Veteran Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Ray Long has a saying about covering the Illinois Statehouse 鈥� it鈥檚 the 鈥済reatest beat on Planet Earth.鈥�
For the past half-century, one of the mainstays on that beat was Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The Chicago Democrat served in the House for 50 years 鈥� 36 of them as speaker, making him the longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history.
But that tenure came to an end a year ago, as Madigan was ousted as speaker before resigning his House seat and his role as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois amid an ongoing federal corruption probe for which he hasn鈥檛 been charged.
Long, a 1981 graduate of the Public Affairs Reporting program, chronicles Madigan鈥檚 storied legislative career in a new book 鈥� .
We鈥檇 like to invite you to join us on Zoom at noon March 17 to hear from Long about his book and his career covering Madigan.
Long will take questions from two current PAR students 鈥� , and .
You can register to attend this free event . Two lucky attendees will be randomly selected to receive a copy of Long鈥檚 book.
Hope to see you there.
Jason Piscia is an assistant professor and director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield. He came to UIS following a 21-year career at The State Journal-Register.