Still on board

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7-16-08 Thompson Center, Chicago News conference held by the Illinois Gaming Board to announce details of the state's auction of the 10th casino license. Aaron Jaffe, chairman of the board. [Keith Hale/Sun-Times]

Updated: November 24, 2011 8:06AM

Scoopsville . . .

Sneed has learned Gov. Pat Quinn will reappoint retired Cook County Circuit Judge Aaron Jaffe , the state’s respected top gaming regulator who has been a thorn in the side of pro-gambling lawmakers, as chairman of the Gaming Board on Monday.

◆ Buckshot: The Guv shares Jaffe’s concerns about the gambling bill’s lax oversight and ethics shortcomings, said a source. “Gov. Quinn thinks Jaffe has done a good job helping to prevent corruption in the gambling industry,” the source said. “With any gambling expansion on the horizon, the governor wants to hedge his bet with a strong regulator.”

◆ Upshot: Quinn asked lawmakers this week to tighten oversight and load up on ethics measures, including a ban on campaign contributions from gambling interests. At least six other states ban campaign contributions from gambling interests.

Tipsville: In her first official act as Chicago’s first lady, Amy Rule — wife of Mayor Rahm Emanuel — hosted a luncheon for the spouses and partners of her hubby’s top-level cabinet members.

“It was her idea and way of saying thanks for their role in making the city great,” said a source.

◆ P.S. The lunch was catered by Washburne Culinary Institute students at the South Shore Cultural Center on Wednesday — and the “Rocket Man” made an appearance.

The book beat . . .

A message to readers fevered by iconic writer Ernest Hemingway’s marriage to first wife, Hadley, since Papa addicts started gobbling up the hit novel, The Paris Wife: Relief is on the way.

It’s a biography called Paris Without End: The True Story of Hemingway’s First Wife, by author Gioia Diliberto, who wrote the definitive book on the Hemingway marriage 20 years ago. It has been reissued with a new title.

For Hemingway aficionados, it’s a must read. For history buffs, it’s scintillating stuff, filled with juicy bits and amazing research. Diliberto, a Chicago-based author and former reporter, was given scoop-quality access to Hadley’s letters and tapes and interviews with Hemingway’s family and friends — who died years ago.

“I was inspired by Hadley’s story when I was a young mother in Paris with my husband and a young son — and living near where they lived during their five-year marriage,” Diliberto said.

“But when the book came out in 1992, I think women were turned off by the macho Hemingway and a woman who gave herself totally to his career,” she said.

Times have changed.

The Hemingways are so hot, Roberta Rubin — who runs the brilliant “Bookstall” in Winnetka (where every author wants a podium) — has a “Hemingway” table. And, yes, Dili­berto’s biography is on it.

I spy . . .

Actors Dennis Quaid, Heather Graham and Zac Efron at Atwater’s restaurant inside the Herrington Inn in Geneva recently . . . Former Cub Ernie Banks, Blackhawks President John McDonough and Blackhawks star Patrick Kane with a lady friend all spotted at Harry Caray’s last week.

Sneedlings . . .

Today’s birthdays: Ryan Reynolds, 35; Sanjay Gupta, 42; Nancy Grace, 52; “Weird Al” Yankovic, 52; Martin Luther King III, 54; Dwight Yoakam, 55; Pele, 71 . . . Monday’s birthdays: Kevin Kline, 64; F. Murray Abraham, 72, and belated wishes to Rick Jasculca, ageless and priceless.