Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Political operative Patrick Doherty indicted in federal red-light camera probe
A Cook County political operative has been indicted on federal charges alleging he conspired to pay bribes to a relative of an Oak Lawn trustee in 2017 to get lucrative red light cameras installed there.
Patrick Doherty, 64, of Palos Heights, was charged in a three-count indictment made public Friday with bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery. An arraignment has not yet been scheduled.
Chicago Sun-Times: Madigan, Pritzker, Burke spent over $3M in campaign money on lawyers last year, and they’re not alone
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) are at the top of the pack in a race no politician wants to win.
The three powerful figures have tapped their campaign funds to cover more legal bills than any other Illinois officials have in the past year, records reviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
Chicago Sun-Times: $400K settlement proposed for Aurora man convicted in drug case built on testimony of corrupt cop Glenn Lewellen
Chicago taxpayers might pay $400,000 to an Aurora man imprisoned for more than a decade on a drug case built on testimony from corrupt Chicago Police Officer Glenn Lewellen.
Four years after a federal jury balked at an $11 million payout to Refugio Ruiz-Cortez, the City Council’s Finance Committee is poised to authorize a settlement that’s a fraction of that amount. It’s one of three settlements on the agenda for the committee meeting Tuesday.
Chicago Tribune: Seclusion-room violations found in six Illinois school districts, but parents say investigations didn’t go far enough
In the first state review of isolated timeout in Illinois schools, investigators found six of the eight districts they examined violated state law by placing children in seclusion for improper reasons, for too long or without properly notifying their parents.
The investigations by the Illinois State Board of Education came after the first part of a Chicago Tribune/ProPublica Illinois series, published in November, found public schools throughout the state overused seclusion, routinely breaking the law that allowed children to be placed in isolated timeout only when there was a safety issue.
Chicago Sun-Times: Judy Baar Topinka fed the FBI tips for years on possible corruption in the west suburbs, records show
Judy Baar Topinka, long a popular Illinois state officeholder, secretly provided federal authorities information about possible corruption in the 1970s and 1980s, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
The longtime Republican state legislator, comptroller and treasurer died in 2014, which is why the FBI released its Topinka files, which are now part of the Sun-Times’ “The FBI Files” database.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office can keep private lawyers in Jussie Smollett probe, judge rules
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office can continue to use private lawyers to represent it in the special prosecutor’s investigation of the Jussie Smollett matter, a judge ruled Friday.
In addition, Judge Michael Toomin issued a broad shutdown of Sheila O’Brien, the retired appellate judge who tried to challenge Foxx’s use of outside attorneys — saying she could no longer file any paperwork in the Smollett case without his explicit permission.
Chicago Tribune: For the first time, legal marijuana might soon be grown in Chicago. Here’s what’s happening.
The Chicago City Council’s zoning committee approved its first marijuana grow facility Thursday, but the Far South Side project still needs the state’s OK to proceed.
DL3 Realty is seeking zoning approval for a facility in a one-story industrial building at 1050-1060 E. 95th St. in the Burnside neighborhood, according to documents filed with the city.