Gov't Finance & Accountability reporter, @IllinoisAnswers/@BetterGov. Formerly of @thedailylinechi, @trdchicago & @DNAinfoChi. Tips: Anitkin@bettergov.org
Joined June 2009
- Tweets 18,240
- Following 929
- Followers 5,512
- Likes 3,699
3,159 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
18 Nov 2025
Dec. 2.
Come by to learn more about our work, and how you can support it!
illinoisanswers.org/event/ho…
1
1
839
Alex Nitkin retweeted
man, who should we believe: someone who's virtually never gotten along with her colleagues in a true newsroom and was previously accused of being a terrible manager at their previous stop, or the multi-Emmy-Peabody-Polk award winner beloved by his co-workers?
73
608
3,970
117,335
Alex Nitkin retweeted
Something I’ve never seen before in #Chicago- cruise ship pulled right up to lakefront trail @navypier. Find out what else has been happening locally this week from @bpopetv @vimiller @alexnitkin & @sashaannsimons @wbezintheloop 📻 @wbez wbez.org/in-the-loop-with-sa…
2
4
11
4,011
May 27
New from me: an under-the-radar bill pending in Springfield would beef up rules designed to push wealthy Illinois suburbs to allow more affordable housing.
Here's what HB5198 would do, and where it stands:
(1/7)
1
5
10
1,432
May 27
Many suburban mayors are opposed. Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso told me his constituents need to be able to "say what they want and don’t want in their communities — that’s why they moved here.”
The average home in Burr Ridge costs $700K .
(6/7)
1
2
5
1,338
May 27
HB5198 passed the House last month and has picked up some powerful sponsors in the Senate, but it has yet to clear a committee vote in that chamber as time runs out on the session.
Read our full story here:
illinoisanswers.org/2026/05/…
(7/7)
1
4
297
Alex Nitkin retweeted
Apr 27
Months After Late Property Tax Bills, Thousands Are Still Waiting With No Resolution in Sight. by @ad_quig @chicagotribune and @AlexNitkin @IllinoisAnswers illinoisanswers.org/2026/04/…
1
1
277
Apr 21
Watchdog finds the City Council's in-house financial research body hasn't been living up to its mandate to provide reliable, independent counsel — even as it's added some more members in recent years.
Context from our story last year on @ChicagoCOFA:
illinoisanswers.org/2025/05/…
OIG finds @ChicagoCOFA provided limited assistance to City Council in budget planning and decision making.
🔗 igchicago.org/publications/c…
2
4
1,751
Apr 1
Damn. Definitely never heard the head of a sister agency speak this way about a sitting mayor:
(Context from @jus10chi:
chicagobusiness.com/politics…)
5
21
77
14,609
Alex Nitkin retweeted
Mar 24
Hearing on the CTA’s motion for a TRO in its Red Line Extension case against the feds is today at 10am. From court filings: “A city’s infrastructure is its lifeblood; it is what makes a city a city”
2
6
23
2,812
Mar 18
New: Chicago officials have for years resisted calls to mandate proactive apartment safety inspections, even as renters keep dying in preventable fires.
The City Council just passed an ordinance directing departments to study the idea in earnest:
illinoisanswers.org/2026/03/…
5
4
955
Alex Nitkin retweeted
Jan 28
After more than three decades in network news, I find this @bariweiss direction a massive misunderstanding of the TV audience. Paid opinion is ubiquitous. Real reporting is precious.
30
119
745
108,517
Alex Nitkin retweeted
Jan 6
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting may be gone, but the mission it fueled lives on at the @NewsHour : free, fair, independent journalism for all -- without paywalls or partisan pressure.
If that work matters to you, help us keep it going. Support our work by donating here: give.newshour.org/page/80037…
Jan 5
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been dissolved, ending its 58 years as the primary funder for PBS, NPR and local TV and radio stations huffpost.com/entry/latest-ne…
12
337
750
58,232
8 Dec 2025
I'm sure no one wants to hear this right now, but worth keeping in mind:
Any meeting of more than 12 alders that isn't open to the public is a violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act
7 Dec 2025
A three hour weekend meeting between Alders and Mayor didn't yield much... this email from Ald Samantha Nugent to other proponents of the "alternative budget" indicates they will go forward with budget votes of their own this week... as the two sides engage in a congress-like spending standoff:
3
15
107
14,094
4 Dec 2025
Context on this practice, before anyone thinks Council staffers are getting $200K bonuses...
illinoisanswers.org/2025/04/…
3 Dec 2025
It's happening again...
🎅 Christmas bonus season for aldermanic staff! 🎅
3
1
3
2,170
2 Dec 2025
New from me: budget hawks have called on @ChicagosMayor to cut ARPA-funded programs before considering any new taxes. But it's been hard to nail down the exact price tag of federal programs the mayor wants to keep.
After six weeks of reporting, we found the number: about $33M.
With a $1.2B deficit looming, Johnson defends pandemic-era programs he says helped cut crime. Much of City Council remains skeptical.
From @AlexNitkin: illinoisanswers.org/2025/12/…
1
1
393
2 Dec 2025
Budget officials said they conducted a "sustainability analysis" for whether each ARPA-funded program should be preserved.
So we FOIA'd for that analysis. After more than a month of delays, they finally delivered last night, and almost every page looks like this:
ALT A header saying "Youth Opportunity Programs" above a black rectangle taking up the entire rest of the page
1
1
222
2 Dec 2025
Anecdotal evidence abounds to support these programs. No allegations of waste or fraud. But the city's impulse to hide from Qs like "what's your evidence for sustaining youth employment" is feeding its trust deficit w/ City Council as they strain to pass a budget by 12/31.
/END
193