BELLWOOD, ILLINOIS -- In a shocking and sad development, Bellwood Public Library Director Jacqueline Spratt announced her resignation (effective April 6th). Spratt has been a tenacious advocate for fiscal responsibility and government accountability during her 4-year tenure as Bellwood's director. (She has worked at the Bellwood Public...
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA Actress Olivia DeHavilland -- a woman as famous for her decades-long bitter feud with her own sister Joan Fontaine as much as for her award-winning roles in films such as Gone with the Wind -- has lost the cockamamie SLAPP-style lawsuit that she filed last...
ORLAND PARK, ILLINOIS According to credit card authorization forms produced pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, Orland Park Public Library (OPPL) Director Mary Weimar recently used public library funds to buy "treats" for Village of Orland Park public workers who plowed snow in...
[caption id="attachment_42424" align="alignnone" width="255"] Village Manager Joe LaMargo, dancing at a previous year's Village of Orland Park public employee "holiday party."[/caption] ORLAND PARK, ILLINOIS (ECWd) - The Village of Orland Park is something of a modern-day Peyton Place for watchdogs and observers of bad behavior by public...
TINLEY PARK, ILLINOIS -- In the latest update to an ongoing legal saga that began in 2016, disgraced former Tinley Park Planning Director Amy Connolly has now lost her motion to dismiss in the matter of a federal lawsuit filed against her by her former employer...
WHEELING, ILLINOIS --(ECWd) - On October 16th, the Village of Wheeling and its attorney, James V. Ferolo of the law firm Klein Thorpe Jenkins ("KTJ"), were confronted with a rundown of what we believe are their recent spree of Open Meetings Act (OMA) violations. The Village...
WHEELING, ILLINOIS - (ECWd) - Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's Public Access Office (PAC) informed the Village of Wheeling on Friday, October 13th that an inquiry has been opened and "further action is warranted" by the PAC office concerning what we believe were egregious violations of...
WHEELING, ILLINOIS -- (ECWd) In recent months, the Village of Wheeling and its attorney James V. Ferolo (of the notorious law firm Klein Thorpe Jenkins) have embarrassed themselves by insisting that they can restrict the content of public comment during open public meetings and interrupt speakers...
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH - (ECWd) - As an update to my previous analysis of the horrific (and likely unconstitutional) behavior of Salt Lake City police officer Jeff Payne and his July 2017 body-cam-recorded physical assault on University of Utah Burn Unit nurse Alex Wubbels, Salt...
TINLEY PARK, ILLINOIS - (ECWd) - An interesting development has occurred in the Village of Tinley Park with Trustee Mike "The Excavator" Glotz and Village Clerk Kristin Thirion publicly distancing themselves from Mayor Jacob "Jake" Vandenberg and his political party, Concerned Citizens for Tinley Park. Glotz and...
