Results & Reforms

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and her husband refund more than $5,000 after the BGA disclosed they secured three property tax breaks during the 1990s when only one was allowed.

Following a 2011 BGA analysis that found DuPage County Board members were missing numerous public meetings — but still collecting paychecks — their 2012 attendance improves, with officials citing the BGA’s findings as a big reason.

While doing research into the still-unsolved murder of Maywood Police Officer Tom Wood, the BGA and FOX Chicago help reestablish a six-figure reward after discovering that village officials had allowed it to lapse.

Federal prosecutors seek records on state Rep. Dan Burke after a BGA/Sun-Times investigation raises questions about how he awarded taxpayer-subsidized college tuition waivers to the daughter of his former secretary.

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

After the BGA discovers that Rahm Emanuel’s campaign fund apparently violated a pledge not to accept donations from lobbyists, his political action committee announces it will return five donations totaling $7,650.

Prompted in part by disclosures by the BGA and Chicago Sun-Times of a pension perk apparently crafted by a state legislator just for a member of one of Chicago’s most powerful political families, the Illinois Senate passes a bill to reverse the benefit. While the House didn’t take up the measure, it’s expected to be revisited in the next legislative session.

Following a series of stories from the BGA and the Chicago Sun-Times about a politically connected dairy company and its government contracts, Chicago Public Schools negotiated new terms that should save the system $750,000 in milk expenses. Officials also pledged to launch a “rigorous competitive bidding process” to keep costs down.