While a Cook County panel picks through evidence to learn the cause of the downtown high-rise fire that killed six people last year, the panel’s chairman is taking it all in with a little Florida sun.
Abner Mikva, a former U.S. Appeals Court judge, participated in hearings the last two weeks by speaker phone from his Ft. Lauderdale home.
The setup, in which Mikva’s voice is amplified by speakers in a Cook County hearing room, has not been without technical difficulty.
On Tuesday, the sound of a dial tone briefly halted testimony after the connection somehow disconnected. Later in the day, Mikva told the panel he was having trouble hearing the second-to-last witness and hung up.
Two weeks ago, a panel member asked Mikva if he had questions for one of the witnesses. He was answered with silence–the connection had apparently been lost some time before.
