Kankakee, Ill. (AP)  -- The attorney for George Ryan says the former Illinois governor has qualified for work release five months before his July 2013 parole.
     Former Illinois Gov. Jim Thompson tells The Daily Journal in Kankakee for a Wednesday story ( http://bit.ly/O3OksD ) Ryan's new home will be a halfway house in Chicago's West Loop. The 78-year-old Ryan is serving a 6 1/2-year sentence at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., for a 2006 conviction on corruption charges.
     On Monday a federal court in Chicago denied Ryan's latest appeal seeking early release. Thompson says Ryan's attorney will try to appeal again, possibly to the Supreme Court, which has already said it wouldn't hear Ryan's case.
     A Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman would not confirm Ryan's work release date, citing a "security issue."