“The sheer number and political stature of the Illinois elected officials and business leaders who were implicated, indicted or convicted in the 2020 is staggering,” University of Illinois at Chicago professor and former 44th Ward Ald. Dick Simpson said.

In Illinois, there’s an added layer of intrigue (or skepticism) about electrical costs given that in 2020 ComEd admitted to federal prosecutors it spent nearly a decade using bribery to get laws passed that were  favorable to the utility company’s bottom line.

Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 22 counts alleging that he orchestrated a criminal enterprise for a decade while serving as Illinois’ most powerful politician.

For nearly 40 years, former Illinois House Speaker and state Democratic Party chairman Michael Madigan was at the epicenter of politics in Chicago and Illinois. Now, he’s at the epicenter of a corruption investigation. The news has Springfield reeling.

In his first public comments since the bombshell indictment was announced, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he cooperated fully with federal investigators and denied ever having conversations about appointing disgraced former Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis to a state position.

Michael Madigan, who served as speaker of the Illinois House for 36 years, led a criminal enterprise disguised as a political organization that was devoted to enriching himself and his associates, prosecutors alleged Wednesday.

Wednesday saw record high temperatures across the region, wind gusts above 60 miles per hour and even the smell of smoke, which rode in on winds all the way from brush fires in Kansas.

Political corruption. Gun violence. Financial crimes. Homegrown terrorism. These are just a selection of the cases brought in the last four years by John Lausch, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

Despite the watchdog's findings, Chicago officials insisted that ComEd was responsible for the outages.

Thieves claiming to be affiliated with ComEd are contacting Illinois residents and threatening to shut off their electricity unless a purportedly “past-due” bill is paid immediately via Bitcoin, according to a warning from Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

ComEd treated some hard-working members of its team to the ride of their lives as a way to educate the public about the utility company’s use of goats to manage overgrown vegetation around hard-to-reach power lines.

Lawmakers couldn’t clinch a deal on a comprehensive energy package before their regular session ended in May, but were called back to Springfield on Tuesday to try again. Instead, the Senate adjourned once again without taking action.

ComEd officials said they were not responsible for the outages on May 6 and May 25 at the Roseland Pumping Station.

Several aldermen are unconvinced that the city should ink a new franchise agreement with ComEd — and Chicago may have other options, officials said.

Firms have until July 30 to submit their pitch to operate and manage the electric distribution system that serves residents and businesses in Chicago, officials said. 

Tim Mapes, a longtime confidant to former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, was federally indicted Wednesday on charges he obstructed justice and lied to a grand jury. Our Spotlight Politics team weighs in on that story and more in this week’s roundtable.