Legal

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 votes to end the decades-old program, which had been costing taxpayers more than $13 million a year. Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to soon sign the bill into

Following inquiries from the BGA about his private companies doing business with the government agency that he was leading, Cook County Housing Authority board Chairman Elzie Higginbottom resigns and, to avoid a possible conflict of interest, the agency changes the way Section 8 vouchers are handled for buildings run by his firms.

An investigator for Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez resigned after being caught on camera by FOX Chicago and the BGA spending work hours at a Bridgeport cigar shop. Alvarez’s aides promised better oversight in the 130-person investigative bureau.

After the BGA and CBS2 found the teenage son of DuPage County Sheriff John Zaruba playing cop, including participating in attempted arrests and chases, County Board members demand a halt to police “ride-alongs” pending a review of the program.

A special prosecutor was appointed by a judge on April 23, 2012, to re-investigate the homicide of David Koschman, who died after allegedly being punched by a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2004. Nobody was ever criminally charged in the case. The special prosecutor — whose appointment was pushed by Koschman’s family, with legal wing support from the BGA — will

The Chicago Board of Education’s inspector general is investigating the school system’s largest milk-delivery company, McMahon Food Corp., which recently lost its certification as a woman-owned business. A Chicago Sun-Times/Better Government Association investigation last month found that the school system is paying more for milk than many suburban districts that are a

Prompted by revelations from the BGA and FOX Chicago, residents of Stone Park and surrounding communities banded together to oppose the construction of a strip club next to a convent, question whether village officials violated the law in approving the project and keep a closer eye on local elected leaders.

As the BGA and Chicago Sun-Times inquired about government contracts held by the clout-heavy McMahon family, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel moved to permanently ban their electrical contracting company from getting more city work because of allegations they fraudulently set up the company as woman-owned to get a leg up on city contracts. Click here to read more.

Following a Feb. 3 BGA investigation, the Chicago Public Schools vowed on Tuesday, Feb, 14, to end the practice of paying tens of millions of dollars to administrative employees for excessive and unused sick days.