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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.

madison-hopkins@example.com
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability

Mayor Lightfoot’s ‘Scofflaw List’ Fails To Include Hundreds of Unsafe Buildings

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes October 11, 2021November 10, 2022

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

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes August 2, 2021January 26, 2023

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

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 29, 2021November 10, 2022

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 inUncategorized

Dozens Die in Chicago Buildings Where the City Knew of Safety Issues

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 23, 2021March 14, 2023
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability

42 Fires, 61 Deaths: A Story of Failed City Oversight

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 23, 2021January 26, 2023

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

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 23, 2021March 14, 2023

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

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 23, 2021January 26, 2023

Chicago’s political leaders fail to enact safety rules that stick.

Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability

Fuego y Fracaso

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 23, 2021November 10, 2022

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

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 23, 2021January 26, 2023

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’

by Madison Hopkins and Cecilia Reyes April 23, 2021January 26, 2023

Over and over, Chicago fails to learn from fatal fires

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Here at the Illinois Answers Project, our team of reporters work every day to uncover waste and wrongdoing in government, hold public officials accountable, and lift up solutions to Illinois’ most pressing problems.

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