Illinois’ Republican congressional delegation signed a letter Monday asking President Donald Trump to leave Democrat Rod Blagojevich’s prison sentence intact, saying any clemency for the imprisoned former governor would “set a detrimental precedent” and damage efforts to combat public corruption.

The letter recounted Illinois’ “difficult period of public corruption” and said Blagojevich’s crimes were the “pinnacle.” It pointed out that Blagojevich’s removal from office had overwhelming bipartisan support in the state legislature and his 14-year prison sentence has been upheld in multiple legal appeals.

She’s taken down one of Mike Madigan’s longtime political operatives, questioned the powerful House speaker’s actions in a federal lawsuit that also alleged retaliation, and for months criticized the Southwest Side Democrat’s handling of sexual harassment claims.

And now political consultant Alaina Hampton is interested in taking a look at her “dream job:” the suddenly vacant post of executive director for the Democratic Party of Illinois, which Madigan controls.

When Cruz Guzman is dangling from ropes some 20 or 30 stories above the ground, it’s what he can’t see that worries him the most.

“You’re working, and all of a sudden you get those lake-effect storms. You can’t see it from the side of the building you’re working on. Then you get surprised,” said Guzman, 27, who is a second-generation window washer in the city.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to slap an additional 2 percent surcharge on Airbnb and other home-sharing services to bankroll a 50 percent increase in shelter capacity and support services for domestic violence victims.

If the City Council approves the new fee, the total city tax on the “gross rental or leasing charge of any shared housing unit or vacation rental” would be 6 percent.

City of Chicago lawyers have reached a proposed $16 million settlement with the family of an innocent bystander shot dead by an officer who fired at a teenager carrying a baseball bat in December 2015, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the agreement.

The tentative settlement with the family of 55-year-old Bettie Jones emerged late last week with the lawsuit’s trial date looming at the Daley Center courthouse. The city remains scheduled to go to trial as soon as this week with the survivors of 19-year-old Quintonio LeGrier, who approached officers with a baseball bat as they responded to a domestic disturbance. Officer Robert Rialmo fired, hitting LeGrier and accidentally striking Jones, killing both.

Hundreds of Chicago public schools collectively need more than $3 billion in repairs — including leaky roofs, unreliable boilers, and decaying windows that are made worse year after year as critical needs are deferred.

And yet, school staff, parents, and students have no way of knowing when — or if — their buildings will ever get attention from the cash-starved school district.

The legal drama unfolding inside Algonquin Township now includes a twist one Chicago attorney is describing as “bizarre.”

Plagiarism accusations have surfaced against the $400-an-hour attorney representing Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser.

The more than monthlong strike by Kane County probation workers has ended, according to Chief Judge Susan Clancy Boles.

The county and the workers’ union have agreed to a three-year contract that provides raises of 2 percent in the first year, 2.25 percent in the second and 2.5 percent in the third year, said Lisa Aust, executive director of Kane County court services.

A new contract with teachers and other employees remains on a substantial to-do list for the school board in Vernon Hills-based Hawthorn Elementary District 73.

Members of the Hawthorn Education Association last week voted against a district contract offer, sending the matter back to the bargaining table. The union has about 500 members, including teachers, educational support personnel and custodians.

In 2015, the city spent $557,735 more than what aldermen authorized to covert a railroad bridge over the Rock River into a multiuse path.

City Administrator Todd Cagnoni on Monday told aldermen that the expenditure was authorized by the previous administration. Current staff had attempted to figure out what happened once it received a final invoice for the project May 7 from Illinois.