Tribune Co. also acknowledged state records, recently obtained by the Chicago Tribune, that show Zell making a phone call and giving a gift to Blagojevich.

According to records of Blagojevich’s telephone logs, Zell placed a call to the governor Dec. 8, the day before the arrest.

Zell? A gift? We’ve heard of such things before:

Waxword/TheWrap has learned that every New Year, Zell sends 675 custom-made bronze statues to his friends with his business predictions. In 2002 it was a naked man turning a wheel to the musical theme, “Get Over It.” In 2004 it was “This Land,” featuring the arm of the Statue of Liberty grasping her torch aloft. But on the eve of the millennium in 1999, it was a buck naked man standing on a stack of Wall Street Journals (photo, below), predicting a catastrophic collapse of overvalued assets under the title, “The Emperor Has No Clothes.” A switch at the back of the statue sets off Zell’s raspy whine:

You’d just expect a sexier gift from a freakin’ mogul.

Speaking of sexy – we take this opportunity to admit our secret crush on federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. He’s so smart and he’s a runner and he’s awesome. Flutter.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Huffington Post launched it’s first local blog on Chicago in July of this year.

Yes, it was obvious by June that local boy, former South Side ‘community organizer’ Barack Obama was the democratic nominee for president. But who could have seen all that was to come?

First, shocker, Barack Hussein Obama actually wins the presidency of the United States. Yes, it was one of two outcomes – but no one saw it coming.

So score one for Chicago local beat.

Then angry hottie Congressman from Illinois’ fifth congressional district Rahm Emanuel gets tapped to be chief of staff.

Chicago politics are then on the map. And about to pack up and move to DC.

Then amazingly in the same week the Tribune Company (publisher of the Chicago Tribune) files for bankruptcy, the governor, Rod Blagojevich is caught red handed (er open handed) by another local hottie US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

How perfect a pick for Huffington Post? So just as the most juicy national news was just about to be concentrated in one tiny specific region – that’s the test city for the first local edition for Huffpo?!

We don’t believe in psychics – but we’d put money on their Super Bowl pick.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.