PRISON TIME FOR CHICAGO'S LONGEST-SERVING ALDERMAN COMES AS CITY COUNCIL PREPARES TO VOTE ON A MASSIVE POLICE MISCONDUCT SETTLEMENT AND MIGRANTS WITH SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN ARE NOW FACING EVICTION FROM CITY SHELTERS.

HERE WITH ALL THAT AND MORE IS OUR SPOTLIGHT POLITICS TEAM AMANDA AND HEATHER SHARON.

WELCOME BACK.

SO HEATHER, THE SENTENCING FOR CHICAGO'S LONGEST-SERVING ALDERMAN IS 2 WEEKS AWAY.

OF COURSE, WE'RE ALL TALKING ABOUT ED BURKE.

PROSECUTORS ARE ASKING FOR 10 YEARS IN PRISON.

WHY DO THEY THINK HE DESERVES?

WHAT MANY FOLKS MIGHT THINK IS A HARSH SENTENCE AT HIS WELL, THEY HAVE 2 MAIN ARGUMENTS THAT THEY'RE MAKING TO JUDGE VIRGINIA, KENDALL, ONE, HE WAS PRAISING LEE ROUTINELY CORRUPT AND THAT HE HAD A WELL HONED PLAYBOOK OF CORRUPTION.

THEY SAY.

BURKE DOES NOT GO TO PRISON, PROSECUTORS SAY THAT WILL SEND A MESSAGE TO OTHER CITY OFFICIALS THAT IT IS OK TO ENGAGE IN REPEATED ACTS OF RACKETEERING AND CORRUPTION.

AND YOU'LL JUST GET TO SPEND SOME TIME AT HOME IN A VERY COMFORTABLE MANSION ENGAGE PARK.

NOW, BERKS LAYERS ARE GOING TO RESIST THAT.

THE CIFRAS LEE BECAUSE HE IS 80 AND THEY SAY HE IS VERY RIGHT?

WHAT ARE THEY ASKING FOR?

SO THEY SAY HOME CONFINEMENT IS APPROPRIATE HERE BECAUSE THEY SAY HE HAS SUFFERED ENOUGH.

THEY SAY THAT HE'S LEGACY HAS BEEN TARNISHED, THAT HE NO LONGER HAS HIS GROUP OF FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES THAT HIS NAME WILL FOR EVER BE LINKED TO REPEATED ACTS OF CORRUPTION IN CHICAGO.

THE PROSECUTORS SAY THAT IS SIMPLY JUST NOT ENOUGH PUNISHMENT.

AND THAT THEY'RE GOING TO ASK JUDGE KENDALL TO SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE.

NOW, IF SHE DOES SENTENCE AT BURKE TO 10 YEARS IN PRISON, WHICH IS ON THE LOW AND THE FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES, IT WILL BE AMONG THE HARSHEST SENTENCE OF PUBLIC CORRUPTION CASES IN CHICAGO, NEARLY ON PAR WITH FORMER GOVERNOR ROD BLAGOJEVICH, WHO, OF COURSE, WAS ORIGINALLY SENTENCED TO 14 YEARS IN PRISON RIGHT BIRX LAWYERS, THEY SUBMITTED MORE THAN 200 LETTERS PLEADING WITH U.S. DISTRICT COURT.

JUDGE KENDALL, AS YOU MENTIONED, TO SHOW HIM MERCY, WHO WROTE IT.

SO IT WAS EVERYBODY FROM FORMER ALDERMAN LIKE PATRICK O'CONNOR AND CURRENT ALDERMAN NICHOLAS DAN WEBB.

BUT THE FAMED PROSECUTOR AND LAWYER AND FORMER POLICE SUPERINTENDENT GARRY MCCARTHY AND FORMER POLICE SUPERINTENDENT PHIL CLINE WHO SAID THAT THEY KNEW THE REAL AT BURKE AND THAT THEY KNEW THE REAL AT BURKE WAS NOT CORRUPT.

WHAT'S INTERESTING IS THAT IN THEIR ARGUMENT, THE PROSECUTOR SERVANTS SOUGHT TO LEVERAGE THOSE LETTERS AGAINST ED BURKE SAYING IT WAS CLEARLY REFLECTIVE OF THE FACT THAT HEAT.

IT'S NOT POWERLESS THAT HE HAS CALLED ON HIS STOCKPILES OF DECADES OF CLOUT TO HAVE ALL OF THESE PEOPLE COME OUT AND SORT OF POUCH FOR HIM.

IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE HOW JUDGE KENDALL REACTS TO THOSE EVEN ENTERS SOME OF THE INDIVIDUALS WHO SUBMITTED LETTERS THAT ARE NAMES THAT WE ALL KNOW.

WERE YOU CONNECTED IN A WAY TO HIS CLOUT?

THEY SAID LOOK AT WHAT HE DID FOR US FOR OUR SCHOOLS, FOR OUR FAMILIES.

HE WAS ABLE TO DO THAT, PERHAPS OUT OF THE GOODNESS OF HIS HEART, BUT ALSO BECAUSE THAT HELPED HIM TO GET REELECTED.

HE HEARD THE ABILITY TO SAY GIVE A SCHOOL A NEW SIGN BECAUSE HE HAD ALL SORTS OF SWAY AT THE CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL.

SO IT'S REALLY ALL CONNECTED.

I THINK ANOTHER ONE YOU COULD ALSO SEE, BY THE WAY HIS WIFE WROTE AND SHE IS NOT JUST HIS WIFE THEIR SEEMINGLY SWEDEN.

ONE ANOTHER.

IT'S KIND OF ROMANTIC.

SHE SAID DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY.

IT'S HARD FOR ME TO DO THIS IN MY RETIREMENT YEARS.

IT'S ALSO AGAIN, SHE WAS POWERFUL AND HAD A LOT OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN HER OWN RIGHT.

BUT MANY WOULD CONNECT BOURKE TO ITS.

I LOVE AIDING HER AND MANY OTHERS, TOO, THAT THEY'RE IN POSITION.

AND TO BE CLEAR FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW, SHE IS THE FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, A SUPREME COURT.

SO MOVING ON, HEATHER, WHEN THE FULL CITY COUNCIL MEETS TOMORROW, THEY ARE SCHEDULED TO VOTE ON 50 MILLION DOLLARS OR A 50 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT TO 4 MEN WHO WERE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED AS TEENAGERS 1995 DOUBLE MURDER.

TELL US ABOUT THIS GROUP THAT SOME OF BEEN CALLING IT THE MARQUETTE PARK SO THESE WERE TEENAGERS BACK IN 1995.

WHEN THEY WERE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH THIS DOUBLE MURDER OF 2 MEN WHO OWNED A CAR LOT ON THE CITY'S SOUTHWEST SIDE.

ESSENTIALLY THE ONLY EVIDENCE AGAINST THEM WAS CONFESSIONS THAT CHICAGO POLICE OFFICERS OR CHICAGO POLICE DETECTIVES, I SHOULD SAY, OBTAINED FROM THE TEENS.

NOW THOSE DETECTIVES WERE CHANGE WHERE WE'RE TRAINED BY FORMER COMMANDER JON BURGE TO, OF COURSE, FOR DECADES TORTURED BLACK PEOPLE INTO COURT CONFESSING TO CRIMES THAT THEY DID NOT COMMIT.

SO THIS IS REALLY I THINK PART OF THE LEGACY OF CHICAGO'S DEEP, DEEP HISTORY OF SIGNIFICANT POLICE MISCONDUCT.

AND EVEN THOUGH 50 MILLION DOLLARS SOUNDS LIKE A LOT.

ONLY 21 MILLION DOLLARS WILL COME DIRECTLY FROM CHICAGO TAXPAYERS.

THE CITY'S INSURANCE WILL KICK OVER THAT AMOUNT.

BUT ALSO THE EASEMENT SPENT A COMBINED 73 YEARS IN PRISON FOR CRIMES.

THEY DID NOT COMMIT.

AND I THINK THIS CASE IS, I THINK, ESPECIALLY SORT OF, YOU KNOW, IMPORTANT TO MEN ARE THE SAME AGE AS I AM.

AND THAT I THINK IS REALLY SORT OF THING WHEN WIN TO PRISON IS TEENS AND THEY'VE RETURNED HIS MEN SIMPLY PUT A PRICE ON RIGHT BACK.

ALL ABOUT THE SAME AGE, RIGHT?

CAN IMAGINE SPENT THAT MUCH OF OUR LIVES IN PRISON THIS WEEK ON THE SECOND AND OF THE SUPREME COURT'S DOBBS DECISION, PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF SHARING DATA ABOUT THE COURT'S DECISION AND THAT IMPACT HERE IN PARTICULARLY IN CARBONDALE WHERE THEY WELL, I MEAN, IN GENERAL, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT ILLINOIS NOT ONLY EXPECTED BUT SOLICITED AND THAT IS INDIVIDUALS COMING FROM OUT OF STATE 2, ILLINOIS, BECAUSE IN THEIR STATES IT'S NOW ILLEGAL TO RECEIVE AN ABORTION.

OTHER CURBS ON REPRODUCTIVE CARE, ILLINOIS, GOING VERY MUCH THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

SO YOU HAVE CLINICS THAT WERE EITHER BUILT OR EXPANDED ON THE BORDERS OF INDIANA, WISCONSIN.

IN THE CASE OF CARBONDALE, YOU HAVE 3 QUARTERS OF THE PATIENTS COMING FROM OUT OF STATE.

THE THAT STATES SUCH AS TENNESSEE, MISSOURI, KENTUCKY.

SO IT CERTAINLY SIGNIFICANT.

WE CONTINUE TO SEE ILLINOIS MOVE IN THAT DIRECTION.

BY THE WAY, THERE'S A LOT OF FOCUS, OF COURSE, ON THE ABORTION NUMBERS IN CONNECTION TO ADOPT.

BUT THESE ARE ALSO CLINICS THAT PERFORM ON GENDER AFFIRMING CARE.

AND YOU'RE SEEING ILLINOIS DO MORE WITH THAT.

THERE'S A NEW PROGRAM OUT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES THAT TAKES CARE OF THAT AND YOU'RE SEEING IS WELL PLANNED PARENTHOOD OF ILLINOIS SAY THAT THEY'RE SEEING OUT OF STATE RESIDENTS COME TO THEIR CLINICS FOR THOSE REASONS AS HAD A FEW SECONDS STARTING TODAY, MIGRANT FAMILIES WITH SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN CAN BE EVICTED FROM THE CITY SHELTERS.

THEY'VE BEEN GIVEN AN EXEMPTION SO THAT THE CHILDREN SCHOOL YEAR WOULDN'T BE DISRUPTED.

BUT THE LAST DAY SCHOOL FOR CHICAGO CHILDREN WAS ON THURSDAY ABOUT 30 SECONDS.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS NEXT?

WHAT MIGHT BE NEXT?

BUT WELL OVER THE NEXT WEEK ABOUT 120 MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN COULD BE AT ARE EXPECTED TO BE ASKED TO LEAVE CITY SHELTERS IF THEY DON'T HAVE ANYWHERE ELSE TO GO, THEY CAN GO BACK TO WHAT'S CALLED THE LANDING ZONE AND REAPPLY FOR SHELTER.

AND IN FACT, WE LEARNED THIS WEEK THAT MORE THAN HALF OF THE MIGRANTS WHO BEEN EVICTED FROM THE SHELTERS HAVE GONE RIGHT BACK INTO THE CITY SHELTERS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.

INDICATION THAT THE CITY IS STILL STRUGGLING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO HELP THESE PEOPLE START NEW LIVES IN CHICAGO SITUATION THAT THAT IS SPOTLIGHT.