Our Impact

Recent Investigations and Impact Include:

Subprime Mortgages. We broke the story that the Chicago region leads the nation in high-interest loans. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan praised our research, and the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus used our data to appeal to Gov. Rod Blagojevich to sign legislation that tackles predatory lending.

Children of the Incarcerated. Our stories became a catalyst for state lawmakers to pledge to hold hearings on this population, which, without intervention, is far more likely to end up in prison. The Illinois Department of Human Services used our data to apply for a $1.5 million federal grant to provide individual mentors for 1,800 children of inmates in two city neighborhoods.

Investigations of wrongdoing in City of Chicago hiring practices. Longtime employee Frank Coconate, who was fired from his job with the water department, used a Reporter article as the cornerstone of his case after filing a lawsuit. In his testimony he read an excerpt, where he said there was a master sheet of which workers were "in" or "out." He plans to continue to use the article if the case moves to federal court.

Barriers for legal immigrants. Unsuspecting Argentinian Ricardo Viesaga never expected to earn just 51 cents an hourwhen he applied for a restaurant’s help-wanted ad. After leaving what he called slave-like conditions, Viesaga waited in vain to receive a visa allowing him to work legally. Six years later, our story on the growth of human trafficking within our borders prompted new attention for his case, and his visa was approved. As he put it, “I think they acted on fear of bad press: Why else would they have offered to have three lawyers give their services to me?"

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