A former Commonwealth Edison executive and former ComEd lobbyists are indicted in a bribery scandal that’s roiling the Illinois House and the future of Speaker Michael Madigan’s leadership. Madigan said he has not been charged in the ComEd scandal, but he is identified as “Public Official A” by the feds via his role as Illinois House speaker.
Democrats have been splintering from Madigan for months in the wake of corruption scandals, but now there appears to be enough state representatives calling for Madigan to step down from his post that he doesn’t have the requisite 60 votes to win another two-year term. So who would run for speaker? And what would the Illinois House look like without Madigan in charge?
With Thanksgiving approaching amid a spike in coronavirus cases and new restrictions, a political opponent of Gov. J.B. Pritzker placed a bounty for photographs of Pritzker’s family over the holiday. Pritzker, fighting his emotions, said his family is off limits.
The state is now operating under Tier 3 COVID-19 mitigations, which includes limits on stores, bars, restaurants, gyms, hotels, museums and more. Despite the coronavirus surge, Chicago Public Schools plows ahead with its plan to reopen some in-person classes in January. CPS justifies reopening as COVID-19 cases surge arguing that some students are suffering with online learning.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget, which includes an unpopular property tax hike, passed easily out of committee. As a compromise, the mayor shelved her plans for hundreds of city layoffs and dangled a $3.7 billion capital improvement plan in the hopes that funding neighborhood projects will nudge more aldermen to vote for her pandemic budget.
In sports, Theo Epstein, a future Hall of Famer who helped end the Cubs World Series drought, quits. Could the Bears hire Epstein as they suffer through another quarterback controversy with Nick Foles down and a possible return of an ailing Mitch Trubisky? And, the Bulls draft Florida State’s Patrick Williams as the No. 4 pick.
Guests:
Tahman Bradley, WGN TV News | @TahmanBradley
Mariano Gielis, Univision | @MarianoGielis
Cassie Walker Burke, Chalkbeat Chicago | @CassieChicago
Russell Dorsey, Chicago Sun-Times | @Russ_Dorsey1
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