Joe Mahr

Joe Mahr is an investigative reporter who has written about topics ranging from government corruption and court mismanagement to lax policing efforts and questionable lottery tactics. An Ohio University graduate, Mahr joined the Tribune in 2009. He was on a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 and on another that was a finalist in 2015.

Passengers enter and exit a train under surveillance cameras at the CTA Jackson Blue Line station in Chicago on Aug. 28, 2024. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

CTA boosted security spending, but violent crime rate remains above pre-pandemic levels

September 8, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

The Blue Line killings highlighted the challenges of tackling violent crime rates on the sprawling transit system.

Dominique Ward sits outside courtrooms in the Daley Center on July 3, 2024, in Chicago. In the past, Ward has come to court to try and stop the electronic harassment by her children's father, Micah Berkley. Berkley was recently arrested on fraud charges in Florida. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

He boasted on social media about paying strangers to take pictures of his children and ex-partner. Now he’s under arrest.

September 4, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

A former Chicago resident who publicly boasted about paying social media followers to take pictures of his children and ex-partner in violation of a restraining order was arrested on fraud...

A Favorite Staffing manager, center, holds a clipboard while talking with migrants as they load belongings onto a bus outside the 6th District police station before being taken to a shelter on Dec. 13, 2023, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Controversial staffing firm to remain in Chicago migrant shelters: ‘Right now, Favorite is our solution’

August 5, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

With the two-year mark of Chicago's asylum seeker crisis this month, the vendor Favorite Healthcare Staffing has billed over a quarter-billion dollars for running operations at the shelters, and is...

Dominique Ward, right, speaks with Ald. Nicole Lee, 11th, July 11, 2024, after a news conference about the years of electronic harassment by her ex-boyfriend. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Alderman wants explanation for low arrest rates on cyberstalking, electronic harassment complaints

July 14, 2024 at 5:00 a.m.

Responding to Tribune investigation of Chicago case, advocates, official call on CPD, Facebook to take electronic harassment more seriously

Karina Fuentes, of Venezuela, stands near the backyard of her home in Chicago's New City neighborhood on June 14, 2024. When Fuentes toured it with her new caseworker, there was no heat or hot water, emails show. A valve in the basement was leaking and the shower faucet wasn’t installed. She had to wait several more weeks in their shelter hotel room before the family could move in. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

A migrant family felt ‘blessed’ to be picked for a state rental program. They were given units that seemed unlivable — with a difficult choice.

July 7, 2024 at 7:28 a.m.

Over an 18-month span through June, the state would pay more than $50 million to cover the rent of more than 6,000 families and, in the end, ask dozens of...

Dominique Ward and her children have been tracked and had their pictures taken by her ex-boyfriend's social media followers, July 3, 2024. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

‘I want her to worry about who’s waiting on the corner’: How one man uses Facebook to frighten his children’s mother and why police do nothing

July 7, 2024 at 8:37 a.m.

An analysis of data from nearly two dozen Illinois police departments found police rarely arrest people for electronic harassment, even as complaints increase.

A Chicago police officer detains a migrant near a shelter at the former Standard Club in Chicago on April 16, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Migrant arrests are up, but they’re rarely accused of violent felonies

April 27, 2024 at 1:37 p.m.

As 40,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Chicago in less than two years, a Tribune analysis of crime data shows the impact of migrants has been mostly felt in nonviolent offenses,...

Election workers wait for voters at Su Nueva Laundromat during primary Election Day in Chicago on March 19, 2024. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Election Day in Illinois: Voter turnout is ‘pretty sleepy’ in primary

March 19, 2024 at 9:30 p.m.

As of Monday night, the city had recorded more than 157,000 early votes through in-person or mail-in ballots. Roughly 109,000 mail-in ballots have yet to be returned, Board of Elections...

Joan Rivas, 39, from Venezuela, walks by a man working on a Lexus outside a migrant shelter on North Ogden Avenue on March 10, 2024. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

Behind the wheel without a license: Migrants buying cars to make a life in Chicago

March 20, 2024 at 12:23 p.m.

Behind a West Loop migrant shelter, dozens of cars sit without license plates. Several of their owners stand nearby, acknowledging they lack licenses to drive them. But they increasingly have...

Migrants follow an official after getting off a warming bus near West Polk Street and South Desplaines Street in the West Loop on Dec. 31, 2023.

More migrants arrive in Chicago after being flown from Texas to Rockford. Mayor Johnson says Gov. Abbott continues ‘to sow seeds of chaos.’

March 11, 2024 at 12:09 p.m.

A plane carrying migrants from Texas landed about 1 a.m. Sunday at the Rockford International Airport, and the migrants were "offloaded and immediately boarded buses" headed toward Chicago, according to...

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