Investigations – Page 6

Gov. JB Pritzker joined Mayor Lori Lightfoot, right, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, second from left, and public health experts in updating residents on March 12, 2020, in the early days of the pandemic. Illinois, Chicago and Cook County received $11 billion through the American Rescue Plan Act amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A Tribune-University of Chicago Mansueto Institute analysis revealed few efforts to identify potential waste and abuse of that money. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Illinois, Chicago, Cook County got $11B in pandemic aid but there were gaps in oversight and transparency

By Dan Petrella

September 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

The Tribune and the University of Chicago's Mansueto Institute examined how Illinois, Chicago and Cook...

Weiss Memorial Hospital, in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, was closed in August 2025 after federal regulators cut off Medicare funding over safety issues. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Illinois ignores rules and red flags as ‘servant leader’ runs up $100M state tab, then closes 2 hospitals

By Joe Mahr

August 30, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

West Suburban and Weiss Memorial's collapse illustrates what can go wrong in a state that...

An airplane flies near the EdgeConneX data center campus, right, on July 22, 2026, in Elk Grove Village. Two of the company’s data centers near O’Hare International Airport were the subject of property tax appeals battles this year brought by the Cook County assessor. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Data centers near O’Hare win nearly $100M in local tax breaks, leaving suburban homeowners to cover the gap

By Alex Nitkin

August 23, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Northwest suburban data centers had nearly $2 billion knocked off their taxable property values, an...

Raphael Espinoza, left, and Skylar Damiano play with their cat, Patch, in the kitchen of their Humboldt Park home on March 6, 2025. For about two and a half years, the two have lived in their newly constructed house, which has been taxed erroneously as a vacant side lot. The assessor's office assured them the property assessment will be updated and that they won't have to pay back taxes. (John J. Kim/baiduhai)

Cook County assessor fixes hundreds of misclassified properties following Tribune-Illinois Answers investigation

By Alex Nitkin

March 16, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Following a Tribune-Illinois Answers Project report, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office is fixing hundreds...

Cristal Moreno Aguilar stands at Augustana College on Oct. 8, 2024, in Rock Island. Aguilar's mother, Reneyda Aguilar-Hurtado, died on June 12, 2023, in DuPage County Jail, after being incarcerated for 85 days. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

DuPage County, sheriff agree to $11 million payout for jail death

By Jonathan Bullington

October 20, 2025 at 11:23 a.m.

Reneyda Aguilar-Hurtado, a 50-year-old mother of two, died in June 2023 after being held in...

A crashed CTA Yellow Line train sits at the Howard Rail Yard in Rogers Park on Nov. 17, 2023. (Talia Sprague/baiduhai)

Tribune files lawsuit against CTA for failing to turn over documents related to 2023 Yellow Line crash, among other FOIA requests

By Robert Channick

February 28, 2025 at 5:26 p.m.

The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, cites six FOIA requests made by a...

The former NorthShore office of Dr. Fabio Ortega in Lincolnwood on Feb.13, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Endeavor Health settles final 23 pending cases involving former gynecologist Dr. Fabio Ortega, accused of sexually abusing patients

By Lisa Schencker

February 19, 2025 at 4:13 p.m.

Endeavor Health has settled the last batch of pending suits filed against it by patients...

The 76-year-old woman sexually assaulted by nurse David Giurgiu in 2018 at Glenbrook Hospital had been taken to the emergency department with a broken femur. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Medical misconduct: Read the investigation on sexual abuse by providers

By Lisa Schencker

February 19, 2025 at 4:12 p.m.

Over the course of a yearlong investigation, the Tribune found that well-known Illinois health systems...

State Rep. LaShawn Ford, left, shown at the Capitol in 2023 with state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, has sponsored a bill that would explicitly prevent school police from ticketing and fining students for misbehavior.(Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Hoping to ‘Trump proof’ students’ rights, Illinois lawmakers aim to end police ticketing at school

By Jodi S. Cohen

February 4, 2025 at 9:06 a.m.

Citing an urgency to protect students’ civil rights in a second Trump administration, Illinois lawmakers...

Richard Monocchio, former executive director of the Housing Authority of Cook County and now a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development official, center right, adjusts his tie before a ceremony to unveil an affordable housing facility for veterans in Chicago Heights on Sept. 13, 2024. (Tess Crowley/baiduhai)

‘Troubled’ Housing Authority of Cook County spent more than $60,000 at Six Flags

By Lizzie Kane

February 10, 2025 at 2:28 p.m.

Hundreds of Housing Authority of Cook County employees and their families went to Six Flags...

A storm rolls in at Ohio Street Beach after a day of the heat index at triple digits on Aug. 27, 2024. (Tess Crowley/baiduhai)

Illinois affected by a record number of billion-dollar climate disasters in 2024, mostly severe storms

By Adriana Pérez

January 20, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

12 events cost the state a total of nearly $4 billion in damages — 9...

Kelvis Sanchez holds his daughter Milagro Sofia Sanchez, 4, while his wife, Yorgelis Rangel, holds their daughter Antonella Sanchez, 2, after waking up in their apartment in Washington Park on Nov. 27, 2024, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

A fragile haven: Venezuelan migrants face violence and uncertainty at Chicago housing complex

By Nell Salzman

January 12, 2025 at 8:25 a.m.

Migrants fleeing violence in Latin America are finding violence and fear of mass deportations under...

World War II veteran Edward Gorski Jr., who died in 1993 of a heart attack, is buried at Elm Lawn Memorial Park in Elmhurst. Gorski survived being hit in the face by shrapnel in Germany during one of the final battles of the war. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Purple Heart medal’s owner identified as ‘a man’s man’ who fought in WWII

By Christy Gutowski

December 29, 2024 at 9:24 a.m.

A WWII veteran's sons hope to give his long-lost Purple Heart medal to his grandson,...