The Cook County Board Tuesday unanimously picked former Comm. Ed Moody, who until recently was a low-key but well-known political godson to House Speaker Mike Madigan, to take over the Recorder of Deeds’ office as it is merged with the Cook County Clerk’s office.

Newly-installed Cook County Assessor Frederick “Fritz” Kaegi says he plans to open up the books in the office he campaigned to reform.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle served notice Monday that she was not holding back in the race for Chicago mayor, challenging the nominating petitions of five candidates — all women of color.

Chief Judge Timothy Evans installed seven new and 10 returning members of the Cook County Board Monday — one of the youngest and most diverse classes in recent memory that features two millennials, five women and the first openly gay member.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel weighed in Friday on the raids that threaten the political future of Chicago’s most powerful alderman, but acknowledged that he had many more questions than answers. The deadline to lodge an objection against the petitions filed by candidates running in the Feb. 26 municipal election looms at 5 p.m. Monday, and State Rep. Melissa Conyears-Ervin launched her campaign for city treasurer with the backing of five aldermen — plus her husband, 28th Ward Ald. Jason Ervin.

Residents of Austin are set to be asked whether they favor raising their property taxes to fund mental health services, nearly seven years after city officials closed six mental health clinics, on the February ballot.

As federal agents raided Ald. Ed Burke’s office one floor above them, members of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate carried on as usual, approving an agreement to acquire abandoned railroad tracks near the proposed Lincoln Yards development.

FBI agents Thursday descended on the offices of the most powerful and longest-serving alderman in Chicago history, papering over the windows of Ald. Ed Burke’s City Hall and 14th Ward offices as they searched for hours.

Aldermen on City Council’s Human Relations Committee met Tuesday to decry an effort by the Trump administration to “narrowly define gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.”

Chicago Public Schools officials have opened 624 cases involving sex abuse since since Sept. 4, officials told aldermen Wednesday at a long delayed hearing called to shine the spotlight on a Tribune investigation of widespread sexual abuse at schools.

Aldermen will weigh an agreement to acquire abandoned railroad tracks near the proposed Lincoln Yards development. The agreement would allow The 606 trail to be extended and permit a light rail line to be built as part of the massive development along the North Branch of the Chicago River.

 

Indicted 20th Ward Ald. Willie Cochran rejected a plea deal Wednesday offered by federal prosecutors to resolve charges that the South Side alderman shook down a local business owner and stole $30,000 he collected to help people in his ward.

U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso set a June 3 trial date, and prosecutors said they expect the trial to last two weeks.

Christopher Grohman, Cochran’s attorney, told reporters after the brief hearing before that the alderman “couldn’t stomach the idea of admitting to something he believes that he did not do.”

“He’s at peace with his decision, he’s going to take it to a jury and accept what the jury has to say,” Grohman said. “After reviewing the plea deal, the alderman could not come to terms to admitting that he defrauded any of the people that he solicited funds (from) for his charity. He never intended to defraud any of those constituents.”

Cochran’s decision to reject the plea agreement that had been in the works for months was first reported by The Daily Line.

If convicted, Cochran could face approximately five years in prison, Grohman said.

Cochran waved to reporters after the hearing, but declined to answer questions.

The plea offer did not include mandatory jail time, Grohman said. It required Cochran to admit to one count of wire fraud, he added.



“It is a big risk,” Grohman said of Cochran’s decision to reject the plea agreement and face trial on all 15 counts of the indictment handed down in December 2016.

However, Grohman called the witnesses set to testify against Cochran “weak,” and said there was no evidence that his client had accepted bribes.

Cochran’s indictment became public during the December 2016 City Council meeting. He did not file to run for re-election Monday. Fifteen candidates are running to replace Cochran, who is the third 20th Ward alderman since 1987 to be indicted for committing a crime connected to his or her official duties.

If he is convicted at trial, or ultimately accepts a plea, Cochran will become the 30th alderman since 1972 to be convicted of corruption.

A retired Chicago police officer who represents the neighborhoods he once patrolled, Cochran is accused of using $5,000 he stole from the 20th Ward Activities Fund to pay his daughter’s college tuition and $25,0000 to fund trips to Indiana casinos.

In court filings, Grohman has argued that Cochran was innocent of the charges of the bribery against him, and made bookkeeping errors.

All of the money Cochran took from that charitable fund has been “covered or almost covered,” and all promised charitable events — including Christmas parties and back-to-school drives — took place, Grohman told reporters Wednesday.

Cochran is also accused of shaking down a lawyer for $1,500 and a local liquor store owner for $3,000 in exchange for helping them in the ward, according to the indictment.

“Alderman Cochran was doing exactly what an alderman should do — helping a minority business owner to develop abandoned buildings and lots in an impoverished community,” Grohman wrote in court filings.

Cochran remains a member of the City Council, and is not scheduled to go to trial until after his term expires this spring. Fifteen candidates are running to represent the 20th Ward, which includes Woodlawn and neighborhoods adjacent to the planned Obama Presidential Center.

One candidate, Andre Smith, attended Cochran's court hearing and told reporters he should step down immediately.

The FBI began investigating Cochran based on information developed by former Legislative Inspector General Faisal Khan, according to a statement from former U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon.

Cochran was elected in 2008 to replace Ald. Arenda Troutman, who pleaded guilty to charges that she demanded political contributions from developers looking to do business in her ward. Those charges were highlighted by Troutman’s now infamous quote caught on tape: “Most aldermen, most politicians are hos.”

Troutman was sentenced to four years in prison.

Former Ald. Cliff Kelley was indicted in 1986 on charges of bribery and income tax evasion. Before he was convicted, Kelley lost the 1987 election to Ernest Jones, who died in office in 1990. Troutman was appointed to Jones’ seat after he died.

As alderman, Cochran earned $117,832 annually in addition to his annual police pension of more than $60,000, records show.

Municipal election candidates flooded the Chicago Pedway at 69 W. Washington St. on two Mondays in a row, in the hopes of snagging the first — or last — spot in their race on February’s ballots.

Chicago Public Schools officials are set to appear before the City Council’s Education Committee at noon Wednesday to answer questions about widespread and repeated failures to protect students from sexual abuse.

Indicted 20th Ward Ald. Willie Cochran will ask U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso Wednesday morning to set a date for trial on a 15-count indictment that alleges the South Side alderman shook down a local business owner and stole $30,000 he collected to help people in his ward.