Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday that it's too late to try to recoup any of the money from burdensome interest payments that Chicago Public Schools made after issuing risky auction-rate bonds. Other municipal borrowers have sought recourse for auction-rate deals in state court.
Watchdog
-
The state law that facilitated Chicago Public Schools' venture into high-risk securities included few oversight measures or checks on local borrowing. It also passed without much discussion.
-
In 2007, a senior Bank of America official warned of a potential "meltdown" in the auction-rate bond market. Chicago's public school system was about to find out what such a meltdown would mean.
-
A decade ago, Chicago school officials gambled that they could borrow money cheaply by issuing auction-rate bonds paired with derivative contracts. But in a first-of-its kind analysis, the Tribune found it was a losing bet.
-
A Tinley Park political insider has received no-bid contract extensions worth millions for nearly two decades.
-
Chicago elevator inspectors failed to complete more than three-quarters of their required annual inspections last year, resulting in about $772,040 in lost inspection fees, according to an audit released Wednesday by the city’s Office of Inspector General.
-
Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration will not refund $7.7 million in red light camera tickets it collected after quietly lowering the yellow light standard, the city's transportation chief said Tuesday.
More Watchdog reports
-
In a suburb the Tribune found was arguably the area's most lawless, Harvey's City Council has defied the mayor and invited the sheriff to assess a Police Department long plagued by scandals and sloppy casework.
-
Drunken drivers pay more to some Chicago-area suburbs to keep their licenses, sidestepping a state law mandating licenses be suspended for a DUI arrest.
-
Raashanai Coley suffered prolonged abuse and died of injuries from a lethal blow to her stomach. As her mother faces murder charges, a Tribune review shows shortcomings in the state's system designed to protect children.
-
An ice arena owner who got a rent deal has given the mayor $164,500 since 1999, a Tribune investigation has found.
-
Confronted with questions about a flurry of red light camera tickets stamped with yellow times below the 3-second minimum, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration said the fluctuation of hundredths of a second was normal — imperceptible to anyone behind the wheel of a car.
-
Chicago's red light camera program was beset by "fundamentally deficient" City Hall management and inconsistent enforcement, according to a limited inspector general review released Friday that failed to solve the mystery of suspicious ticket spikes exposed by the Tribune.
-
A Tribune examination of overturned red light tickets revealed evidence that the city of Chicago has quietly cast a wider net to snare drivers since switching camera vendors earlier this year amid a bribery scandal.
-
City Hall has promised 126 refunds to drivers tagged for $100 fines during suspicious spikes in red light camera tickets discovered by a Tribune investigation but upheld thousands of other tickets issued at the same times — all without explaining what caused the sudden surges.
-
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign paid more than $77,000 to a student who accused campus officials of minimizing her sexual assault and harassment complaints even after photographs and a video of the incident were passed around a fraternity house, according to a settlement...
-
Illinois schoolchildren are greeted by substitute teachers far more often than their parents were, and while there may be valid reasons for calling in these subs, some experts express concerns about students being shortchanged, a Tribune analysis has found.
-
Nearly one year after Illinois child welfare officials revealed under pressure that more children had died from abuse or neglect than earlier reported, new state statistics show the disturbing high rate has continued.
-
A proposal from the Illinois attorney general's office to allow camera monitoring in nursing homes is drawing cautious support from elder care advocates, who have raised concerns about the privacy of seniors.
-
Despite statutes requiring license suspension and revocation, Chicago-area drunken drivers regularly keep their licenses through plea deals cut by suburbs.
-
The shooting of an elderly man in May was not unlike many other gang-related shootings across Chicago — except in this case, the suspected triggerman was on probation and working as a paid FBI informant.
-
State regulators this week suspended the license of an Evanston appraiser involved in a $1.7 million roller rink purchase by south suburban Markham from its city attorney.
-
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has paid back the city for more than $14,000 in travel expenses after a Tribune story found he spent taxpayer money on trips in which he tapped well-heeled donors for campaign contributions.
-
Magazine cutouts of Michael Jackson, stylish young rockers and characters from the "Twilight" series cover the walls of Stephanie DiCara's bedroom in North Barrington, where a nurse watches closely over the ventilator that keeps the young woman alive.
-
A former Chicago transportation manager and his longtime friend both pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal bribery charges in an alleged $2 million scheme to rig the contract for the city's red light camera program.
-
As furniture makers move to phase out toxic, ineffective flame retardants, the chemical industry is waging an aggressive last-ditch campaign to preserve a lucrative market that reaches into virtually every American home.
-
A suburban man recently arrested on child pornography charges worked for years at a middle school even after he had been ordered to get sex offender treatment, a Tribune review of district and court records shows.
-
A Chicago man fraudulently raised $160 million from Chinese nationals who invested in his purported plan to build a convention center complex with hotels near O'Hare International Airport, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago announced.
-
Polish authorities have returned a fugitive to Chicago to face reckless homicide charges in a 2004 car crash that killed two people. He was one of the criminal suspects featured in the Tribune's 2011 "Fugitives from Justice" investigation.
-
Chicago's red light camera scandal deepened with the federal indictment of a former Redflex Traffic Systems CEO on charges she and a top City Hall manager conspired to rig the camera business for a decade.
-
A Tribune investigation of a March 14 chase that ended in tragedy found that the Calumet Park officer who initiated it had been fired from or forced out of five of the seven most recent departments for which he worked.
-
Update: The disciplinary action comes more than four years after a joint investigation by the Tribune and ProPublica focused attention on Dr. Michael Reinstein's prolific prescribing of a dangerous antipsychotic drug in nursing homes and mental health facilities.
-
Multiple instructors authorized to teach people how to tote guns under a new state program are police officers with histories of making questionable decisions about when to use force, a Tribune review has found.
-
Illinois school districts have employed hundreds of educators to teach everything from science to special education even though they lacked proper credentials in those subjects, a Tribune investigation has found.
-
Every year, Tinley Park officials spend tens of thousands of dollars printing three newsletters that tout the town's virtues.
-
One flame retardant is linked to cancer and was voluntarily taken out of children's pajamas in the 1970s after researchers discovered it mutated DNA.
-
A state task force formed in response to a Tribune investigation is recommending sweeping reforms to address absenteeism in Chicago elementary schools.
-
As Gov. Pat Quinn's aides sought to pump up an anti-violence program ahead of his November 2010 election bid, they added $3.76 million in federal disaster recovery funds from Hurricane Ike to make loans to small businesses.
-
City Hall plans to start sending out letters to at least 9,000 drivers who received red light camera citations during suspicious ticket spikes.
-
Orangelo Payne alleged that law enforcement teamed up with probation officers to illegally enter his apartment
-
Former employee says he detailed how city official coached executives on how to get contract, also answered questions about yellow light times
-
Facing criticism for its oversight of the city's red light camera program, City Hall said that at least 9,000 drivers will get a chance at a refund of $100 fines issued during suspicious ticket spikes.
-
A group of Chicago aldermen has asked City Hall's top watchdog to probe the city's red light ticketing program.
-
Analysis shows appeals of tickets received during spikes could have been successful
-
Analysis of 4 million violations recorded since 2007 reveals suspicious patterns at dozens of intersections, raises questions about system's management
-
Documents give tally of shipments that U.S. official warns could be 'imminent hazard'
-
Some top providers are not specialists in mental health
-
Tribune investigation finds nearly 100 cases of legislators trying to speed up process or change its results
-
A year ago, former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s attorneys said his family was in "significant financial peril" as he and his wife, Sandi, awaited sentencing for looting $750,000 from his campaign coffers.
-
At least six Illinois hospitals are at risk of having their Medicare payments docked this fall.
-
Board president who was aghast in 2011 expects spending to drop next year as high-paid veterans retire and latest contract reduces salaries of new hires
-
South Side nonprofit got anti-violence grant despite years of financial missteps.
Loading