Good morning, Chicago.
Chicago may be justifiably notorious for its government graft as nearly 40 aldermen, a city clerk, a treasurer and countless City Hall employees have all ended up behind bars over the past 50 years.
But public corruption in Illinois knows no partisan or geographic bounds. That’s in part because there are just so many governments in Illinois in the first place — thousands of them, more than any other state in the nation. They range from counties, cities, villages and townships to school districts, park districts, airport authorities and agencies overseeing mosquito abatement, street lighting and even cemetery maintenance.
Behind those government entities are tens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of elected officials or public employees. By simple math, more officials mean more opportunities for graft. But Illinois’ glut of governments — long blamed for high taxes and bureaucratic inefficiencies — also makes it more difficult for authorities to exercise oversight and for citizens to hold their leaders accountable.
Read the latest in our series “Culture of Corruption” from the Tribune’s Rick Pearson.
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Inside the one Illinois congressional race that could affect control of the US House
While national prognosticators say U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen has a lead in a district Democrats in Springfield carved to their advantage, Republicans still see an opportunity in the state’s 17th Congressional District because Sorensen two years ago underperformed Joe Biden’s 2020 margin of victory over Donald Trump here. Spanning 14 counties, the district melds Democratic-leaning areas such as Rockford, the Illinois half of the Quad Cities, Peoria and Bloomington-Normal by running through vast expanses of farmland and ruby-red rural communities.
“I wouldn’t even call this district a bipartisan district,” Sorensen said. “It’s a nonpartisan district. You have people here that will vote any different way.”
Ukrainian Americans anxious about presidential election, but many remain unsold on either candidate
Many Ukrainian Americans say they fear the possibility of another term for former President Donald Trump, who critics argue is too cozy with Russian President Vladimir Putin and too willing to end the war at great cost to Ukraine.
But in a community in which many were historically drawn to longtime anticommunist values of the Republican Party, full-throated support for the Democratic ticket led by Vice President Kamala Harris is far from universal.
What happens if Chicago can’t pass a budget? ‘Murky waters,’ ‘dire situation.’
As he crafts Chicago’s 2025 budget, Mayor Brandon Johnson has less and less time and not enough money.
The mayor faces a nearly $1 billion budget gap, an increasingly unruly City Council and a tightened timeline to accomplish elected officials’ most essential task. The daunting challenge has made some aldermen wary of an unlikely, but troubling worst-case scenario: Could the city fail to pass a budget by the state’s Dec. 31 deadline?
‘A settlement can’t replace my reputation’: CPS to settle Lincoln Park coaches’ defamation suits for $1.3M
After more than three years of litigation, Chicago Public Schools lawyers will ask the Board of Education to approve two settlements, totaling about $1.3 million, with former Lincoln Park High School girls and boys varsity basketball head coaches Larry Washington and Pat Gordon.
The agreements reached Oct. 18, pending board approval, mark the latest development in a more than four-year scandal involving the North Side school of about 2,200 students.
Bill Beavers, former alderman and Cook County commissioner, dies at 89
Former Chicago police officer, alderman and Cook County commissioner William “Bill” Beavers, the self-proclaimed “hog with the big nuts,” died Saturday morning of natural complications, his spokesperson said. He was 89.
Hazy world of Springfield politics at center of ex-Speaker Madigan’s trial
In the rapidly unfolding federal corruption trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan, Illinoisans are getting a close-up view of how the longtime Democratic chieftain lorded over the insider world of Springfield politics.
Madigan and his lobbyist ally Michael McClain may be the center of the case. But in many ways, so is the opaque manner in which Springfield does business.
Mayor Brandon Johnson won’t say if he will return $150,000 from rapper Lil Durk, arrested in alleged murder-for-hire plot
Johnson suggested he had no immediate intention to give back the money when asked how he would handle the sizable contribution from Durk Devontay Banks, who rose to stardom from Chicago rapping under the name Lil Durk.
“You are asking me if I should make a judgment on a Black man before a full trial has actually come to fruition,” the mayor said at a news conference after touring Collins High School. “I hope you do understand why it is not my position to determine the outcome of someone’s life.”
What just happened? Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on Chicago Bears’ stunning Week 8 loss to the Washington Commanders.
In the most special of situations — a Hail Mary on the final play of the game — the Bears (4-3) were caught out of position in an 18-15 loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday at Northwest Stadium. It ended their three-game winning streak and, considering how rugged the NFC North is, it could be the kind of setback that haunts them in January.
10 thoughts after a loss that cornerback Jaylon Johnson summed up as “heartbreaking.”
- As Bears QB Caleb Williams watched that Hail Mary, he felt frustration — for the offense’s missed opportunities
- Column: ‘Heartbreaking.’ How 17 seconds turned into a devastating Hail Mary loss for the Bears.
Chicago Blackhawks players empathize with fans’ frustration over CHSN-Comcast drama
No one’s immune to awkward grocery-store conversations with random strangers, and that includes Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones. Fans have come up to him, saying, “It’s not too easy to watch the games right now,” Jones told the Tribune.
That’s because the majority of viewers within Chicago’s TV market are subscribers of Comcast — or “Xfinity” on their bill — and the cable provider is at a standstill in carriage negotiations with Chicago Sports Network (CHSN), the new network broadcasting Hawks, Bulls and White Sox games.
Dick Brauer, founder of the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University, looks over a VU museum publication at his home at Pines Village Retirement Communities in Valparaiso, Feb. 6, 2023. (Andy Lavalley/for the Post-Tribune)
Valparaiso University’s museum namesake calls sale of paintings to fund dorm renovations ‘a desperate action’
In a strongly worded letter to Valparaiso University’s Board of Directors, Richard Brauer demanded his name be removed from the Brauer Museum of Art if any of three cornerstone paintings are sold to fund dorm renovations, and called the move to sell the paintings by José Padilla, the university’s president, a “desperate action by a desperate man.”
Author Charles Baxter talks about his book “Feast of Love” at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago on June 26, 2001. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
Biblioracle: Charles Baxter’s new novel ‘Blood Test: A Comedy’ is a vibe
Charles Baxter’s new novel “Blood Test: A Comedy” is, as the kids say, “a vibe.”
It is funny, primarily thanks to the book’s narrator, Brock Hobson, a purveyor of insurance in the so-Midwestern-it-hurts town of Kingsboro, Ohio, who takes a blood test provided by a company that declares they can use the test to predict your future.
Make the most of fallen leaves in your garden
When autumn leaves fall from the trees, welcome them as though you’d found a treasure chest.
“There are so many ways to use leaves in the garden,” said Spencer Campbell, Plant Clinic manager at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “Don’t let them go to waste.”
Puppets get even scarier: ‘House of the Exquisite Corpse’ is a Halloween show about classic superstitions
For the sixth year, local experimental puppet theater group Rough House Theater Co. has taken up the task of terrifying Chicagoans through the art of puppetry. Their Halloween show “House of the Exquisite Corpse” is named after a collaborative Dadaist drawing game in which participants each sketch different parts of a Frankenstein-like body.
This year’s show centers on superstitions, featuring puppets fashioned as a bloody corpse, a barn owl in flight, a 10-foot-long pair of purple lips and a devotee of trepanation: the ancient medical practice of drilling holes in the skull.
