With Friday's budget deadline looming for Cook County, Todd Stroger is finding himself in a very uncomfortable position. Stroger has been more ›

Chicagoist wasn't the only one reminiscing about Harold Washington this week. With the Cook County Commission deadlocked over the budget, County Commissioner Bill Beavers lashed out at the opposition in a press conference yesterday, saying that if Stroger were white, his budget proposal would pass. “This is a remake of the Harold Washington days with the 29, 21,” Beavers said, adding “it’s basically dealing with who’s going to control the county, white or black.... If... more ›

Tea is a hot commodity these days. With almost as many varietals and blends as coffee, better organic farming practices, less acid, and health benefits galore, it’s becoming a welcome alternative to the morning cup o’ joe. John Daley first found this out during two trips to Sri Lanka after college. Later, when he was working in Washington, DC, he sipped tea when his workmates were downing multiple cups of coffee every morning. From those... more ›

In case you missed it in the papers yesterday, Todd Stroger stood before God and Cook County, vowing "big changes." "We will transform this government into a more modern, more efficient operation," Stroger said."To get there, the transitions will be tough, the sacrifices painful, the dramatic change worth it." In remarks addressed to the rest of the newly installed Cook County Board of Commissioners (which included Bobby Steele's son Robert Steele), the Toddler announced that... more ›

It’s been a while since we talked about City Clerk James Laski’s involvement in the Hired Truck scandal. We’re sorry about that, but we were too busy trying to learn keno to write an update. And what a waste of time that turned out to be. So what’s been going on with Laski? Well, he vowed to stay on as City Clerk after being charged with taking bribes from trucking companies and lying to... more ›

The Hired Truck probe/scandal dug into some new corners of Chicago's give-and-take politics, as John Cannatello, the alleged true owner of Bridgeport-based GNA Trucking, was accused of and indicted in federal court for disguising his business as woman-owned (through his wife's name), while he actually operated the business. Cannatello is the sixteenth person to be indicted in the U.S. Attorney's probe. more ›