* When testimony concludes today, Judge Amy St. Eve will decide whether Tony Rezko should be released on bond. He’s been in jail since he was arrested Jan. 28.

It’s unclear what her decision might be, but this may possibly offer some insight:

Though the circumstances are different in the Rezko case, St. Eve is the same judge who allowed bond for two defendants accused of having ties to Hamas terror funding. St. Eve allowed the two free on bond despite passioned pleas from the prosecution to keep them behind bars so they wouldn’t flee.

Muhammad Salah and Abdelhaleem Ashqar didn’t flee and were ultimately convicted on lesser charges. During and before trial, St. Eve set tight restrictions on the two, including house arrest and requiring a GPS monitoring bracelet for Ashqar.

* Prosecutors have called Scott Parrish to the stand. He was a private-equity investment officer for the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System when Stuart Levine and Tony Rezko were allegedly corrupting the state pension board and steering investments to firms in exchange for kickbacks.

Parrish is giving the jury background information on how TRS was supposed to work. He said he oversaw investments and was a contact for investment firms interested in doing business with TRS:

He would contact fund managers and ask them to come in for meetings if TRS was interested in their investment proposal.

Jon Bauman, TRS executive director, would make recommendations to the board on proposals that the staff found to be acceptable, Parrish said. Bauman was the “final editor” of material that would be submitted to the TRS board for review.

* Levine previously testified on how his control over Bauman helped him steer business to firms willing to pay bogus finder’s fees. One such firm was Glencoe Capital. Parrish testified that Bauman asked him to contact the firm around 2002.

More to come later….

*** UPDATE *** 12:40 - Testimony has now concluded for the day. St. Eve is going to handle a sentencing in another case and then get back to the question of Rezko’s possible release. She has asked Rezko’s lawyer to be prepared with a figure that represents the total value of all the properties being pledged for bail.

The Tribune points to this prior action by the court:

St. Eve rejected his explanations for a $3.5 million wire transfer he received from Lebanon in 2007. The overseas money was sent on Rezko’s behalf after Rezko had told the court he had no access to funds from abroad.

* Check back with the blog to see St. Eve’s decision.

*** UPDATE *** 2:25 - This just in, Tony Rezko will be released from jail on $8 million bond:

Rezko’s lawyers proposed and the judge ordered that he be released to home detention on electronic monitors. He and his wife offered to post $350,000 in cash to ensure he would not flee. In addition, properties with a combined equity of $8 million were also be pledged to secure his bail.

* The decision came after 30 individuals pledged equity in their homes to secure Rezko’s bond. It appears that behind closed doors, St. Eve has cleared up some issues tied to a $3.8 million wire transfer Rezko didn’t disclose to the court last year. Most of that money went toward legal fees, according to the Judge.

“My decision is based in part in the significant number of individuals from the community coming forward, knowing full well that they will lose it if you fail to come to court and comply with conditions of the bond,” St. Eve said.

If Rezko flees: “You will leave me no choice to foreclose on these 30 individuals and take, what is in some instances, is their entire life savings,” she said. “$8 million Is a very very high bond. Certainly one of the higher I have ever seen set in this building.”