Sangamon County Circuit Judge Patrick Kelley ruled Wednesday that Governor Blagojevich's administration must disclose subpoenas from federal prosecutors in the ongoing investigation into state hiring. When the governor's office denied a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the subpoenas last year, the Better Government Association, a Chicago-based government watchdog group, sued. US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is investigating charges that the Blagojevich administration traded state jobs for campaign contributions. Blagojevich had claimed, among other......

In quick succession, the Cook County Board shot down a series of tax hikes yesterday, including proposed increases on electricity and natural gas. Five other increases backed by Democrat Roberto Maldanado, including taxes on SUVs, hotel stays, jet fuel and liquor sold in bars, died without support from any commissioners. The 2-14 vote against the electricity and natural gas taxes, proposed by Stroger ally Bill Beavers, signaled the unofficial death of Board President Todd Stroger's......

Every time we think the state's government can't get any worse, they somehow find a way to surprise us. Unable to reach a deal that'll adequately fund the CTA and its crumbling infrastructure, they think they want to buy yet another fixer-upper piece of property. The State of Illinois is supposedly interested in buying Wrigley Field, which is for sale along with the Cubs following billionaire Sam Zell's takeover of the Tribune Co. The Illinois......

Is Mike Madigan ready to take a gamble? So it seems from a letter he wrote today to state legislators. He said today that he'd endorse a bill proposed by Democratic reps Lou Lang and Bob Molaro that expands gambling—gaming, sorry—and uses that money for roads and schools. From the AP: The new proposal includes many of the elements that already passed the Senate in September, including a huge, land-based casino in Chicago and......

There isn't much sadder than this: Blythe Ann O'Sullivan, a 25-year-old Bloomingdale native, died on Thursday while serving in the Peace Corps. O'Sullivan was far from her family when an accident occurred in the fields of Suriname, where she was working with local women to create and fund a village community center and help get clean drinking water to rural areas. She was shot in the thigh after tripping the wire on a device local......

Former governor Jim Thompson came to the defense of the current administration this weekend, specifically on behalf of Illinois’ first lady, Patty Blagojevich. Thompson was prompted by a report on Friday that the feds have started sniffing around Mrs. Blago’s real estate deals –- deals that have been worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions brokering transactions for Springfield connected clients such as state contractors and contributors to her husband’s campaign. So why would......

Of all the egregious things the city can do to property owners, from jacking property taxes to the current favorite, the misuse of TIFs, none seems more unfair and ripe for abuse as eminent domain. For the uninitiated, eminent domain allows the city government to seize ownership of private property, paying the owner whatever the city deems as "market value". It's supposed to be used for the "greater public good", such as the expansion......

Remember Frank Kruesi, and how he fucked up the CTA all the time, and was BFF with Daley, but he screwed the pooch in Springfield? He just got a new job! For the City! As our chief lobbyist in DC! Wait, what the eff? Mayor Daley announced today that he has appointed Kruesi manage the City's federal legislative, regulatory and administrative agendas in Washington, DC. In the statement, Daley says Kruesi's job is "to help......

And your sweet, sweet lovin'. Wait. Writing. Your sweet, sweet writing. It's not too late to apply to be a Chicagoist writer. We're looking for folks who want to cover visual arts, music, events, food, news, transit, crime, government, architecture, style — and everything else. Send an e-mail to chicagoistapply@gmail.com with the subject line of what you want to write about. Please tell us a little about yourself, and include a sample post. Reindeer......

Transit funding has stalled yet again, this time with the added bonus of absurdity: Blagojevich wasn't even in Springfield during the special session vote. No, he was at the Blackhawks game. The vote was 57-53 in favor of the moving gasoline money around plan--except the bill needed 71 votes to pass. And even if it had passed, Emil Jones had said it would die in the senate. So what we're looking at is a......

Everyone's favorite libertarian think tank is taking its show on the road! The Cato Institute is hosting a luncheon with Robert Novak today at the Drake Hotel. Registration starts at 10:30, but you'll want to get there early, as several senior Cato fellows will be addressing the crowd of local paleoconservatives and free marketeers. Randal O'Toole, an expert on urban growth and planning issues, kicks off the event with his keynote address, The Best-Laid Plans:......

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......

It was twenty years ago today that Mayor Harold Washington collapsed at his desk in City Hall. He died of a massive heart attack. In 1983, Washington surprised Chicago by winning the Democratic Primary for Mayor. He won with 36% of the vote, beating out incumbent Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Richard M. Daley. In the April 1983 general election, Washington received 52% of the vote to become Chicago’s first black mayor, trumping Bernard Epton......

What happens when the party you believe in, that you dedicate your political career to, takes a turn for the worse? If you're Dennis Hastert, you resign graciously, take your kudos, and become the elder statesman you always knew you could be. Hastert resigned yesterday, bringing to a close an era of congressional Republicanism marked by increasingly bitter partisanship, an unpopular president championing an unpopular war, and a rash of scandals, both political and personal......

Busy day for local museums: the Field Museum is raising its admissions prices, and the Shedd Aquarium is looking to expand its office space. Adler Planetarium? Anything? No? Shedd officials say their 300 employees are cramped, thus an additional 24,000 square feet of workspace, plus "a ground level terrace on the north side of the structure, build another elevator and upgrade its food-service kitchen." The proposed addition apparently wouldn't really affect how the Oceanarium......

In August we wrote about the possibility of Deerfield-based Fortune Brands Inc. losing the marketing rights to Absolut Vodka when the Swedish government eventually puts the state-owned distillery up for sale. At the time, it was a very strong possibility that Fortune Brands would lose the rights to a competitor as they were just beginning to pay down the debt accrued from the acquisition of 25 major brands from Allied Domecq. If Fortune Brands does......

We're not very good at this rah-rah patriotism stuff sometimes. Especially when it seems like there's so very little to be patriotic about. Day in and day out, we're bombarded with information about our dysfunctional County Board, our crumbling mass-transit system, a stumbling economy, a dismal federal government and a long-term embroilment in a far-away sandbox, so on and so forth, fill in your own blank here: _________________ So when we take these few yearly......

Business Week has launched its latest title: BW Chicago. And the first story heralds Mayor Daley as "The CEO of City Hall." At Business Week, this is high praise. According to story, Mayor Daley is hugely popular with business leaders because he gives them huge tax breaks and privatizes city operations. Quoth Charles P. Carey, vice-chairman of CME Group (CME), parent of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, "[Daley] takes a......

George Ryan starts his prison sentence today, and the Sun-Times and Trib have helpfully chronicled every move the former governor has made since last night. You know what that means: time for a Ryan Round Up! Olé! Yesterday, the 73-year-old released this statement to the public, again claiming innocence and thanking his family and legal team. At 5:50 this morning, Ryan left his home in Kankakee in a van driven by his son, George Ryan......

It's 10 a.m. in Chicago. Do you know what temperature the meat you are going to eat for lunch was stored at as it made its way to your sandwich? Probably not, says CBS2, which aired an upsetting investigative segment on meat safety violations last night. Among the findings: "spoiled or thawing meat, cross-contamination and a lack of food inspectors to monitor the way it is handled during the shipping or delivery process." Makes us......

Despite fending off service cuts and rate hikes by the skin of their teeth on Sunday, the CTA’s still got probs. Much probs. Not only will there most likely be another huge doomsday come January, the mass transit company has taken a hit in the public image department with their on-again, off-again crying of wolf. Newish president Ron Huberman openly admits to the CTA’s lack of credibility, what with the cycles and the bailouts and......

Over on Kid Nation, the episode focused on money and greed, as the Council receives directions to go to an abandoned, bat-infested mine (eee!), where they discover a treasure chest full of the town's currency, buffalo nickels. Faced with the decision of distributing the cash among the kids or buying items that the town can collectively share, the Council takes the "big government" approach, buying toys for the town. Shockingly, the kids are A-OK with......

Giving new meaning to the phrase "money's too tight to mention", a memo from Illinois Department of Central Management Services acting director Maureen O'Donnell set a November 16 deadline for all state agencies to opt out of all bottled water contracts. From the memo: "As Chief Procurement Officer, I am charged with continually seeking ways for the State of Illinois to reduce its expenditures. I am therefore requesting that all State agencies cease purchasing bottled......

First bottled water was cool and tap water was out. Then bottled water was bad (eek! pollution!) and tap water was the name of the game. And now... we say stick with beer, as some scary news has emerged about the people guarding Chicago's H2O. Honor Guard Security was hired in December to secure several of Chicago's water filtration plans, pumping stations and other facilities. The $13 million contract was supposed to expire in 2011,......

Crook County Board President Todd Stroger unveiled his $3.2 billion budget Wednesday. Stroger has struggled to give the appearance that his government is small and fiscally responsible, eliminating about 735 positions over the last three fiscal years, and reducing 1,800 positions from this year's budget. Now he claims that bringing the county's tax take to $888 million by 2009 — by tripling the county sales tax and doubling gas and parking taxes — is necessary......

Tribune columnist John Kass has been on a roll this week. He started it by discovering the existence of "freegans" and ends it by suggesting His Elective Majesty (in his more animated, apoplectic moments) bears a frightening similarity to horror film icon Chucky. Kass's observation was a casual and humorous toss-off in an otherwise serious column about City Hall's continuing efforts to wrangle themselves a casino. It's an informative read, and if you - like......

Mayor Daley unveiled his $5.4 billion budget today, and with it the expected $108 million increase in property taxes and the 10-cent charge on bottled water. City stickers for SUVs will be more expensive, parking fines will be higher, the tax on liquor will also increase, and the monthly phone surcharge that covers 911 costs will go from $1.25 to $2.50. Also, every time you hear a baby giggle, you have to give the City......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own......

It's making the rounds, so we feel sort of obligated to link it up, but bleh. Someone really did hang a skinned goat on the Harry Caray statue, though their curse-cursing didn't do anything. And the cops had to cut it down. Still trying to figure out what to do tonight? Local artist Brian Morris's solo show of drawings and customized toys has its opening party at Rotofugi tonight. If you like skulls and......

Cook County may raise the sales tax next week, and the fight over how to manage those finances is heating back up. Todd Stroger, who has been noncommittal in his support of the increase until now, called for the special board meeting Monday to consider raising the county sales tax 266 percent, from .75 percent to 2.75 percent, in an attempt to cover a projected budget shortfall of $307 million next year. Opponents were quick......