|
Joe Birkett (pole Vaulter)
Joseph E. Birkett (born February 13, 1955) is an appellate court judge on the Illinois Appellate Court – Second District. He was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court in December 2010, and was subsequently elected to a full term in November 2012. His current term runs through December 2022. Prior to being elevated to the bench, Justice Birkett was the State's Attorney of DuPage County, an office he had held since 1996. Biography Birkett is one of 10 children on Chicago's West side. His father died when he was 13. He attended St. Phillip High School, and Aurora Central Catholic High School where he was football team captain and Most Valuable Player. He went on to attend North Central College, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science and English in 1977. He received his Juris Doctor from John Marshall Law School in 1981, where he placed first in the Intramural Moot Court Competition. He was the Assistant State's Attorney of Dupage County from 1981 to 1985, Chief of Major ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Illinois Appellate Court
The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois Circuit Courts. Three Illinois Appellate Court judges hear each case and the concurrence of two is necessary to render a decision. The Illinois Appellate Court will render its opinion in writing, in the form of a published opinion or an unpublished order. As of 1935, decisions of the Illinois Appellate Court became binding authority upon lower courts in Illinois. The Illinois Appellate Court has 52 judges serving five districts. The majority of the judges (18 in the First District, and between seven and nine in each of the Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Districts) are elected, with the remaining judges having been appointed by the Supreme Court of Illinois. Civil cases appealed from the Illinois Appellate Court are heard by the Supreme Court of Illinois upon the grant of a Petition for Leave to Appeal under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 315, a Certificate of Importance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Illinois Attorney General
The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorney general is responsible for providing legal counsel for the various state agencies including the Governor of Illinois and Illinois General Assembly, and conducting all legal affairs pertaining to the state. The office of the Illinois Attorney General was established on December 3, 1818, based on guidelines adopted by a state constitutional convention. The attorney general is second (behind the Lieutenant Governor) in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Illinois. The first person to fulfill the duties of the office was Daniel Pope Cook who only served eleven days, and was later elected to the United States Congress. Cook County was named in his honor. The current holder of the office is Kwame Raoul. Role Under the Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naperville Sun
The ''Naperville Sun'' is a newspaper based in Naperville, Illinois, USA. It is published three days a week, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. It is owned by Tribune Publishing's Chicago Tribune Media Group, a group that also includes the ''Aurora Beacon News'', the ''Elgin Courier News'' and the '' Lake County News Sun'', formerly ''Waukegan News Sun''. Early years When Harold White and Gordon Haist bought ''The Naperville Sun'' for $600 in 1936, the year-old publication was little more than a typewriter, a desk and a name. At the end of ''The Suns first year the paper was still being distributed for free to some 2,000 families, and printed in Downers Grove, Illinois, for a fee that exceeded the revenue coming in, while its size had dwindled to four pages. In that first decade, the number of publishing pratfalls was barely exceeded by the will to learn from a bumpy start — and keep the paper in print. The first ''Sun'', dated July 19, 1935, rolled off the press in Downers Grove un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanine Nicarico
The Jeanine Nicarico murder case was a complex and influential homicide investigation and prosecution in which two men, Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, both Latinos, were wrongfully convicted of abduction, rape and murder in 1985 in DuPage County, Illinois. They were both sentenced to death. The case was scrutinized during appeals for being weak in evidence. After appeals, one man was acquitted in 1995 at his third trial at which a witness recanted previous testimony and new DNA evidence was introduced; the second man, already serving time after being twice convicted, had his charges dismissed by the Illinois State's Attorney. Because of the notoriety of the case and the possibility at one point that two innocent men would have been executed, it was an influence on Governor George H. Ryan's decision in 2000 to impose a death penalty moratorium in the state. The state indicted seven law enforcement officials for wrongful prosecution of the Nicarico case, saying they had il ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolando Cruz Case
Rolando Cruz (born 1963) is an American man known for having been wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, along with co-defendant Alejandro Hernandez, for the 1983 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County, Illinois. The police had no substantive physical evidence linking the two men to the crime. Their first trial was jointly in 1987, and their statements were used against each other and a third defendant. After appeals and other court actions, during which they remained in prison on death row, each of these two men was tried twice more. Hernandez was convicted each time and sentenced the last time to life. Cruz was acquitted in 1995 at his third trial after a sheriff's lieutenant recanted previous testimony, and new DNA evidence was introduced excluding Cruz and Hernandez from that found at the crime scene. The state dismissed all charges against Hernandez that same year; he was already serving his sentence in prison. Both men were freed. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rich Whitney
Rich Whitney (born April 21, 1955) is an American politician and civil rights attorney who was the Illinois Green Party's nominee for Governor of Illinois in the elections of 2006 and 2010. During the 2006 campaign Whitney received endorsements from several newspapers, including the ''Rockford Register Star'', ''Southwest News-Herald'', and ''State School News Service''. In that year's election Whitney received 361,336 votes for 10.4% of the vote, a strong finish for a third party. In the 2010 election his share of the vote was 2.7%. Personal history Whitney was born in Connecticut in 1955 and lives in Carbondale, Illinois. He is a civil rights attorney with degrees from Michigan State University and Southern Illinois University's School of Law. He was a member of the Socialist Labor Party from 1975–1993 and at one point edited "The People," the party's national newspaper. He resigned from the party in 1993 and no longer identifies with socialism. Whitney was involved in na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Illinois Green Party
The Illinois Green Party is a statewide political party in Illinois. The party is state affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. Its stated mission and purpose are to advance the ''Ten Key Values of the Green Party'' in Illinois through political means and to support individual members and the formation of Green Party locals. In 2006, the party ran its first statewide candidates led by Rich Whitney, candidate for Illinois Governor, who received 361,336 votes for 10% of the total vote, making the Green Party one of only three legally ''established'', statewide political parties in Illinois, in addition to the Democratic and Republican parties until it lost that status in 2010. There are currently 12 local chapters affiliated with the party, as well as ten members holding elected office in the state. The Ten Key Values Key values of the Green Party platform include the following: #Ecological wisdom #Social justice #Grassroots democracy #Nonviolence #Decentralization #C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Quinn (politician)
Patrick Joseph Quinn Jr. (born December 16, 1948) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st governor of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as an activist by founding the Coalition for Political Honesty. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Quinn is a graduate of Georgetown University and Northwestern University School of Law. Quinn began his career as a tax attorney in private practice before working as an aide to then-Illinois Governor Dan Walker. He was elected to one term as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Appeals, serving from 1982 to 1986; he later served as revenue director in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. Quinn served as Treasurer of Illinois from 1991 to 1995. In Illinois' 2002 gubernatorial election, Quinn won the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in the primary and was paired with then-U.S. Representative Rod Blagojevich in the general election. He was sworn into office a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when he was impeached following charges of public corruption for which he was later sentenced to federal prison. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked in both the state and federal legislatures. He served as an Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois state representative from 1993 to 1997, and the U.S. representative from Illinois, Illinois's 5th district from 1997 to 2003. Born and raised in Chicago, Blagojevich graduated from Northwestern University in 1979 and the Pepperdine University School of Law in 1983. After graduating, he became a criminal prosecutor at the Cook County State's Attorney, Cook County State's Attorney Office during the late 1980s. Turning to elective politic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. Since Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s, conservatism has been the dominant ideology of the GOP. It has been the main political rival of the Democratic Party since the mid-1850s. The Republican Party's intellectual predecessor is considered to be Northern members of the Whig Party, with Republican presidents Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison all being Whigs before switching to the party, from which they were elected. The collapse of the Whigs, which had previously been one of the two major parties in the country, strengthened the party's electoral success. Upon its founding, it supported c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Rauschenberger
Steve Rauschenberger (born August 29, 1956) is an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican member of the Illinois State Senate from 1993 to 2007. Early life Steve Rauschenberger was born on August 29, 1956, in Elgin as one of six children to John Rauschenberger, a member of the Illinois Republican Party, Illinois Republican State Central Committee, and Shirley Rauschenberger. He attended Elgin Area School District U46 public schools and was a National Merit Finalist in high school. In 1978, he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration, bachelor's degree in business administration from College of William & Mary in Virginia. In 1980, he purchased his family's business, Rauschenberger Furniture Co., and went on in 1985 to buy Ackemann Brothers Corp., of which he is currently president and general manager. He became active with his children in Boy Scouts of America, Boy Scouts and served as a member of the Elgin Downtown Advisory Commission. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judy Baar Topinka
Judy Baar Topinka (January 16, 1944 – December 10, 2014) was an American politician and member of the Republican Party from the U.S. State of Illinois. Originally a journalist, Topinka served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1981 to 1985 and in the Illinois Senate from 1985 to 1995. She was elected to three terms as Illinois State Treasurer, serving from 1995 to 2007. She was the first woman to become state treasurer, the first to be elected to three consecutive terms, and the first Republican to hold the post in more than 32 years. During her last term as treasurer, she was the only Republican to hold statewide elected office in Illinois. In 2002, she was elected chair of the Illinois Republican Party, holding that office until 2005. She declined to run for re-election as treasurer in 2006, instead running for Governor of Illinois. In March 2006, she was nominated as the Republican candidate. She was the second woman (after 1994 Democratic nominee Dawn Clark Net ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Judy Baar Topinka")