A lawyer for former House Speaker Michael Madigan told jurors at the outset of his corruption trial that the Democratic powerhouse was “completely ignorant” of what people were saying behind his back and “never made a demand on anybody.”

But in a case with hundreds of wiretapped recordings, it’s Madigan’s actual words that will matter. And the jury got an earful Thursday.

Juan Navarrete was 17 when he was robbed at gunpoint as he made a delivery for his family’s restaurant on the North Side.

Another time, he saw his mother held up at knifepoint.

And he witnessed domestic violence.

Enrollment at community colleges in Illinois is in its largest fall-to-fall increase since the 2000s.

On Thursday, the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) announced that statewide enrollment has seen its highest increase since Fall 2008 to Fall 2009.