DAN MIHALOPOULOS
Dan Mihalopoulos, who covered City Hall for the Chicago Tribune from 2003 to 2009, continues to work that beat at the Chicago News Cooperative.
Reporting on the administration of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Dan has uncovered corruption and exposed how money and power often work against the public interest. He was a lead reporter on the Tribune’s 2008 “Neighborhoods for Sale” series, which won the Chicago Headline Club’s Watchdog Award and was a finalist for national awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the American Society of News Editors. His coverage of the political hiring fraud in the Daley administration culminated in the corruption trials of the mayor’s patronage chief and Streets and Sanitation commissioner.
Dan also covered the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and the arrest of the Brown’s Chicken murderers in Palatine, Ill. Before joining the Tribune, he was a metropolitan reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1996 to 1999.
Recent Contributions
by DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Feb 24, 2012
In her windowless office behind the City Council chamber, Christina Pacheco Butler displays a black nightstick presented to her when she became the council’s sergeant at arms nine years ago. Butler pointed out that the gift is standard police issue. “There is lead in the tip,” warned Butler, a 60-year-old grandmother who has walked gingerly
by DAN MIHALOPOULOS and KRISTEN McQUEARY | Feb 23, 2012
After decades of defending political patronage and boasting of back-room deals, Cook County Commissioner William Beavers (D-Chicago) on Thursday joined the long list of local elected officials who have faced federal corruption charges. Moments after federal authorities announced allegations against him, the ever-quotable Beavers professed his innocence and said he was being punished for refusing
by HUNTER CLAUSS and DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Feb 17, 2012
FIRE ALARM Mayor Rahm Emanuel appointed Jose Santiago as his new fire commissioner, a move that could be the precursor to major changes as contracts for firefighters are set to expire this summer. While retiring commish Robert Hoff was staunchly opposed to altering the city’s contractual obligation to staff each crew with five firefighters, Santiago
by HUNTER CLAUSS and DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Feb 16, 2012
In his first public comments on the matter, Ald. Edward Burke (14th Ward) declined to make a case Thursday for his new proposal aimed at regulating crowd behavior at City Council meetings. At Wednesday’s council meeting, Burke and three other influential aldermen had quietly introduced a measure that would ban spectators from displaying signs or engaging in any
by HUNTER CLAUSS and DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Feb 16, 2012
Ahead of this spring’s NATO and G8 summits, four influential aldermen on Wednesday proposed prohibiting audience members from waving signs or engaging in any “demonstration of approval or disapproval” during City Council meetings. Under the proposal, the banned conduct in the council chambers would include — but would not be limited to — “cheering, yelling,
by DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Feb 16, 2012
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s appointment Thursday of a new fire commissioner could be the precursor for major changes in Chicago’s fire department, which so far has been untouched by the budget cuts that have affected departments in other major cities. The retiring fire commissioner, Robert Hoff, was a strident opponent of altering the city’s contractual obligation
by HUNTER CLAUSS and DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Jan 30, 2012
DIRE SHAPE The state’s fiscal health could go from bad to worse, according to a new report from the Civic Federation. The group’s president, Laurence Msall, called for “significant, drastic action” in the face of rising pension and medical costs for the poor and uninsured. http://bit.ly/wHViEf STATE OF THE STATE Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to
by HUNTER CLAUSS and DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Jan 27, 2012
SOMETHING IN THE WATER? Cook County employees called in sick almost twice as often as the national average for state and local government workers. The department with the highest rate of sick leave was the county assessor’s office, where employees took leave for more than 8 hours every month, compared to the national average of
by DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Jan 20, 2012
After shutting down library branches on Mondays earlier this month, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Saturday that he planned to re-open them on Monday afternoons for most of the year and all day on Mondays when schools are not in session. Emanuel had blamed the closures on the city’s budget woes and an impasse with the
by HUNTER CLAUSS and DAN MIHALOPOULOS | Jan 19, 2012
CIVIL OBEDIENCE A wide majority of aldermen approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plans to tighten rules on protests, granted him greater authority to award contracts during the NATO and G8 summits, and allowed police to deputize officers from other cities. Protesters demonstrated outside the council chambers during the votes, and one participant was arrested after allegedly
