Bennett Haeberle

Chicago

Investigative Reporter at WMAQ-TV (Chicago, IL)

Investigative Reporter @nbcchicago. National Headliner, Emmy and Murrow award winning journalist. Husband and father. KY native. Indiana University alum.

Articles

21 empty school buildings sit abandoned in Chicago and cost the city millions

1 week ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle
How 21 empty school buildings are costing the city of Chicago millions

1 week ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle
Why 21 empty school buildings are costing Chicagoans millions

1 week ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle |Nathan Halder |Rich Moy |Katy Smyser

When the Chicago Board of Education made the decision to close 50 public schools in 2013, it set a goal to sell or tear down all the closed buildings by 2017. But today, 21 of the 50 abandoned buildings remain -- proverbial beached whales in the middle of often-struggling residential communities -- on Chicago’s West and South Sides. Several of the schools are deteriorating and often vandalized, with no real future in sight.
Former Illinois governor George Ryan dies Friday

1 week ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle
Money for Nothing: What's up with Chicago's Superstation to Nowhere?

2 weeks ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Bennett Haeberle |Nathan Halder |Rich Moy |Katy Smyser

David Greising, president of the Better Government Association, is a former Chicago newspaper reporter who once ventured below ground to see the structure. “Have you ever been to a cavern?” Greising. said. “There are not stalagmites and stalactites, but it has the feeling of spelunking.
Money for Nothing: What's up with Chicago's Superstation to Nowhere?

2 weeks ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle |Nathan Halder |Rich Moy |Katy Smyser

Next time you’re walking through Chicago’s Loop, make your way over to the corner of Randolph and State Streets. If you look up, you’ll see a high-rise that houses both apartments and retail stores, called “Block 37.”Now look down. If somehow you could see through the sidewalk below, you would see that you’re standing atop a vast underground government structure, which is roughly the size of a football field.
EXCLUSIVE: Vacant lot once eyed for migrants will cost taxpayers $1.8 million

1 month ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle

CHICAGO – The City of Chicago will pay the owners of a vacant lot in Brighton Park more than $816,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleged the city failed to make monthly lease payments for the use of the land – that was once eyed as a place to house up to 2,000 migrants in winterized tents.
Prosecutors to drop bribery charges against Solis

1 month ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle
Prosecutors make highly-anticipated move to drop charges against Solis

1 month ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle

Federal prosecutors have made good on their much-anticipated promise to drop a federal bribery charge against former alderman Danny Solis- who for years has cooperated as a key witness in federal corruption trials against other Illinois politicians. The dismissal of the bribery charges comes as part of a years-old deferred prosecution agreement between Solis and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Damaging earthquake hits Myanmar and Thailand

1 month ago | nbcchicago.com | Bennett Haeberle