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WTTW News hopes you had a good, cozy and relaxing weekend. Start the week off on the right foot by staying ahead of the news.
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Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan exits the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Oct. 31, 2024. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)
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Prosecutors concluded their final summations Friday on Day 3 of closing arguments in former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s landmark trial by presenting an overview of how the various bribery and corruption schemes alleged in the government’s 23-charge indictment all come together under count one: racketeering conspiracy. Closing arguments continue today, and the case is expected to go to the jury later this week.
Here's the latest.
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Madigan and his longtime right-hand man Michael McClain worked together for years as an “ongoing unit” to carry out “a whole spectrum of acts,” federal prosecutors alleged Friday, “some legal and a lot illegal.”
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“For Madigan and McClain," Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said, "the corrupt way was the way it was, the way it continued to be, but that is not the way the law says it can be.”
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According to MacArthur, the two defendants between 2011 and 2019 acted together as an “enterprise” along with three other entities — the speaker’s office, the 13th Ward Democratic Organization and Madigan’s private law practice, Madigan & Getzendanner — to carry out overt, illegal actions.
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“Madigan had power,” MacArthur said, “he could do what he wanted and he used McClain to carry it out.” But Madigan’s defense team on Friday rejected those claims, painting the speaker instead as a hard-working and collaborative — though often reserved — politician, a trait which eventually earned him the nickname “the Sphinx.”
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Defense attorney Dan Collins, in his own closing arguments, said the prosecution failed to meet its burden in proving any of the charges against Madigan.
Madigan and McClain face additional charges of federal program bribery and wire fraud. Madigan alone is also accused of attempted extortion. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
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Joseph Mapp, Chicago’s director of reentry, and Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood appear on “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” on Jan. 22, 2025. (WTTW News)
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Mayor Brandon Johnson’s push to focus his administration’s anti-violence efforts on 10 of Chicago’s “most vulnerable” areas on the city’s West and South sides is “just getting started,” according to an evaluation of the plan recently released by city officials.
All four of the neighborhoods — Englewood, West Garfield Park, Austin and Little Village — have suffered from decades of disinvestment and neglect. That has fueled a cycle of violence that has made them some of the most violent places in Chicago that resist easy solutions, Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood said. While homicides dropped 7.6% citywide between 2023 and 2024, homicides dropped 30% in the Englewood (7th) Police District and 35% in the Harrison (11th) Police District, which included areas targeted by the mayor’s public safety plan, according to city data.
“Not only are we seeing a reduction of crime citywide but having a more focused approach in our investments, we’re seeing some of the results that we were hoping for,” Gatewood said. “Obviously, we know this is not something that happens overnight.” A 33-page evaluation of the first year of the push dubbed the People’s Plan for Community Safety promises to continue working to reduce crime and violence by “addressing the root causes of harm and investing in communities and people.”
“We are just getting started,” Johnson wrote in a letter introducing the report, acknowledging the difficulty in reversing what he called “the tide of historic and purposeful disinvestment.” Read the full report.
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A still from “Great Migrations: A People on the Move.” (Provided)
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Between 1910 and 1970, approximately 6 million Black people left the American South for what they hoped would be a better future in the North in what’s known as the Great Migration. A new four-part documentary series hosted and executive produced by Henry Louis Gates Jr. tells not only that story, but also modern-day stories of Black migration — both back to the American South, and from Africa and the Caribbean. Nailah Ife Sims, who directed the new film along with colleague Julia Marchesi, said she and her team “wanted to make a series that illustrates just how migration is a defining factor in the Black American story that’s ongoing.”
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Back in the Day: January 27, 1967 - Blizzard Gives Chicago 23 Inches of Snow
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While there have been a few minor dustings, Chicago has missed out on massive snowfalls this winter with less than five total inches accumulating so far in 2025. (That number will surely change soon). Still, it’s nothing like 1967 when one snowstorm brought 23 inches of snow to the city. On this day 58 years ago, on January 27, 1967, a blizzard had swept into Chicago and northern Indiana smashing the previous snowfall record of 19 inches from 1930. As the National Weather Service points out, "By the time it was over, 60 people were dead and there was an estimated $150 million in business losses (about $904 million in 2006 dollars). The 1967 snowstorm probably caused the biggest disruption to the commerce and transportation of Chicago of any event since the Great Chicago Fire of 1871."
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The Week's Civic Events and Meetings
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Every Monday, WTTW News highlights the best ways to get involved with local government.
City Council
The Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight is set to meet at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, while a joint Finance (Subcommittee on Revenue) and Health and Human Relations committee meeting is planned for 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Chicago Board of Education
A board meeting is slated for 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Registration for speakers and observers opens at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. A meeting livestream will be available.
CTA
The CTA Citizens Advisory Board plans to meet at 11 a.m. Thursday at CTA Headquarters in the West Loop.
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Where's the best bagel in the Chicago area? Tell us where and why it's your favorite.
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Email DailyChicagoan@wttw.com with your responses and your answers might be published. |
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5:30 PM | 10:00 PM |
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Newsletter Producer: Josh Terry |
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