Briefs: Autopsy sheds no light on woman's death
The Cook County medical examiner's office says autopsy results were inconclusive for a Chicago elementary school principal who died during a root canal at a North Side dentist's office. More tests will need to be conducted on 46-year-old Georgette Watson of Skokie. She died Monday after going into cardiac arrest during the procedure at the offices of Feldman & Feldman DDS. She had been principal of Brentano Math and Science Academy in Chicago since 2003. Dentists Joseph Feldman and Lawrence Feldman issued a statement Tuesday saying they're overcome with emotion when thinking about Watson and her "wonderful ways and charm." According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Web site, the licenses of two dentists in the office were put on probation this summer.
Patronage alive and well
Political hiring is still thriving at Chicago city hall despite high-profile efforts to stamp out patronage, according to an annual report from a federal monitor. The report by Noelle Brennan was filed in federal court Tuesday and alleges that city departments continue to find ways to work around rules that prohibit the hiring of politically connected candidates. "Whereas the city's compliance had substantially increased during 2006, the same cannot be said for the city's compliance in 2007," Brennan wrote. Jenny Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the law department, said Tuesday that the city is cooperating with Brennan and has never intentionally misled her.
Cell phone ban challenged
Chicago's ban on motorists using handheld cell phones is being challenged in court. A Chicago law firm said it has filed a federal lawsuit because the city failed to put up signs giving drivers proper notice of the law after it was passed in May 2005. The lawsuit claims the city has wrongly collected more than $2 million in revenue as a result of the more than 25,000 tickets that have been issued. Fines start at $50 and up for violators. City law department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle said they will review the lawsuit but disagree that the city was required to post signs.
U.S. attorney defends self
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald testified Wednesday in Chicago that he believes he acted properly by not reading a federal deputy marshal his rights when the prosecutor first confronted him about accusations he leaked information to the mob. John Ambrose was not under arrest when Fitzgerald and others showed him evidence on Sept. 6, 2006, suggesting the 39-year-old tipped mobsters off about a protected government witness, Fitzgerald said under sometimes heated cross-examination at a pretrial hearing. "A lot of what it was was my telling him here's what we have ... it was a conversation," Fitzgerald said in response to questions from Ambrose's attorney, Francis Lipuma. "In my mind, he wasn't under arrest and so didn't have to be Mirandized." Ambrose had been assigned to guard Nicholas Calabrese, the star witness in an investigation of unsolved murders connected to the Outfit, as the city's organized crime family calls itself. Ambrose has pleaded not guilty to charges he leaked information about Calabrese's trips to testify before a grand jury.