SAMMY AGONISTES: His fall from grace as a beloved Chicago sports icon came with startling speed and bitterness. The Cubs “threw me into the fire,” says the ex-slugger Sammy Sosa in a rare interview. “They made [people] believe I’m a monster.” But the real blame for his haunted career is more complex—a tale of money, fame, and the cost of hero worship in the steroids era
The key mistake in the government’s case against Rod Blagojevich happened right at the start of the trial, during jury selection, with the choice of a juror who ultimately became the sole vote siding with the ex-gov on key counts of the indictment. Sources say the holdout juror, an African-American retired state worker who had worked for the Illinois Department of Public Health, should have been dismissed…
The father-and-son defense team that represented Rod Blagojevich in the ex-gov’s corruption case is likely to bow out before the retrial, according to a prominent veteran defense lawyer in town who knows the Adams well. My source, whom I interviewed after closing arguments in the case in late July…
IN SEPTEMBER’S LETTERS: The “accidental” thief—beleaguered mom or would-be burglar?
September 2010: James Ylisela Jr., Jan Parr, Beth Wilson, Shane Tritsch, Chris Lyons
While Illinois is not currently on the most recent list of the 11 states (24 congressional districts) that the right-leaning Americans for Prosperity has targeted with a major ad campaign, an AFP rep for the state said that the group is planning a new project to bring its movement here…
FROM NOVEMBER 1991: After 33 years in Congress and facing his toughest race in decades, Dan Rostenkowski may be feeling his political mortality at last. But he’s the same fierce, engaging, conflicted man who rose from the streets of the Northwest Side to the peaks of Capitol Hill
FROM JUNE 1996: He was tough, powerful, and unrepentant, even after admitting he had broken the law. A veteran Washington correspondent assesses the perplexing career of Dan Rostenkowski
Last March, I met Dan Rostenkowski for lunch at Mitchell’s on Clybourn Avenue. Here, some highlights of our conversation, which covered more than 50 years of local and national politics and included his thoughts on Mayor Daley, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and more…
A FRIENDSHIP IN WINTER: How a 34-year-old high-school dropout and recovering alcoholic found inspiration and a buddy in the irascible, imperious Dan Rostenkowski, the fallen political giant
