Plea deal drops felony against former Lake Forest city manager who pushed for Amtrak stop

By Vincent Caruso

02/27/2020

Hiding lobbyist payments led to a felony indictment in October against Lake Forest’s longtime former city manager. His plea bargain drops the felony and could eventually leave his record clean.

TAGS: Amtrak, Bob Kiely, felony, investigation, Lake County, Lake Forest, laundering, lobbying, misconduct

Illinois police serve search warrant at Madigan’s Springfield office, looking for evidence of sexual assault, battery by former state lawmaker

By Austin Berg

02/01/2020

State police executed the search warrant in an attempt to find evidence of criminal behavior by former Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks.

TAGS: corruption, fair maps, fair tax, graduated income tax, house rules, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois House of Representatives, illinois state police, independent maps, investigation, Jack Franks, JB Pritzker, legislative map, Mike Madigan, progressive income tax, redistricting, rules committee, search warrant, sexual harrassment, Springfield, State of the State

Former Chicago official had side job with red-light camera company

By Ben Szalinski

11/15/2019

The former deputy aviation commissioner had an undisclosed position as a sales representative for SafeSpeed LLC. The red-light camera vendor keeps emerging in federal probes.

TAGS: Board of Ethics, Chicago, Chicago Board of Ethics, Chicago City Hall, Chicago Department of Aviation, Cook County, Cook County commissioner, department of aviation, federal investigation, IDOT: Illinois Department of Transportation, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, investigation, Jim Edgar, Martin Sandoval, red light cameras, SafeSpeed, Springfield

Senate President John Cullerton announces retirement amid sweeping Illinois corruption probe

By Austin Berg

11/14/2019

Cullerton and House Speaker Mike Madigan have held office in the Illinois General Assembly for nearly 90 years combined.

TAGS: corruption, FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal, GARS: General Assembly Retirement System, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois Senate, investigation, John Cullerton, pension spiking, pensions, Springfield

Springfield response to capital bill corruption: A new coat of paint

By Austin Berg

10/10/2019

As the Sandoval scandal develops, Illinoisans should be careful not to confuse personnel changes for reform.

TAGS: capital bill, FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, gas tax, investigation, JB Pritzker, Martin Sandoval, transportation

Illinois Forward: A 5-year plan for balanced budgets, declining debt and tax relief

The years 2010 through 2019 will go down in Illinois history as a decade of public policy failure and economic decline. High fixed costs for pensions and government worker health care have prevented the state from balancing its budget in any year since 2001. Since the Great Recession in 2008, the state’s fiscal imbalance has...

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Illinois Forward: A 5-year plan for balanced budgets, declining debt and tax relief

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Ifeoma Nkemdi

Policy lessons from Illinois’ exodus of people and money

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students