Jury of 12 finally selected in Madigan corruption case — but work is not done. And on the seventh day, a jury was selected.
After a long week of intensive questioning, a panel of 12 people who will decide the fate of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was finalized Thursday, although attorneys for both sides will not finish picking alternates to sit for the landmark trial until next week.
Opening statements are scheduled for Monday afternoon.
The eight-woman, four-man panel, which was selected on a rolling basis over long days of in-court questioning, includes at least six people from Chicago, including two from the city’s 19th Ward on the Far Southwest Side. Others hail from as far away as Aurora, Downers Grove and northern Lake County.
A pool of more than 150 potential jurors from all over northern Illinois was called into the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse beginning Oct. 8, and attorneys have questioned each member of the panel individually to weed out potential bias. They are being referred to in court only by their juror numbers to protect their privacy.
The process has taken about twice as long as anticipated. At times it slowed to a crawl as attorneys delved into prospective jurors’ news consumption habits, their familiarity with Madigan, and whether they have any opinions about unions, lobbying or politics.
By the end of the day Thursday, attorneys had selected four of the six alternates needed to round out the panel for the anticipated 11-week trial. Court is not being held on Fridays.
U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said he hoped they could finish the selection process Monday morning and then proceed to opening statements — which are expected to last about four hours — after lunch. Prosecutors will begin presenting witnesses on Tuesday, he said.
Madigan, 82, the Democratic powerhouse who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House, faces racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise, scheming with utility giants ComEd and AT&T to put his cronies on contracts requiring little or no work and using his public position to drum up business for his private law firm.
Both Madigan and his co-defendant, Michael McClain, 77, a former ComEd lobbyist and longtime confidant of Madigan’s, have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing.
Read the rest of the Chicago Tribune’s coverage of the Madigan jury selection.
CORRECTIONS
Illinois correctional employees picket Illinois prisons to push for safer working conditions. Illinois prisons are operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). The informational picket, which took place on Thursday, October 17, followed numerous reports of threats to the life and safety of Illinois prison personnel. Particular attention is being drawn towards reports of illegal and potentially lethal controlled substances that are allegedly being smuggled into our correctional centers. In some cases, these shipments are said to be being made by people making personal visits to the prisons to speak with acquaintances and family members who are in confinement. Other reports suggest the use of mail to smuggle controlled substances.
Illinois prison authorities face significant challenges to keep Illinois correctional centers safe for the people who work in them. There are 46 facilities in the IDOC, including five maximum security prisons. Many prisons are aging and do not contain infrastructure sufficient to meet state-of-the-art standards for the constant surveillance of inmate activities.
ENVIRONMENT
Protecting the Mahomet Aquifer, a critical source of Illinois drinking water. The Mahomet Aquifer is a vital source of drinking water for more than half the population in east-central Illinois. Which is why in 2015, the US Environmental Protection agency designated a portion of the Mahomet Aquifer as a "Sole Source Aquifer." That designation provides additional protections for the nearly one million Illinoisans who rely on it for their primary source of drinking water.
Today, Mahomet Aquifer supplies water to residents in 15 Illinois counties (Cass, Mason, Menard, Sangamon, Logan, Tazewell, Woodford, McLean, De Witt, Macon, Piatt, Champaign, Ford, Iroquois, and Vermilion). The Mahomet Aquifer is one of 68 Primary Aquifers in the United States that provides 45 percent of the Nation’s drinking water.
Although the water is purified through its passing of the sand and gravel, it can still harbor contamination from waste disposed at the surface of the Aquifer. Nearby landfills or areas where chemical waste is contained or disposed can contaminate the groundwater stored in the Aquifer. Additionally, recent passage of legislation allowing carbon sequestration raised concerns by residents that the safety of their drinking water may be threatened.
Earlier this year, State Representative Brandun Schweizer joined a bipartisan bicameral group of lawmakers from the east-central Illinois districts in objecting to SB1289, legislation that allow for carbon sequestration activity that could adversely affect the Mahomet Aquifer asking for an amendment that would protect the vital water source. The bill's sponsor would not accommodate the request for an amendment.
Following the passage of SB 1289, Rep. Schweizer and the other lawmakers signed a letter to Governor Pritzker emphasizing the risks carbon sequestration poses to drinking water and urged a ban on injecting CO2 waste through and under the Mahomet Aquifer. The governor had not responded to the letter and signed the bill into law, effective January 1, 2025. Although to-date the Governor has not responded to the letter, Schweizer remains committed to working across the aisle and fighting for stronger water protections.
Schweizer filed legislation in August that bans any carbon sequestration activity in and around federally designated sole source aquifers, including the Mahomet Aquifer. The bill also mandates the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deny permits to applicants who knowingly intend to conduct carbon sequestration activities around these aquifers.
"Close to one million Illinois residents heavily depend on the Mahomet Aquifer," said Schweizer. "It is our duty to eliminate any risks to this vital source of safe drinking water."
Schweizer is encouraging residents who rely on the Mahomet Aquifer for drinking water to sign his petition to Protect Safe Drinking Water.
GAMBLING
New south suburban casino set for opening in November. The Wind Creek Chicago Southland Resort and casino will serve customers in Chicago’s south suburbs. The casino floor and attached hotel will contain 255 hotel rooms, including 43 hotel suites. Affiliated with the gaming floor and hotel will be a 75,000 sq-ft entertainment space. Wind Creek will also contain a 12,000 sq-ft conference space which can be used for meetings or banquets.
Although the new Illinois casino will have a physical address in the suburb of East Hazel Crest, its construction and identity brings together a consortium of municipalities from Chicago’s Cook County. In a pioneering arrangement unique to Chicago Southland, the “local share” of Wind Creek casino tax money will be paid to all of these municipalities as a group. The Wind Creek opening brings to an end the lengthy discussion that took place between South Cook County stakeholders on where the new casino would be located and who would get the local tax money it would generate.
This casino opening was facilitated by the overall gambling expansion enacted by the Illinois General Assembly in 2019. Other aspects of the same legislation have led to the construction and opening of new casinos in Rockford and in Carterville, Illinois.
JOBS
True Value hardware declares bankruptcy. The Chicago-based firm was the distributor for approximately 4,500 independently-owned-and-operated hardware stores nationwide. True Value not only engaged in bulk purchases and coordinated distributions for these stores, but also operated a longtime nationwide advertising campaign. The firm filed for bankruptcy this week, announcing plans to sell its operations to Indiana-based rival Do It Best.
True Value was founded as a post-World War II hardware store collective, and flourished for generations as a Baby Boom-oriented retail giant. It sold itself to a private equity firm in 2019. Its bankruptcy followed the fate of other Chicago-based national retailing firms that operated within a wholesaling and TV-advertising paradigm, including Sears and Montgomery Ward. The True Value bankruptcy was announced on Monday, October 14.
OUTDOOR SPORTS
IDNR announces key dates and information for 2024-2025 waterfowl season. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) reminds waterfowl hunters of key dates and other information for the 2024-2025 waterfowl seasons.
This is the fourth year of a five-year waterfowl season plan that was developed in 2020.
Rail season (sora and Virginia only) is open statewide in all zones from Sept. 7 until Nov. 15, with a daily bag limit of 25 and possession limit of 75. Snipe season is open statewide in all zones from Sept. 7 to Dec. 22, with a daily bag limit of eight and possession limit of 24.
As temperatures fall and migration proceeds, Illinois will open the regular duck, Canada goose, and snow goose seasons on Oct. 19 in the north zone, Oct. 26 in the central zone, Nov. 16 in the south-central zone, and Nov. 30 in the south zone. (Early Canada goose and teal hunting closed Sept. 15 and Sept. 22, respectively.)
White-fronted goose (specklebellies) season will open Oct. 21 in the north zone, Nov. 5 in the central zone, and on the same dates as duck season in the south-central (Nov. 16) and south (Nov. 30) zones.
The daily limit is six ducks of any species; however, the daily limit can consist of no more than four mallards (of which no more than two can be hens), three wood ducks, two redheads, two canvasbacks, two black ducks, one pintail and one mottled duck. […]
During the regular season, Canada goose daily limits will be three with a possession limit of nine. White-fronted goose daily bag limits will be two with a possession limit of six. The snow goose daily bag limit is 20 birds, with no possession limit, during the regular hunting season.
The spring Light Goose Conservation Order will open Jan. 17 in the north zone and Feb. 1 in the central, south-central, and south zones, ending April 30 in all zones. There is no daily bag or possession limit on snow, blue, and Ross's geese during the spring conservation order.
Additional details on waterfowl seasons can be found in the 2024-2025 Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations. The Illinois waterfowl hunting zone maps and anticipated season dates for the 2021-2025 seasons are available online at https://bit.ly/ILwaterfowlzones.