City briefings: Records show deadly informant drew $800,000 from cops
One of Chicago's most notorious informants - who provided drug tips to the police while secretly killing and robbing people and doing drug deals - was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his information with the approval of police supervisors who have since reached the highest levels of the department, records show.
Saul Rodriguez was a top snitch for the Chicago Police Department's narcotics section between 1996 and 2001. Over that period, he received more than $800,000 from the department for his information, the Sun-Times reported.
Interim Chicago Police Supt. John Escalante, former police Supt. Phil Cline and chief Eugene Williams were all supervisors in the narcotics division over that period and approved payments to Rodriguez, records show. During those years, Rodriguez was involved in two killings and other serious crimes like holdups, according to federal prosecutors.
Express bus service to ease CTA crunch
The CTA's new Loop Link express bus service begins Sunday, Dec. 20, easing commutes into downtown Chicago.
Loop Link will use dedicated lanes on Washington, Madison, Clinton and Canal to move commuters through downtown by separating CTA buses, bicycles and regular traffic, according to a joint statement from the mayor's office and the CTA.
The Loop Link will improve service on six CTA bus routes - including the J14, 20, 56, 60, 124 and 157 - by eliminating bottlenecks on the most congested parts of their routes, according to the statement.
A seventh route, the 19, which provides service to and from the United Center for Bulls and Blackhawks games, also will be affected.
Suit expanded on red-light contracts
The city of Chicago has expanded its lawsuit against Redflex Traffic Systems to include the former red-light camera contractor's parent company.
The amended suit was filed Monday in federal court and added Redflex Holdings Ltd. as a defendant.
"In connection with each of the city contracts, the defendants filed numerous statements, under penalty of perjury, certifying, among other things, that they were not engaged in bribery of any city employees, and that they would comply with the ethics ordinance," the filing stated. "These statements were false."
Last August, it was revealed that the city had intervened in a whistle-blower lawsuit first filed in 2014 that sought more than $300 million and accused the company of the "systematic bribery" of former city worker John Bills. Mayor Rahm Emanuel ended Redflex Traffic's contract with the city in 2013.
Van Dyke indicted in McDonald case
Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke has been formally indicted in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, whose death was captured in a widely viewed police dashcam that sent thousands of protesters marching down Chicago streets.
On Tuesday, a grand jury returned an indictment on six murder charges and one count of official misconduct, according to court records.
Van Dyke, 37, was released from the Cook County Jail on Nov. 30 after posting a $150,000 bond, 10 percent of a $1.5 million bail. Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder on Nov. 24, just hours before the video was released to the public.
Teachers vote to authorize strike
Nearly every one of the thousands of Chicago teachers who cast ballots to determine whether they could go on strike voted to do so, blowing past a 75-percent approval mandated by the state.
The Chicago Teachers Union announced that 96.5 percent of those casting ballots voted to back the strike. With nearly 92 percent of members voting, that means about 88 percent of all members support a strike should ongoing contract negotiations fail, according to CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey, who described the results as "overwhelming."
That's a shade lower than in 2012 when 89.7 percent of all CTU members voted to strike before walking out for seven school days.
Trauma center plan switches hospitals
A long-sought adult trauma center planned for Holy Cross Hospital on the South Side is now shifting locations - to the University of Chicago medical center campus, officials announced Thursday.
In announcing the switch, U. of C. officials said they've now decided "integrating an adult Level 1 trauma center with its Level 1 pediatric trauma program, and Burn and Complex Wound Center would be of great benefit to South Side patients."
This week's announcement comes just three months after Sinai Health System, which runs Holy Cross, and U. of C. Medicine, said the facility would be built at Holy Cross.
• This week's City Briefing was collected in partnership with the Chicago Sun-Times. For complete versions of the items, check chicago.suntimes.com.