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CBS 2's Mike Parker and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
CHICAGO (CBS) ― The start of fallen media tycoon Conrad M. Black's racketeering and fraud trial was postponed for one day Monday after attorneys said one juror failed to appear in court.

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve had planned to swear in the jury and start Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey H. Cramer's opening statement at 9 a.m.

But after questioning jurors in her chambers, she postponed the start of the trial first until Monday afternoon and then until Tuesday morning.

Attorneys said a member of the jury did not arrive in court Monday morning, and officials could not reach the person in time to get the juror to court for the delayed afternoon start. The juror is expected to report for duty Tuesday morning, attorneys said.

Opening statements by the attorneys were put off until Tuesday. Because of a clerk's error, one member of the jury thought they had been excused and didn't show up Monday.

The juror has reportedly promised to be there bright and early Tuesday morning.

But there was still plenty of action at the Dirksen Federal Building Monday.

As CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, Lord Black's wife created a sensation with a blunt comment that blasted a member of the foreign press.

The British tabloids covering the trial got their moment Monday as Black, who prefers to be called "Lord Black of Crossharbour," and his wife, Barbara Amiel, also known as "Lady Black," were entering an elevator near the 12th floor courtroom. A London reporter says what she heard was not ladylike.

"She called out to a journalist who was standing outside the elevator, 'You slut.' After the elevator door closed she called out, 'You are all vermin and I'm sick of it,'" said Daily Express reporter Joanna Walters.

One of the allegations against Black is that he used tens of thousands of dollars in corporate funds to help finance his wife's birthday party.

"I was quite startled that someone like that would use such a vulgar word and show such a venomous outburst," Walters said.

Black, 62, and three former executives of the Hollinger International newspaper holding empire he once ran are on trial in U.S. District Court.

Black is charged with swindling Hollinger out of $84 million through a series of asset sales in which he pocketed payments from the buyers.

The former press lord and his co-defendants have firmly denied that anything they did was against the law.

The government's star witness, David Radler, the former No. 2 man at Hollinger under Black, reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday and with his former employer on Sunday. He is expected to testify against Black.

Black defense attorney Edward M. Genson urged St. Eve on Monday to question the jurors on whether they had read anything about the settlements. Genson declared he is troubled by the fact that just as the trial is beginning, the Sun-Times has released details of a multi-million dollar settlement of the case against Radler. St. Eve spoke with the jurors in her chambers about that.

CBS 2 legal analyst Irv Miller explained the attorney's concern.

"Here just before opening statements, you have jurors potentially reading that some of the companies involved, admitting there was liability and paying out a fortune," Miller said.

After Cramer delivers the opening statement for the government, Genson is due to deliver an opening statement on behalf of Black.

Hollinger International at one time owned the Chicago Sun-Times, the Toronto-based National Post, the Daily Telegraph of London and the Jerusalem Post as well as hundreds of community papers in the United States and Canada.

All of the large papers except the Sun-Times have been sold and the name of the company has been changed to Sun-Times Media Group.

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