Better Government Association

Seven infants were savagely murdered in Philadelphia by a serial killer, prosecutors say. But no one was there to weep for them, to grieve for the loss of what they might have been or to scream at the brutality. Those innocents were supposed to have been...

Thomas Kritenbrink volunteers about eight to 10 hours a week as an auxiliary deputy for the Will County Sheriff's Department, often pulling traffic and crowd control details. Kritenbrink, 52, who wears a brown uniform and badge, is armed, but by law,...

Former Chicago journalist Chris Hayes is continuing his meteoric rise in the TV pundit world. Today he was named the host of MSNBC's nightly 7-8 p.m. (central time) shift being vacated by Ed Schultz. Hayes, 34, is now the host......

A roundup of state and local news-review and weekly political chat shows. Descriptions provided by the broadcast outlets in most cases: Editorial Roundtable chicagotribune.com: Tribune deputy editorial page editor John McCormick and editorial board member...

How would you rate South Dakota's open records/open government laws? What information do you think should or should not be available?   South Dakota ranked worst among all 50 states for open government in the Chicago-based Better Government...

For those in Cook County who care about the state of our politics — and I’ll offer evidence in a moment to demonstrate how depressingly small your number is — here’s a helpful slogan to remember as you prepare to......

Federal grand jurors have sought records of legislative scholarships handed out by Democratic state Rep. Dan Burke of Chicago, a sign that authorities kept up a probe of the tuition waiver program even as legislators were moving to end it this spring. On...

Where do our lawmakers stand on the issue of legislative scholarships -- those tuition waivers that members of the state house and senate have traditionally been allowed to dispense to constituents? As part of the renewed effort to abolish that......

During a meeting at the Tribune with reporters and members of our editorial board today, Ald. John Arena (45th) observed that the city's parking-meter deal has become a cautionary tale for municipalities around the country looking to privatize different...

A financial battle over millions of taxpayer dollars is brewing in south suburban Country Club Hills between Mayor Dwight Welch and Treasurer Rhonda Williams. She claims on average more than $8 million is unaccounted for in the town’s books and...