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State Week: Federal Investigation Primer

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Brian Mackey
/
NPR Illinois

For our Thanksgiving-week episode, we take a step back from the day-to-day workings of state government to go deep on the federal investigation swirling around one of Illinois' most powerful people.

Piecing together months of reporting, and it seems clear that federal investigators are circling House Speaker Michael Madigan. They’ve sought information on the speaker in several recent searches, including those of a former Chicago alderman, the head of a civic organization, and the speaker’s close associate Mike McClain — whose calls were recorded.

Meanwhile, there are new questions about payments to a former Madigan aide fired for sexually harassing a campaign worker in the speaker’s political organization.

Sean Crawford hosts with regular panelists Charlie Wheeler and Brian Mackey. This week's guests are Ray Long of the Chicago Tribune and Dave McKinney of Chicago public radio station WBEZ-FM.

Brian Mackey hosts The 21st Show and formerly reported on state government.
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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