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

The BGA is a non-partisan, non-profit news organization and civic advocate working for transparency, efficiency and accountability in government in Chicago and across Illinois.

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.

Access to government documents is fundamental in our system of open government. You have a right to know what your governments are doing. One way people, groups, corporations or organizations can ...

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 ...

Scheduled Salary Increases Johnson’s proposal includes a 5% salary bump for FOP-represented police in 2024 and 2025, up from the 2.5% and 2% raises for those years that were agreed upon in the ...

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 ...

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 ...

Understanding the structure of the courts is important because all courts ultimately need to answer to the Supreme Court who has “ [g]eneral administrative and supervisory authority over all courts ”.

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, ...

Chicago’s City Council allows public comment at all of its meetings, including meetings of its committees. There are multiple ways to submit public comment, but each has a specific application process ...