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Aldermen voted against Ald. Daniel La Spata's proposal for helping low-income residents with water bills, while a competing proposal from Mayor Lori Lightfoot remains bottled up in a separate committee.
Hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans with unmetered accounts pay inflated bills – and you can't get a meter for a fair bill until you get a non-lead service line.
Rodney Andrews — a Vietnam Veteran, a Chicago cabbie, and our main protagonist — was among those "Getting Hosed" by the City until we fixed his water bill. Then, out of the blue, the City had his garage bulldozed.
The pastor of a Pilsen church says he feels like he's getting hosed - with an $11,000 water bill. And he's not alone.
Over the years, viewers have reached out to the CBS 2 Investigators concerned about the high levels of lead in their drinking water.
For our latest Getting Hosed expose, the CBS 2 Investigators dug into issues with vacant, unmetered properties and the regressive billing policies that lead to inflated water bills.
"I just think that this is municipal property. I can't see it any other way," said Christine Wehrle, who disputes that she should have to pay for the repairs.
The bill for her Southside six-flat is now nearly $60,000 — for water that was never used. In fact, the building has been boarded up and vacant since her last tenant moved out in 2018.
It's Earth Day. Here at CBS 2, we take water seriously: from lakes and rivers to pipes and bills.
Chicago's "Getting Hosed." Again. In our exposé of the City's bad water billing system, we've asked over and over -- why hasn't anything been done to fix it?
For years, the CBS 2 Investigators have exposed baffling gaffes in the bureaucracy that is the Chicago Department of Water Management: big, bad bills. By bad, we mean wrong.
"Getting Hosed" - our exposé into a bungled Chicago Water Department bureaucracy - has won multiple awards. However, it hasn't fixed a broken system. So, we'll keep reporting.
After Mayor Lori Lightfoot recently announced a plan to resume meter installations, we looked into the City program and discovered how ineffective it will be -- especially for one Chicagoan getting hosed.
Camella Batten is retired, she's fought cancer, and she's scared of COVID-19. But her biggest obstacle? The City of Chicago.
"My lawyer called me and said, 'You owe $61,000,'" Hamza Alkamel said. "I was stunned. I'm like, what?"
Over the last year, Chicagoans have reached out to CBS 2 Investigators for help with inexplicable water bills.
Mr. Andrews has witnessed the horrors of war. Yet, he said his fight with the city has been more difficult than the one he survived in Vietnam.
Chicago's water billing system has long baffled customers. Now, the city's inexplicable method for calculating water bills has even stumped CBS 2 Investigators.
Rodney Andrews wants to unpack his boxed-up life. There is just one catch – he's one of the many people getting hosed by Chicago's Water Department.
One woman has a water bill of more than $8,000, even though she hasn't used a drop.
The CBS 2 investigators stay on the water beat. In the latest case, Chicago's water department cut one man's $9.000 water bill in half. Great. Right? Well, not really.
The city's Water Department has a long history of slapping people with wrong bills. This time, it's because the agency was incapable of simple subtraction.
In her 2020 budget, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the new Utility Billing Relief Program for people with outstanding water bills. But it won't help some Chicago water customers who have gotten hosed.
Spencer Leak Jr., vice president of the renowned Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, has died, family confirmed.
An ice cream shop in Plainfield, Illinois, has launched an anti-bullying campaign after an incident with a customer.
One person was killed in a crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway early Sunday morning.
The group working to restore and preserve the historic Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago in the South Loop is celebrating a milestone this week.
Dennis Hull, a hockey pro who spent 13 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, died late last week.
Sunday night is the deadline before the spring session ends for the Illinois General Assembly. Legislators need to get the votes required to pass the so-called "megaprojects bill" and get it to Gov. JB Pritzker's desk.
The clock is ticking in Springfield on legislation that could determine where the Bears build a new stadium, with state lawmakers facing a Sunday night deadline to pass a deal before the end of their spring session.
A judge blocked the Kennedy Center from closing its doors during renovations, and ruled that its board acted unlawfully by adding President Trump's name to the building. The president reacted by saying he wants Congress to take it over.
Owners of electric bikes, scooters and other modes of transportation could soon be subject to new regulations under a bill moving forward in the Statehouse.
The Justice Department announced the $1.7 billion fund as part of a settlement of a civil lawsuit President Trump brought against the IRS.
A new study from the Cook County Treasurer's office underlines growing concerns about the impact the Illinois megaprojects bill could have on the county's property tax base and overall fiscal health.
As thousands of Chicagoans wrap up road trips over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, gas prices in the city have reached the highest levels seen in four years.
Consumer and environmental advocates said Monday that they found overcharges buried in the most recent rate-hike request by Nicor.
One week away from Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of the summer travel season, with gas prices remaining high, negotiations were set to resume Monday at the largest oil refinery in the Midwest.
Chatham residents say they're losing a vital resource as Walgreen's prepares to close its store near 86th and Cottage Grove.
The Centennial Park Aquatic Center in the southwest Chicago suburb of Orland Park has been closed to the public after two recent cases of E. coli infection.
Menopause can feel like a major turning point for millions of women, with symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, and brain fog can make women feel like their bodies aren't their own.
The head of the World Health Organization says Ebola has killed at least 7 people in Congo, but the U.N. agency says it knows the epidemic "is much larger."
A person suspected of having hantavirus in Winnebago County, Illinois, turned out to be a false alarm, officials said Monday.
The DuPage County Health Department has confirmed its first positive tests for West Nile virus in pools of mosquitoes this year.
The owners of Gene & Georgetti steakhouse are suing a concessions operator over their expansion at Midway International Airport.
DraftKings announced Monday that it is closing its sportsbook operation at Wrigley Field after only about two years.
After more than 80 years, there will be no Ann Sather restaurant location in the 900 block of West Belmont Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview community, effective in June.
Flight attendants at Chicago-based United Airlines have approved a new labor contract, marking their first pay increases in six years.
The Chicago Fire FC announced Wednesday morning that its new stadium in the South Loop will be named McDonald's Park.
President Trump said he is considering replacing the Freedom 250 concert series with a rally after many artists dropped out.
Sonny Rollins, the legendary tenor saxophonist known for his bold tone and constant experimentation, has died at 95.
Former CBS Chicago anchorman Bill Kurtis has signed off from his role as the judge and scorekeeper on the NPR weekly news quiz show "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!"
Pop star Britney Spears said she was "totally fine" to drive and had not had a drink for about six hours when she was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol.
After nearly a century on the air, CBS News Radio signed off, with the final reports airing on Friday, May 22.
An ice cream shop in Plainfield, Illinois, has launched an anti-bullying campaign after an incident with a customer.
A deal with Iran could extend a ceasefire and open the Strait of Hormuz. Wendy Gillette reports.
The group working to restore and preserve the historic Second Presbyterian Church of Chicago in the South Loop is celebrating a milestone this week.
Marissa Perlman has a photo of when found herself up against a massive egg white omelet this weekend, and Mary Kay Kleist shows us an overhead shot of Chicago from CBS News Chicago photographer Scott Wilson.
Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist has your 7 a.m. First Alert Weather forecast for Sunday, May 31, 2026.
Sunday night is the deadline before the spring session ends for the Illinois General Assembly. Legislators need to get the votes required to pass the so-called "megaprojects bill."
The Centennial Park Aquatic Center in the southwest Chicago suburb of Orland Park has been closed to the public after two recent cases of E. coli infection.
A car hit and killed a pedestrian on the Eisenhower Expressway on Chicago's West Side early Sunday morning.
Spencer Leak Jr., vice president of the renowned Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, has died, family confirmed.
An ice cream shop in Plainfield, Illinois, has launched an anti-bullying campaign after an incident with a customer.
A long stay in the neonatal intensive care unit can be one of the most difficult journeys a parent can face, but starting next week, Illinois becomes only the second state in the nation to offer NICU-specific leave for moms and dads.
Chicago has the largest air quality monitoring network in the country thanks to a partnership between the city, the University of Illinois Chicago, and local community groups.
An Indiana State Police trooper was shot, and a suspect was killed during a shootout with officers during a traffic stop on I-80/94 in Hammond, Indiana.
Data centers popping up all over Illinois are sucking up millions of gallons of water a day, at a pace that the state can't keep up with. But experts say tapping into wastewater resources would steer the state in a new and much safer direction.
Many Metra riders with disabilities have been forced to reroute their trips due to Monday's closure of the only elevator providing access to the Electric Line at Millennium Station in downtown Chicago.
Dennis Hull, a hockey pro who spent 13 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, died late last week.
The Cubs finished with 12 hits while winning for the third time in four games.
Chicago White Sox topped the Detroit Tigers 7-1 on Saturday without injured slugger Munetaka Murakami.
Miguel Vargas hit a two-run homer with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Chicago White Sox a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
Nia Coffey scored 20 points and made six 3-pointers, rookie Olivia Miles had 17 points, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Chicago Sky 79-58.
Ian Roberts, who led Des Moines Public Schools, is likely to be deported to his native Guyana once he serves a 2-year federal prison sentence for citizenship fraud and illegal firearms possession.
New DNA technology helped secure the arrest of a man accused in the brutal murder of a woman in downstate Illinois more than 30 years ago.
Thieves crashed a sport-utility vehicle into a convenience store in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood early Wednesday.
Chicago police were investigating Wednesday morning after thieves broke into a corner store in the city's Hermosa neighborhood.
A person of interest was in police custody early Wednesday morning in connection with a shooting that killed a teenage boy and critically wounded two men in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood.
