Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Sun-Times: Clout on trial? Madigan rival demands jury weigh in on speaker’s ‘unmatched public power’
In a years-long effort to put their allegations of election tampering before a jury, lawyers for an unsuccessful primary challenger to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan contend the state’s most powerful politician and his organizations “debased” the ballot, “the very crux of democracy.”
Lawyers for Jason Gonzales on Tuesday made that claim, and many others, as they rebutted Madigan’s attorneys’ arguments that the practice of running sham candidates constitutes acceptable political shenanigans.
Chicago Tribune: Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts faces big property tax hike, even bigger bill for back taxes after Tribune review spurs new look at his designer Wilmette house
Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts’ designer Wilmette home is worth more than twice as much as previously thought — and that could more than double his property tax bill next year and trigger a tab of at least $60,000 in back taxes and interest.
That bottom line emerged Tuesday as the Cook County assessor’s office completed its reassessment of Ricketts’ property following a Tribune story that revealed the Republican National Committee finance chairman had been paying taxes as if the older, smaller house he’d torn down more than a decade ago was still there.
Chicago Tribune: The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Jesse Jackson Jr. ask President Trump for release, pardon of imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and his son, former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., himself a convicted felon, have written a letter to President Donald Trump seeking the release and full pardon of imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition spokesman has confirmed.
The Jacksons’ letter seeking mercy for Blagojevich was dated Friday, a day before former Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich appeared with the Rev. Jackson and others at his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition headquarters to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of three U.S. Army soldiers captured by Yugoslavian forces. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the letter from the Jacksons to Trump.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she has ‘total confidence’ in Ald. Pat Dowell following Tribune report
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she has “total confidence” in Ald. Pat Dowell following a recent Tribune report detailing how a developer submitted paperwork seeking taxpayer reimbursement for $20,000 in campaign contributions to the alderman, along with other expenses incurred during the overhaul of a historic housing development in her ward.
Lightfoot was asked Tuesday about a Tribune story on the redevelopment of Rosenwald Courts, a prominent South Side apartment complex in Bronzeville. As 3rd Ward alderman, Dowell held sway over the project thanks to a long-standing tradition known as aldermanic prerogative, although she said her support of the project had nothing to do with political support she received from the developers.