Jim Dey: Flouting speed limit not a good look for a judge
Jul. 1—Court, judge both in recess
When Woodstock County Judge Jeffrey Hirsch takes off his black robe, dons his motorcycle helmet and jumps on his Harley, he becomes a new man who was born to be ... well, in contempt of court.
Or so it would seem after this "Easy Rider" was stopped by police for riding his crotch rocket at nearly 100 miles an hour.
Police said the 55-year-old Hirsch was stopped in Hebron Township in McHenry County on June 10 for driving his Harley-Davidson motorcycle 93 mph in a 55-mph zone north on Illinois 47, according to Shaw News.
A judge since 2015, Hirsch made a court appearance over Zoom in front of another judge — Julio Valdez — brought in from Kane County.
Judge Hirsch did not enter a plea to Judge Valdez, and news reports state his case was continued until Aug. 2.
This could prove to be a sticky wicket for Hirsch, who Shaw News reported is "charged with a misdemeanor violation of state law, as opposed to a local ordinance violation."
Shaw reported the judge does not have the option of paying a fine but was "required to appear in court."
How to explain this unjudicial type of behavior?
Perhaps it's best illustrated by Steppenwolf's John Kay in his feverish version of "Born to be Wild," a song once described as "arguably the most popular song associated with motorcycles."
Hirsch's lawyer declined to comment, but his client's alleged actions speak volumes.
Good news for Rivian
Rivian Automotive, the McLean County electric-vehicle manufacturer, got a shot in the arm last week when it announced a new alliance with Volkswagen.
How big a shot? So big that company officials announced it expects Rivian to stop losing money and actually "report its first gross profit by the end of the year," according to news reports.
The stock market took notice of the deal; Rivian's stock price jumped up to around $15 a share. It's spent the last few months hovering around $10, a far cry from the post-initial public offering euphoria of roughly $180.
Volkswagen is investing $1 billion in Rivian, which plays a huge role in the McLean County economy. It also disclosed its intention to spend up to $5 billion "as part of a soft-development partnership," according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal said the investment should boost Rivian's flagging balance sheet and "help lower the cost of Rivian's next generation of vehicles." Volkswagen hopes the deal will improve its struggling software unit.
Rivian lost more than $5 billion last year, a decline that prompted the company to cancel plans for the construction of a new plant in Georgia. Instead, it decided to use its existing plant in Normal.
In a move to reduce costs, Rivian executives also decided to overhaul its manufacturing process and redesign its vehicles.
Rivian has been hailed as being on the leading edge of the electric-vehicle movement. But it faces multiple challenges that range from manufacturing, high vehicle cost and limited public demand.
The Great Emancipator?
The Illinois Supreme Court publishes s about legal history, one of which recently drew attention for a noteworthy reference.
Headlined "Jilted Brides," the reviewed the state's history of "breach of promise" claims that were filed almost exclusively by women against their former fiances.
The legal tradition grew out of English law, the basic premise being that an alleged breach of promise was essentially an issue of contract law.
In 1846, Justice Normal Purple concluded that rules involving "contracts of marriage" do not "differ materially from those governing contracts in general."
One poor fellow — Thomas Butler — tried to justify his second thoughts about marrying Susanna Eschleman by citing her low character. The court rejected his defense by finding that Butler "had full knowledge of the character of his lady-love" when he proposed, and, as a consequence, "waived all objections to her."
The major revelation in the by John A. Lupton is that the Great Emancipator acted as the great enslaver in breach-of-promise cases.
Abraham Lincoln handled seven breach-of-promise cases. He represented aggrieved would-be brides, winning three, losing one and securing an "agreed dismissal" on the remainder.
Breach-of-contract cases became so numerous and the damages so high that in 1871, Justice Sidney Breese warned that it was "dangerous" for an unmarried man to "pay attention to an unmarried woman." Such behavior could be misconstrued, he wrote, and become fodder for litigation.
Illinois legislators — all men — sensibly tried to eliminate breach-of-promise lawsuits in 1935. But the Illinois Supreme Court struck down that law as unconstitutional in 1946, the court majority holding there was "no reason" why marital contracts, like other contracts, "should not have their day in court."
In 1947, the General Assembly responded by passing a law protecting breach-of-promise claims but restricting damages.
In 2016, the legislature repealed the 1947 law to "focus more on mediation and amicable resolutions to domestic disputes rather than vindictive tortious lawsuits."
Gone but still giving
Billionaire hedge fund operator Ken Griffin left Illinois in disgust a couple of years ago and took his incredible philanthropy with him.
Since he arrived in Florida, Griffin has lavished more than $300 million in donations on various causes in the Sunshine State.
But despite his animosity over how Illinois is run, he hasn't completely forgotten his former home.
Griffin's philanthropic organization announced last week that he's donated $10 million to Northwestern Medicine to to fund advanced research and treatment into esophageal diseases.
Griffin said his goal is to assist Northwestern researchers and doctors in making a "meaningful difference in the lives of individuals who suffer from esophageal diseases."
Those kind of diseases include a collection of conditions that affect how the esophagus — the body's food pipe — works. They range from gastrointestinal reflux disease to cancer.
Ilinois' richest man left Illinois after a political dispute with Gov. J.B. Pritzker but not before giving $130 million to 40 Chicago organizations.
Altogether, he's made more than $2 billion in donations to support everything from major universities, scholarships for lower-income students, museum art displays and running and biking trails.
It's official, maybe
The name of Robert F. Kennedy is going to be on Illinois' presidential ballot in November, unless opponents successfully challenge the petitions he submitted last week.
So, too, will Green Party non-contender Jill Stein.
The Kennedy campaign, however, has more clout than Stein because of his famous family name.
Kennedy's independent campaign has both Democratic and Republican parties worried that he'll take votes from their candidates.
That remains to be seen. But the Kennedy campaign — so far at least — has been effective in getting his name on various state ballots.
Kennedy's campaign reports that he is "officially on the ballot in eight states — California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah."
It has submitted the required number of petition signatures in 11 others — Alaska, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Illinois.
It has gathered "enough signatures" to win ballot access in six others — Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Kennedy's petitions were filed June 24 at the Illinois State Board of Elections in Springfield.
Listen to the music
The latest recommendation from Jim's Pseudo-Intellectual Book Club should strike just the right chord for eclectic readers who enjoy both music and the mob.
It's T.J. English's "Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Underworld."
One reviewer described it as a "scintillating narrative of the interconnected worlds of jazz and organized crime in 20th century America."
For the uninitiated, music and organized crime went hand in hand because musicians needed a place to play, and the mob needed entertainers to draw customers to their nightclubs that featured gambling, illegal booze during Prohibition and all kinds of other salacious activities.
English focuses on two major performers — virtuoso trumpeter Louis Armstrong and crooner Frank Sinatra — as they paved their way through the nightclub circuit that provided a path to national fame. But there were so many other great performers.
Things could get rough — nightclub owners/mobsters sometimes thought they owned the musicians and acted violently toward those who didn't accede to their warnings not to go elsewhere. The tale of singer Joe E. Lewis is one nightmarish example.
Chicago mobsters were right in the thick of presenting a new form of music — jazz and its spinoffs — across the country and beyond, such as Cuba and Las Vegas, to name just two locales.
"Dangerous Rhythms" provides a fascinating tour down a dangerously attractive and racially divided path of American entertainment.
