Afternoon Briefing: Ex-Outfit enforcer in ‘golden years’ loses bid to end court supervision

Good afternoon, Chicago.

The onetime elected head of the Bloomingdale Township highway commission was sentenced to 3½ years in federal prison today for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the owner of an excavation company in exchange for approving contracts for roadwork that in many cases was never performed.

And a former Chicago Outfit enforcer who is in his “golden years” has lost his bid to end court supervision. Prosecutors say Mario Rainone, after being released from prison early in 2020 due to COVID-19 concerns, went right back to some of his old haunts.

Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/breaking and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices.

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Suspected spy balloons trigger UFO watch over Chicago skies

The saga of suspected Chinese spy balloons — or perhaps crafts visiting from much, much farther away — hovering in American airspace drifted closer to home over the weekend when federal aviation authorities temporarily closed air traffic over Lake Michigan so that fighter jets could shoot down a flying object. Read more here.

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Michigan State University gunman who killed 3 had note threatening 2 New Jersey schools, official says

The gunman who killed three students and wounded five at Michigan State University was a 43-year-old with a previous gun violation who fatally shot himself after an hourslong search that ended in a confrontation with police miles from campus, officials said today. Read more here.

More top stories from around the world:

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