Latest news with #CookCountyCircuitCourt
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Pope Leo's Chicago roots: His grandfather's intriguing immigration tale
CHICAGO — Pope Leo's connection to Chicago is by now well known to the masses but long before he was born and raised in Dolton, his ancestors left the old world of Italy to begin a new life in America. Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana t. Spyropoulos started at adeep dive into the genealogy as soon after Pope Keo was chosen. Before his ascension to lead the Catholic Church, he was known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, or 'Father Bob,' as his friends knew him throughout most of his priesthood as an Augustinian. '… We initially looked for a document by the name of Prevost,' Spyropoulos said. 'We couldn't find anything there. Bbut we did a little further digging on the internet of genealogy, and we made the connection between the name of Riggatono and the name of Prevost and found the document declaration of intention.' More: Village of Dolton considering acquiring Pope Leo XIV's childhood home Salvatore Riggatono was born in June of 1876 in Milazzo, a town in the province of Messina, Italy. He took a ship to New York City like many immigrants to make new life in a new country. 'Salvatore Riggatono came to the United States in 1905 but applied for citizenship in 1920. He is the grandfather of the current pope, Pope Leo,' Spyropoulos said Riggatono spent some time living with his sister in Quincy, Illinois before coming to Chicago. In time he changed his last name to Prevost which evidently was his mother-in-law's maiden name. 'Apparently back then you had to go through a three-step process,' Spyropoulos said. 'The first was the declaration of intention. You have to say what's your name, what's your occupation was where you came from, where you are currently living. So Mr. Riggatono was living at 1718 Greenleaf Ave. which is Rogers Park I believe. (We also had to name) … what ports in Italy he came from, who he was married to. And you had to renounce your allegiance to other countries and other governments.' Riggatono never did become a U.S. citizen for reasons unknown. Pope Leo's mother's family was from the Caribbean before emigrating to New Orleans and then eventually in Chicago. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cook County Circuit Court clerk reports progress on transparency promises
New Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos released a progress report Monday claiming her team is already digging out from a backlog of reports, unfiled civil court documents and 'serious financial management issues.' Spyropoulos campaigned on running a tighter ship than her predecessors, promising better transparency around court operations and stricter ethics enforcement. She used the milestone of her first 100 business days in office to make the case she is fixing things. The office, which manages paperwork and operations for all of the county's courts, has long suffered from a reputation for inefficiency and mixing politics with government work, and it's fairly typical for a new officeholder to point to the shortcomings of those who held it before while seeking to make good on pledges. In her first few months, Spyropoulos told reporters her office organized 'over 200 boxes of unfiled civil court documents' and found fines and fees that were owed by defendants but weren't sent to collections. She hired an accounting firm to do an internal audit to make 'sure that our financial situation is sound' and already 'let go a certain amount of people' who 'did not have the experience necessary to handle financial transactions.' Required reporting to state agencies also lapsed, she said. The office caught up on traffic cases that should have been sent to the secretary of state for driver's license suspensions or revocations as well as expungements that should have been forwarded to law enforcement so crimes could be wiped from records, Spyropoulos said. The office also launched its first data dashboard with case initiation data dating back to 2020 and appointed a public access director to manage records access requests, strengthen its reporting to other agencies and identify 'opportunities to proactively release data.' Unlike other government offices, the courts — including the clerk's offices — are not required to release records about its operations under the state's Freedom of Information Act. Spyropoulos, however, promised to push for a state law change to bring the office under FOIA and in the meantime, comply with journalists' requests for information on disciplinary records for employees, probationary programs, and how it collects fines and fees. Spyropoulos said the office is 'very committed to freedom of information' and that she had 'preliminary conversations with legislators … but you know, we've been here about four months, so give me some time so we can get there.' The office, however, already restricted data that was previously accessible to press and attorneys: dates of birth and home addresses of criminal defendants. Journalists use that data to identify the right person when reporting on criminal cases. Spyropoulos said 'there were some concerns regarding identity theft and taking information off of that,' but said she was 'not aware of' any specific cases of such theft. Spyropoulos criticized predecessor Iris Martinez for falling short on oversight, pointing out the office appointing its own internal inspector general made it unlikely that person would investigate potential wrongdoing by their boss. Instead, Spyropoulos promised to bring the clerk's office under the oversight of the independent inspector general that already investigates other county agencies. That transition hasn't happened yet. Spyropoulos appointed Katarina Durcova as her internal IG, who will help implement ethics policies and conduct investigations, and appointed Marissa Longoria her ethics officer in the clerk's legal department. 'We're in the process of developing our inspector general to see what we're going to cover and what we're not and how many cases they have to see where we're at. Then we're going to start meeting with the county inspector general to see what their approach would be. We're still developing it,' Spyropoulos said. Spyropoulos has publicized 'anonymous reporting tools' available to employees and the public to flag problems. Employees have logged some complaints about co-workers, she said, but so far are mostly using it to ask HR-related questions.
Chicago Tribune
28-04-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Cook County Circuit Court clerk reports progress on transparency promises
New Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos released a progress report Monday claiming her team is already digging out from a backlog of reports, unfiled civil court documents and 'serious financial management issues.' Spyropoulos campaigned on running a tighter ship than her predecessors, promising better transparency around court operations and stricter ethics enforcement. She used the milestone of her first 100 business days in office to make the case she is fixing things. The office, which manages paperwork and operations for all of the county's courts, has long suffered from a reputation for inefficiency and mixing politics with government work, and it's fairly typical for a new officeholder to point to the shortcomings of those who held it before while seeking to make good on pledges. In her first few months, Spyropoulos told reporters her office organized 'over 200 boxes of unfiled civil court documents' and found fines and fees that were owed by defendants but weren't sent to collections. She hired an accounting firm to do an internal audit to make 'sure that our financial situation is sound' and already 'let go a certain amount of people' who 'did not have the experience necessary to handle financial transactions.' Required reporting to state agencies also lapsed, she said. The office caught up on traffic cases that should have been sent to the secretary of state for driver's license suspensions or revocations as well as expungements that should have been forwarded to law enforcement so crimes could be wiped from records, Spyropoulos said. The office also launched its first data dashboard with case initiation data dating back to 2020 and appointed a public access director to manage records access requests, strengthen its reporting to other agencies and identify 'opportunities to proactively release data.' Unlike other government offices, the courts — including the clerk's offices — are not required to release records about its operations under the state's Freedom of Information Act. Spyropoulos, however, promised to push for a state law change to bring the office under FOIA and in the meantime, comply with journalists' requests for information on disciplinary records for employees, probationary programs, and how it collects fines and fees. Spyropoulos said the office is 'very committed to freedom of information' and that she had 'preliminary conversations with legislators … but you know, we've been here about four months, so give me some time so we can get there.' The office, however, already restricted data that was previously accessible to press and attorneys: dates of birth and home addresses of criminal defendants. Journalists use that data to identify the right person when reporting on criminal cases. Spyropoulos said 'there were some concerns regarding identity theft and taking information off of that,' but said she was 'not aware of' any specific cases of such theft. Spyropoulos criticized predecessor Iris Martinez for falling short on oversight, pointing out the office appointing its own internal inspector general made it unlikely that person would investigate potential wrongdoing by their boss. Instead, Spyropoulos promised to bring the clerk's office under the oversight of the independent inspector general that already investigates other county agencies. That transition hasn't happened yet. Spyropoulos appointed Katarina Durcova as her internal IG, who will help implement ethics policies and conduct investigations, and appointed Marissa Longoria her ethics officer in the clerk's legal department. 'We're in the process of developing our inspector general to see what we're going to cover and what we're not and how many cases they have to see where we're at. Then we're going to start meeting with the county inspector general to see what their approach would be. We're still developing it,' Spyropoulos said.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Editorial: Eileen O'Neill Burke puts judges on the spot to keep Cook County residents safe
When state lawmakers made Illinois the first state in the nation to end cash bail, they ramped up the pressure considerably on judges to protect the public from violent offenders when they're charged with crimes. The SAFE-T Act made it judges' sole responsibility to decide whether an accused criminal should be imprisoned while awaiting their day in court. And if not? What was the recourse for judges who weren't prepared to allow someone so accused to roam free without conditions? Home confinement, monitored electronically by the county, was the answer. Since the landmark law's passage several years ago, Cook County Circuit Court judges have resorted increasingly to electronic monitoring to ensure defendants appear in court when they're called and commit no crimes in the meantime. At last count, there were about 3,600 people on electronic monitoring in Cook County, nearly double the 2,000 in 2018. Now Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke, who took office in December promising a tougher prosecutorial approach, is raising alarms about the county's reliance on and changing administration of electronic monitoring. On Monday, she ordered prosecutors in her office to object formally whenever a judge denies their request to keep a defendant confined while awaiting trial. Just since December, she told her staff in a written memo outlining the new policy, the state's attorney's office has approved 57 cases alleging removal of ankle bracelets, absconding from confinement locations or deliberately failing to recharge devices so that remote monitoring is impossible. Those wearing ankle bracelets, she wrote, include 'offenders charged with murder, attempted murder, predatory criminal sexual assault, as well as numerous other violent offenses such as aggravated battery, felony domestic battery, various other sexual assault and abuse charges.' Since bringing a stricter enforcement ethos to the county's prosecutorial office, O'Neill Burke has expressed alarm more than once at the fact that the office of Chief Cook County Judge Tim Evans is taking complete control of the electronic monitoring system. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office has run its own such program for more than 35 years but is phasing it out now. Beginning April 1, the sheriff refused to take on new defendants on electronic monitoring. Officials with Evans' office have told Cook County commissioners they will need to hire dozens more people to run the entire program (Evans has administered his own electronic monitoring system for 14 years). That process will take months if not longer. In the meantime, O'Neill Burke believes the Office of the Chief Judge's insufficient resources and lack of its own armed police force to respond directly to electronic monitoring violations represent 'a serious threat to public safety.' We agree. Our worries are heightened by the reasoning Dart gave last year for ending the version of the program his office was running. 'We can't do it safely,' he said. When it was initially devised, electronic monitoring was intended to alleviate overcrowding at Cook County Jail and was available primarily for nonviolent offenders. No longer. As of last December, more than 100 of the 1,500 people in Dart's supervision were awaiting trial on murder or attempted murder charges. Dart said in effect that if judges were refusing to hold accused murderers and expecting his office to ensure those individuals posed no threat to the public, they ought to run the whole system. 'When it's more closely, completely connected to the judiciary, there's probably going to be a lot more thought given (to) who is put out there,' he told WGN News. Given Evans' vocal support over many years for the rights of the accused and criminal justice reform measures like the SAFE-T Act, we're not confident his judges will respond that way. But we do believe at a minimum that the transfer of electronic monitoring administration to Evans' office will heighten the scrutiny on judges' decisions when prosecutors ask to incarcerate someone accused of a violent crime. In a Monday court appearance, officers with the Cook County Circuit Court's Pretrial Division bewilderingly concluded a man charged with five sexual assaults or attempted assaults over the past three years in Logan Square was a low risk for committing more crimes or for failure to appear in court, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Thankfully, Cook County Circuit Judge Susana Ortiz nonetheless ordered 36-year-old Chakib Mansour Khodja held, calling him a 'clear and present danger to each of these victims and to all females.' At the hearing, Khodja pleaded not guilty to the rape spree, which terrified the neighborhood for months. O'Neill Burke is right to raise public awareness of these troubling changes to the pretrial process and to put more pressure on judges to ensure public safety is made a priority when they decide who should be allowed to walk the streets. Tim Evans' approach to public safety and the rights of the accused is in the spotlight here. One might even go so far as to say it's on trial. He and the judges who serve under him surely must know there will be far more scrutiny on the decisions they make at the pretrial level, especially with a state's attorney's office that has a policy now of seeking incarceration without exception for those charged with possessing firearms equipped with devices converting them to automatic weapons. As of March 14, judges had agreed to pretrial confinement in 115, or just 58%, of the 202 such cases in which O'Neill Burke's prosecutors had asked for detention. Under Chief Judge Evans' watch, can electronic monitoring of those accused of violent acts or possessing weapons of war keep the public safe? That's what O'Neill Burke — to her credit — is forcing Cook County to confront. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
Chicago Tribune
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Eileen O'Neill Burke puts judges on the spot to keep Cook County residents safe
When state lawmakers made Illinois the first state in the nation to end cash bail, they ramped up the pressure considerably on judges to protect the public from violent offenders when they're charged with crimes. The SAFE-T Act made it judges' sole responsibility to decide whether an accused criminal should be imprisoned while awaiting their day in court. And if not? What was the recourse for judges who weren't prepared to allow someone so accused to roam free without conditions? Home confinement, monitored electronically by the county, was the answer. Since the landmark law's passage several years ago, Cook County Circuit Court judges have resorted increasingly to electronic monitoring to ensure defendants appear in court when they're called and commit no crimes in the meantime. At last count, there were about 3,600 people on electronic monitoring in Cook County, nearly double the 2,000 in 2018. Now Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke, who took office in December promising a tougher prosecutorial approach, is raising alarms about the county's reliance on and changing administration of electronic monitoring. On Monday, she ordered prosecutors in her office to object formally whenever a judge denies their request to keep a defendant confined while awaiting trial. Just since December, she told her staff in a written memo outlining the new policy, the state's attorney's office has approved 57 cases alleging removal of ankle bracelets, absconding from confinement locations or deliberately failing to recharge devices so that remote monitoring is impossible. Those wearing ankle bracelets, she wrote, include 'offenders charged with murder, attempted murder, predatory criminal sexual assault, as well as numerous other violent offenses such as aggravated battery, felony domestic battery, various other sexual assault and abuse charges.' Since bringing a stricter enforcement ethos to the county's prosecutorial office, O'Neill Burke has expressed alarm more than once at the fact that the office of Chief Cook County Judge Tim Evans is taking complete control of the electronic monitoring system. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart's office has run its own such program for more than 35 years but is phasing it out now. Beginning April 1, the sheriff refused to take on new defendants on electronic monitoring. Officials with Evans' office have told Cook County commissioners they will need to hire dozens more people to run the entire program (Evans has administered his own electronic monitoring system for 14 years). That process will take months if not longer. In the meantime, O'Neill Burke believes the Office of the Chief Judge's insufficient resources and lack of its own armed police force to respond directly to electronic monitoring violations represent 'a serious threat to public safety.' We agree. Our worries are heightened by the reasoning Dart gave last year for ending the version of the program his office was running. 'We can't do it safely,' he said. When it was initially devised, electronic monitoring was intended to alleviate overcrowding at Cook County Jail and was available primarily for nonviolent offenders. No longer. As of last December, more than 100 of the 1,500 people in Dart's supervision were awaiting trial on murder or attempted murder charges. Dart said in effect that if judges were refusing to hold accused murderers and expecting his office to ensure those individuals posed no threat to the public, they ought to run the whole system. 'When it's more closely, completely connected to the judiciary, there's probably going to be a lot more thought given (to) who is put out there,' he told WGN News. Given Evans' vocal support over many years for the rights of the accused and criminal justice reform measures like the SAFE-T Act, we're not confident his judges will respond that way. But we do believe at a minimum that the transfer of electronic monitoring administration to Evans' office will heighten the scrutiny on judges' decisions when prosecutors ask to incarcerate someone accused of a violent crime. In a Monday court appearance, officers with the Cook County Circuit Court's Pretrial Division bewilderingly concluded a man charged with five sexual assaults or attempted assaults over the past three years in Logan Square was a low risk for committing more crimes or for failure to appear in court, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Thankfully, Cook County Circuit Judge Susana Ortiz nonetheless ordered 36-year-old Chakib Mansour Khodja held, calling him a 'clear and present danger to each of these victims and to all females.' At the hearing, Khodja pleaded not guilty to the rape spree, which terrified the neighborhood for months. O'Neill Burke is right to raise public awareness of these troubling changes to the pretrial process and to put more pressure on judges to ensure public safety is made a priority when they decide who should be allowed to walk the streets. Tim Evans' approach to public safety and the rights of the accused is in the spotlight here. One might even go so far as to say it's on trial. He and the judges who serve under him surely must know there will be far more scrutiny on the decisions they make at the pretrial level, especially with a state's attorney's office that has a policy now of seeking incarceration without exception for those charged with possessing firearms equipped with devices converting them to automatic weapons. As of March 14, judges had agreed to pretrial confinement in 115, or just 58%, of the 202 such cases in which O'Neill Burke's prosecutors had asked for detention. Under Chief Judge Evans' watch, can electronic monitoring of those accused of violent acts or possessing weapons of war keep the public safe? That's what O'Neill Burke — to her credit — is forcing Cook County to confront.
