Government corruption is nothing new for Illinoisans. Illinois is the second-most corrupt state in the nation, according to research by the University of Illinois-Chicago. And corruption costs the state economy more than $550 million per year. What is new? Powerful Illinois lawmakers, Chicago aldermen, local mayors and business interests are involved in what appears to be...

The lawmaker who carried to the governor’s desk an infrastructure plan that doubled the state’s gas tax used his influence as a powerful state lawmaker to land his son a government job, a lawsuit alleges.