Afternoon Edition: Despite corruption conviction, Burke keeps law license

Good afternoon, Chicago. ✶

In today’s newsletter, we’re talking about convicted former Ald. Ed Burke — why he gets to keep his law license and the Illinois Supreme Court’s incapacity to discipline him.

Plus, we’ve got reporting on the birthday billboards trend popping up on the South Side, a CTA jobs program for the Red and Purple lines modernization project and more. 👇

⏱️: A 7-minute read

— Matt Moore, newsletter reporter (@MattKenMoore)

TODAY’S TOP STORY

Ex-Ald. Ed Burke keeps his law license after most Illinois Supreme Court justices recuse themselves

Reporting by Dave McKinney and Jon Seidel

Burke keeps law license: An Illinois Supreme Court hamstrung by apparent conflicts of interest is letting former 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke keep his law license despite his guilty verdict in an illegal City Hall shakedown scheme designed to enrich his law firm.

What happened: A push by the state’s Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission for an interim suspension of Burke’s law license was sidelined by the court Feb. 2 because at least four of its seven justices recused themselves from the matter, WBEZ and the Sun-Times have learned.

Conflict of interest?Burke’s wife, Anne Burke, served as a Democratic member of the state’s highest court between 2006 and 2022 and was its chief justice for the final three years of her tenure. There is no public accounting of which justices recused themselves from the Edward Burke matter or why they felt they couldn’t take action on the disciplinary commission’s petition. Four of the court’s justices served alongside Burke’s wife.

Key context: While Burke’s lawyers say he doesn’t plan to continue using his law license, the court’s indecision puts a spotlight on the unique and arguably unprecedented perch of power both Burke and his wife occupied simultaneously during their respective careers in city and state governments. For years, the former alderman presided over the judicial slate-making process within the Cook County Democratic Party. That role gave him rarified power in shaping Cook County’s judiciary and in promoting which three justices from the county should have seats on the Supreme Court.

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WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

Jim Vondruska/For the Sun-Times

• Happy billboard to you: Billboards celebrating birthdays have proliferated across the country since the pandemic lockdown, a trend seen on Chicago’s South Side. People who design and sell the ads pin the boom on the availability of digital billboards that allow shorter, less expensive purchases.
• Man sentenced in murder near German castle: A Michigan man was convicted of murder and other charges Monday for attacking two Illinois women near a German castle last summer and pushing them into a ravine, fatally injuring one of them, the Associated Press reports. He was sentenced to life in prison.
• Bears’ lakefront audible: After flirting with the idea of leaving for the suburbs, the Bears have shifted the focus of their efforts for a new stadium to the parking area south of Soldier Field. The team said it would invest more than $2 billion in private money into a publicly owned stadium and park space there.
• Women push to close wage gap: For every dollar a man makes, women make 84 cents, according to 2022 data from the U.S Census Bureau for full-time, year-round earners. In an effort to educate workers and employers about gender disparities, the Equal Pay Chicago Coalition is hosting a virtual event Tuesday, Equal Pay Day.
• CTA diversity program offers opportunity: The agency has tapped 119 minority- or female-owned businesses for the Red and Purple line modernization project, part of a goal to award 20% of the project’s contracts to disadvantaged business enterprises.
• $1,893 for soup? For a limited time, the Colonial Room at the Drake Oak Brook is offering an updated version of its signature Bookbinder’s soup, which is prepared with Louis XIII cognac and garnished with gold flakes and Ossetra caviar.
• 2.5 stars for ‘Aida’: This latest take on the beloved classic falls flat on many fronts, starting with the baffling and too-often frustrating staging, writes Kyle MacMillan in a review for the Sun-Times.

MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR 👋

Sarita Hernández: artist, baker and educator

Ari Mejia/Vocalo Radio

Reporting by Ari Mejia

Multimedia artist, printmaker, zine maker and pie baker Sarita Hernández found their home through artmaking.

After moving to Chicago in 2015 from southeast Los Angeles County, Hernández says they felt supported by the Chicago arts community.

Now, as a teaching artist at Hyde Park Art Center and the co-creator of a local zine collective, Hernández hopes to build the same sense of togetherness for others.

Hernández and friends formed their zine collective in 2017, Marimacha Monarca Press, to express themself and garner community through making art.

“We focus on zine-making, print-making, seed paper-making, piñata-making and arts education in a multilingual format,” Hernández said.

In addition to being a multidisciplinary artist, Hernández is an avid pie maker and launched Sarita’s Pleasure Pie Shop in 2020.

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BRIGHT ONE ✨

Provided

Pingpong class helps Parkinson’s patients find community

Reporting by Cindy Hernandez

A local group called the Parkinson’s Players has been helping patients with the disease to exercise with play.

Founded by Mike DeBartolo, the Parkinson’s Players kick-started last summer.

In the warmer months, participants played golf or tennis, but as temperatures dropped, they needed an indoor activity that would allow them to get moving during the colder months — which brought them to pingpong.

Pingpong, or table tennis, is a game many people played during their younger years. What many probably don’t realize is how beneficial it can be to helping brain function, said Linda Egan, Parkinson’s program coordinator at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.

More than 30 people have participated since the pingpong class started in late December. On any given day, there are at least 12 people in a class, which takes place Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Lake Forest hospital’s health and fitness center and Saturdays at the Edgewater Fitness Center.

DeBartolo said Parkinson’s Players has created the community he hoped for.

“Community enables you to empathize, and it enables you to relate to people who have a similar condition to you. It shows us that we’re not alone,” he said.

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YOUR DAILY QUESTION ☕️

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Editor: Satchel Price
Newsletter reporter: Matt Moore
Copy editor: Angie Myers