Eye On Illinois: Long-awaited corruption trial finally kicking into gear

After a long wait, Illinoisans are finally about to see the actual criminal trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

News of a major bribery schedule implicating Madigan surfaced in mid-July 2020. A federal criminal indictment dropped March 2, 2022. A trial was scheduled for April 1, but in January U.S. District Judge Robert Blakey agreed to reschedule for Oct. 8 pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling clarifying a few of the statutes underpinning the charges against Madigan.

All of that is part of the formal prosecution, but we’ve now reached jury selection: an extensive survey for 180 potential panelists and questioning of the pool starting Wednesday. Opening statements could start as soon as Oct. 15.

There are many fascinating aspects, some of which will become column fodder. But at the outset there are two macro thoughts: One, be prepared for an onslaught of politicians seeking to score points off trial developments by pitching ethics reforms. Try to process those pitches by probing what behavior they might actually curb.

And two, gratitude for jurors. It’s an imperfect system and a thankless job, but essential to this vital American process.

MOVE OVER: The Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology, state police and Google Public Sector announced last week a joint effort to develop real-time alerts to inform drivers using real-time navigation systems of state police road activities, giving advance notice of when to slow down and, if possible, move into lanes away from where an emergency vehicle is stopped. When a patrol trooper reports things like a crash, traffic stop or officer assistance, that trooper’s GPS coordinates will go to Google in order to push it back out via Waze and Google Maps.

There is a clear potential for upscaling, both to other types of vehicles and public agencies as well as different navigation software. These deployments aren’t free, but mark a wise investment in embracing the technology that might help us improve some dark statistics: Since 2019, according to an ISP news release, crashes stemming from drivers who didn’t obey Scott’s Law are responsible for two trooper deaths, nine serious injuries and 51 other injuries. Here’s hoping this and other awareness efforts lead to significantly improved data over the next five years.

VOTER INFO: Thanks to the good folks at Capitol News Illinois for assembling a landing page that either answers every possible question about participating in the Nov. 5 general election or offers a useful link pointing to vital sources. Today is the last day to register via the normal process, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to vote. For more information on this and everything else – including contact information for all 108 local election authorities – visit capitolnewsillinois.com/elections/election-guide.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.