Chicago Ald. Willie Cochran to plead guilty to corruption charges

By Vincent Caruso

08/15/2018

The South Side alderman had been charged with stealing charity donations to finance his daughter’s college tuition payments and casino getaways in Indiana, among other offences.

TAGS: Chicago, Chicago City Council, corruption, Willie Cochran

Chicago stopping more than 2,400 Airbnb hosts from listing their rooms

By Vincent Caruso

08/14/2018

City bureaucracy – not consumer complaints – has left thousands of Chicago hosts barred from the Airbnb platform.

TAGS: Airbnb, Chicago, Chicago City Council, homesharing, sharing economy

Study: Red-light cameras fail to reduce traffic accidents

By Joe Barnas

08/13/2018

A recent analysis confirms what many Illinoisans already know: While red-light cameras serve as reliable sources of revenue, they do not improve public safety.

TAGS: Chicago, corruption, red light cameras, Redflex Traffic Systems

Chicago police caught using ‘bait truck’ in South Side neighborhood

By Vincent Caruso

08/09/2018

In what critics have decried as an inappropriate use of scarce public safety resources, Chicago police officials parked a “bait truck” reportedly filled with boxes of Nike sneakers in the city’s Englewood neighborhood.

TAGS: Chicago, CPD: Chicago Police Department, criminal justice reform

Shell game: Chicago considers plan to borrow $10B to pay off pension debt

By Adam Schuster

08/09/2018

Previous pension obligation bonds in Illinois have increased costs to taxpayers and done nothing to solve the fiscal challenges created by the pension system.

TAGS: Chicago, Chicago City Council, municipal pensions, pensions, Rahm Emanuel

30 years later: How Madigan kept the Cubs in the dark

By Joe Kaiser

08/08/2018

Thirty years ago Aug. 8, the Chicago Cubs played their first game under lights at Wrigley Field – after first battling Chicago politicians for the right to do so.

TAGS: Chicago, Chicago Cubs, Edward “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak, ISFA: Illinois Sports Facility Authority, Madigan & Getzendanner, Mike Madigan, Tom Tunney

Lawsuit seeks to end Burke’s ‘political army’ in Chicago workers’ comp system

By Austin Berg

08/07/2018

Chicago’s longest-serving alderman runs the city’s workers’ comp program without any outside scrutiny. But a new lawsuit aims to change that.

TAGS: Chicago, Chicago City Council, Ed Burke, patronage, workers compensation

53,000 Cook County homeowners to receive $19.5M in property tax refunds

By Chris Lentino

08/03/2018

Millions in property tax refunds will go out to Cook County homeowners as early as Aug. 15.

TAGS: Chicago, Cook County, property taxes, Robert Martwick

Nearly a third of property tax revenue in Chicago is diverted into 143 TIF districts

By Chris Lentino

07/26/2018

Nearly a third of property tax revenue in Chicago is diverted into 143 TIF districts controlled by the mayor, nearly half of which are located in affluent neighborhoods.

TAGS: Chicago, Chicago City Council, Cook County, John F. Curran, property taxes, Rahm Emanuel, TIF: Tax Increment Financing, William Davis

15 former Chicago aldermen collecting 6-figure pensions

By Eddie Damstra

07/23/2018

In the midst of Chicago’s $36 billion pension crisis, former city officials are seeing big payouts.

TAGS: aldermanic privilege, Chicago, Chicago City Council, municipal pensions, pensions, property taxes, taxes