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Political Dredging Stirs Muck in Oak Brook
Last year, municipal leaders in Oak Brook hired a law firm to get to the bottom of three things: how the now-former police chief, Tom Sheahan, was hired in 2005 by the village government under a...
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ROUNDUP: Lollygagging, Finagling and Justifying
>> O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago is the governmental agency responsible for processing human waste. But the organization also must...
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CTA Insecurity a Boon for Joyriders?
>> SECURITY SIEVE AT CTA Let’s say there are a couple hundred buses at the CTA’s 103rd Street garage. And let’s say each one of those buses is worth a few hundred thousand dollars. So let’s...
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BGA Posts City of Chicago’s ‘Do-Not-Hire’ List
If you saw Wednesday’s headline in the Chicago Tribune you’ll realize the City of Chicago has been less than successful in its commendable effort to keep employees who’ve quit or been fired for...
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Illinois’ Fiscal Crisis: We’re No. 2!
One of the nation’s most influential financial analysts sees big trouble ahead for Illinois. Meredith Whitney is sounding the alarm about the dire fiscal condition of the nation’s 15 largest states....
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Clearing the air under the CTA’s June subway fire probe
The safety and security of passengers should be the CTA’s top priority. So it was encouraging to see the transit agency produce a hard-hitting and scathing internal report delving into the...
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Candidate for Cook County Pension Post Pleaded Guilty In 1985 Vote Fraud Case
A former Cook County government employee who pleaded guilty to vote fraud in 1985 is now running for election to the Cook County Pension Board, an estimated $6.9 billion retirement fund serving nearly...
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Wealthy Donors Backing Hopefuls In Chicago’s Hot 43rd Ward Election
In 2005, Jennifer Tremblay got into hot water with the City of Chicago when officials determined she was a minority business front for some members of the O’Brien family, of the well-known O’Brien’s...
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Radio Silence in Melrose Park, Despite Some Promising Reforms
Melrose Park remains a curious place. Historically it was a town with strong organized crime influences. While the current leaders of Melrose Park may not like that image, they don’t do a lot to...
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FBI Informant Dishes on McHenry County Sheriff’s Office; Feds Take Pass
On and off for three years, the FBI used a McHenry County sheriff’s deputy as a confidential informant, investigating his claims of rampant corruption within the department, even wiring him up with a...
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City Workers Goof, Leave Warehouse Unattended
Yet another security breach was reported at a South Side municipal warehouse that earlier this year saw two tons of copper-lined cable vanish in a still-unsolved theft. Days after the Better...
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BGA Honors 2010 Investigative Award Winners
Five outstanding Midwestern journalists won top prizes for investigative journalism in a contest sponsored by the Better Government Association through a grant from the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation....
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Leave it to Beavers
Last month Bill Beavers was found guilty of using his campaign funds as a personal piggy bank – of plunking down vast amounts of cash at slot machines and not reporting it as income. Until that...
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State Filing on Medicaid Delays Asks Court to Reconsider
State health officials are siding with large insurance companies to block a federal court decision supporting claims the state government is neglecting its responsibility to oversee billions of...
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Chicago Tribune, EveryBlock Follow Up on BGA Investigation of Deteriorating...
Today the Chicago Tribune picked up on a BGA and Chicago News Cooperative investigation from late 2010 about the deteriorating Brown Line renovation project. The Brown Line recently underwent a $530...
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‘Ask not…’ and receive not, in DuPage County
Hard to say what the best political speech or sound bite has been over the years. Some members of “The Greatest Generation” might remember the proud defiance of Great Britain Prime Minister Winston...
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2012: TOP TEN INVESTIGATIONS
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOP TEN INVESTIGATIONS OF 2012 The post 2012: TOP TEN INVESTIGATIONS appeared first on Better Government Association.
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Old-School Politics In New-Age Community?
Oak Park has a reputation as a progressive place, where education and the arts matter, where voters care about social issues and aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. They’d be “lakefront...
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Stepping down, then stepping up in Stickney
Cody Mares quit his position as trustee with the Village of Stickney earlier this week just before a board meeting. He then was appointed head of public works at the meeting. This isn’t sitting well...
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Musings on Maria: a Post-Investigation Perspective
By Andy Shaw, BGA President & CEO Our BGA/CBS 2 investigation of Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ questionable expenditures, budget chicanery and lack of transparency sparked a ton of reaction,...
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