Scalia was speaking to students at the Chicago-Kent School of Law Tuesday when he applied his strict brand of originalism to Chicago's pizza recipe of choice. more ›

If you care about cooking on food trucks, you can lend your voice to Let Them Cook. more ›

The right for Illinois craft brewers to self-distribute their beer is just a signature away from becoming Illinois law, and the veto-proof majority in both houses of the Illinois legislature means that SB754 is almost a done deal. Yesterday, by a vote of 112-0-3 in the House, Illinois overwhelmingly voted to allow small breweries to self-distribute their own product (up to a certain amount). We say it's almost a done deal because there's one last hurdle to cross - the motion filed by Anheuser-Busch in the courts that continues to argue in favor of a solution more beneficial to them. more ›

It's finally happened - we knew things would come to this. The recession has turned us all into hunter-gatherers, scraping our dinners off the side of the road. We're clearly about 5 months from Soylent Green. According to the Trib, a bill passed the Illinois Senate yesterday which will allow people to pick up and keep roadkill and eat it for dinner. You will still need a permit to do this, and the animal would have to be in season as per regular hunting rules, but according to the language of the bill, citizens can now pick up any "fur-bearing mammal" (our favorite legal term of the day) off the side of the road. more ›

Sure, he's got lots to worry about, what with all manner of associates jumping his gubernatorial ship, but Gov. Pat Quinn still managed to set aside some time and resources for all our four-legged friends: just yesterday he signed a new Illinois law mandating all pet stores and animal shelters release extensive breeder and medical information for each pet up for sale or adoption. Amid the scores of adoptable dogs and cats PAWS Chicago spotlighted during a streetside adoption fair in Bucktown, Quinn signed the law not only to protect owners from fraudulent animal breeding and sales, but also to set a special precedent for the humane treatment of specifically bred pets, saying, 'We don't want anybody buying an animal that has been inhumanely treated before its sale, and unfortunately that has existed.' more ›

Earlier this week, Governor Quinn signed H.B. 4658, the Employee Credit Privacy Act, into law. The bill prevents employers from using a potential employee’s credit history as a factor in determining hiring, firing or compensation. Furthermore, the law forbids employers from obtaining an applicant or employee’s credit report, with a few exceptions such as banks, insurance companies, debt collectors, law enforcement and other state agency’s where use of credit history is required. more ›

Gov. Quinn signed into law Saturday two new pieces of legislation aimed at making it easier for low income families and schools to obtain local food. The Farmers' Market Technology Improvement Act will help facilitate farmers markets and alternative models of distribution such as roadside farm stands, mobile farmers markets, farm-fresh food kiosks, home delivery, and urban farm stands across Illinois to accept food stamp benefits disbursed under the Illinois LINK program. The Farm-to-School database will be a database created by the Illinois Department of Agriculture which will connect local farmers with school districts looking to add fresh produce to their school lunch programs. more ›

It took a few months but Gov. Quinn finally got around to signing into law a bill intent on protecting bicyclists. The new law imposes stiffer penalties for the all-too-often occurrence of motorists exhibiting threatening behavior towards bicyclists. From a press release: more ›

Gov. Quinn signed into law yesterday anti-bullying legislation which expanded the state's bullying laws to include cyber-bullying as well as bullying that pertains to sexual orientation. Darren Reisberg, of the Illinois Board of Education, said that it gives the Board the authority to withhold financing from the school district if they don't feel particular concerns and specific incidents are being addressed: "We ultimately have the ability to come in and address the district's funding." Each school must also have gang-prevention training and the law also creates a 15-member bully-related task force. more ›

Gov. Quinn has signed into law a bill that amends the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act. The bill raises penalties and gives the state more power to enforce laws preventing "cramming," when scammers pile on unauthorized fees on your phone bills. David Kolata, of the Citizens Utility Board, said, "Cramming is just another name for fraud. It's a scam that must end, that should end and we believe with the extra protections in here including strong third party verification and disclosure and enhanced ability when you are crammed to know who you should call to solve the problem, we believe all these provisions will lead to a dramatic reduction in cramming." [ABC 7] more ›

All those public appearance fees and book profits may be for naught for former governor Rod Blagojevich. A new law just signed by Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday would prevent convicted public officials from making any sort of profit from crimes. If Blago's convicted, according to the Tribune: more ›

When HB 429, the state wine shipping law supported by the liquor industry with $3.5 million in campaign contributions to its political sponsors, went into law last year (see previous Chicagoist coverage of HB 429 here, here, here and here), it effectively reduced the access of Illinois wine consumers to wine by prohibiting the sale to us from out-of-state retailers, although in-state retailers can still ship out-of-state. more ›

Damn! We thought Shawn Kemp was the poster child for the NBA needing to provide sex ed for its players, but former Bulls forward Jason Caffey has been even more prolific with his penis than Kemp was. Having fathered 10 kids with eight different women (Kemp has seven), Caffey recently filed for bankruptcy. On Tuesday, however, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Margaret A. Mahoney tossed Caffey's bankruptcy case, which clears the way for the women to sue the former basketball player for over $200,000 in back child support and legal expenses. more ›

We all know legal representation can be expensive. So maybe a you-scratch-my-back, I-defend-yours isn't the worst idea in the world. Unless you're DeKalb attorney Scott Robert Erwin, who accepted client payment in the form of nude dancing. Would you believe that's not cool with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission? Erwin has been suspended from practicing law for 15 months. more ›

Before local dentist Max Feinberg died, he put in his will that he would disinherit any heirs who married gentiles. Or as the Wall Street Journal oh-so-tactfully puts it, "Marry Goyim, You Get Bupkis." Now an Illinois appeals court has essentially revoked that clause from Feinberg's will, saying it "seriously interferes with and limits the right of individuals to marry a person of their own choosing." [WSJ, Trib] more ›

Governor Rod Balgojevich will more than likely perform an amendatory veto on legislation regarding allowing hearsay in first-degree murder trials. According to the Trib, the bill, "would allow a judge to decide at a pretrial hearing whether hearsay testimony could be admitted into court if the prosecution could prove that the defendant made the witness disappear." The current incarnation of the bill, which passed both the state House and Senate, currently does not include an effective date. Such an exclusion would mean the bill wouldn't go into effect until July 1, 2009, but Blagojevich wants to make the bill effective immediately. The bill's sponsor, Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (D- Joliet), said, "The governor's likely going to do an amendatory veto, and the amendatory veto is going to make it clear that the bill is effective immediately. It's unfortunate that this got left out, but we're making sure that the bill...is corrected." more ›

Today, a federal jury convicted Fernando King, the "chief operating officer" of the Chicago Latin Kings street gang, of drug conspiracy and attempted cocaine distribution. King, also referred to as the "supreme Inca," is the reputed number two in the Latin King chain of command. King has been in custody since December 2006 and is scheduled to be sentenced December 3. He faces a minimum of 20 years in prison. The jury caused a bit of stir because the note they handed the judge with their verdict also expressed concern for their own "security and safety," causing the defense to motion for a mistrial which was denied by the judge.

After court, King's lawyer, Joseph Lopez, said the note raised concerns that the jury may have been influenced by evidence that wasn't part of the trial. more ›

], and some members of the Kelly jury pool have given us some great examples this week. One woman was dismissed for singing high praises of Kelly, calling him a "musical genius." When asked to say something negative about him, she reluctantly brought up his feud with Jay-Z. Another woman was dismissed because the judge thought the woman's impending June wedding would distract her from juror duties. One woman, when asked if she had an opinion on Kelly replied, "Yes, he's not very smart." The Sun-Times reported that the answer caused Kelly to wear "a hurt expression on his face." Sad panda. more ›

WBEZ joined the Trib, Sun-Times and Associated Press today in filing a petition to unseal R. Kelly's court proceedings. Kelly's trial is scheduled to start May 9, a mere six years after charges that he videotaped himself having sex with underage girls were filed against him. more ›

Kilpatrick has hired former US Attorney Daniel Webb, who has some experience representing elected officials. He recently represented George Ryan (can't win 'em all), and has been ranked the "No. 1 white-collar criminal defense attorney" by Corporate Crime Reporter. more ›

With the special election for Dennis Hastert's vacant 14th Congessional District seat coming up next Saturday, the race has heated up. Democrat Bill Foster has hit Jim Oberweis almost daily, pointing out the differences on Social Security, global trade, and the war in Iraq. Oberweis has fought back, calling Foster a liberal and a liar, and charging that he will raise taxes. The close race got even more interesting this week when Foster released recent internal polling indicating that he leads Oberweis in the race. Now Foster is claiming that Oberweis violated the so-called "Millinoare's Law", by failing to disclose that he was about to dump buckets of his own cash into the race. more ›

Last week, it was announced that one of the U of C Law School’s biggest superstars, Cass Sunstein, will be leaving for Harvard in the fall. Sunstein attended Harvard as an undergrad and for law school, and he later clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall. He’s been on faculty at the U of C for 27 years, and during that time he has written and edited at least a dozen books. Now, he's going to Harvard to "head a new program at Harvard on risk regulation," according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. more ›

The Illinois High School Association is coming under fire from the media this week with a story in the Reader and an editorial in the Trib about the organization's recent decision to ban photographers from high school sporting events unless they sign a document promising not to sell their photos. Yikes. more ›

). Even less fun is rotting away in a cell for almost 26 years for a crime you didn’t commit. Now imagine that the key to your freedom was sitting the entire time locked in a box in a lawyer’s office, who couldn’t reveal it due to attorney-client privilege. That’s exactly what happened to Alton Logan. Logan, now age 54, was arrested in 1982 for the murder of a security guard at a south side McDonald’s in a robbery gone wrong. He was identified by witnesses along with Edgar Hope. A few days later, as police were hunting down Andrew and Jackie Wilson for an unrelated murder of two officers, a raid on Andrew’s suspected hiding place turned up a shotgun that tested positive as the gun used in the McDonald’s shooting. But since only two men were involved in the robbery and police conveniently had two men already in custody, charges were never filed against Andrew Wilson in that case. You might remember Wilson -- his allegations of being tortured by Jon Burge and two detectives started the snowball that led to Burge’s firing and a $1 million award by the court. But the plot twists even further -- public defenders Dale Coventry and Jamie Kunz, representing Wilson in the police shooting, received word that Hope was claiming Logan had nothing to do with the McDonald’s murder, and was pointing the finger at Wilson. When Coventry and Kunz confronted Wilson he admitted to being the trigger man. Wilson agreed to allow the lawyers to prepare a notarized affidavit of his confession, but it could only be revealed after his death. The affidavit has sat sealed in a metal box in Coventry’s office ever since. Andrew Wilson just died in November of last year -- Coventry and Kunz have now come forward with the new information, and Logan’s attorney is motioning for a new trial. Logan’s case is an example of how our justice system is for the most part effective, but far from perfect. The evidence to help exonerate someone in prison is just sitting around next to back issues of the , and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Even if Coventry and Kunz didn’t care about reprimands and losing their license for breaking the attorney-client privilege, because of that privilege the affidavit would be inadmissible, anyway. At least that’s our hope, as the thought of these two men sacrificing Logan just for the sake of their careers is unfathomable. Can any of our law degree toting readers confirm this? [Trib] more ›

The clock is winding down for drinkers who enjoy a cigarette with their booze. The Smoke-Free Illinois Act is set to go into effect at midnight on Jan. 1, 2008. Illinois will officially join the list of states that have banned smoking in almost all indoor spaces. Besides bars, Illinoisans will not be allowed to smoke in such cigarette bastions as factory floors, stadiums, casinos, and prisons. more ›

The thousands of Chicagoans who have received citations for refusing to wear an ugly head set while driving may feel a bit at ease today. The Law Offices of Blake Horwitz is filing a class action lawsuit against the city, Mayor Daley, and several police officers for illegally ticketing thousands of drivers in violation of the cell phone ban since its inception over two years ago. more ›

Corruption in Chicago has evolved, according to federal hiring monitor Noelle Brennan. According to the annual report Brennan released yesterday, blatant abuses and manipulation of the hiring system in the city is no longer a problem. But patronage has moved to "more subtle types of manipulations of the hiring process." Brennan has been the hiring monitor since August of 2005, when federal prosecutors uncovered a fraudulent hiring scheme that led to Daley's former patronage chief Robert Sorich in prison being sentenced to 46 months in prison. more ›

In high school one of the constants of our Friday nights was a family-sized pizza delivered to the house from La Villa Restaurant and Banquets in Old Irving. We'd fight for a corner slice among our allotment, chase them down with a glass of pop, and head out the house for our other constant: vainly working on our game with every Catholic school girl we could meet. more ›

Chicagoist has been known to wax philosophic when it comes to websites that make dining out and ordering in easier. We've written about two of our favorites, MenuPages and GrubHub, here and here, respectively. There's a new kid in town, and her name is FoodieBytes. We can already feel MenuPages and GrubHub shaking in their internet boots. more ›

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,... more ›