Author: Jim Talamonti | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – Chicago’s city council has approved Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $830 million bond issue. By a vote of 26 to 23, aldermen said “yes” to the mayor’s plan to borrow the money for capital projects. Alderman and Vice Mayor Walter Burnett Jr. warned of dire consequences if the bond deal didn’t pass. “Putting…

(The Center Square) – Chicago’s city council has tabled consideration of an $830 million bond issue favored by the mayor. Mayor Brandon Johnson wanted the bond money for infrastructure projects, even though the additional debt would cost taxpayers millions of dollars in the future. The city council met Wednesday and deferred a potential vote on…

(The Center Square) – Federal authorities and state lawmakers say they will keep fighting public corruption in Illinois after the conviction of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. Morris Pasqual, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, was asked if the Madigan case might be the one that would finally deliver the message…

(The Center Square) – Illinois taxpayers are off the hook for Michael Madigan’s future pension payments, now that the former Illinois House speaker has been convicted of corruption. Madigan, a Democrat, has received payments from the General Assembly Retirement System (GARS) since he retired in 2021 after 50 years in the Statehouse. When a GARS…

(The Center Square) – Government attorneys say the corruption conviction Wednesday of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was historic. In Courtroom 1203 at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse Wednesday, a jury convicted Madigan on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and use of a facility to promote unlawful activity. Morris Pasqual, Acting…

(The Center Square) – A jury is still working toward a decision at the bribery and racketeering trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain. Jurors made their tenth day of deliberations a shorter one Tuesday at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. Judge John Robert Blakey read jury…

(The Center Square) – Defense attorneys have taken exception to an added instruction from the court at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain in Chicago. Attorneys for both defendants filed a joint request for additional jury instruction on Monday morning, claiming that the first paragraph of the…

(The Center Square) – Jury deliberations are approaching the one-week mark at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and co-defendant Michael McClain. The jury got the case last Wednesday afternoon at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. Deliberations are expected to continue each weekday until a verdict is reached…

(The Center Square) – The jury has completed a third full day of deliberations at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. The longtime speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois chairman was indicted on March 2nd, 2022. He’s accused of using his official position as speaker to corruptly solicit and receive personal…

(The Center Square) – The jury is set to resume deliberations Monday at the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and codefendant Michael McClain in Chicago. Jurors deliberated for less than five hours Friday at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse before they wrapped up for the weekend. Deliberations began last Wednesday…