Not so long ago, there was hope that major pension reform could happen sometime this year, possibly by the end of the spring legislative session. But events are not playing […]
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Posted inStatewide Investigations
Cook County Jail restrained people in chairs 874 times — and never reported it to the state
State standards require jails to report the use of restraint chairs on incarcerated people. Cook County Jail never did.
Posted inOpinion
Greising: A better way to achieve ethics reform in Chicago
After city Inspector General Deborah Witzburg complained publicly last month about City Hall interference with her investigations, the city’s top lawyer countered with a rebuke. Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry at a […]
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
‘Where is the Glock?’ Gun Turned Over to Chicago Police Wound up in the Hands of a Teenager
The Chicago Police Department has used gun buybacks to get thousands of guns off the street, but at least two of them have resurfaced at crime scenes. In November, a 16-year-old boy was found with a Glock handgun that went missing after it was handed in at a buyback.
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.
