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State Week: Madigan convicted, Blagojevich pardoned

State Week 23 logo (capitol dome)
Brian Mackey
/
NPR Illinois

The former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan spent five months on trial for corruption. A jury this week returned guilty verdicts on 10 of 23 counts against him. We discuss the evidence against Madigan and how jurors came to their decision.

Also, President Donald Trump commuted Rod Blagojevich's prison sentence during Trump's first term. Now he has given him another gift — a presidential pardon.

Our panel features host Sean Crawford, Professor Emeritus Charlie Wheeler and Chicago Tribune reporter Ray Long, who authored the book The House that Madigan Built.

The former director of the Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) graduate program is Professor Charles N. Wheeler III, a veteran newsman who came to the University of Illinois at Springfield following a 24-year career at the Chicago Sun-Times.
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