Illinois has one of the highest rates of student loans in the country, compelling the state to intervene so that residents burdened by debt can have some financial freedom to pursue their goals, including offering state-level loans and programs like the SmartBuy program which relieves a portion of student loan debt for residents who sign up to purchase a home through the program. But legislative support and limited funding for some of these initiatives are barriers to success.
Government Finance & Accountability
Posted inGovernment Finance & Accountability
Quiet Use of Bonuses for City Council Aides on the Rise
Alderpeople defend the practice, saying the aides deserve the extra money for their hard work, but critics decry the process as arbitrary.
Posted inInvestigations
Chicago Cops Did Little to Investigate How a Gun a Judge Turned in to be Destroyed Ended up at a Crime Scene
The revolver that Cook County Judge William Stewart Boyd turned in at a Chicago police gun buyback resurfaced at the scene of a fatal police shooting in Cicero in 2012. Police said it would be “difficult and unwise” to interview anyone involved in the buyback and closed the investigation.
Posted inInvestigations
Child Welfare Agency Failed Repeatedly to Produce ‘Critical’ Reports After Child Deaths, Injuries
The Department of Children and Family Services is legally required to make the reports public after examining what went wrong but did not in thousands of instances.
Posted inInvestigations
Cook County Assessor Fixes Hundreds of Misclassified Properties Following Illinois Answers-Tribune Investigation
The corrections have put nearly half a billion dollars in taxable real estate value back on the rolls.
Posted inFollow-Up
City Reaches Tentative $11.5M Settlement With Companies of Woman Dubbed ‘Worst Landowner’
The city is also ramping up legal battles against two other landowners who have millions in unpaid fines.
Posted inFollow-Up
Madigan guilty of bribery conspiracy as jury returns partial verdict
Jurors deadlock on charges related to co-defendant Mike McClain.
Posted inFollow-Up
Hundreds of South, West Side Properties For Sale Amid Legal Fight Against City’s ‘Worst Landowner’
Property owner Suzie B. Wilson owed more than $15 million in fines for rat-related code violations — and, along with her sister, now faces legal trouble after a joint investigation by Illinois Answers Project and Block Club.
Posted inFollow-Up
‘Empire of Neglected And Hazardous Vacant Lots’ Declares Bankruptcy, But City of Chicago Cries Fraud
City attorneys point to transfer of troubled properties to South Dakota shell companies and siphoning money from bank accounts in a court filing.
Posted inFollow-Up
After Turbulent Tenure, CHA CEO Tracey Scott Out: ‘Residents Were Suffering In The End’
Scott’s exit after four and a half years is a sign Mayor Brandon Johnson is finally overhauling the CHA, housing advocates say.
