Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on March 2, according to the Tribune’s archives.
Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.
Front page flashback: March 3, 1995
1995: Physicists at Fermilab near Batavia said they had isolated the top quark.
“The discovery ends an 18-year search for one of the basic building blocks of all matter, from the fiery cauldron that burns at the sun’s core to the cool water that quenches a summer thirst,” Tribune reporter Stevenson Swanson wrote.
Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)
- High temperature: 71 degrees (1974)
- Low temperature: Minus 4 degrees (1913)
- Precipitation: 1.02 inches (2002)
- Snowfall: 11.5 inches (1954)
1837: Chicago’s Rush Medical College (forerunner of Rush University Medical Center) was incorporated.
2022: Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, for decades the most powerful politician in the state, was indicted on federal racketeering charges alleging his elected office and political operation were a criminal enterprise that provided personal financial rewards for him and his associates.
The 22-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury came after a yearslong federal investigation and alleged Madigan participated in an array of bribery and extortion schemes from 2011 to 2019 aimed at using the power of his office for personal gain.
The Dishonor Roll: Meet the public officials who helped build Illinois’ culture of corruption
The long-awaited charges punctuated a stunning downfall for Madigan, the longest-serving leader of any legislative chamber in the nation, who held an ironclad grip on the state legislature as well as the Democratic party and its political spoils. He was dethroned as speaker in early 2021 as the investigation swirled around him, and soon after, he resigned the House seat he’d held since 1971.
Both Madigan and his attorneys denied the allegations in written statements and said they intended to fight them in court.
A federal jury convicted Madigan on Feb. 12, 2025, of multiple federal charges, including bribery conspiracy — but jurors deadlocked on other charges in the wide-ranging indictment, including the marquee racketeering conspiracy count. Madigan was sentenced in June 2025 to 7½ years in prison. The judge also levied a maximum $2.5 million fine, saying he would’ve made it higher if the law allowed.
Madigan reported to federal prison in West Virginia in October 2025, and filed a petition for clemency in December 2025 with the Office of the Pardon Attorney.
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