BLOOMINGTON, IL. (ECWd) - Bloomington Illinois' Mayor Tari Renner took another vacation, I mean took another "business trip" to Bloomington's Japan Sister City. It is our understanding he is in Japan as we are typing this article. Diane Benjamin at BLNNEWS.com wrote about the bills and payroll last...
Illinois (ECWd) - When we fail to address violations of law by public officials at the local level, it festers and desensitizes us to the importance of our laws. Those officials who are allowed to get away with breaking our laws move up the chain to...
Orland Park, Illinois (ECWd) A recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Orland Park Public Library (OPPL) yielded a PDF of food and beverage receipts in which this public body chose to improperly redact non-exempt information such as the names of the employees either making...
SPRINGFIELD, IL. (ECWd) - In a scathing OEIG Report, it was revealed that Department of Children and Family Services Director George Sheldon: had improperly hired a "consultant", Igor Anderson, made improper payments to him out of his personal accounts, consultant lacked any substantive work product, admitted...
DeKalb, IL. (ECWd) - PRESS RELEASE: "There has been a Temporary Restraining Order filed against the Northern Illinois University's Board of Trustees by Misty Haji-Sheikh. She alleges that on June 15, 2017 the Board of Trustees took final action against President Douglas Baker that was invalid regarding...
CHICAGO, IL. (ECWd) - After researching some of the grants issued by the Illinois Arts Council ("IAC") during times when they did not conduct any public meetings, I came across one grant in particular in which I felt was somewhat questionable. In 2015, the IAC approved several...
[caption id="attachment_37726" align="alignnone" width="115"] Orland Park Public Library Director Mary Weimar[/caption] Orland Park, Illinois The Orland Park Public Library is at it again, seemingly having learned nothing after being sued in 2014 for multitudinous violations of both the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Open Meetings...
Vermilion Co., IL. (ECWd)- For years we have said we must fix things at the local level before we can ever expect to fix anything at the state level. That is because it is the local public officials who end up becoming State Representatives. If they can't...
WHEELING, IL. (ECWd) - The Village of Wheeling, Illinois received my request for public records, which included a request for surveillance video over a 3-day time-frame: "I request video surveillance from the first floor lobby of Village Hall or from any other first floor surveillance camera, regardless...
LaSalle Co. (ECWd) - LaSalle Police Officer James Strand is no longer a Police Officer for the City of LaSalle. He tendered his resignation letter on July 10th, 2017. In October of last year, we ran the No Sex, only Kissing story that related to Officer Strand...
