Teacher:In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? Solve this instance: Jesse Jackson Jr. resigns from Congress, acknowledges federal investigation for first time BY NATASHA KORECKI Political reporter Twitter: @natashakorecki 
  
 Updated: ||||| Chicago Tribune reporter Rick Pearson discusses the resignation of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.). (Posted on: Nov. 21, 2012.) 
  
 Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the ambitious political heir to a powerful Chicago family whose once promising future collapsed amid federal ethics investigations and a diagnosis of mental illness, resigned Wednesday from the South Side congressional seat he held for 17 years. 
  
 Jackson's downfall represents perhaps the last major political casualty in the long-running corruption scandal that sent former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to prison in March on charges he tried to sell the Senate seat of President Barack Obama. 
  
 Jackson's political star was on the rise until allegations surfaced in late 2008 that his supporters offered to raise as much as $6 million for Blagojevich in return for the governor appointing him to the Senate seat vacated by the president-elect. Though Jackson was never charged in that case, a House ethics panel investigation into his actions was ultimately eclipsed by a federal criminal probe based in Washington, D.C., into alleged misuse of campaign dollars. 
  
 Jackson's resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was Jackson's first acknowledgment of the ongoing federal corruption investigation. 
  
 "I am doing my best to address the situation responsibly, cooperate with the investigators, and accept responsibility for my mistakes, for they are my mistakes and mine alone," Jackson said in the two-page letter. "None of us is immune from our share of shortcomings or human frailties, and I pray that I will be remembered for what I did right." 
  
 Jackson's Washington legal team, which recently added former federal prosecutor Dan Webb, a Chicago partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, indicated that while Jackson's political fate has been settled, there's more to come in a court of law. 
  
 "We hope to negotiate a fair resolution of the matter but the process could take several months," they said in the statement. 
  
 Despite admitting "my share of mistakes," Jackson said his deteriorating health — and treatment for bipolar depression — kept him from serving as a "full-time legislator" and was the reason for his resignation. 
  
 Jackson's decision to step down came little more than two weeks after his re-election to another two-year term despite a lack of campaigning. He disappeared from the public eye in June after taking a medical leave from the House for what aides had initially described as exhaustion. 
  
 Jackson formed a political tag-team with his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson, 7th, who over the years has received hundreds of thousands of dollars as a paid political consultant to her husband. Despite her role on the City Council, the couple maintained an upscale home in Washington and sent their children to school there. Sandi Jackson has refused to discuss her husband's political future or the investigation into his campaign spending. She could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday. 
  
 Jackson's resignation immediately launched a field of possible successors —to be nominated and elected in special elections early next year — that could involve more than a dozen Democratic contenders, some of them political has-beens and others up-and-comers representing a new generation of leadership. 
  
 Under state law, Gov. Pat Quinn has five days to set dates for primary and general elections, which must be held by mid-March. 
  
 Some Democrats quickly offered to broker a nominee to avoid several African-American contenders splitting the vote in the heavily Democratic and majority black 2nd Congressional District, which could allow a white candidate to win. The district stretches from the South Side through the suburbs and as far as Kankakee. 
  
 Jackson's decision to leave office brought to an end a monthslong, consuming political game over the 47-year-old congressman's ability to serve his constituents. 
  
 In the congressman's public absence during the re-election campaign, both his father, civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., and Sandi Jackson sought to maintain the family's political power by offering generic statements about his health, thanking voters for their prayers and promising a return to Congress when his health permitted. 
  
 Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, whose far South Side ward is in Jackson's district, said she wasn't surprised Jackson stepped down but was disappointed with him for misleading his constituents. 
  
 "He's lost the love and concern of the residents in his district," Austin said. "We gave him the benefit of the doubt because of his sickness, and it didn't have anything to do with that." 
  
 Jackson was first elected to Congress in 1995 in a special election to replace former Rep. Mel Reynolds, who was convicted on charges including sexual misconduct with a 16-year-old campaign aide and federal bank fraud. 
  
 In Washington, Jackson steadily moved up the ladder in a legislative chamber where seniority is a valued commodity to become Illinois' lone representative on the powerful House Appropriations Committee. 
  
 At home, he began building a local political organization in the South Side and south suburbs, an operation which successful supplanted the once powerful Shaw brothers, twins Bill and Bob, who held various posts. ||||| Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a once-rising political star who has been on a months-long mysterious medical leave for bipolar disorder while facing separate federal investigations, has resigned from Congress, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday. 
  
 FILE - In this March 20, 2012 file photo, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill. speaks in Chicago. A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner says he has received letter of resignation from Rep. Jesse Jackson... (Associated Press) 
  
 FILE - This March 9, 2012 file photo shows Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. , D-Ill., and his wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, asking each other for their support and votes as they arrive at a polling station... (Associated Press) 
  
 FILE - This March 20, 2012 file photo shows Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., his wife Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, and their children Jessica, 12, and Jesse III, 8, thanking supporters at his election... (Associated Press) 
  
 Jackson's resignation comes just two weeks after voters re-elected him to a ninth full term and amid a continuing House Ethics Committee investigation into his dealings with imprisoned ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. There also have been reports of a new federal probe into possible misuse of campaign money. 
  
 Boehner's spokesman Michael Steele said his office received a resignation letter from Jackson but did not comment further. 
  
 Jackson, 47, disappeared in June, and it was later revealed that he was being treated at the Mayo Clinic for bipolar disorder and gastrointestinal issues. He returned to his Washington home in September, but went back to the clinic the next month, with his father saying his son had not yet "regained his balance." He left the clinic a second time earlier this month. 
  
 His return to the clinic in October came amid reports that he faced a new federal investigation into potential misuse of campaign funds. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported the probe, citing anonymous sources. An FBI spokesman in Washington, Andrew Ames, has told The Associated Press he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of a federal investigation into Jackson. 
  
 Jackson was easily re-elected Nov. 6 to represent his heavily-Democratic district, even though his only communication with voters was a robocall asking them for patience. He spent election night at the Mayo Clinic, but later issued a statement thanking his supporters and saying he was waiting for his doctors' OK before he could "continue to be the progressive fighter" they'd known for years. 
  
 Jackson, whose father is the Rev. Jesse Jackson, took office in 1995 after winning a special election. Voters in the district have said Jackson's family name and attention to local issues have been the reasons for their support. He's easily won every election since taking office and brought home close to $1 billion in federal money for his district during his tenure. 
  
 He began his career in Washington with a star power that set him apart from his hundreds of House colleagues. But his resignation ends a once-promising political career that was tarnished by unproven allegations that he was involved in discussions about raising campaign funds for imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for an appointment to President Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat. 
  
 The House Ethics Committee is investigating reports of those allegations, which Jackson has denied. After the allegations surfaced, he cut back drastically on his number of public appearances and interviews. Blagojevich is now imprisoned on corruption charges that accused him of trying to sell the seat, among other things. 
  
 The timing of Jackson's leave and the way it was handled also has invited scrutiny. Jackson's leave was announced just after a former fundraiser connected to the Blagojevich allegations was arrested on unrelated medical fraud charges. 
  
 Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, has five days to schedule an election to replace Jackson after he receives official notice, and the election must be held within 115 days, according to election officials. 
  
 The vacancy left by Jackson's departure creates a rare opportunity for someone else to represent his district, which is made up of South Side Chicago neighborhoods, several southern suburbs and some rural areas. Even this year, when Jackson was absent during the crucial final months of campaigning, he easily defeated two challengers on the ballot, Republican college professor Brian Woodworth and Independent postal worker Marcus Lewis. 
  
 ___ 
  
 Jackson reported from Washington. |||||
Student:
Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned from Congress today, reports the Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune. Jackson had originally intended to hold a press conference to announce as much, but reportedly couldn't bring himself to do so thanks to his bipolar disorder. Jackson won reelection on Nov. 6, even though he didn't campaign for it and has been on leave from Congress since June. The 47-year-old is under investigation from the House Ethics Committee for his part in the Rod Blagojevich scandal and, separately, for the alleged misuse of campaign money. In his resignation letter, Jackson blamed his health problems for the decision to resign but acknowledged the federal investigation involving campaign cash. "I am doing my best to address the situation responsibly, cooperate with the investigators, and accept responsibility for my mistakes, for they are my mistakes and mine alone," he wrote. "None of us is immune from our share of shortcomings or human frailties and I pray that I will be remembered for what I did right." Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn will schedule a special election to fill Jackson's seat, notes AP.