The owner of the Navy Pier McDonald's, Blanton Canady, is a longtime Beavers supporter and has donated to the campaign funds of Beavers and daughter Darcel, the former 7th Ward Alderman. more ›

Beavers blamed Fitzgerald's hard-charging investigative style with facilitating the suicides of former Chicago School Board president Michael Scott, former Rod Blagojevich ally Chris Kelly, and Orlando Jones, a former Cook County aide and godson of late County Board President John Stroger. more ›

The self-styled "Hog with the Big Nuts" may have those nuts served to him as mountain oysters after a federal grand jury filed a four-count indictment against him today. more ›

Chicago News Cooperative and the Better Government Association obtained a report from the Cook County comptroller's office that showed which county commissioners didn't take all of their furlough days before the 2011 fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2011. more ›

A year ago today Toni Preckwinkle succeeded Todd Stroger as Cook County Board President. (Has it only been a year?) While her first 12 months would have been considered a positive by simply not being Stroger, Preckwinkle has been, for the most part, as advertised. more ›

The impeccably dressed "Hog with the Big Nuts" thinks the head of the county juvenile jail "looks like a trailer tramp. more ›

Commissioner William Beavers called the beer tax “a poor man’s tax” and said a new round of taxes would simply shuffle the burden. more ›

Two of the five Cook County commissioners who refused to accept furlough days are realizing the public fallout from their actions and are reconsidering their position. more ›

This isn't unexpected from "the Hog with the Big Nuts." For Collins, it's a reversal of what she agreed to in February. more ›

Preckwinkle warned county officials that spending cuts will be coming, in order to overcome a projected revenue shortfall of $480 million. That shortfall includes the loss of revenue in the projected rollback of the county sales tax increase Stroger and the Board approved last year; a $55 million settlement reached this week related to strip searches in Cook County jail; higher debt payments and new contract costs for employees. more ›

In a wide-ranging interview with the Sun-Times yesterday, Preckwinkle laid out the foundation of her agenda and reading it is a breath of fresh air after four years of the naked patronage and incompetency of Todd Stroger's administration. more ›

Cook County Commissioner William Beavers once famously declared himself "the Hog with the Big Nuts." Now it appears a grand jury has Beavers and his self-congratulatory manhood in its sights. Internal Revenue Service investigators have subpoenaed contingency account expense reports from Beavers for 2008 and 2009 to check for any discrepancies in how Beavers spent his contingency expenses. more ›

• Metra found out today they're the recipient of $46 million in federal cash.
• The Parking Ticket Geek has shots of today's Parking Meter protest.
• Cook County Commissioner Willaim Beavers took a cheap shot at departing commissioner Forrest Claypool, calling him a, "born loser."

Using racist slurs and donning a tablecloth and pretending you're in the Klan won't get you fired from your City job. Joseph Annunzio, you're having the best, most inappropriate and offensive week ever! Congrats on retaining your $77K per year gig with the City's Department of Transportation. If the name "Annunzio" sounds familiar, it's because Joseph's uncle was 14-term Illinois Rep Frank Annunzio. The HR review board decided that Annunzio did make "racist, derogatory and... more ›

We have an idea for how to end unemployment in this town forever. Just introduce everyone to Todd Stroger. He's still a big fan of hooking his pals up with jobs, like Patty Young, girlfriend of Stroger buddy Commissioner William Beavers. Once the Sun Times started sniffing around, Young left her spot in the county purchasing department. Are Illinois's state tests too easy? Depends who you ask. Lance Briggs pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor... more ›

Amid criticism and sermons, the Cook County Board voted 9-7 this afternoon to defer until mid-October any further action on theproposed two percent sales tax increase. So while the tax hike isn't off the table yet, the deadline for first-quarter tax increases was today under state law — which means any increase that may happen won't take effect until April 1, 2008, at the earliest. (The county's fiscal year ends November 30.) County Commissioner Roberto... more ›

With most of Tuesday's election settled around the city, 24 candidates are gearing up for the special election April 17. The big story that is coming out of this vote is the role that unions played in this election. Of the twelve runoffs, five were candidates that were endorsed by the Chicago Federation of Labor. Two are union members; Leroy Jones in the 21st is a member of SEIU Local 73, and Toni Foulkes is... more ›

Doesn't it seem like last year we were getting used to writing "4704" in the dateline of our checks? Chinese New Year is Sunday. 4705 is the year of William Beavers the boar. This means that thousands of people will flock down to Wentworth to watch the pomp and circumstance of dragon processions, fireworks, marching bands, and — since every year is an election year in Chicago — politicians kissing babies, shaking hands, and buying... more ›

Since the news yesterday was dominated with Obama's big tease, a story that has been brewing for a while might have been missed, even if you follow politics pretty closely. Chicago unions, led by break-away schismatic the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and their supporters, have not only withheld endorsing Daley, but are actively targeting aldermen in a series of wards where they think are ripe for change. Citing a whole list of grievances with... more ›

In case you missed it, two important filings of candidacies took place this week: Mayor Daley's stalking horse, Dorothy Brown, is now officially running for mayor, and Sandi Jackson threw her hat in the ring to take on William Beavers' daughter, Darcel Beavers, for 7th Ward Alderman. While Brown's announcement is significant only becuase she is a pawn of Daley, the Beavers/Jackson race is sure to be a headline grabber this season. While Chicagoist has... more ›

Although she hasn't officially announced to the press yet, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Jesse Jackson Jr's wife Sandi will be running against William Beaver's daughter Darcel for 7th Ward Alderman. This race looks to be one of the hottest and most contested races in the city this election cycle, as William Beavers tries to hold onto the Ward he left for the County Commission, and Jackson Jr tries to build a base... more ›

At Wednesday's first meeting of the newly installed Cook County Board, Todd Stroger kept his first promise of the new term — moving to appoint a tougher, more independent inspector general. Under a bill introduced by Commisioners Mike Quigley and John Daley, a new inspector general will soon have broader powers of oversight across all county offices. Assumed to be retired Circuit Judge Julia Nowicki, thanks to an agreement between the county and attorney Michael... more ›

In case you missed it in the papers yesterday, Todd Stroger stood before God and Cook County, vowing "big changes." "We will transform this government into a more modern, more efficient operation," Stroger said."To get there, the transitions will be tough, the sacrifices painful, the dramatic change worth it." In remarks addressed to the rest of the newly installed Cook County Board of Commissioners (which included Bobby Steele's son Robert Steele), the Toddler announced that... more ›

The political season is over for most of the country. Hell, it's over for most of the media, and all the other people that sit around and watch it like "Monday Night Football." For the next month and a half, most of us will be thinking about eggnog, latkes, Wild Turkey with grandma, and how to pick up that cashier at Jewel with the intriguing accent. But if there's one group of people that are... more ›

President-select of the Crook County Board Todd Stroger is backing off a campaign promise to fire the county's controversial patronage chief, Gerald Nichols, who was suspended from his $114,000-a-year job in the wake of a federal probe. Stroger had vowed during the campaign to fire Nichols, and many expected him to do it immediately as a sign of commitment to reform. Instead, Stroger said Tuesday that he would lift the suspension on Nichols and bring him back on board to serve as an advisor. more ›

Chicagoist found this little gem in the Tribune yesterday, and it got us to thinking about strategy. Because, ya know, it's like a little over 2 weeks to an election. more ›

You remember that poll in the Sun-Times yesterday? Yeah, that one. Well the race for Cook County Board President got a little, well, hot yesterday. In a noon debate at Chicago's Union League Club, the once and future king of Cook County took shots at Peraica, trying to paint him as both a right-winger and a crook associated with disgraced (and convicted) former Cicero town president Betty Loren-Maltese; Peraica accused Stroger of being absent for... more ›

The implied mission of Mayor Richard M. Daley's new chief of staff, Ron Huberman, is to reform city government -- do what none of the almost dozen chiefs of staff before him were unable to do. Monday, in a press conference he announced, along with City Corporation Council Mara Georges, that patronage and clout in city hiring is over. "It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter who you know. We are operating as... more ›

City Council Budget Committee Chair Ald. William Beavers (7th) told the Chicago Tribune yesterday that a proposed penny-a-six-pack beer tax increase has been taken out of the proposed 2005 Chicago City Budget. According to the Tribune: more ›