“Is he so morally compromised, is he so ethically compromised, that it has risen to the level of conduct unbecoming of a legislator – such that our Illinois House cannot properly function anymore?” said Rep. Deanna Mazzochi (R-Westmont).

“The reality is that the criminal justice system is large, wide-reaching, and full of systemic injustice from top to bottom. The hope is that the Pretrial Fairness Act will be the first in a long series of reforms to reshape the system that has destroyed so many families,” State Sen. Robert Peters said in a prepared release.

The recreational total for last month, $75.19 million, was only slightly lower than the record set in October, $75.28 million.

“When there is a timeline for the state to emerge from these restrictions, the Board is prepared to restart lower risk winter sports quickly,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said.

“It is a shameful neglect of our veterans who we should be standing up for every single day,” Pritzker said of a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at the Quincy veterans home during a 2018 debate. The COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle veterans home has infected more than 200 people and has killed 29 veterans, nearly a quarter of the residents at the state-run facility.

The data compiled by Harvard and Brown universities and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation shows as of Nov. 16, 2020, the number of Illinois small businesses open decreased by 35.4 percent compared to January of this year. The national average businesses counted during that period is 28.9 percent fewer.

Corruption and fraud expert and Saint Xavier University Professor David Parker said despite the not guilty pleas, there could still be deals made. “Sooner or later the truth is going to come out,” he said. “Okay, maybe you’re going to have to wait a long time.”

Some emails show Madigan asked for specific people to be hired as meter readers but to do little work, which Madigan discussed with Marquez directly, according to an email. McClain apparently had trouble with one Madigan appointment in particular, a lobbying contract for former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, telling Marquez that Acevedo needed to show up on time and in person and “watch the booze.”

Jim Nowlan: “Indeed, he was scrupulous about protecting his members from having to make tough votes, which is one reason Illinois is now in a world of hurt, after decades of deficit spending. For Madigan, the needs of politics always trumped those of policy.”

Andy Shaw, former head of the Better Government Association: “It’s high time for leaders to start talking turkey before voters and taxpayers start flipping them the bird.”

IDPH noted that some data reported was delayed from the past holiday weekend but did not specify which data was delayed.

All four were each charged with multiple counts of bribery conspiracy, bribery and willfully falsifying ComEd records in an indictment filed last month. The defendants were told Wednesday that the most serious counts in the indictment could carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

“Madigan understood that his route to the pinnacle of Chicago politics was blocked by the Daley family, so he sought instead to build a career in Springfield, shrewdly using an office that others had discarded to make himself the most powerful man in Illinois.”

Mike Madigan is now at least six votes shy of what he would need for another term as Illinois House speaker, but the latest Democratic House member to vow her opposition leads the party’s caucus.