In tapes played for the jury last week at the Blago trial, the ex-gov was heard telling aides that if both Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. were drowning, and he could only save one, he’d probably pick Jackson. Back in the ’90s, Jackson was said to be Blago’s closest friend in the Illinois congressional delegation…
THE REAL DEAL: Groupon, the social-media-driven shopping site, is the hottest Internet start-up in town. Can it become the city’s big high-tech breakthrough?
August 2010: Lilli Carré, Brendan Pelsue, Robert Buscemi, Nina Kokotas Hahn, Daniel Shea
IN AUGUST’S LETTERS: Questioning our taste in movies
CHICAGO’S GOT GAME: Spanning more than 100 years, the city’s 40 most memorable sports moments mix thrilling victories with agonizing defeats
By several accounts, Blago’s defense lawyers have come off looking like rookies—often tutored by U.S. District Judge James Zagel in a manner reminiscent of a an impatient and bored professor.
THE ACCIDENTAL THIEF: A local mom is banned from Whole Foods for life for accidentally walking out with an item she didn’t buy.
RECONSTRUCTING HARRY WEESE: At his peak in the sixties and seventies, Harry Weese was arguably Chicago’s preeminent architect, a visionary whose ideas helped revive the city’s fraying downtown and whose projects won worldwide acclaim. But his final years were marked by a sad, booze-saturated decline, and in time his reputation faded. Now a forthcoming examination of his architecture could restore him to the place of honor he deserves
A WRITER’S STORY: For more than 40 years, while laboring here on his own novels, Curt Johnson used his little magazine, December, to champion other authors—including a then-unknown Raymond Carver
“I hear you’re an Oxxford guy,” I said to Rod Blagojevich in 2003, shortly after he became governor. His beady, closely-set eyes popped in excitement, and he launched into a detailed timeline of his suit and “accessories” purchases. Blago’s enthusiasm was palpable, but I didn’t know its $200,000 pricetag until the IRS weighted in this week at his trial…
