Apr. 1—It's time once again to dive in to another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week:

BREAKING THE BANK

Multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in civil cases are common in major urban areas, like Cook County, but not so much in smaller, downstate counties.

But a Coles County jury recently returned a $40 million verdict in a medical malpractice case, reportedly the highest jury award ever in the state outside of Cook County.

The case was long in the making, starting during the birth of a now-19-year-old disabled teenage girl.

Her parents filed the lawsuit against Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon when their daughter was 4. They alleged that hospital staffers waited too long to call a doctor to perform an emergency C-section and that, as a result, their daughter — Kiera — sustained permanent and severe injuries.

The family lauded the verdict.

"We no longer have to worry about Kiera being taken care of if something ever happened to us," said Tod Campbell, Kiera's father.

Hospital officials expressed shock, saying the jury's decision "does not reflect the facts of the case."

"There are no words to describe the level of our disappointment at the verdict and the devastation that is caused by egregious awards like this," said Kim Uphoff, hospital president and chief executive officer.

One thing is certain. Jurors were distressed by the evidence they heard, to the point that they awarded greater damages — $40 million — than the family's lawyers sought — $35 million to $37 million.

The jury's award is intended to compensate Kiera and her family for past disability, future emotional distress, past emotional distress, pain and suffering, future care-taking expenses and future lost earnings.

NO RUSH TO JUDGMENT

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, the former Black Panther turned (now-retired) member of Congress from Chicago, knew how to play the system.

For example, he undoubtedly played a role in getting his son, Jeffrey, a state job at a state corrections department halfway house in Aurora, where he worked as a security supervisor.

But Rush's son abused his position and was later charged with official misconduct for having sexual relationships with women who were inmates at the halfway house. He ended up serving seven months in prison.

But that didn't mean former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan wasn't willing to help Rush's son find a job, as FBI recordings revealed this week.

In an August 2018 conversation, Madigan told ComEd co-defendant Michael McClain that he had someone he was "gonna wanna help somewhere along the road." During the conversation, Madigan noted that Rush's son got "jammed up" in his DOC job, but Madigan suggested he could work there again under the newly elected Pritzker administration.

"The only thought I had was in a new administration, wouldn't the Department of Corrections have a lot of consulting contracts?" Madigan asked McClain.

McClain apparently tried to help Rush's son get on with ComEd. But executive Fidel Marquez said Jeffrey Rush's criminal conviction made him radioactive.

He told McClain that the son's "indiscretions ... make it hard for me to place within the company. Last thing I need is for that to come out ... you know there's no secrets Mike."

Among the issues that led to Madigan being forced out of his long-held speaker's post was wrath he drew from female legislators. They charged he was insensitive to alleged mistreatment and harassment of female legislators and staffers. Madigan adamantly denied those assertions.

DEM VS. DEM

Two left-wing Democratic members of the U.S. Senate are at odds over who should be elected mayor of Chicago on April 4.

Liberal U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois has endorsed his longtime political friend Paul Vallas while uber-socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is backing anti-police candidate Brandon Johnson.

Sanders made an appearance at a Johnson rally Thursday in Chicago, where he called on all Johnson supporters to turn out and vote.

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"Our job on Tuesday is to make sure that we have the largest voter turnout this city has ever seen," Sanders said. "We together are going to make sure that Brandon Johnson is the next mayor of the city."

Sanders pledged that Johnson would bring about "non-racist law enforcement" and "address the epidemic of mental illness, the epidemic of drug abuse, the epidemic of poverty and the epidemic of guns on the street."

Vallas' leftist foe has called him the worst thing anyone can call a candidate for public office in Chicago — a Republican. Others have jumped on that name-calling bandwagon.

But in his endorsement of Vallas, Durbin disputed that claim.

"Paul Vallas is a lifelong Democrat whom I have worked with for many years. He is a thoughtful leader who can strengthen Chicago's economy and create jobs. He will be a mayor for all of Chicago and will move the city forward," Durbin said.

Vallas has previously run for lieutenant governor and governor of Illinois, both times unsuccessfully and both times on the Democratic Party ticket.

EXTREMIST RHETORIC?

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his Democratic supporters this week targeted three candidates for the Champaign School Board for defeat, claiming they are nothing but right-wing extremists.

Asked to support their claims, the Democratic Party of Illinois released quotes that they said demonstrated the mendacious character of the three candidates. They said the candidates' disturbing rhetoric are "dog whistle(s) employed by known extremist candidates and organizations."

The language DPI cites includes the candidates' statements about their educational priorities in a school district that has reported shockingly low K-12 scores in teaching and math.

Here they are:

Mark Holm: "Excel at the basics."

Mark Thies: "Getting back to the basics of teaching. Focusing curriculum on academic core subjects and foundational skills of reading, writing, math and science."

Jeff Brownfield: "We need to focus on foundational educational skills, especially for our grade school children."

THE NAKED CITY

Corruption trials are routine in Cook County, and the biggest one right now involves the Commonwealth Edison bribery conspiracy trial involving four Democratic power broker defendants and a future defendant, former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

It's a humdinger that's sucking up all the oxygen in the room.

That's why few are following another Chicago federal court doozie — one involving alleged "fraud of staggering proportions."

Lawyers presented final arguments this week in the trial of three former Outcome Health Executives charged with "perpetrating a $1 billion fraud scheme."

The three executives at the once highly-flying startup — Rishi Shah, Shradha Agarwal and Brad Purdy — are charged with bank, mail and wire fraud.

The company operated an advertising service that placed screens and tablets in doctors' offices and waiting rooms, charging drug companies for the enhanced exposure.

But, according to the Chicago Tribune, Outcome executives overcharged their customers by misleading them about how many offices "had the screens running their content."

A former participant in the scheme is cooperating with the government, providing testimony in exchange for a more lenient sentence. The defendants contend the government's key witness is the primary wrongdoer and that they were unaware of any improprieties.

Jurors heard eight weeks of testimony prior to the beginning of final arguments that are expected to run into next week.

Outcome, as a company, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was ordered to pay a $70 million fine.