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Emails reveal City Hall struggle to quell Laquan McDonald crisis
The 3,085 pages of City Hall emails released Thursday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration begin with a short message dated Oct. 21, 2014, from the Chicago Public Schools: “MACDONALD, Laquan M/17 yrs...
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THE WATCHDOGS: CTU allies benefit from newly enriched union foundation
When the Chicago Teachers Union rallied at Grant Park one frigid night in November, protesters from Action Now were there. So were members of community groups from Brighton Park and Kenwood, showing...
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The Watchdogs: Chicago paid record borrowing-related fees in 2015
The cash-strapped city of Chicago paid $74.7 million in fees last year to banks, law firms and other businesses that helped it borrow money — a record tab that will rise as more fees get tallied and...
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The Watchdogs: Chicago’s Orange Line goes back and forth
In 2002, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley sold the City Council on a plan “to generate millions of dollars of new revenue” by selling the land and tracks beneath the Orange Line and leasing them right back....
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Northbrook man gets year in prison in taxi scheme Sun-Times exposed
A Russian immigrant was sentenced Thursday to a year in federal prison for his role in a scheme to falsify documents so he could illegally convert 112 salvaged cars into taxis, creating Chicago’s...
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BGA Public Eye: CPS doesn’t know what happened to equipment from 50 closed...
Two years after Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed a record 50 schools over low enrollment, officials say they don’t know where many of the computers, desks, books and other items from those buildings ended up....
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Co-founder of firm behind Patrick Daley deals settles SBA lawsuit
A co-founder of Cardinal Growth — the venture capital company that bankrolled City Hall projects involving former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s son — has agreed to pay $1.5 million to the federal...
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THE WATCHDOGS: Hit with complaints, cops end up teaching recruits
Over the past 10 years, more than two dozen officers with multiple citizen complaints have been assigned to train recruits at the Chicago Police Department Education and Training Academy, records...
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THE WATCHDOGS: 3 Koschman cops face punishment; 3 quit, avoid sanctions
For nearly two months, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration has been sitting on a report urging punishment — including firing — of the police officers who failed to charge a nephew of former Mayor...
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Police move to fire 1 Koschman cop, suspend 2 others
Two years after former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew admitted killing David Koschman, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s interim police superintendent moved Wednesday to fire a high-ranking cop involved in the...
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Lt. Denis Walsh, a key Koschman cop, quits in face of firing
Lt. Denis Walsh has resigned from the Chicago Police Department one week after interim Supt. John Escalante moved to fire him over his role in the 2011 reinvestigation of David Koschman’s killing — a...
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THE WATCHDOGS: CTA execs ride the pension express
The Chicago Transit Authority has spent nearly $94 million over 15 years on a retirement program that has allowed former CTA executives to start collecting lucrative pensions in their late 40s and...
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THE WATCHDOGS: CTA board retirees on pension gravy train
Valerie Jarrett was on the Chicago Transit Authority board for nearly eight years before becoming a top aide to President Barack Obama. Howard Medley was on the CTA board for a decade before he was...
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BGA Public Eye: 2 U.S. reps pushed pipeline law, got thousands in campaign cash
By Chuck Neubauer and Sandy Bergo Two members of Congress from Illinois who have gotten thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from a union representing pipeline workers were instrumental in...
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Pension funds lost millions on deals with Daley nephew, Obama pal
A real estate venture created by President Barack Obama’s onetime boss and a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley squandered $68 million it was given to invest on behalf of pension plans for Chicago...
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Mihalopoulos: Insiders hoping to land Midway food concession deal
You’re far from the only one who’s getting plumper when you stop to get a bite before boarding a flight at Chicago’s airports. Many members of the city’s political class long have found a favorite,...
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Kim Foxx receives $250K donation from Toni Preckwinkle
For months the three Democratic candidates for Cook County state’s attorney have been trading shots about each other’s integrity in a race largely defined by questions about the Laquan McDonald...
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Rauner-Madigan war fuels Illinois campaign spending binge
Campaign fund-raising records are poised to fall before the March 15 primary, thanks to the political proxy war between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan that’s stoked massive...
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BGA PUBLIC EYE: Feds subpoenaed Cicero on insider deals
By Andrew Schroedter The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago has subpoenaed the town of Cicero for records of deals with two politically connected companies, the Better Government Association has...
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Mihalopoulos: Jury out on lawyer’s path to judgeship
When he was a candidate for River Forest’s village board a year ago, lawyer Richard C. Cooke said he and his family “were going to spend the rest of our lives here.” Within days of losing that...
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