Holder to attend Chicago prosecutor ceremony

Attorney General Eric Holder will be in Chicago on Monday for the ceremonial swearing-in of the new chief prosecutor for northern Illinois.

The U.S. attorney’s office says in a statement Friday that Holder will be among several speakers at Zachary Fardon’s investiture ceremony.

The 47-year-old assumed the post last month shortly after the U.S. Senate approved his nomination. President Barack Obama named Fardon in May to replace Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald resigned to enter private practice.

Others scheduled speakers Monday are U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk. They’ve urged Fardon to make fighting street-level violence in Chicago a priority. In a Wednesday interview, Fardon said he’s “laser-focused” on that issue.

Fardon recently worked in a Chicago law firm. In the 2000s, he served as an assistant prosecutor under Fitzgerald.