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A federal judge has rejected a Republican effort to immediately invalidate a Democratic-drawn map of new Illinois legislative districts, but warned Democrats to address their concerns.
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times file Former Chicago Ald. Edward “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak could be heading to prison this summer — but his attorneys still fear “he could die” if put behind bars during the coronavirus pandemic. Therefore, U.S. District Judge Robert Dow set a June 29 surrender date for the 83-year-old Vrdolyak during a hearing Thursday, triggering the Federal Bureau of Prisons to decide where Vrdolyak would serve his 18-month sentence for tax evasion. The judge also then left room for Vrdolyak’s lawyers to make a case that his surrender should be further delayed. “I’m...
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), having no shame, took his normal seat Wednesday at the City Council as that august body resumed its in-person deliberations for the first time since its pandemic hiatus. It was easy to forget about Burke this last year while the Council was meeting only remotely via video, the once powerful Finance chairman just another box in the Hollywood Squares except when he opened his yap, which was mercifully far less frequently than when he was the chamber’s loquacious ringmaster. But there he was Wednesday, back in our face, a reminder th...
Prosecutors revealed new details Wednesday in the corruption case against Chicago Ald. Edward Burke, shedding light on the cooperation of former Ald. Daniel Solis, an anti-Semitic statement captured in a wiretapped conversation and other evidence in the probe that rocked City Hall two years ago. The revelations came in a 227-page response by the U.S. attorneyâs office to a flurry of pretrial motions filed last year by lawyers for Burke and his two co-defendants, developer Charles Cui and 14th Ward political operative Peter J. Andrews. In it, prosecutors denied accusations by Burkeâs...
Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times In the midst of an alleged scheme at the heart of his racketeering indictment, Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th) allegedly made a comment about Jewish people that federal prosecutors now say was both “distasteful” and evidence of his corruption. Explaining why he needed to leverage his position on the City Council to get tax work for his private law firm as part of the renovation of the Old Main Post Office, Burke allegedly made the comment that, “Well, you know as well as I do, Jews are Jews and they’ll deal with Jews to the exclusion of everybody else unless ...