January 13 Illinois History Minute

It’s January 13th, and this day in 2003 was inauguration day for Illinois’ 40th governor, Rod Blagojevich. The previous governor, George Ryan, finished his term under a growing cloud of scandal. Blagojevich pledged to fix the state’s budget problems and root out corruption. 

But Blagojevich’s own corruption scandals would lead to arrest, impeachment, conviction, and imprisonment. 

Illinois Congressman and Agriculture Secretary under the first President Bush, Edward R. Madigan, was born this day in 1936 in Lincoln Illinois.  

And former Earth Wind and Fire drummer Fred White turns 67 today. Fred White played with the band for about a decade, starting in 1975.