Commonwealth Edison executives have admitted the huge power company bribed its way to lucrative legislative wins in Springfield — and millions of customers in Illinois can see the steep price they’re paying for it on every electric bill.

During the eight-year bribery scheme, the amount of state-approved revenue Chicago-based ComEd collected for delivering power to its many customers across northern Illinois increased more than 30%, according to a WBEZ analysis of records from the state agency that oversees the electric company and other public utilities.

The roller-coaster experience of Taqueria Z perfectly illustrates the uncertainties and choices that Illinois restaurants have faced in recent weeks.

The small Mexican restaurant in downtown Edwardsville closed on March 17 under orders from Gov. J.B. Pritzker to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. It began filling takeout orders two days later and continued that for nearly three months.

Republicans on Friday continued to pressure the Illinois Department of Employment Security to resolve issues stemming from record unemployment claims the same day the state reported another 1,532 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Five months after Gov. JB Pritzker issued his first stay-at-home order in response to the spread of the novel coronavirus, unemployment rates in Illinois remain historically high at 14.6 percent in June, leading to widely reported delays in the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s handling of unemployment claims.

Much has been made recently about the money, jobs and internships Commonwealth Edison provided in its attempt to bribe House Speaker Michael Madigan. And much should be made.

But there’s another implication here that deserves a lot more attention. Two key former ComEd executives did plenty to make sure Madigan kept his grip on power through map drawing.

Federal prosecutors recently answered the question about whether Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, the nation’s longest serving statehouse speaker, is a subject of a criminal investigation into influence peddling to benefit an energy utility. He is.

The looming question now is whether the Chicago Democrat will actually be charged — and if the 78-year-old is charged, when and with what possible crimes.

The Illinois Tollway authority’s top two officials got their jobs from Gov. J.B. Pritzker after being “strongly endorsed” by a group that includes John Hooker, a former ComEd lobbyist who has become embroiled in a bribery scandal involving the utility and Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.

Will Evans, a former Peoples Gas executive, was named chairman of the tollway board in early 2019, soon after the Madigan-led General Assembly passed legislation restructuring the panel in the name of reform and allowing Pritzker to fill posts with new faces.

It could soon be a lot harder to party in an Airbnb rental in Chicago.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week introduced a proposal to crack down on “party houses,” homes that revelers rent out through Airbnb, VRBO and other vacation-rental websites. The change is among a batch of modifications to add more teeth to the city’s four-year-old shared-housing ordinance, which critics say isn’t tough enough.