21st Ward Alderman Howard Brookins accepted Jesse Jackson's endorsement for Cook County State's attorney Sunday at Jackson's South Side Rainbow/PUSH headquarters. A Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll published today shows that there is no clear front-runner in the race for State's Attorney, and most of the county's Democratic power brokers have stayed out of the race. Jesse Jackson Jr endorsed Larry Suffredin earlier this year, ostensibly as part of the on-going feud between the Jacksons and Bill......

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......

That Mayor Daley. What a guy! When he isn't busy saving us from being the next Detroit, he's addressing the media with frustration and consternation. After a 48 - 0 vote in the council yesterday, Daley's plan to divorce the Office of Professional Standards from the Police Department was approved. As part of his new plan to "restore public confidence", Da Mare will be bringing Los Angeles attorney Ilana B.R. Rosenzweig in to be the......

Chicagoist woke up to the headline "Feds subpoena governor's campaign fund records" in the Tribune. Oh no, we thought, this can't be good for ol' G-Rod. For a governor that has seen friends indicted, had a public feud with his father in-law that has resulted in charges of gross misconduct and confirmation by prosecutors that they are looking close and hard at very real accusations of wrong doing, this news certainly can't bode well. At......

Late last week a juror in the George Ryan corruption trial was dismissed “for personal reasons that were in no way related to the merits of the case.” Over the weekend rumors swirled that there was a big personality conflict between the dismissed juror and the rest of the jury, but Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer today said personality conflict had nothing to do with it. So now we can all sit around and wonder what......

Not only has Journey’s Steve Perry been an inspiration to your World Champion White Sox, but now apparently Governor Blagojevich is taking a cue from the crooner’s sweet stylings. A federal investigation seeking to examine the hiring practices of Blago’s hiring practices is under way, and Blagojevich said yesterday that he welcomes the investigation because he has done nothing wrong, and wants to prove it to the good people of Illinois. In other words,......

Did we miss something? Scott Fawell is the key witness in the prosecution’s case AGAINST George Ryan, right? Fawell hasn’t yet offered the prosecution a smoking gun against Ryan. Don’t get us wrong, Ryan hasn’t come off looking like the innocent victim of an overzealous prosecution, but we were expecting a little something more than learning he enjoyed gambling, taking free trips, and getting money. So far the trial has seemed more like a......

What’s that? You’re sick of hearing about George Ryan’s corruption trial? And just think--the expected four month extravaganza is just beginning! Jury selection wrapped up yesterday, but the jury of Ryan’s peers does not consist of other allegedly corrupt politicians. Instead, it is a racially diverse group of twelve people and six alternates, including a retiree, an SBC employee active in gay rights, a marathon runner, a mother/candy packaging business owner, and two postal......