Author: Living Legends

The information feed was both obligatory and routine Monday at Halas Hall as new Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson started to supply his quarterbacks with vital details to aid their orientation into his offense. By Tuesday morning? Recall time. “Ben walked in, flung open the door and made a grand entrance,” quarterback Caleb Williams relayed with a smile and a knowing storytelling flair. “And then we got to work with him testing us about what we talked about yesterday. Already, first day in and (he’s) challenging us.” Whatever Williams lacked in specifics with that anecdote, he made up for in…

Democratic State Sen. Emil Jones III was digging into a big filet at his favorite downtown steak joint in July 2019 when his dinner companion, a red-light camera company executive, brought up Jones’ upcoming fundraiser at Sox Park. “How much money you want me to come up with?” SafeSpeed LLC co-founder Omar Maani asked over the soft steakhouse din. “You tell me a number.” Jones initially demurred, telling Maani no one had ever asked him that before. But Maani explained he was different, that he always wanted to meet expectations. “You’re already meeting expectations, Omar,” Jones said, cutting into his…

Ex-Calumet Township Trustee Kim Robinson got one year of probation Wednesday for using $11,200 in public funds to pay for her son’s Gary apartment. Robinson, 57, pleaded guilty in December in the U.S. District Court in Hammond to one count of wire fraud. As part of the plea deal, federal prosecutors agreed not to file any related charges, while Robinson resigned from her position. She will have to repay the $11,200 and an additional $8,700 fine. With trust in government already low, people in the community are asking how she “let them down in such an egregious way,” U.S. District…

Jurors in the bribery trial of state Sen. Emil Jones III on Thursday watched the rest of a 2019 undercover video from a downtown steakhouse where a red light camera company executive told Jones he’d raise him $5,000 and hire his legislative intern, but that he needed to “keep it quiet.” “Especially in this day and age, keep it quiet. Is that cool?” SafeSpeed co-founder Omar Maani, who was secretly cooperating with the FBI, told Jones at the July 2019 meeting at Steak 48. “Yeah that’s fine,” Jones replied. Maani explained that his fellow executives at SafeSpeed, including CEO Nikki…

Kyle Tucker’s hot start over the first couple weeks of the Chicago Cubs season was not all that surprising. Tucker, who averaged 5.2 bWAR from 2021-24, arrived over the winter in a trade with the Houston Astros and was hyped as the kind of slugger the Cubs’ lineup had lacked since Kris Bryant’s falloff began in 2020. But there was a point late in spring training this year where Tucker’s lack of offense, combined with the ascension in Astros camp of third baseman Cam Smith — the Cubs prospect who was a key part of the Tucker deal — caused…

In the escalating court battle between the Justice Department and major law firms over President Donald Trump’s punitive executive orders, Chicago-based Jenner & Block is leading a counteroffensive on the front lines in a Washington federal court. Jenner & Block, which was targeted by a March 25 executive order to restrict the 111-year-old law firm’s access to federal agencies, filed a motion Tuesday seeking a permanent injunction to prevent Trump’s order from being enforced. It joins Perkins Coie and WilmerHale in taking the fight to court, backed by support from hundreds of smaller law firms across the country, who say…

An investigation has been opened following the death of an off-duty officer Thursday morning in the Near North District (18th) police station, Chicago police said. In a memo sent to Chicago Police Department officers Thursday morning, Superintendent Larry Snelling called for the department to support the deceased officer’s colleagues assigned to the district. “This was undoubtedly a difficult scene for her fellow officers within the district,” Snelling wrote. “As we support her family and loved ones, we must also support our fellow members who worked alongside her in the 18th District.” “Grief affects each of us in different ways, and…

Oak Lawn residents will not get a tax break on their grocery bills come year, despite the Illinois General Assembly repealing the state’s 1% tax. The Oak Lawn Village Board voted 6-0 Tuesday to enact a 1% tax on grocery store purchases and sales to avoid losing $2.2 million annually. “We have a number of grocery stores, so it adds up,” Mayor Terry Vorderer said. He said he and others within the Southwest Conference of Mayors opposed the legislation proposed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and approved in August repealing the state’s 1% tax. In the face of high inflation,…

This week marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” It was destined to be the definitive literary monument of the Roaring ’20s, a decade of fortunes made and lost on Wall Street. Prohibition gave booze the lure of the illicit. But the novel’s debut on April 10, 1925, was a dud. It sold fewer than 20,000 copies. The reviews were generally favorable, if not enthusiastic. But it was trashed by H. L. Mencken, editor of the Baltimore Sun and dean of America‘s literary critics. “The theme is the old one of a romantic…

She was born in Meadville on April 17, 1955, a daughter of Doris (Morris) Swavey. She was a 1973 graduate of McDowell High School and on June 24, 1978, Suzanne married Thomas Miller, he survives. She was an artist who enjoyed crafting, and everyone will remember her for her homemade cookies. Suzanne truly loved spending time with her grandchildren and her dogs. In addition to her husband Tom of 47 years, she is survived by two children, Ryan Miller and his wife Jaci of Pittsburgh, Kelly Flascher and her husband Sean of Spokane, WA; two brothers, Steve Swavey and his…