The Better Government Association–the only Illinois non-profit holding power to account through investigative and ...

Chicago taxpayers are on the hook for an average $93.6 million a year for legal judgments and settlements against the city. A Better Government Association policy team analysis found that after years ...

Salaries and bonuses for Chicago police officers represented by the Fraternal Order of Police in 2024 could exceed the budgeted position costs approved by City Council by $76.8 million or more, ...

With 852 separate districts, Illinois has the third most school districts in the nation, bested only by Texas and California, whose populations are more than double ours.

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 ...

A series of new lobbying priorities announced by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson at a press conference last week included tweaks to revenues the city currently receives from the state government, but ...

BGA Policy finds that juvenile detention centers in IL lack protections for the youth they house, while also overly relying on room confinement.

During his campaign for mayor, Johnson completed a questionnaire from the BGA Policy that asked for his positions on various issues such as policing, public safety, education, and economic development ...

Chicago City Council is spending only two-fifths of its time on legislative work, with the other two-thirds devoted to honorary resolutions.

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 ...

Every 10 years, Americans engage in an exercise meant to promote fair representation in Congress and our state legislatures. Redistricting is the act of drawing new legislative maps, adjusting ...