CHICAGO — The Chicago Tribune is suing the Chicago Transit Authority over the CTA’s alleged failure to fulfill requests under the Freedom of Information Act, the newspaper reported Saturday.
The Tribune reports the suit filed Friday, Feb. 28, in Cook County Circuit Court, cites six instances where the CTA did not respond promptly, fully, or at all to requests regarding matters including the Nov. 16, 2023, collision between a Yellow Line train and snow-removal equipment [see “NTSB report says wheel slide led to collision …,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 5, 2025]. Other requests involved overtime spending and use of agency vehicles by CTA officials.
Under Illinois’ FOIA act, agencies have up to 10 days to respond to, deny, or seek an extension to compile records. The newspaper says the CTA took almost seven months to partially respond to one request and never turned over some promised information. The Tribune says the CTA has been sued five times in the last year over failure to comply with FOIA requests, including one from the Chicago Sun-Times.
