The Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center in Benton, Illinois, was called a “facility in crisis” by state auditors last year. (Julia Rendleman for ProPublica)

The Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center abruptly closed on Dec. 31. The judge who ordered the closure said staffing shortages made it difficult to meet state standards for caring for youth in custody.

A handgun is pictured in a file photo. (Brett Hondow / Pixabay)

The story of one Indiana store demonstrates how the more than 60,000 gun retailers in America have little financial incentive to say no to questionable buyers and face limited penalties for failing to prevent illegal transactions.

Members of the Supreme Court sit for a new group portrait following the addition of Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, File)
,

The policy, agreed to by all nine justices, does not appear to impose any significant new requirements on them, and, indeed, they said in an unsigned statement that they have long adhered to ethics standards.

A 2022 state audit identified the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center in Benton, Illinois, as a “facility in crisis.” (Julia Rendleman for ProPublica)

State audits point to troubling conditions in juvenile detention centers, but no agency has strong enough oversight to bring about change.

Illinois DCFS Director Marc Smith appears on “Chicago Tonight” in 2019. (WTTW News)

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith will resign effective Dec. 31, he told colleagues in an all-staff town hall meeting Wednesday morning.

(Illustration by ProPublica. Source images: Whitney Curtis for ProPublica and Equip for Equality Report.)

A new report by an advocacy agency details how abuse and neglect at Choate have continued despite calls for and promises of reform.

The department’s about-face on Choate’s top leader follows months of reporting on poor conditions at the facility by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises Midwest and ProPublica.

Jeremiah Johnson and his mother, Lamira Samson, climb over a parked freight train on their way to school. (Courtesy of ProPublica)
,

It’s the stuff of nightmares for parents: children crawling under and over idling trains in order to get to school on the other side. Two ProPublica journalists spent months reporting on railroad safety and the kids who are risking life and limb to go to school.

Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, conservative activist Ginni Thomas, accepted several luxury trips paid for by GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. (CNN)

The report of the connection between Thomas and conservative businessman Harlan Crow is already adding to calls that Congress investigate potential ethical lapses. Key Senate Democrats were previously mulling using this year’s funding legislation for the Supreme Court to pressure the justices to adopt some sort of ethics code.

Roseland Hospital. (WTTW News)
,

Under the leadership of CEO Tim Egan, Chicago’s Roseland Community Hospital has awarded business to his friends and acquaintances, employees have donated to his political funds and he has appeared in a campaign ad for the state’s comptroller.

Melichsia Boss, holding a photograph of her father, Wilford. (Akilah Townsend for ProPublica)

Roseland Community Hospital promises the “best quality care” for Chicago’s South Side, but a whistleblower complaint and a rash of fatalities, lawsuits and negative federal inspection reports suggest the situation had become dire during COVID-19. 

A rendering of the planned Chicago Fire Club practice facility on former Chicago Housing Authority land. (Courtesy of Chicago Department of Planning and Development.)
,

The Chicago Fire’s plan is set to transform the vacant Near West Side property into practice soccer fields and a training and administrative building. The empty land was part of the massive CHA complex known as the Addams-Brooks-Loomis-Abbott homes. 

(Patrick Leger, special to ProPublica)
,

More than 30,000 people wait for homes from the Chicago Housing Authority. Meanwhile, a site that’s gone undeveloped for two decades is set to become a Chicago Fire practice facility.

When thousands of families were forced to move out of the ABLA Homes public housing complex two decades ago, leaders promised they would be able to come back to new housing. Now, after building less than a third of the promised new units, officials are moving to redevelop the largest plot of empty land at ABLA — but not for housing.

A patient on renal dialysis Feb. 26, 2021. (Mishu57 / Wikimedia Commons)

A new report from ProPublica Illinois details the catastrophic loss of dialysis patients during the pandemic. Reporter Duaa Eldeib joins “Chicago Tonight” to discuss her findings 

In 2019, ProPublica Illinois reported that the state’s child welfare agency was failing to serve Spanish-speaking families by not offering Spanish-speaking caseworkers and placing children into homes where Spanish wasn’t spoken. (WTTW News)

A new report says Illinois’ child welfare agency is failing to serve Spanish-speaking children and families in their language. ProPublica Illinois reporter Melissa Sanchez has details.

(Steve Buissinne / Pixabay)

A trove of leaked IRS tax returns analyzed by ProPublica reveals America’s richest billionaires — including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — often pay little to no income tax.

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2019, file photo, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks during his news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. (AP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
,

Overall, the richest 25 Americans pay less in tax — an average of 15.8% of adjusted gross income — than many ordinary workers do, once you include taxes for Social Security and Medicare, ProPublica found.