The Chicago City Council passed a “snap” curfew ordinance on June 18 that allows the superintendent to impose short-notice ...

The recent Supreme Court FOIA ruling significantly broadens exemptions to FOIA, raising concerns about transparency. Learn more from the Better Government Association.

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, ...

The creation of a new City of Chicago Office of Public Safety Administration (PSA) in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s inaugural budget for fiscal year 2020, which the mayor’s office announced as a cost-saving ...

A BGA Policy comparison of major U.S. cities found Chicago’s Office of Inspector General among the strongest watchdog agencies in the nation — but it lacks independent authority to release its ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

Although the SAFE-T Act mandates the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts collect electronic monitoring data and publish reports and analysis based on that data, the AOIC has not yet begun ...

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 ...

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 ...