Archives

Prompted at least in part by a CBS2/BGA investigation, the Chicago Public Schools’ inspector general cracks down on abuses in the free and reduced school lunch programs, which are supposed to help lower-income students. Turns out numerous CPS employees, including principals, were inappropriately signing their children up for the programs, saddling taxpayers with the tab.

On the heels of a BGA investigation, the Village of Lansing voted to repeal a pension spike for retiring first responders. Police officers and firefighters in the south suburb had been able to take a 25 percent raise or a $12,000 raise, whichever was greater, on their last day of work. The now-defunct boost enhanced their pensions by at least $6,000 in the first year of

After the BGA, the Chicago Sun-Times and others exposed repeated abuses in how Illinois legislators award college tuition waivers — and following an aggressive lobbying campaign by the BGA policy team — the General Assembly voted to end the decades-old program, which had been costing taxpayers more than $13 million a year. Gov. Pat Quinn signed the bill into law on July 11 and