
Originally from Southern California, Madison moved to Chicago to earn her master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She initially joined the Better Government Association in 2016, where she investigated Chicago's recycling program failures, the absence of regulatory enforcement at Illinois nuclear power plants and bureaucratic failures in Chicago's building code enforcement system that contributed to dozens of fatal fires.
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.
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
The Failures Before the Fires: How We Reported This Story
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
‘Old Lessons That Tragically Went Unheeded’
Over and over, Chicago fails to learn from fatal fires