* Whenever your heart starts palpitating after reading a lede like this….

A $100,000 state grant for a botanic garden in Englewood that then-state Sen. Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a onetime campaign volunteer is now under investigation by the Illinois attorney general amid new questions, prompted by Chicago Sun-Times reports, about whether the money might have been misspent.

You should take a deep breath and always scroll down for the buried nugget…

Madigan’s office has notified Obama’s presidential campaign of the probe, which was launched this week. But Obama’s actions in awarding the money are not a focus of the investigation, Smith said.

* Same with stuff like this…

After helping Cicero’s town president win a close election, political strategist Dan Proft received no-bid contracts worth $578,000 a year to serve as the mouthpiece for the town and two local school districts.

Not only is Proft’s firm receiving $180,000 a year to boost Cicero Town President Larry Dominick’s agenda, but the town—in a highly unusual move—also agreed to pay the company another $308,000 a year to promote the new Municipal Complex.

Proft argues that if ever a town needed positive public relations, it’s Cicero.

Scroll way down to almost the very bottom and you’ll see this…

Proft said the town will spend less than 1 percent of the project’s $60 million budget on public relations. The contract will expire next month when the municipal complex is complete.

The money Urquhart collects is not pure profit, he said, noting it is distributed to subcontractors and a staff of three in addition to paying for the expertise of Proft and his partner, Jeff Davis.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Here’s another example…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration said Wednesday that it has taken the first formal steps toward recovering a $1 million grant given to a politically connected private school that has yet to open its doors.

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity wrote to officials at the Loop Lab School and told them they were in violation of their grant agreement.

Scrolling downwards…

But school officials have said Blagojevich himself promised the money to them, and have publicly thanked the governor for his kindness.

The school used the money to buy the second floor in a downtown office building near the Sears Tower and renovate the space for classrooms.

Aside from the general cover-up in this thing, how is the state gonna get its money if it’s already been spent? Are we as taxpayers going to own that second floor now?

*** UPDATE 2 *** A funny example from the New York Times…

CHICAGO — In this state with a history of corruption at the highest levels of government and little history of meaningful reform, lawmakers and the governor have embarked on a sudden, surprising scurry to enact ethics legislation this week.

Scroll down…

Further, some said they were certain that it would die in the House, where the leader, John A. Fritchey, chief sponsor of the original bill, is openly disdainful of the governor.

Fritchey is the leader of the House, eh? Anybody tell Madigan yet?

* Related…

* Cicero PR Guy Getting More Than $300K A Year

* School ordered to return $1M mistakenly given by state