House Speaker Michael Madigan said Friday he still has the support of a “significant number” of House Democrats and that he plans to run again for speaker.

In a brief statement issued late Friday afternoon, Madigan gave no indication that he is stepping down despite defections among some House Democrats.

Longtime Illinois Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) says has no intention of stepping down — even after a federal indictment this week nabbed four people alleged to have orchestrated a bribery scheme for Madigan’s benefit.

In the wake of that indictment, even more of Madigan’s fellow Democrats have called on the speaker to resign, including Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday. Additionally, the number of House Democratic members who have publicly committed to casting their biannual votes in the contest for House Speaker against Madigan has grown to a number insurmountable for the Speaker to win.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan says he has the votes to continue to be speaker. Other Democrats project he doesn’t. It’s setting up what could make for what a political observer called a “circus.”

“The decision on the next speaker of the Illinois House will be made at a caucus, after a full discussion of the issues facing our state and the qualifications of the candidates,” Madigan, D-Chicago, said in a statement late Friday. “I plan to be a candidate for speaker, and today I confirmed that I continue to have support from a significant number of House Democratic caucus members.”

The state’s highest court has struck down a southern Illinois city’s policy that partly evaluates police officers on the number of citations officers issue, finding it violates an Illinois law prohibiting ticket quotas.

On Thursday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the labor union that represents police officers in the Randolph County city of Sparta.

Federal prosecutors asked a judge late Friday to send former Ald. Edward Vrdolyak to prison for more than two years, revealing he has collected more than $12 million from Illinois’ massive settlement with tobacco companies in the 1990s.

Vrdolyak received that money even though prosecutors say he did no work on the tobacco litigation that has since become the backdrop to his most recent indictment at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

I’m going to bet most everyone reading this knows what gerrymandering is, but not very many of us have thought much about prison gerrymandering.

Prison gerrymandering occurs when people who are incarcerated are counted at a temporary prison address rather than at their permanent address for purposes of the census and redistricting.

The Sangamon County Department of Public Health has reached an agreement with three of four restaurants closed earlier this week after a temporary restraining order was issued against them for operating without food permits.

The department reached an agreement with the owners of D&J Café, also known as DJ’s Café, 915 W. Laurel St.; Charlie Parker’s, 700 W. North St.; and Sweet Basil Café, 4241 Conestoga Drive.

A former professor at Chicago State University has been indicted on federal charges that she embezzled more than $650,000 from a student group dedicated to improving representation for people of color in the pharmaceutical industry.

Carmita Coleman, 49, allegedly embezzled $651,272 from the student group between 2011 and 2016, when she served as the group’s executive director. She was a professor and interim dean at the Chicago State University College of Pharmacy, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois.