CHICAGO

By JAMES L. GRAFF

Chicago Mayor RICHARD M. DALEY cares about his family--and so, it seems, do federal investigators. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office are deep into a probe of possibly illegal activities at the law firm of Daley and George, Ltd., which has become a runaway favorite of anyone who might be seeking to do business with the city. The firm's principal partners are MICHAEL DALEY, the mayor's younger brother, and JOHN GEORGE, a close friend of the mayor and his family for decades. The investigation comes at a sensitive time. Chicago's city council has been rocked for months by another federal investigation, dubbed Silver Shovel, in which 13 officials have been indicted on bribe-taking charges, leading so far to one conviction and two guilty pleas. Last week the mayor reacted to the latest of those indictments with a stern admonition, "When people tempt you with cash, don't accept it." The question that many in Chicago were asking last week: Did the mayor's brother follow that counsel?

--By James L. Graff