(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker has announced five appointments to the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which is set to hold its first meeting next month.
Bashir Qaasim, Nedra Sims Fears, Nirali Shah, Rosa Ortiz and Vanessa Uribe are the governor’s appointees. All five are subject to approval by the Illinois Senate.
Qaasim was also appointed to the Metra board, Sims Fears to the Chicago Transit Authority board, and Ortiz to the Pace board. In addition, Pritzker appointed Neema Jha to the CTA board.
EX-PRINCIPAL, TWO OTHERS SENTENCED FOR FRAUD
A former Chicago Public Schools principal and two others have been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution for their roles in procurement schemes that defrauded a pair of school systems and a nonprofit organization out of more than $1 million.
Prosecutors said ex-CPS principal and network chief Brian Metcalf, 52, Kimberly Maddox, 55, of Matteson, and James Darnell Campbell, 59, of Frankfort schemed to illegally profit from various roles Metcalf held in school systems in Chicago and Indianapolis, as well as a nonprofit.
A federal judge sentenced Metcalf on Wednesday to a year and a day in federal prison. Last month, Maddox was sentenced to two years behind bars and Campbell was sentenced to a year and a day.
RESTAURATEUR SENTENCED FOR COVID-RELIEF LOAN FRAUD
A restaurant operator who ran eateries in Illinois and Colorado has been sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for submitting fraudulent COVID-relief loan applications and failing to pay tax withholdings from his employees.
U.S. government attorneys said Jared Leonard, 45, of Littleton, Colorado, schemed to fraudulently obtain more than $2.3 million in small business loans and grants under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
In addition to 30 months in prison, Leonard was ordered to pay approximately $2.8 million in restitution to the IRS and U.S. Small Business Administration.
