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Mihalopoulos: Judge’s campaign stunt raises extra alarms
Like referees, judges tend to become the story only when they’ve done something wrong. For the judges of Cook County, it hasn’t been the worst of times — certainly not nearly as bad as the 1980s, when...
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Mihalopoulos: With spring, patronage blooms in recorder’s office
Many times, patronage has been declared eradicated from these parts, only to sprout up again and again, proving as difficult to get rid of as crabgrass or dandelions. At City Hall, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s...
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Dorothy Brown sang firm’s praises, now mum on her bosses’ fraud rap
In a highly impassioned pep talk that was more sermon than political stump speech, Dorothy Brown endorsed the 5LINX home-based sales organization when executives announced promotions for the Cook...
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Chicago’s ‘hell’ is hilarious to Trump ally Huckabee
The special counsel appointed last week in Washington likely has a lot of work to do before he can determine if the nation’s new rulers are traitors. Meanwhile, here in Chicago, we got fresh, strong...
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Parking meter firm revenues spike as Trump plans more private deals
If you take him at his word, President Donald Trump scorns no city in his realm more than Chicago. But Trump is eager to follow at least one trail blazed years ago by Chicago’s leaders: the...
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Puerto Rican activist says FBI contacted him about Rep. Luis Arroyo
A Puerto Rican activist says an FBI agent approached him recently with questions about Democratic state Rep. Luis Arroyo, the assistant Illinois House majority leader from the Northwest Side. Juan...
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A closer look at Top Box Foods, Chris Kennedy’s nonprofit
Every candidate should have one. It’s not a formal prerequisite, but all aspiring elected officials can benefit greatly from having a personal cause. It increases what political operatives call a...
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To building residents, slaying of 12-year-old was death in the family
Alexis Stubbs’ death was as tragic as any murder we’ve seen in this often-violent city — a 12-year-old girl stabbed to death at home, allegedly by the same man who was locked up for choking her mom a...
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Can progressive politicians pull in the same direction?
“Progressive” is the most popular buzzword in big-city Democratic politics in these times when a socialist came close to winning the party’s nomination for president. And Chicago’s left-leaning...
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Uber, Lyft, Airbnb all shelling out big money to lobbyists in Chicago
The main driver of the taxicab industry’s misery, Uber Technologies Inc., was valued earlier this year at nearly $70 billion — though the company’s problems with sexism allegations and other internal...
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Ex-Supt. Garry McCarthy took a try at helping Bottled Blonde
Since Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired him in the wake of the Laquan McDonald scandal, former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy’s name has been linked with a string of high-profile jobs, from City Hall’s...
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MIHALOPOULOS: Since when did ‘cosmopolitan’ become an insult?
ATHENS — Here in the land that gave us the word “cosmopolitan,” the use of the term by a top aide to President Donald Trump was met with some bewilderment. At a news conference Wednesday, senior White...
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MIHALOPOULOS: Garrett Popcorn says nothing cheesy about Rahm donations
Garrett Popcorn Shops lost a legal fight a few years ago to keep calling its famed carmel- and cheese-flavored popcorn the “Chicago Mix.” That apparently hasn’t stopped the chain from embracing the...
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MIHALOPOULOS: Suits linked to Rutherford sex charges cost public $515K
More than three years after Dan Rutherford’s campaign for governor imploded spectacularly, one of two civil lawsuits against the former Republican state treasurer finally will go to trial Monday....
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MIHALOPOULOS: Just one switched vote on county board could end pop tax
All you need is one. To end Cook County’s wildly unpopular tax on sweetened beverages, it would take a change of vote by just one of the county commissioners who supported the measure when it was...
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MIHALOPOULOS: Dart, Preckwinkle divide played out over jail contract
Sheriff Tom Dart, the elected official who runs the Cook County Jail, is highly critical of the deal that Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has reached with the union for officers at the...
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J.B. Pritzker firms got over $1.9M in state tax credits in four years
Here’s an issue on which rich Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and J.B. Pritzker —by far the wealthiest of the Democrats aiming to unseat Rauner next year — find common ground. Both Rauner and Pritzker are...
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MIHALOPOULOS: Northbrook pols, businesses out of step on minimum wage
The vast gap between rich and poor only will grow wider thanks to the callous leaders of the many suburbs opting out of Cook County’s ordinance to increase the minimum wage. Upscale Northbrook is one...
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MIHALOPOULOS: Pepsi sweetened coffers of pop tax foe’s law firm
Despite announcing he won’t challenge Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in next year’s Democratic primary, county Commissioner Richard Boykin promises he won’t back off a bit from his vocal...
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MIHALOPOULOS: Did Ald. Austin take license giving son latest city gig?
Chicago aldermen rarely get angrier than when their own flesh and blood face scrutiny from City Hall’s inspector general. After an internal investigation forced her son Kenny to quit his job with the...
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