Former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton walks out of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Friday, Aug. 16, 2019.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.
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Former state Sen. Thomas Cullerton pleaded guilty today to one count of embezzlement, admitting he improperly took more than $240,000 from the Teamsters labor union.
Cullerton could face a prison sentence of more than a year, a prosecutor told U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman during a hearing this morning. Cullerton has also agreed to pay $248,828 in restitution. His sentencing hearing has been set for June 21.
Before he entered his plea, Cullerton told the judge he’s spent the last four or five months doing overnight and morning shift work in a warehouse. He acknowledged he’d previously been employed as an Illinois state senator.
Cullerton’s guilty plea comes amid an eventful few weeks at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Federal prosecutors on Feb. 14 secured the conviction of former Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson on charges he cheated on his taxes and lied to regulators. He is a grandson and nephew of Chicago’s two longest-serving mayors.
Then, last week, a federal grand jury indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who is charged with a racketeering conspiracy and is due to be arraigned tomorrow.
Cullerton, a member of a family whose political fortunes here date back to just before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, faced indictment since August 2019. But the Villa Park Democrat held onto his office until last month, resigning just before his attorney revealed his plans to plead guilty.
Jon Seidel has more on Cullerton’s plea here.
The importance of family is a key theme in a Hyde Park mural titled “Essence of Growth, by Humboldt Park artist Izze Ortiz.
Painted last fall on a Metra underpass on 55th Street near South Lake Park Avenue, the piece is Ortiz’s first solo mural.
The mural shows people, as plants, at different ages. A seed? That’s a baby. A full-grown plant? An adult. There’s an in-between flower child, too.
The mural “Essence of Growth,” was done last fall in Hyde Park by Humboldt Park artist Izze Ortiz.
Provided
It’s mostly done in blues and purples — the artist’s favorite colors — with pastel-blue water, essential to life, seen flowing throughout and the oldest figure shown watering the baby seed so it will grow.
“If you look at nature, there’s a lot of symbiotic relationships where the plants are helping each other,” says Ortiz, 26.
“It’s natural to take care of one another. And I thought of it to a larger scale: human beings taking care of each other.”
Alec Karam has more on the mural here.
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Yesterday, we asked you: Now that the weather’s (slowly) getting nicer, what’s a home improvement or repair project you’re excited to tackle this year?
Here’s what some of you said…
“Not excited about it — but need to restain my deck, repair a kitchen ceiling and paint my screened-in porch.” — Rhonda Rowe-Skolnik
“Get my garage cleaned and organized so I can finish unpacking and get everything else organized.” — Beverly Brown
“Get my show cars ready for the few months of nice weather we get.” — John T. Miller
“I have some light bulbs to fix.” — Michael Thomas
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