http://www.mail.com/people/15696-rod-blagojevich.html Mail.com - the best personalized free web-based Email en en http://sec-s.uicdn.com/mail.com/2.28/img/mailcom_logo_rss.png http://www.mail.com/people/15696-rod-blagojevich.html http://www.mail.com/news/politics/2088386-family-drama-adds-intrigue-to-ill-governors-race.html SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Politics has long been a family business in Illinois, a place where who you know — and who you're related to — matters more than most. But the family drama shaping up around the next governor's race adds a new layer of intrigue in a Capitol already grappling with huge financial problems. Though the election is a year away, the pos... Wed, 15 May 2013 21:40:31 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/2088386-family-drama-adds-intrigue-to-ill-governors-race.html 2013-05-15T21:40:31Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/2007378-ex-ill-lawmaker-elected-to-succeed-jackson-jr.html CHICAGO (AP) — Former Illinois state Rep. Robin Kelly, whose campaign received a $2 million boost from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, easily captured Tuesday's special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. The win for the Matteson Democrat was widely expected as the Chicago-area district, which Jackson represented from 1995 until ... Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:26:14 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/2007378-ex-ill-lawmaker-elected-to-succeed-jackson-jr.html 2013-04-10T02:26:14Z http://www.mail.com/news/us/1957940-wife-blagojevich-teaching-history-prison.html CHICAGO (AP) — Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is spending his time in federal prison teaching Civil War history and learning to play the guitar, while his attorneys work on an appeal, his wife said on Friday, the one-year anniversary of the beginning of his 14-year term for corruption. "All that we have been left with is a aching hole in our lives,"... Fri, 15 Mar 2013 20:05:02 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/us/1957940-wife-blagojevich-teaching-history-prison.html 2013-03-15T20:05:02Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1910382-jackson-jrs-district-history-corruption.html CHICAGO (AP) — They elected a Harvard-educated Rhodes Scholar and ended up with a congressman who was convicted of having sex with an underage campaign worker. They voted for the son of a famous civil rights leader and got someone who illegally spent campaign funds on everything from furniture to Bruce Lee memorabilia. Call it Chicago corruption at its wo... Sat, 23 Feb 2013 17:12:14 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1910382-jackson-jrs-district-history-corruption.html 2013-02-23T17:12:14Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1905198-chicago-district-disappointed-ex-congressman.html CHICAGO (AP) — Residents in this swath of sprawling Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs have brimmed with loyalty to Jesse Jackson Jr. over the past 17 years, giving him an enthusiastic majority each election — even after questionable links to ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, reports of an extramarital affair and a bizarre five-month medical leave. But the former c... Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:45:02 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1905198-chicago-district-disappointed-ex-congressman.html 2013-02-21T15:45:02Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1902552-jesse-jackson-jr-pleads-guilty-campaign-case.html WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., holding back tears, entered a guilty plea Wednesday in federal court to criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. He faces 46 to 57 months in prison, and a fine of $10,000 to $100,000, under a plea deal with prosecutors. A few hours later, his wife, ... Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:56:13 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1902552-jesse-jackson-jr-pleads-guilty-campaign-case.html 2013-02-20T23:56:13Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1896640-jackson-jrs-downfall-tied-to-objects-power.html CHICAGO (AP) — For all the talk of Jesse Jackson Jr. aspiring to be a U.S. senator or mayor of the nation's third-largest city, his career wasn't ended by attempts to amass political power. Instead, it was the former congressman's desire for flashy items — a gold-plated Rolex watch, furs and collectibles, such as Eddie Van Halen's guitar. In a state where... Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:16:46 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1896640-jackson-jrs-downfall-tied-to-objects-power.html 2013-02-16T22:16:46Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1896108-prospect-prison-looms-ex-congressman-wife.html CHICAGO (AP) — The prospect of prison looms over former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife after they agreed to plead guilty to charges in an alleged scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items — including furs, a gold watch, a football signed by U.S. presidents and even a hat once owned by Michael Jackson. It wasn't immediately cle... Sat, 16 Feb 2013 12:55:54 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1896108-prospect-prison-looms-ex-congressman-wife.html 2013-02-16T12:55:54Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1856110-ex-ill-governor-returns-prison-release.html CHICAGO (AP) — Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan was released from prison before dawn Wednesday, stopping only briefly at a halfway house before he was allowed to travel home to serve the rest of his sentence for corruption. By midday, the 78-year-old was sitting in the living room of his spacious home in a leafy northern Illinois neighborhood in Kankakee,... Wed, 30 Jan 2013 23:14:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1856110-ex-ill-governor-returns-prison-release.html 2013-01-30T23:14:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1855686-ill-gov-ryan-to-released-prison.html CHICAGO (AP) — George Ryan on Wednesday will become the latest former Illinois governor to go through a prison door. This time, he's headed out. Ryan is being released from a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., after serving five-plus years for corruption. He's expected to spend the first few weeks at a halfway house in Chicago and then return to his hom... Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:18:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1855686-ill-gov-ryan-to-released-prison.html 2013-01-30T07:18:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1854870-ex-ill-gov-ryan-faces-changed-world-prison.html CHICAGO (AP) — When former Illinois Gov. George Ryan steps out of prison on Wednesday after serving five-plus years for corruption, he will return to a life altered by personal tragedy and to a state altered by his and his successor's legacy of corruption. Ryan, who is headed to a halfway house in Chicago, will encounter an Illinois that has enacted refor... Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:36:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1854870-ex-ill-gov-ryan-faces-changed-world-prison.html 2013-01-30T00:36:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1855148-4-illinois-7-governors-went-to-prison.html Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan will be leaving prison and heading to a halfway house after serving more than five years for corruption. His departure from prison follows a rich, if ignominious, history in Illinois of ex-governors arriving in and departing from prison. Of Illinois' last seven governors, four have ended up going to prison. They are: —Rod ... Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:15:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1855148-4-illinois-7-governors-went-to-prison.html 2013-01-29T23:15:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1814704-jackson-jrs-wife-leaves-chicago-city-council.html CHICAGO (AP) — The wife of former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. announced Friday that she was resigning from the Chicago City Council, saying she could not adequately represent her district while dealing with "very painful health matters." Alderman Sandi Jackson, whose husband recently resigned from Congress while being treated for bipolar disorder and othe... Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:18:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1814704-jackson-jrs-wife-leaves-chicago-city-council.html 2013-01-11T23:18:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1794558-chicagos-prosecutor-to-insider.html CHICAGO (AP) — The lanky, soft-spoken lawman from New York arrived in Chicago with a mandate to clean up corruption-plagued Illinois. And after a decade on the job, Patrick Fitzgerald had helped put two successive governors and a long procession of other public officials behind bars. Months after the consummate outsider resigned as head of the U.S. attorn... Tue, 01 Jan 2013 17:07:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1794558-chicagos-prosecutor-to-insider.html 2013-01-01T17:07:00Z http://www.mail.com/business/finance/1791984-illinois-dragging-feet-huge-pension-problem.html CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois, a state with a reputation for political wheeling and dealing, backroom handshakes and 11th-hour bargains, is dragging its feet on the one deal needed to solve its biggest crisis in a generation. Lawmakers will convene again the first week in January in hopes of fixing the nation's worst case of underfunding state employees' pensio... Sun, 30 Dec 2012 14:24:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/business/finance/1791984-illinois-dragging-feet-huge-pension-problem.html 2012-12-30T14:24:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1740642-dem-trial-chicago-politics.html CHICAGO (AP) — The grizzled Chicago Democrat has compared himself to a virile hog, likened a then-chief prosecutor to a Nazi and bragged about directing government investigators to kiss his posterior. William Beavers' you-can't-touch-me bravado will be put to the test as the former police officer-turned-politician beats a path — well-worn in Illinois — to... Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:08:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1740642-dem-trial-chicago-politics.html 2012-12-03T23:08:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1734966-sons-woes-weigh-heavily-rev-jesse-jackson.html CHICAGO (AP) — In the cluttered office where he's met with some of the nation's top politicians and preachers, penned rousing speeches and planned civil rights marches, the Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks so softly — and with so little enunciation — that one strains at times to hear him. At 71, he still keeps a hectic schedule and speaks extemporaneously on eve... Fri, 30 Nov 2012 22:14:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1734966-sons-woes-weigh-heavily-rev-jesse-jackson.html 2012-11-30T22:14:00Z http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1730156-ex-us-rep-reynolds-latest-to-seek-jacksons-seat.html CHICAGO (AP) — Just a few blocks from a courthouse where he was convicted of fraud and a few miles from another where he was convicted of having sex with a minor, former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds announced Wednesday he is running for the congressional seat vacated by Jesse Jackson Jr. The former congressman is just the latest entry in a race that has unleash... Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:43:00 GMT http://www.mail.com/news/politics/1730156-ex-us-rep-reynolds-latest-to-seek-jacksons-seat.html 2012-11-28T23:43:00Z