[Please scroll down for stories that were posted late last night and early this morning.]

* Tribune: Former Illinois state Supreme Court candidate Gordon Maag’s $110 million defamation lawsuit over a 2004 campaign flier suffered another legal setback Thursday, when an Illinois appellate court on which he once sat tossed out the case.

* Tribune editorial: Obama would be wise to explain, fully and quickly, the prelude to a real estate deal and subsequent transactions related to his acquisition of a $1.65 million home on Chicago’s South Side. If Obama doesn’t shine his own spotlight on his real estate relationship with indicted political fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, he’ll be fielding questions about Rezko in two years and in 20,

* Pantagraph editorial: Governor’s secrecy an insult to Illinois citizens

* NY Times publishes a story today about Democratic corruption that includes a section on Gov. Blagojevich

* Illinois’ pension nightmare - Funds for teachers, state workers face a $45.8 billion shortfall

* Daily Herald: Jim Sullivan’s union of highway builders has had enough of the Blagojevich administration. Steve Preckwinkle’s teachers union wants to give the governor another four years to improve education.

* Writer defends columns in justice defamation case

* Quote of the Week from Gov. Blagojevich: “The Bears are 7-0. That never happened when [George] Ryan was governor. … All across this state, sports fans are better off than they were four years ago.”

* Tribune: Democrats were preparing a series of rallies Monday featuring Illinois Sens. Barack Obama and Dick Durbin to promote Duckworth, Bean, 10th Congressional District candidate Dan Seals and Todd Stroger, the candidate for Cook County Board president. Seals is challenging North Shore Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, and Stroger faces Republican rival Tony Peraica.

* Hot-button issues on ballot don’t really count

* Despite the positive outlook of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, John Laesch foresees an inevitable economic downturn related to U.S. trade agreements.

* `All politics is local’ takes on new meaning on the Web

* Election campaign lucrative for TV stations