Consummate Illinois Democratic insider Michael McClain dodged questions Thursday about an email in which he sought leniency for a state worker in a disciplinary case, arguing that the man was politically loyal and had stayed silent about “the rape in Champaign.”

In his first public comments since FBI agents raided his home last May, the former Springfield lobbyist and close confidant of Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan said he would consult with his lawyer before deciding whether he could explain what he was referring to in the cryptic, 2012 email.

Illinois House Republicans on Wednesday blasted a draft final report from the special Property Tax Relief Task Force lawmakers formed last year.

They said the panel’s Democratic majority summarily rejected dozens of proposals from Republicans.

State House Speaker Mike Madigan on Thursday said he won’t convene a special committee to investigate an alleged cover-up of an unspecified rape and ghost payrollers – incidents mentioned in a email between Madigan confidant Mike McClain and members of Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration in 2012 — because of the “sensitivity of the matter.”

The refusal came a day after state House Republican Leader Jim Durkin asked the speaker to convene a House committee to launch an independent inquiry into the email, first disclosed by WBEZ.

Illinois is an exporter of moving trucks, according to the companies that own them.

In annual reports, Atlas Van Lines, United Van Lines, and U-Haul all have Illinois listed as a state with significantly more outbound moving trucks than inbound ones.

Legislators and advocates began discussions this week of what action the state can take to counteract the overuse of physical restraint and forced isolation of students in Illinois schools, particularly those serving students with special needs.

At a joint Illinois Senate and House committee hearing in Chicago, several of those who spoke credited revelations unearthed by a Chicago Tribune and ProPublica investigation published in November for the increased interest in the topic.

A state lawmaker said Republicans will continue to push legislation to curb what he called a bad precedent that Gov. J.B. Pritzker set when he decided to supplement the pay of state employees with private dollars.

Before taking office last year, Pritzker announced he would double the taxpayer-funded salaries of some of his top staff using his private wealth. The Chicago Tribune recently reported that the billionaire governor has spent around $3 million of his private money enhancing his top staff’s salaries. Pritzker has said he wanted to attract the highest quality employees for his office.

While secretly recording conversations to help the FBI expose an extortion scheme run by longtime Chicago Teamsters union boss John T. Coli Sr., the president of Chicago’s largest movie studio, Alexander S. Pissios, also had a starring role in another production that could bring him and his partners millions of dollars.

Pissios’ Cinespace Chicago Film Studios teamed with public housing manager The Habitat Co. and Mount Sinai Hospital on a development in North Lawndale, getting the Chicago Housing Authority to approve their proposal for a $76 million development on Ogden Avenue including stores, offices and homes.