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Focus on technology & branding to promote tourism: Rajasthan Dy CMCHICAGO — Six years ago, Chicago Ald. Daniel Solis sat in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s office to break the news that he would not be seeking re-election to the City Council. But don’t worry, Solis told Madigan, he still had a few months left in office, and there were major new real estate developments going up in his ward, and that would mean plenty of tax-appeal business for the speaker’s private law firm. “There’s a couple more in the South Loop, and there’s some in the, in the West Loop. So, I figure I can still help you a lot,” Solis said in the Nov. 23, 2018, conversation, which was secretly recorded as part of Solis’ cooperation with the FBI. “I’m committed for that.” Madigan replied enthusiastically, “OK, thank you,” before moving almost immediately to something Solis had been wanting. “Do, do you want to go forward now on one of those state appointments?” Madigan asked. Prosecutors allege that the pivotal conversation, played Wednesday for the jury in Madigan’s corruption trial, is proof of a corrupt quid-pro-quo scheme in which Solis introduced the powerful Democratic speaker to developers in his ward in exchange for Madigan’s help securing him a six-figure state board appointment. The speaker appeared relaxed and jolly during the meeting, which took place three weeks after the 2018 general election in which Madigan’s bitter rival, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, had been vanquished by Democrat JB Pritzker. In the background in Madigan’s office was a life-size punching bag printed with Rauner’s face. Before getting down to business, the two exchanged some reaction to the election, including Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s ascension to the U.S. House. “I like Chuy,” Madigan said. “But a progressive?” prompting them both to laugh. What Madigan did not know was that Solis had been cooperating with the FBI for more than two years and was recording the meeting with a hidden camera. Six days later, agents would raid the City Hall office suite of their Democratic colleague, then-Ald. Edward M. Burke. The video was played for jurors Wednesday toward the end of Solis’ direct examination, which in total lasted about 16 hours over four days of Madigan’s corruption trial. Solis is a crucial prosecution witness, and his cross-examination, slated to begin Monday after an extended break for Thanksgiving, is expected to be grueling. The trial, which began Oct. 8, is expected to last until mid-January. Madigan, 82, of Chicago, who served for decades as speaker of the Illinois House before stepping down in 2021, faces a wide array of racketeering charges alleging he ran his state and political operations like a criminal enterprise. He is charged alongside Michael McClain, 77, a former ComEd contract lobbyist from downstate Quincy, who for years was one of Madigan’s closest confidants. Both men have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. For months before that November 2018 meeting, Solis had promised to connect Madigan with real estate developers in his 25th Ward who could give business to Madigan’s private tax law firm. At the direction of the FBI, Solis also asked Madigan if he could get Solis appointed to a lucrative seat on a state board or commission. Madigan told Solis to get him his resume. “I wanted to have a meeting with Pritzker the week after next,” Madigan said. “... (I want to) let Pritzker know what’s coming, doesn’t have to be in writing, and I’ll monitor what goes on with the boards and commissions.” Solis arranged to have his resume, along with his daughter’s, sent to Madigan a couple of weeks later. Then, in January 2019, Solis’ cover was blown. Thanks to a slip-up in the clerk’s office at the Dirksen U.S Courthouse, a 120-page FBI search warrant affidavit detailing Solis’ own misdeeds was left unsealed and made public, leading to Solis being outed as a mole. Did you ever hear from Madigan again? asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur. “No,” Solis said. Solis has testified to a dizzying number of alleged schemes involving Madigan, all of which overlapped during his time as a cooperator. Madigan allegedly hoped to get legal business from a group of developers who would need a plot of land in Chinatown transferred from the state to the city, and tasked McClain with trying to get the supporting legislation through. He requested Solis’ help getting his son Andrew a job interview; he asked Solis for a connection to developers of West Loop real estate projects; and he apparently took steps to help Solis get a seat on a state board. All of that, prosecutors allege, is part of a long-running scheme of corruption in which Madigan used his own power to enrich himself and his allies. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, have framed it as perfectly legal political favor-trading. Solis’ credibility is sure to be under attack as soon as cross-examination begins Monday. The head of the powerful Zoning Committee began cooperating in 2016 only after FBI agents confronted him with evidence they’d gathered of his own extensive misdeeds. And in exchange for his lengthy and “singular” level of cooperation, prosecutors struck an equally unprecedented deal, in which Solis will avoid having a conviction on his record and can continue to draw his city pension. Recordings played Wednesday revealed just how strange Solis’ position was in 2018. He was a key cooperator in investigations against both Madigan and Burke, both of whom were Democratic powerhouses with side jobs as property tax attorneys, competing at times over the same big-time developers. Burke, as detailed in his corruption trial last year, was eager to get business from the New York-based group behind the renovation of the massive Old Post Office project in Solis’ ward. Lead developer Harry Skydell ended up promising Burke business on some of his other local properties instead, the evidence showed. In October 2018, Madigan called Solis and said he had read about Skydell’s company buying a building at 1 S. Wacker Drive. “That may be an opportunity for me,” Madigan told Solis in a recording played for jurors. “All right, I can call him right away,” Solis said. Solis reached Skydell a few days later, and told him Madigan had noticed he made a bid for the property on Wacker. “Yes, that’s the property that Burke has,” Skydell said. “Oh!” Solis said, and laughed out loud. Regardless, when Solis spoke to Madigan later that month, he said Skydell was eager to give Madigan the tax business. “I’ve got good news,” he told Madigan in a meeting secretly recorded on video. “... I talked to Harry, he’s on board, he’s gonna give you that project.” That was not true, Solis testified Wednesday, but the government had directed him to say it. And right after giving Madigan the “good news,” Solis asked about the state board seat. “Yeah, I’ve got it in my notes, I’m gonna sit down with Pritzker,” Madigan said. “Excellent, excellent,” Solis said. The board seat was another fiction, Solis has previously testified. He was not actually interested in a position on a state commission, but his government contacts directed him to ask Madigan for that favor to see how he would respond. Solis was outed as a cooperator before Madigan could make any successful moves to get him appointed. Burke, the city’s longest-serving alderman and powerful chairman of the Finance Committee, was convicted last year and is serving a two-year prison term. The jury Wednesday also heard the end game in the saga surrounding the transfer of a Chinatown parking lot in order for developers to proceed with a hotel project on the site. Solis has testified about efforts that Madigan orchestrated, mainly through McClain, to pass legislation in 2018 that would transfer the triangular-shaped parcel from the Illinois Department of Transportation to city control. In exchange, Madigan hoped to win business for his law firm from the developers, Solis has said. But the thorny political issues surrounding the transfer proved too much for even Madigan to overcome — in part because Rauner was likely to oppose it if Madigan’s fingerprints were on it. In a face-to-face meeting on Oct. 26, 2018, Solis confirmed with Madigan that they were going to push the Chinatown amendment in the upcoming veto session but warned the speaker that the local state representative, Democrat Theresa Mah, had taken a “neutral position.” A week later, Madigan and McClain talked about a potential sponsor for the bill, with the speaker recommending Ed Burke’s brother, then-Democratic state Rep. Dan Burke. That day, McClain left Dan Burke a voicemail saying they wanted him to pick up the bill as a favor to Solis. But more problems quickly arose. On Nov. 21, 2018, McClain left a voicemail for Solis saying a group of Chinese business people had circulated petitions opposing the deal and taken the 3,000 signatures they gathered to then-Secretary of State Jesse White, who “has made the decision to be with the Chinese people and against the development.” “I’m just letting you know we’ve got all of a sudden a huge hurdle I didn’t expect from the Chinese community,” McClain said on the voicemail, which was played in court. Two days later, Madigan called McClain and told him the Chinatown deal was “not gonna go forward.” “Yeah, I kind of figured that,” McClain said. “I left a message for Solis, but he hasn’t called me back.” “Yeah. He was here today to, to tell me,” Madigan said, asking later, “Why would they be against (it)?” McClain said “these Chinese business guys” don’t want the competition. “I know it’s hard to believe, but at the end of the day, it’s probably about money,” McClain said, sharing a chuckle with the speaker. ©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Cardinals at Vikings prediction: Odds, expert picks, QB matchup, injury update, betting trends, and stats
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Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her bid for a second term this month, despite strong backing from union members. They're a key part of the Democratic base but are gravitating in the Trump era toward a Republican Party traditionally allied with business interests. Forecasts warn of possible winter storms across US during Thanksgiving week WINDSOR, Calif. (AP) — Forecasters in the U.S. have warned of another round of winter weather that could complicate travel leading up to Thanksgiving. California is bracing for more snow and rain this weekend while still grappling with some flooding and small landslides from a previous storm. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for California's Sierra Nevada through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at high elevations. Thousands remained without power in the Seattle area on Saturday after a “bomb cyclone” storm system hit the West Coast earlier in the week, killing two people. 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South Korea’s absence at Sunday’s memorial, to which Seoul government officials and Korean victims’ families were invited, is a major setback in the rapidly improving ties between the two countries, which since last year have set aside their historical disputes to prioritize U.S.-led security cooperation. Chuck Woolery, smooth-talking game show host of 'Love Connection' and 'Scrabble,' dies at 83 NEW YORK (AP) — Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble” who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83. Mark Young, Woolery’s podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978. He teamed up with Young for the podcast “Blunt Force Truth” and became a full supporter Donald Trump., the world’s wealthiest man and President-elect Donald Trump’s ” took to his social media platform X to ominously accuse the key witness in Trump’s first impeachment of treason while calling for him to “pay the appropriate penalty.” Musk, who has been tasked by Trump to lead an outside agency on government efficiency , took issue on Wednesday with comments made by former National Security Council official during an appearance on MSNBC. Vindman, who in 2019 that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch an investigation into then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, cited that Musk had been engaged in secret conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin dating back to 2022. He then expressed concerns that Musk, who has through his SpaceX, Tesla and Starlink companies, may have shared “state secrets” with Putin. “And [Putin’s] been using the richest man in the world to do his bidding. In some cases, that’s encouraging him probably to support Donald Trump,” Vindman told MSNBC. “That’s not speculation. We see how far in Elon has gone. And then using Twitter as a disinformation platform.” Reacting to a of Vindman’s remarks, Musk : “Vindman is on the payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs and has committed treason against the United States, for which he will pay the appropriate penalty.” According to , the penalty for treason — which is defined by the Constitution as levying war against the United States or adhering to the nation’s enemies — is death, or no fewer than five years imprisonment. Anyone convicted of treason also forfeits their right to hold public office. Unsurprisingly, a number of political observers and journalists expressed outrage over Musk’s remarks, especially since he is so closely intertwined with the incoming administration. “Oh nothing, just a person deeply integrated into the incoming administration’s center of power calling for the execution of one of his critics,” The Unpoulist’s senior editor Berny Belvedere on Bluesky. “Lying about a private citizen and making a not-so-veiled threat that he will be executed,” The Bulwark’s executive editor Adam Keiper . “And the person doing it is the richest guy in the world, a major government contractor, who is new besties with the convicted-felon president-elect. Do I have that right?” While Musk would later clarify his threat in a , claiming that Vindman “has committed treason and belongs behind bars,” he still hasn’t explained how Vindman is a traitor to the U.S. or what proof he has that the retired Army officer is on the “payroll of Ukrainian oligarchs.” has reached out to both Vindman and Musk for comment. Republicans and conservative media, meanwhile, have Vindman of holding “dual loyalty,” citing the fact that his family fled Soviet-era Ukraine when he was 3 years old. After Vindman before the House impeachment inquiry about Trump’s actions towards Zelensky, Fox News hosts and GOP lawmakers said he “has an affinity for Ukraine” while suggesting he was simultaneously advancing Ukrainian interests while working in the White House. As reported by The Intercept at the time, the leaned heavily on antisemitic tropes, especially since Vindman himself is Jewish. This also isn’t the first time that Musk has questioned the loyalties of Vindman, who has been a frequent critic of both Trump and the X owner. “Vindman is both puppet & puppeteer. Question is who pulls his strings,” Musk wondered in 2022 after Vindman commented on Musk’s purchase of Twitter. “Musk’s tweet — deliberately or not — evoked an antisemitic trope that Jews are puppeteers who secretly wield power over various institutions or that they are puppets of the Israeli government,” at the time.
