Belleville News-Democrat

Local Transparency Project Endorsements

By Brian Costin
01/01/2013
Municipal Endorsements  Village of Orland Park “Many different local municipalities have reached out to us since our scores (100%) were announced publicly, they want to know how we did it, and all the credit goes to the Illinois Policy Institute and their staff for working with us to improve our online transparency strategy.” – Joe LaMargo,...

Transparency a Clear and Important Issue for Illinoisans

06/03/2011
by Aon Hussain The Illinois Policy Institute’s Local Transparency Project aims to conduct a transparency audit of every taxing body in the state. Allowing citizens to attain information about government contracts, expenditures and municipal officials gives the public opportunities to highlight wasteful spending, prevent corruption, and improve the democratic system. Realizing the benefits of increased transparency, legislators...

CMS Fights Workers’ Compensation FOIA Request

05/24/2011
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson In December, the Menard Correctional Center became infamous after theBelleville News-Democrat revealed almost $10 million in workers’ compensation paid out to more than half the staff of the facility. The high incident of workers’ compensation claims have prompted multiple investigations at the federal and state level, and the increased scrutiny of the claims has resulted in...

It’s Report Card Day for Illinois Schools!

10/29/2010
by Collin Hitt The Illinois State Board of Education has announced that it will release school report cards today, showing whether schools are doing better or worse at meeting state and federal academic standards. The decision to release information on a Friday afternoon heading into a weekend when everyone is going to be focused on...