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

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 ...

Join us for a conversation with Illinois Answers reporters as they share what they’ve uncovered investigating economic opportunity, government finance, public safety, childcare and the needs of the ...

Under Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act, there is a presumption that government records are open to the public. Body cam footage is an anomaly. Its availability is dictated by the […] ...

Mayor Brandon Johnson released his proposed 2026 budget for the City of Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 16. As in previous years, BGA Policy will release a series of department-specific budget snapshots ...

Chicago’s City Council is off to a slow start in 2023: Only about 40% of its time in session so far this year – or about two of every five hours between the opening and closing gavels– has been spent ...

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 ...

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 ...

A yearly Chicago ritual is about to begin. Oct. 16 marks the start of two weeks of budget hearings, when department heads will appear before City Council to take questions about their administrative ...

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 ...

Illinois courts are quickly falling behind in key areas of data-collection required by the state’s new Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (SAFE-T) Act – a lag that is making it ...