The 34th Ward alderperson is the second-longest serving member of the City Council — and the third sitting member to be charged with federal crimes. She faces one count of bribery conspiracy, two counts of using interstate facilities to promote bribery and one count of lying to the FBI.

Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward) was indicted Thursday on four charges that she took bribes from a developer and lied to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. The 72-year-old alderperson is the third sitting member of the Chicago City Council to be charged with federal crimes.

A push to make electric scooters a permanent part of the city’s transportation system stalled Thursday, with several aldermen telling transportation officials that the two-wheelers would create a nuisance on Chicago’s streets and sidewalks.

The second-longest serving alderman on the City Council missed the deadline to pay a $5,000 fine to resolve charges that she accepted $48,500 in excessive campaign contributions. The Chicago Board of Ethics voted unanimously Monday to refer the matter to the city’s Law Department.

The board reduced the fine it levied against Ald. Carrie Austin (34th Ward) by more than 96% after considering “after considering the equities of the situation," officials said.

Aldermen on Thursday said they would do more than just talk about whether the city should pay reparations to Chicagoans who are the descendants of enslaved African Americans, but acknowledged that it had taken too long to even begin the discussion.

The fine, approved by an unanimous vote Monday, marks the first time the ethics board has levied the maximum fine allowed for violations of the city’s campaign finance law — three times the amount of the improper campaign contributions.

In a message addressed to “residents and neighbors,” the alderman, who represents the Far South Side’s 34th Ward, said she is “currently progressing toward a full recovery.”

House Speaker Michael Madigan has shelled out big money from his campaign fund to pay attorneys – and he isn’t the only public official to do so.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot wades into the murky waters of the lead pipe debate. Our politics team takes on that story and more in our weekly roundtable.

More details emerge about the investigation into 34th Ward Ald. Carrie Austin, as a former alderman is sentenced to one year in prison. Our politics team takes on those stories and more in our weekly roundtable.

Carrie Austin becomes the latest Chicago alderman to be raided by the feds. Justice Anne Burke comes under fire over judicial appointments. And the Bulls draft Coby White.

Assessing the political fallout from the federal raid of another longtime alderman’s office. Our politics team tackles that and more in our weekly roundtable.

Federal agents have executed a search warrant at the South Side ward office of Chicago Ald. Carrie Austin. A source close to the matter says Austin has been under federal investigation for several years.

City Council today proved that it is ready for reform – just not very much reform. It was a tense debate over which reform measure to support: one that would give Inspector General Joe Ferguson broad, sweeping powers to investigate and audit aldermen, or a more hands-off approach favored by powerful Ald. Ed Burke (14th Ward). Paris Schutz has the story.

Actions Wednesday by powerful aldermen Ed Burke and Carrie Austin signal City Council might not yet be ready for reform. Paris Schutz has the latest on that and how aldermen have watered-down the mayor’s borrowing plan – for now.