Former House Speaker Mike Madigan to appear in court Monday ahead of sentencing
Fmr. House Speaker Mike Madigan to appear in court ahead of sentencing
Fmr. House Speaker Mike Madigan to appear in court ahead of sentencing
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan will be back in court on Monday, just days before his sentencing.
The judge is expected to consider post-trial motions.
This follows a four-month trial in which Madigan was accused of running a years-long criminal enterprise to enrich himself and his political allies. In February, he was convicted of bribery conspiracy, bribery, and wire fraud charges, but he was acquitted of several other charges.
Last week, Madigan's wife sent a video pleading with the judge, explaining how she wouldn't know what to do without him around.
"I really don't exist without him. I wish I could say that I do, but I don't know what I would do without Michael. I would probably have to find someplace to live, and I would have to find care," Shirley Madigan said.
She hopes this video will be played in open court ahead of his sentencing on Friday.
Madigan could potentially face up to 20 years in prison.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US auto safety agency shedding more than 25% of employees
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. auto safety agency is shedding more than 25% of its employees under financial incentive programs to depart the government offered by the Trump administration, according to data provided to Congress seen by Reuters. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, part of the Transportation Department, is shrinking from 772 employees as of May 31 to 555 under the program. The Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Agency are also both losing more than 25% of their staff. Representative Rick Larsen, top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, expressed concerns about the cuts, questioning how USDOT can "expedite project delivery and advance safety with a decimated workforce." Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The next Fed chair's dilemma: Maintain Fed independence while pleasing Trump
It is becoming clear what the major challenge will be for Jerome Powell's successor: Maintaining the Fed's independence while keeping President Trump happy. Even if the president doesn't remove Powell before his term is up in 10 months, he has made it clear that he wants the next Fed boss to do what he wants: Bring interest rates down. "I'm only interested in low-interest people," he said Wednesday, while denying reports that he intended to fire Powell yet leaving the door open to doing so for "fraud." The various candidates who are being considered by Trump have all expressed a support for lower rates, including National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, Fed governor Christopher Waller and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Trump "is putting somebody in place who he says he expects to cut interest rates very aggressively," StoneX senior adviser Jon Hilsenrath told Yahoo Finance. "Whoever becomes the next Fed chair is going to have some implicit promise to live up to.' Media reports this week suggested that Hassett is now rising as a leading candidate. He benefits from being close to Trump, having worked for the president during both of his terms, but whether Wall Street will view that as a shot to central bank independence remains an open question. 'Kevin has the qualifications to get the Fed job because he is close to the president,' Hilsenrath added. 'In terms of doing the Fed job well, I think it will be a real challenge.' Hassett told NBC Wednesday evening that "everybody at the White House understands the independence of the Fed is super important." When central banks lose their independence, Hassett said, 'it's bad for the economy and bad for markets.' Hassett did agree that rates should be lower than where they are right now, matching the easing cycles of other central banks around the world. And the fact that rates have not been lowered raises a "legitimate concern that independence of the Fed is not being respected by Fed members themselves." Another candidate for Powell's job, Warsh, told CNBC Thursday that 'history tells us that the independent operations in the conduct of monetary policy is essential.' 'But that doesn't mean the Fed is independent in everything else it does,' he added, while arguing that the Fed's reluctance to cut rates "is actually quite a mark against them." 'Fed independence is a myth' US history is full of examples where American presidents challenged Fed chairs, including a confrontation between President Johnson and Fed Chairman Bill Martin in the 1960s. President Nixon also leaned on former Fed Chair Authur Burns to bring rates down before the 1972 presidential election. Nixon's White House even leaked false stories about Burns seeking a pay raise as way of undermining his authority. 'What's currently unfolding before our eyes has been happening for decades behind closed doors,' wrote JPMorgan Chase's Ilan Benhamou said in a note Thursday that cited the Johnson-Martin clash. 'What's happening for everyone to see is definitely damaging for the institution, but let's be honest, the Fed independence is a myth,' Benhamou added. The pressure on Powell is not due to let up, with Trump and other White House officials continuing to raise questions about Powell's handling of a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed's headquarters. 'It seems as though every single day now we have the White House beating up the Fed' and Powell 'in particular,' Yardeni Research president Ed Yardeni told Yahoo Finance. Some Republicans are supportive of a Powell firing but others in that party that now controls Washington are starting to warn that any removal of Powell would in fact deal a blow to Fed independence. 'If anybody thinks it would be a good idea for the Fed to become another agency in the government subject to the president, they're making a huge mistake,' GOP North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said Wednesday. Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota added on Fox News Wednesday night that 'I think the markets want an independent Federal Reserve. I think they want a central bank that isn't subject to the whims of politics.' Even Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a past critic of Powell, said Wednesday that 'markets will tank' if Trump fires Powell. 'When his initial attempts to bully Powell failed, Trump and Republicans in Congress suddenly decided to look into how much the Fed is spending on building renovations,' she added. 'Independence does not mean impunity and I have long pushed for more transparency and accountability at the Fed. But give me a break.' Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
Yahoo
5 minutes ago
- Yahoo
US authors suing Anthropic can band together in copyright class action, judge rules
By Blake Brittain (Reuters) -A California federal judge ruled on Thursday that three authors suing artificial intelligence startup Anthropic for copyright infringement can represent writers nationwide whose books Anthropic allegedly pirated to train its AI system. U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the authors can bring a class action on behalf of all U.S. writers whose works Anthropic allegedly downloaded from "pirate libraries" LibGen and PiLiMi to create a repository of millions of books in 2021 and 2022. Alsup said Anthropic may have illegally downloaded as many as 7 million books from the pirate websites, which could make it liable for billions of dollars in damages if the authors' case is successful. Spokespeople for Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision. An attorney for the authors declined to comment. Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic last year, arguing that the Amazon- and Alphabet-backed startup used their books without permission or compensation to teach its chatbot Claude to respond to human prompts. The case is one of several high-stakes lawsuits brought by authors, news outlets and other copyright owners against companies including OpenAI, Microsoft and Meta Platforms over their AI training. AI companies argue their systems make fair use of copyrighted material to create new, transformative content. Alsup determined in June that Anthropic's AI training made fair use of authors' works, but said the company still violated their rights by saving pirated copies of their books to a "central library of all the books in the world" that would not necessarily be used for AI training. Alsup said on Thursday the three authors could represent all writers whose books Anthropic allegedly downloaded from LibGen and PiLiMi, rejecting Anthropic's argument that identifying all of the copyright-eligible works and their authors would be impractical.
