Latest news with #Steele
Chicago Tribune
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Cook County tax board commissioner, staff face multiple fines from ethics board
Cook County's ethics board fined Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele and aides for a series of breaches this week, finding that she provided confidential information to the press about the Chicago Bears' Arlington Heights property and wrongly allowed a staffer to attend a conference on county time. A top Steele aide was separately fined for attending Cubs games and traveling for personal trips on county time. Reached Friday, Steele said she 'absolutely disagreed' with the findings but declined to comment further. Steele is one of three commissioners on the county's Board of Review, which hears property tax appeals. She is currently running in the Democratic primary for county assessor. The county's board of ethics released three findings related to Steele's office this week. The highest-profile found that Steele had improperly shared appraisal information about the Chicago Bears' Arlington Heights property with the media three different times. She did so first in the middle of settlement negotiations in mid-2023, and then again later that year during an appeal. Steele had been warned by the county's general counsel afterwards that the board was prohibited from commenting on pending, confidential board matters, noting the property tax code required board members to 'remain fair and impartial and free from bias or influence,' and that confidence in the board would be eroded if the board's decision-making was perceived to be 'subject to inappropriate outside influences.' But Steele again commented for February 2024 stories about an appeal, triggering an email from the Bears' lawyer, who asked why the press was notified before the team. The board of ethics found Steele's comments to Crain's Chicago Business, NBC Chicago and the Tribune amounted to three violations of confidentiality code in the county's ethics ordinance and fined her $3,000, which she must pay in 30 days. Steele was arrested in 2024 for driving under the influence of alcohol after a car crash, but has been fighting the charge and is due back in court later this summer. She won back her right to drive after her attorney argued she wasn't given proper warning of the consequences of refusing a breathalyzer test. She was fined another $1,000 by the ethics board this week and her top aide, Dan Balanoff, $750 for permitting an employee to attend an unauthorized conference unrelated to his county duties on county time. That employee, Ryan McIntyre, was fined the equivalent of 16 hours of county pay after he improperly attended the 2023 International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference in Washington D.C. McIntyre managed Steele's calendar, meetings, and outreach events. He told the ethics board he was 'told to go' to the conference with Steele in late 2023. After learning about the trip, BOR staff told Balanoff twice that McIntyre would need to use paid time off to go because the conference was 'political in nature and unrelated to McIntyre's County duties,' according to the board's ruling. Balanoff told them Steele pushed back and he went on to approve travel and lodging expenses. The board did not determine attendance was 'prohibited political activity,' but did conclude it was unrelated to his job at the county. Balanoff, they said, 'still approved and submitted' McIntyre's request for reimbursement, permitting him 'to misuse County property,' and failing to ask about the purpose of the conference or review any materials related to it. Steele, meanwhile, 'had even more of a duty' to meet the highest ethical standards as the head of the office, including getting preauthorization for attendance at conferences and training sessions. In the third finding, the ethics board concluded Balanoff, Steele's director of special projects, 'conducted dual employment' by doing legal work for his own firm and attended non-government activities — including two Cubs games — on county time on four separate occasions. Balanoff admitted to answering client calls and working on three real estate transactions during county hours, though he contended he did not have a set 9-to-5 schedule at the county. Balanoff posted pictures of himself at Wrigley Field and the nearby bar, Murphy's Bleachers, on social media on August 4, 2023, when the team played against the Braves, after clocking in at the county that morning. He posted on his Instagram from Wrigley again on April 1, 2024, the day of the Cubs season opener against the Rockies. According to the board, he used sick time to attend when he should have used vacation time, a violation of the county's attendance policy. Balanoff also joined a Board of Review meeting virtually in September 2023 while on a plane for a personal trip after clocking in that morning and not requesting time off. He said he had notified Steele of the travel. The board reported a similar incident in which Balanoff traveled for personal reasons without clocking out. The board separately found Balanoff took non-county calls during normal working hours. Balanoff tried to challenge the board's investigatory findings after he resigned on May 25, arguing the board didn't have jurisdiction anymore, that he did not knowingly violate the county's rules, and that his use of county resources was 'de minimus,' because they did not interfere with his county duties or impose extra taxpayer cost. The board said those arguments were 'unavailing,' that his behavior was 'troubling,' and that the comingling of the outside activities 'creates the appearance of impropriety' and misused taxpayer funds, but was not 'an indictment of Balanoff's performance of his County duties.' He was fined a total of $4,500 for various ethics provisions, which are due within 30 days. Balanoff on Friday said the ruling was a political attack by opponents to unionization within the office. 'We obviously don't agree with it, I'm going to appeal,' he said.
Scotsman
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Colin Steele Quartet, Glasgow Jazz Festival review: 'a measured tribute to The Blue Nile'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Colin Steele Quartet, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Green Room ★★★★★ A sultry midsummer Glasgow evening: a fitting setting, perhaps, for trumpeter Colin Steele and his peerless quartet to launch their album The Blue Nile. The third of their trio of 'songbook' albums which have already re-imagined the music of Joni Mitchell and the Pearlfishers, this tribute to the fabled Glasgow band and its urban nocturnes was on its second sitting, an earlier extra concert having been organised due to demand. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Colin Steele PIC: Archie MacFarlane You'd think the Blue Nile's Heatwave might make an appropriate opener but, no, they went for Downtown Lights and almost immediately, even over Alyn Cosker's rumbustious drumming, you were conscious of Steele's measured mute trumpet phrasing evoking Blue Nile frontman Paul Buchanan's wistful vocals (some of us thought Buchanan might just make a brief appearance on stage to endorse this superb jazz tribute: in the event, he blessed the occasion by sending flowers). The musical homage continued with the slow yearning of Let's Go Out Tonight, with its cool drift of trumpet, while pianist and arranger Dave Milligan delivered a lovely, almost baroque piano solo. Then it was Heatwave, trumpet singing sparely over gently ticking piano and Cosker letting off steam in a drum break. Steele's penchant for ballads was well exercised, not least with the beautiful stillness of Easter Parade, its plaintive melody introduced by double bassist Calum Gourlay.
Glasgow Times
12 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Man sentenced after brutal machete murder bid in Glasgow
Sean Gilhooley, 29, was in a four-strong mob who ambushed Raymond Dyer in broad daylight in Glasgow's Drumchapel on March 23, 2024. Dyer, 35, was left for dead by the laughing assailants after he was struck with machetes, swords and a baseball bat. He was discovered stricken in the street by his mother. Dyer survived the hit bid, despite his horrific injuries. Gilhooley was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow, having earlier pleaded guilty to an attempted murder charge. As well as the jail term, he will also be supervised for a further three years on his release. Gilhooley had previously been jailed for five years in 2017 for discharging a shotgun. Prosecutors revealed in court how Gilhooley had teamed up with others that morning, including Jordan Steele, who has since passed away. Advocate depute Eilidh Robertson stated Steele - before his death on May 4, 2024 - was said to be "extensively documented as being involved in serious and organised crime during his life". Steele was known to Dyer and his mother, Jacqueline. Miss Robertson said: "It is not clear what caused this incident, but there appears to be a suggestion that Raymond Dyer had in some way wronged local drug dealers who Steele controlled." The court heard Dyer had left his home that morning and appeared "worried". He had been in a local shop and asked someone to look outside to check if there was a car following him. Dyer went on to leave before a grey 4x4 vehicle sped to catch him. READ NEXT: Four men leapt out, clutching weapons and turned on Dyer even after he had fallen to the ground from the vicious blows. It was Dyer's mother who discovered her badly injured son. He groaned: "Mum, the blood is pumping out of my back." The grey SUV then pulled up beside them again. Steele was said to be driving and Gilhooley was the front seat passenger. The mum stated Steele shouted: "You are getting done next." Another witness described the woman "screaming and begging them to leave". Miss Robertson: "This person did not see the driver, but the window behind was down. "The male in that seat leaned out the window and he was holding a long knife, like a sword. "The witness could hear people laughing in the car." The court heard Dyer suffered "significant" injuries to his legs and hands. Other wounds included one described as "very deep" on his chest. He also had a collapsed lung. Miss Robertson: "At no time, did he say how he came by these injuries." The hearing was told Dyer's life had been in danger had he not been treated in time. He has been left with restricted movement in his hands and left leg. The 4x4 driven during the attack was traced by police. It was found to be a grey Volkswagen Tiguan linked to Steele. He had been captured on CCTV driving it away from a local McDonald's days after the murder bid. The vehicle was discovered at an address in Drumchapel on April 10. Gilhooley's DNA was later traced in the SUV. The advocate depute said the Crown cannot say for definite who wielded what weapon, although Gilhooley stated he had been armed with the baseball bat. Miss Robertson added Gilhooley's guilty plea was accepted on basis that he had been part of a "concerted attack" on Dyer with others. Lady Drummond cut the prison term from 10 years due to the thug admitting to the crime. The judge told him: "I am satisfied having regard to your record, the circumstances of the offence and the (social work) report that an extended sentence is necessary to protect the public from serious harm from you."
USA Today
a day ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Strengths, weaknesses and wildcards at Cowboys OT position in 2025
In one of the more head-scratching moves of the offseason, the Dallas Cowboys decided to roll the whole thing back at the offensive tackle position in 2025. Tyler Guyton and Terence Steele are once again expected to be the starting tackles and little to no contingency plans exist if that doesn't work out. Steele and Guyton were problematic in pass protection and based on Pro Football Focus grades, they easily formed the poorest pass protection unit in the NFL. One can say what they want about PFF but that's one bold decree very few sane people will argue against. Yet, just because the two starting OTs were poor pass protectors in 2024 doesn't mean it's a roster full of weaknesses and all hope is lost. There are reasons to be optimistic, and intrigued as well. Cowboys' strengths at OT: Coaching The Cowboys invested heavily in their offensive line over the offseason, not with veteran upgrades but rather with coaches. In addition to adding Conor Riley, a standout offensive line mind from Kansas State, the Cowboys brought in Klayton Adams to run the offense. Adams is regarded as one of the best O-line coaches in the NFL and will surely take an active approach to coaching up Dallas' suspect OTs in 2025. It's also worth noting both coaches had some degree of input regarding the current stable of OTs on the roster and if they didn't think they could turn Steele and Guyton into solid pass protecters, the team probably would have addressed the position better over the offseason. Cowboys' weaknesses at OT: Pass protection Dallas had to replace Guyton at one point last offseason; that's how bad the pass protection issue was. He has potential to be great but that's a big question heading into Year 2 since it's more heart and mind dependent than it is physical ability. Based on all previous performances, Steele, the starting right tackle, is never going to be a very good pass protector. Even before his nasty knee injury he struggled, so at this point, below average might be his ceiling. But for much as he struggles in pass pro, he thrives in run blocking which is why Steele is still a valuable resource. Cowboys' biggest wildcard at OT: Asim Richards Guyton could be seen as a wild card of sorts given his terrible rookie season and massive sophomore expectations but the coaching staff clearly believes in him, so the expectations are set. Richards, the LT working behind Guyton, looks like the real wild card since no one is quite sure what the expectations should be for him. Richards has been improving in the background for quite a while and basically made it possible for the Cowboys to part ways with Chuma Edoga. Richards looks like the first alternate should Guyton falter and it's unclear whether he's capable of being a starter or if he's just another name in the long list of midround tackles the Cowboys have drafted. You can follow Reid on X @ReidDHanson and be sure to follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
Global News
a day ago
- Business
- Global News
Commissioner points out Canadian Football League's financial struggles
Thursday's game between the Edmonton Elks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers will see the two football teams battle for a win on the field, but a different kind of battle is happening off the field as well. On Wednesday, CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston said the league needs to find ways to drive revenue. 'Seven of nine teams did not make money last year. That's not a sustainable business model,' said Johnston. The only two profitable teams in the 2024-25 season were the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders. That means last year, the Edmonton Elks lost money during the season. 1:57 Edmonton Elks fans optimistic about season Johnston says, fortunately, things like TV ratings, attendance and revenues are all up across the league compared to the last few years. Story continues below advertisement 'We've had an increase in television ratings in each of the last couple of years. From my old role I can tell you almost every league would be incredibly envious to see a growth in television ratings,' said Johnston. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Retired CFL defensive tackle Eddie Steele says the state of the CFL is painful to hear. Steele wants to see the league he once played in bounce back, but he says it will take more profitable business decisions. 'The CFL has traditionally been run by TSN, and I think if you can open that up and maybe have some competitiveness with other TV networks competing to try and get some rights and some viewership, there will be more dollars there,' said Steele. For the Double EE, he says, just win. 'At the end of the day, it may sound very overly simple, but you win football games and people will come,' said Steele. For more on this story, you can watch the video at the top of this article.
