Free Republic

A recently unsealed court document reveals for the first time that two top officials at a red-light camera company were caught on undercover FBI recordings talking about giving a suburban mayor campaign contributions and other perks at the same time their firm was pressuring the mayor to increase ticket revenue. The 2018 FBI search warrant, which sought court approval to search an email account of then-Crestwood Mayor Louis Presta, was part of the broad, yearslong investigation into corruption surrounding red-light cameras operated by SafeSpeed LLC, a probe that has netted charges against more than half a dozen public officials, businessmen...

Dive Brief: Illinois State Sen. Martin Sandoval has resigned from his position as chair of the State Senate's Transportation Committee amid a federal fraud and corruption investigation related to state construction work, the Associated Press reported. The Democratic senator is still listed as a member of the committee, however, as of Oct. 15. The move came after the details of a federal search warrant revealed that the FBI last month combed Sandoval's offices and home for information related to architect Cesar Santoy; Santoy's architecture firm, Studio ARQ; red-light camera program company SafeSpeed; lobbyists; construction companies; and employees of the Illinois...