Following Gov. Blagojevich's long-winded, rambling defense earlier this morning, lead prosecutor David Ellis (pictured right) has offered his rebuttal. A fiery Ellis started, "I can't give a speech like the Governor...when the cameras are on, [he] can give a pretty good speech." And with that, he launched into the Blagojevich we heard away from the cameras and on the wiretap tapes. more ›

U.S. District Judge James Holderman, who earlier today gave U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald a deadline extension for seeking an indictment against Gov. Blagojevich, has now set the stage for the release to lawyers of the sought-after tapes of some of Blago's tapped phone conversations.

Chief U.S. District Judge James Holderman gave defense lawyers until 5 p.m. Wednesday to say whether they approve of redactions in the conversations recommended by prosecutors. He set a Thursday hearing to discuss whether they can be released in the interest of time for the house impeachment panel. more ›

Ladies and gentlemen, start your campaign engines. Now that Rahm Emanuel has officially resigned his Fifth U.S. Congressional District seat, it's time to pick a new representative. Beleaguered Governor Rod Blagojevich has set March 3 as the date of the primary election and April 7 as the general election. Given all the interest expressed in the seat, we put the over/under on the final number of candidates at lucky 13. Because it is, after all, the seat once occupied by Blago. [Trib] more ›