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Thursday, Mar 15, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* OK, now that Rod Blagojevich is safely ensconced behind federal bars, do you have any final thoughts before we close the book on this guy?

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The final ride

Thursday, Mar 15, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* 11:45 am - I don’t know if you’re interested in watching live video of Rod Blagojevich riding in a black SUV to prison, but click here if you are.

* 11:52 am - ABC7 has commentary along with the video feed. Click here. Apparently, the former governor’s car has circled around a couple of times. So, people are becoming impatient.

* 12:01 pm - ABC7 News is off, but you can watch the live feed here. [UPDATED LINK]

Years ago, we used to track Blagojevich’s plane rides from Chicago to Springfield and back. This kinda feels like that. Only not.

* 12:03 pm - He’s talking on his cell phone now. They’ve apparently stopped at a burger joint.

* 12:07 pm - Ah, heck, it’s gonna be another 45 minutes or so. Let’s go to ScribbleLive…

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Blagojevich to make public statement before he goes away

Thursday, Mar 8, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* You gotta figure this will be a total zoolike experience…

Rod Blagojevich plans to make a public statement in person before he reports to federal prison for his 14-year sentence on corruption charges, his spokesman said Wednesday.

The 55-year-old impeached governor won’t slip out of Chicago and will speak before cameras here days before he reports to a federal prison March 15, Glenn Selig told the Associated Press. He declined to offer details, including what Blagojevich might say or on what day.

Since his December sentencing for corruption, Blagojevich hasn’t granted interviews. His lawyers have said he wants to enter prison in a dignified way, without any media frenzy. That’s fueled speculation he could try to leave Chicago days in advance without comment. But Selig says Blagojevich never intended to do that.

“The governor has always taken things head on and never tried to circumvent anything,” he said.

Any predictions for what he says?

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Today’s Number: 40892-424

Tuesday, Mar 6, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the AP…

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has a federal prison identification number.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has given Blagojevich the number 40892-424.

Typically, once inmates are assigned a number, it is their individual number throughout their prison term. It is also typically affixed to their prison clothes.

The 55-year-old Blagojevich has been ordered to report to prison on March 15. While he has asked to be incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in Colorado, he could be sent elsewhere.

* You can track Blagojevich’s stay in prison with the BOP’s inmate locater website…

* Meanwhile, Commissioner Beavers seems to be taking a page from Blagojevich’s first trial, which ended in a hung jury on all but one count…

Cook County Commissioner William Beavers pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges Friday and then lobbed another bombshell — declaring U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald “a wild man” guilty of driving three political figures to suicide with “Gestapo-type tactics.”

After a relatively mundane arraignment hearing — lasting all of about 10 minutes — Beavers left the courtroom and walked in a crowd of reporters in the lobby of the Dirksen Federal building — unleashing on Fitzgerald.

“I do not owe the government any money — no taxes,” Beavers said, moving on to his next point: Fitzgerald.

“Let me tell you about this federal prosecutor. This man is like a wild man on a train, and somebody needs to stop him.

“He has caused three deaths — Michael Scott, Orlando Jones and Chris Kelly — with these Gestapo-type tactics that he used to try to make them tell on their friends,” said Beavers, 77.

Sam Adam and Sam Adam, Jr. are defending Beavers. They also defended RRB in his first trial.

* The Trib points out the problems with Beavers’ claims…

Randall Samborn, a spokesman for Fitzgerald, declined comment. But Beaver’s allegations don’t square with the known facts about two of the suicides.

Scott, the former Chicago schools chief, was not being investigated by federal authorities but his use of his Chicago public school credit card had been questioned.

Jones, a former top Cook County aide, was under investigation for an alleged contract scheme in Las Vegas.

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