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Illinois Newsletter

Dive Deeper Into Our Reporting

Each of our email newsletters are written by a ProPublica Illinois journalist, and we also republish each edition here online. One week, you may get a reporter’s take on what’s left out of a recent story. Another week, maybe you’ll read a Q&A between a reporter and a source on a particular topic. Sometimes, we may ask you to weigh in on a specific topic or issue. Your input can help fill gaps in our reporting, as well as shape what we cover and how we cover it. Regardless, it’s unlikely you’ll ever get a lonely, skeletal feed of headlines in your inbox. We’re all people here.

Check out the archive of newsletters on this page. If you really like something we’re doing on here — or really don’t — or if you have ideas that can help shape our newsletter, let us know. We’re all ears.

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124 stories published since 2017

Takeaways From Our First Free Street Theater Journalism Workshop

Seeing Journalism Make a Difference in Election Results

Getting to Know Illinois — And You

We’ve Updated Our Campaign Widget to Better Help You Follow the Money

She Owed $102,158.40 in Unpaid Tickets, but She’s Not in the Story

Bringing Theater and Investigative Reporters to You

How We Made Our Illinois Governor’s Campaign Finance Widget

We’re Going to Toulon

Sometimes, Impact Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be

A Chicago Cop’s Facebook Posts and a City’s Struggle With Racism

Watchdogging a Nonprofit Watchdog

Help Us Figure Out Where in Illinois to Take Our Theater-Journalism Project

How Does Journalism Work? Ask Us Questions. We Can Explain.

Calculating the Work Behind Our Work

Highlights From Our ‘Mediathing’ List So Far

Molly Parker on Growing Up in Southern Illinois

I Spent Years Reporting on Chicago’s Property Tax System. Here’s What Got Me Out of the Weeds.

Let’s Make a List of Useful ‘Mediathings’ in Illinois

I’ve Been Interviewing ProPublica Illinois Reporters. Here’s What I’ve Learned.

Journalism Made Possible Because of the Freedom of Information Act

Returning to the Scene of a Trauma

Downstate-of-Mind: Your Responses to Defining ‘Downstate’ Illinois

A Story From the Saline County Jail

Defining ‘Downstate’ Illinois

What We’re Watching

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.

Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

Photo of Sharon Lerner
Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

Photo of Andy Kroll
Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

Photo of Melissa Sanchez
Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

Photo of Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn

I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.

If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.

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    A Racist Harvard Scientist Commissioned Photos of Enslaved People. One Possible Descendant Wants to Reclaim Their Story.

    The images are among the oldest known photographs of enslaved people in America. Tamara Lanier’s fight to gain control of them shows there is no clear system in place to repatriate remains of captive Africans or objects associated with them.

    Federal Judge Deems Trump Administration’s Termination of NIH Grants Illegal

    In a ruling issued Monday, the judge called the government’s directives “arbitrary and capricious” and ordered funding for some of the NIH grants, including many profiled by ProPublica in recent months, to be restored.