The residential-center horror stories demonstrate that corruption in government often hurts the most vulnerable among us. It also shows that exposing those injustices can lead to change.

In November, 13 of 53 Corruption Watch stories were related to policies and actions of criminal-justice authorities in Illinois.

The village of Tinley Park has doubled-down on its investment in a privately managed restaurant within the 80th Avenue Metra station, voting this month to give $57,000 to Parmesans Station for a new pizza oven, according to the Chicago Tribune. In 2012, the village fronted a $600,000 investment for the restaurant space to complement the...

At least 84 corruption-related stories have been reported from across the state of Illinois in August alone. Atop August headlines is the recent revelation that a federal grand jury subpoenaed the emails of Gov. Pat Quinn’s ex-chief of staff in relation to Quinn’s anti-violence grant program. The case, which has been referred to by some...

With improved state transparency laws and communities all over Illinois voluntarily becoming more transparent online, there’s never been a better time for citizens to get involved and hold local government accountable. But simply advocating for transparent government isn’t enough to identify waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, government watchdogs must make use of...

Unfortunately for taxpayers, June was a groundbreaking month for corruption in Illinois. In June alone, there were reports of 85 corruption-related stories in the state. Some of the record-breaking highlights include the following: For the first time in 33 years, the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission exercised its subpoena powers in the issuance of a subpoena...

In completing our second month of the new “Illinois Corruption Watch” project, we are shocked at the volume of corruption stories being reported across the state. In just two months we have found reports of 101 different corruption-related stories; 45 in April and 56 in May. It’s no wonder Illinois citizens have by far the...

Nice list Many local taxing bodies in Illinois took a giant leap forward in 2013 when it comes to improving online transparency. And many local officials worked with the Illinois Policy Institute to meet our online transparency standards, per the 10-Point Transparency Checklist. Our report “Obstructed views: Illinois’ 102 county online transparency audit” showed that...

A new report looking at the state’s 25 largest municipalities shows a wide disparity in citizens’ access to basic government information online from community to community. In places such as Evanston, Skokie and Orland Park, citizens have excellent access to basic financial and participatory information online, but the same isn’t true in many other areas....