Police Superintendent Jody Weis's recent tete a tete with local gang leaders has angered some aldermen, who say that Chicago's top cop shouldn't be "negotiating with urban terrorists." 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti, who is rumored to be considering a run against Daley for mayor, lashed out at Weis Monday for his mid-August meeting. "I can't believe we're sitting down and negotiating with urban terrorists who are killing our kids with guns and drugs on the streets," Fioretti told the Sun-Times. "These are not people the superintendent ought to be negotiating with. They've now been elevated to equals. They're not equals. They belong in jail. It's an admission that the Police Department can't control the streets." Fioretti also questioned Weis's threat of going at gang leaders with federal racketeering charges if they don't back down, wondering why the police superintendent hadn't already applied that tactic. "We ought to be working hard with the feds and U.S. Attorney's office to start applying these RICO statutes now instead of giving them a warning that says, 'If you kill somebody.' That didn't help this weekend." 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore, a longtime Daley critic, wondered if a crisis of leadership in the department was to blame. "What would accomplish more is to have a Police Department with good morale that believed in their leadership and believed in their mayor. We haven't had a Police Department with that kind of leadership in 22 years," Moore said. more ›

Robert Vanecko, nephew to Mayor Richard Daley, doesn't seem to be able to make any kind of investment that works out profitably - at least not for his investors. After Vanecko and Daley's son Patrick were discovered to have been involved in a business that the city contracted for millions of dollars of sewer work, Chicago's Inspector General began an investigation into a real estate investment venture involving Vanecko and Allison Davis, an aide to the mayor. That business was funded by $64 million from five city worker pension funds. And the icing on the cake? Turns out the city has been leasing space from Vanecko to park vehicles, while local business owners in Vanecko's properties struggled to stay open under Daley's wrought iron mandates. more ›

There's a whole lot of back-and-forth sniping between Team Blago and federal prosecutors regarding the unsealing of the government's Santiago Proffer. Team Blago has asked that either all or none of the evidence against Blago should be released to the public, not just the evidence in the proffer, so as not to taint the jury pool. Federal prosecutors fired back, citing Blago's recent Celebrity Apprentice stint as an example of shenanigans: "Notwithstanding the recent airing of a national television show in which he repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, Rod Blagojevich now argues that he would be unfairly prejudiced by the publication of the actual evidence that will be heard at his trial." SNAP! Natasha Korecki has the full blow-by-blow account over at the Sun-Times. more ›

According to a report by the Tribune, Mayor Daley was secretly interviewed by the FBI in 2008, as part of their investigation into Calvin Boender and the Galewood Yards project. That investigation has led former 29th Ward Alderman Ike Carothers to plead guilty to accepting a bribe in connection to the project, and bribery charges against Boender. "The mayor cooperated with a request for an interview during the course of the investigation," said Jennifer Hoyle, spokeswoman for the city's Law Department, in an e-mail response to Tribune questions. "There is no indication that he was or is anything other than a witness." more ›

A team of federal investigators has probed the records of a North Side nursing home, which has long drawn the ire of local and state officials, the Tribune reports. more ›

Renewing his previous calls for federal funds to expand O'Hare, Mayor Daley told a room full of airline executives that it seems like the government has forgotten about the airline industry. Citing the jobs created by his airport expansion, (which is behind schedule, over budget and under a federal corruption investigation), the mayor bemoaned the paltry $12 million he got from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a sum he touted as "better than nothing". more ›

The ongoing city scandal over real estate and leases involving the mayor's nephew has drawn the ire of 31st Ward Alderman Ray Suarez. Reacting to the questionable month-to-month lease the Department of General Services established back in November of 2007, Suarez told the Sun-Times that he should have signed off on it. Suarez is chair of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate. more ›

As if the ongoing rift in the Daley family over mayoral nephew Robert Vanecko's connections weren't bad enough, the Bright One brings us more evidence of corruption in the mayor's family. According to records obtained by the Sun-Times, the city has been leasing property from clouted landlords, often at rental rates higher than market. Adding to the problems for the mayor is a warehouse at 3348 S. Pulaski that Vanecko and his business partners acquired, and which the city has paid more than $480,000 in rent over the past 15 months. The city uses that space to park dump trucks. more ›

The political embarrassment of Mayor Daley has been brewing publicly for a few months now (not counting the earlier charges that his son and nephew had hidden ownership stakes in a company that did millions of dollars of business in contracts to clean city sewers). To wit, Daley's nephew, Robert Vanecko, has been at the center of an investigation by city Inspector General David Hoffman, and now federal prosecutors, over a real estate investment firm he ran with Daley fundraiser Allison Davis, DV Urban Realty. That company, which bought up South side properties which eventually lost money in the hosuing meltdown last year, was financed with nearly $70 million in city pension funds. more ›

Mayor Daley's nephew Robert Vanecko announced his resignation Wednesday from DV Urban Realty, the real estate investment firm that is the subject of a federal investigation. DV Urban Realty, which is headed by Vanecko and City Hall insider Allison Davis, has come under scrutiny recently for nearly $70 million in investments it's obtained from five city pension funds, including police, teachers, laborers, municipal workers and CTA employees. Federal prosecutors, working with Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, subpoenaed records related to those investments almost two weeks ago. more ›

A federal grand jury subpoenaed files related to four city pension funds that are invested in DV Urban Reality in late May. DV Urban Reality is the real estate invest firm headed by the mayor's nephew, Robert Vanecko. The city's Inspector General, David Hoffman (himself a former federal prosecutor) has been trying to get those records for several months now; the pension funds, which include teachers, municipal employees, laborers and CTA workers, have refused, saying Hoffman lacked the authority to subpoena the records. Hoffman has been investigating how's DV Urban Reality, which is headed by Vanecko and mayoral buddy Allison Davis, got nearly $70 million in funding from municipal pension funds. Hoffman has said that his office is now jointly conducting an investigation into the pension fund investments with federal prosecutors. more ›

If Al Sanchez's conviction for steering undeserving patronage workers into city jobs over a decade ago indicates anything about the nature of due process in this country, it's that the gears of justice turn slowly. That's why news that Mayor Daley's Patrick, and his nephew Robert Vanecko have hired a defense attorney shouldn't come as a surprise. You may remember Vanecko, whom the city Inspector General is investigating for his involvement in the management of millions of dollars of city pension funds. But Vanecko doesn't need an attorney for that investigation. At least not yet. more ›

The federal corruption trial against former Chicago Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez continued with prosecutors calling yet another city worker to the stand, and virtually forcing former HDO worker Aaron DelValle to testify. more ›

The federal corruption trial of Al Sanchez continued yesterday, as prosecutors called Denise Alcantar to the witness stand. Alcantar, who drives a city recycling truck , testified that she was encouraged by other city workers she knew to get involved in the HDO as a means to a city job. When she submitted her application, she turned it in not at City Hall, but at Shy Ways, a Southwest side biker bar where she went to coordinate with HDO leaders about campaign activities she worked on. When she applied for the job, her only prior experience was working as a customer service representative in the private sector, and as an office worker for state Rep. Edward Acevedo, who also had benefited from the HDO's help. Along with illustrating their charges that Sanchez ran a corrupt hiring scheme predicated on political loyalty, prosecutors also sought to demonstrate the reckless and dangerous outcome of patronage hiring. more ›

The past few days of testimony in the Al Sanchez corruption trial have been wrought with allegations - both against Sanchez and the mayor, as well as other, lesser players in the HDO drama. The allegations that federal prosecutors made include the promise of city jobs should Richard Daley win election in 1989. "My understanding was that we would eventually get some political jobs, city jobs" if Daley became mayor, said Raymond Gamboa, a deputy commissioner in the city's General Services Department. Gamboa was describing a meeting that took place in a Southeast side bar in the late 1980's. Gamboa and Sanchez were part of a Hispanic group that was recruited to support the then-State's Attorney for mayor. That group eventually merged with other pro-Daley groups on the South side to become the Hispanic Democratic Organization. more ›

Federal investigators are now looking at 33rd Ward Alderman Dick Mell's role in Blair Hull's failed bid to win the 2004 Democratic Senate primary. Mell, who is former governor Rod Blagojevich's father-in-law, apparently worked as a consultant on Hull's campaign, and was paid as a subcontractor by Fred Lebed's consultancy, the Prairie Group. Mell's take was reportedly $100,000. more ›

Adding to the ongoing headaches for the mayor around the O'Hare Expansion Project is news that the contract to build the third and final runway was awarded this week to a large contractor with deep ties to the Daley family. Walsh Construction was awarded the $79 million dollar contract late last week. According to the Sun-Times: "Matthew Walsh's father grew up with Mayor Daley's father, former Mayor Richard J. Daley. Before Richard M. Daley stopped accepting campaign contribution from city contractors in the wake of the Hired Truck scandal, the Walsh family had been among the mayor's most reliable contributors." more ›

New allegations have come to light in the ongoing federal investigation of patronage and fraud in the awarding of contracts for the O'Hare Expansion Project. According to the Sun-Times, 45th Ward Alderman Patrick Levar's brother Michael is under investigation. According to the Bright One's sources, Michael Levar, who was Mayor Daley's point man on the project, is a "major focus" of the far-reaching investigation. He's suspected of working with Diamond Coring, a concrete cutting and paving company that is accused of operating a phony female-owned company, the Stealth Group Inc, or SGI. Diamond Coring has contributed nearly $12,000 to Ald. Levar in campaign funds. more ›

Mayor Daley met with federal lawmakers Tuesday to try and convince them that Chicago should get $50 million dollars to help fund the O'Hare expansion. Daley is hoping that the funds will come from the economic stimulus plan that Congress is preparing to send to the president. "The job stimulus package is vital," Daley said at a news conference. "It's worse than a recession out there. It's a crisis." Without the funding, the mayor fears the project will fall behind its scheduled 2014 completion date. "Infrastructure is key," Daley said. "All these things will put blue- and white-collar people back to work." The project is currently behind schedule and about $130 million over budget. more ›

Never one to make a fuss about anything, impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich will today make his first appearance at the State Capitol since his arrest on December 9. Blago is on hand to preside over the swearing in of newly elected state senators, something he is required to do by law. Still, we're expecting him to receive a chilly reception at the high noon ceremony. Also occurring at noon will be the swearing in of new House members by Secretary of State Jesse White; the House will then re-vote on the impeachment of Blago, a technicality because of the newly sworn-in members. After the new senators are sworn in, Blago will then preside over the roll call vote for the Senate President, who we already know will be Chicago's John Cullerton. Cullerton will then address the senate and it's expected Blago will exit stage left, though without the traditional escort of senators. more ›