Nearly half of Chicago’s highest cash-generating speed cameras were on the South Side. Two, including the top $3.1-million camera, are hitting Ward 20 Ald. Jeanette Taylor’s low-income constituents with fines she said they can’t afford.

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...

A federal court sentenced former Chicago Ald. Willie Cochran to one year in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud.

South Side Ald. Willie Cochran pleaded guilty March 21 to felony wire fraud for spending his ward’s charity funds on personal expenses. That’s 30 Chicago aldermen convicted of corruption since 1972.

The officers are facing federal charges for their alleged role in a kickback scheme involving an attorney referral service seeking information on traffic crashes.

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.