The Watchdogs
Investigations of government, politicians, education, business and issues affecting taxpayers and consumers.
Here’s how a squad of reporters used shoe leather reporting, interviews and public records to reveal Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plans to close a tent city and build a $814,000 fence around it in time for the DNC.
Neither City Hall nor Friends of Brandon Johnson will discuss whether the contribution from the CEO of Hyde Park Hospitality violated an ethics rule barring city contractors from giving to a mayor’s campaign fund.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman set a June 2025 trial date for Paul La Schiazza, a week after shooting down a long-shot bid for acquittal.
More than 1,500 people are in the program, including more than 100 facing charges of murder or attempted murder. Dart is negotiating with Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans to handle all of the county’s electronic monitoring cases after April 1.
Jack Riley, 66, ended his Drug Enforcement Administration career in 2017 when he retired in Washington as deputy administrator, the No. 2 job. In Chicago, he led an investigation of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera.
Judge E. Kenneth Wright Jr. acquired a handful of Chicago homes from the estates of deceased clients when he was a solo law practitioner in the 1990s. Now, two families claim he took advantage of his elderly clients.
Chicago’s point person on air pollution and extreme heat was pushed out, raising questions about the mayor’s commitment to neighborhoods choked by pollution.
Jurors in the trial of former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza heard from more than a dozen witnesses over four days. Key players in the alleged scheme included Michael McClain, Madigan’s longtime friend who is now on trial with him in a related case, and former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo.
A bill pending in Springfield would give nursing home residents a better chance to sue facilities over retaliation claims that advocates say are rampant in Illinois. But a powerful industry trade group with deep financial ties to Illinois Senate President Don Harmon is lobbying against the legislation.
Foxx, who chose not to seek a third term as Cook County’s top prosecutor, said her office worked “tirelessly to enhance the scales of justice and equality.” Her replacement, Eileen O’Neill Burke, was sworn in Monday.
Illinois State Police found more than 1,100 pounds of cocaine inside a semitruck during a stop Friday on Interstate 80 in Geneseo. Two men from Canada were charged with cocaine trafficking.
In Samantha Steele's DUI arrest, Cook County politician told Chicago cops, ‘I’m an elected official'
Police body-camera video recordings show Democratic Board of Review Commissioner Steele told Chicago police officers she is a politician.
The deal was modeled after a similar one issued in 2020 to electrical company ComEd. ComEd was spared prosecution after cooperating with the feds and paying a $200 million fine.
William Helm has been “one of the best cooperators” the government has had in years, a prosecutor told a judge Wednesday. Helm admitted trying to bribe the late state Sen. Martin Sandoval.
A small area including parts of Lake View and Lincoln Park became a hub of shoplifting in 2023 in addition to downtown, the longtime epicenter of such thefts. This year through October, retail theft was up 46% in Chicago compared with the same period of 2023, researchers say.
The group turned 40 this year but not everyone knows about the CUB’s role in representing ratepayers.
The undoing of the “Perry Avenue Boys” included a car crash, an undetected tracking device in a bag of cash and a wrapper a crew member kept from a roll of stolen quarters, the FBI said in a newly unsealed affidavit.
A Sun-Times analysis of host committee direct spending found that little was spent in Chicago’s ZIP codes with the lowest average incomes. The most was spent at the United Center and in adjacent Loop and West Loop ZIP codes.