Just a few months after the last remaining law enforcement agencies were required to equip officers with body cameras, several legislative efforts in 2025 tried to limit access to body […] ...

The foundational principle of Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act is that the public is entitled to “full and complete ...

Bryan Zarou, the Better Government Association’s vice president of policy, has been appointed to serve on the City of Chicago’s Inspector General Search Committee. The Inspector General is one of […] ...

Featuring the 22nd Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Awards for Investigative Reporting on Thursday, May 7, from 3:30–8:30 p.m.

Transparency allows the people of Illinois to see into the inner workings of their government and hold their elected officials accountable. But there is still one area shrouded in darkness: the ...

The foundational principle of Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act is that the public is entitled to “full and complete information regarding the affairs of government.” Many stakeholders — ...

A BGA Policy analysis of the 16 county detention centers across Illinois has found that only three successfully have completed audits mandated by federal law to enforce protections against sexual ...

Perhaps you’ve heard the buzz about something called ranked choice voting. Instead of marking their ballots for just one candidate, voters are asked to rank two or three or more, with the winner ...

For first-time watchers, Chicago’s City Council can seem incomprehensible. Most of the business is done in a routine, rapid-fire succession of votes and gavel raps, punctuated by repetitions of the ...

It is no secret that Illinois is home to the greatest number of government units in the nation, nearly 7,000. Following the passage of Senate Bill 3 in the summer of 2017, which made the process of ...