Here’s something to ponder if you or your friends are driving along enjoying some of that newly-slightly-deregulated marijuana. Sam Hudzik (WBEZ) explains the scenario:

“If you get pulled over or are a passenger in a car that gets pulled over and you’re found to have marijuana, yea, you’re still elegible for a ticket. They won’t arrest you but they will take you to the station and test it and if they find that it is marijuana they will impound the car. So you have the $250 to $500 ticket, but then you have a $2,000 – plus car impound fee.” But here’s the good news – so far, in the first week, the police have only issued 11 tickets for marijuana. So that implies that many, many cops are back on the street fighting crime. Those stats, though, aren’t readily available.

Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. will be coming home in September from his Mayo Clinic treatments, just in time to hit the trail for the November election. John Dempsey (WLS-AM) has the political analysis. “As long as he has a pulse he will win in this heavily Democratic district,” John explains. He faces only nominal opposition for his Congressional seat, and he shouldn’t have much to worry about.

His wife Sandi, who happens to be the 7th Ward’s Alderman, is  facing some political whitewater of her own, because constiuents are complaining that she’s been AWOL from her job as crime rates have been spiking in Jeffery Manor and other places in her Ward. But Hudzik says “Sandi Jackson is the shrewdest politician in that family. She knows she’s not up for re-election for a while, and there’s plenty of time for her to make her mark at this point.” And besides, some of the complaining could be coming from allies of the Beavers family, the Jackson’s long-time rivals.

Oh, and just in case you had high hopes that Gov. Quinn’s call for a Special Session of theLegislature will result in significant, dramatic pension reform,  John and Sam have disappointing news.

“This back and forth, the power games over the special session/regular session with Cullerton and Quinn, I think that just underscores the difficulty they’re gonna have if the Democratic leaders can’t get together on this and they’re going to fight over whether to get there,” says Hudzik.  “My expectations are not very high for August 17.”

Also this week: George Ryan will be let out of prison each day beginning in January for work release. Then, next July, incredible as it seems, his 5-year sentence will be completed.