Category Archives: Chicago

Tornadoes halt Chicago air traffic as residents urged to seek shelter

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At least eight tornadoes hit north-eastern Illinois, with no immediate reports of injuries

Tornadoes and thunderstorms battered the Chicago area on Wednesday, forcing airports to halt air traffic and prompting officials to advise residents to seek shelter as tornado sirens echoed through the third largest US city.

The National Weather Service reported that a tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare international airport on Wednesday evening – one of at least eight tornadoes to hit north-eastern Illinois, including four in Cook county.

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Biden decries gun violence as shootings across US mar Fourth of July festivities

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At least 15 people shot dead across the country in mass shootings so far on the holiday weekend celebrating the US’s independence

A long holiday weekend of bloodshed has intensified after a heavily armed gunman in a bulletproof vest opened fire on the streets of Philadelphia on the eve of Fourth of July celebrations, in yet another mass shooting in the US, killing five people and wounding two boys before surrendering to the police.

Across the country, Texas was entering the holiday to news that another shooting had killed three people, in Fort Worth, occurring just before midnight amid a gathering in a parking lot that also wounded eight.

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Millions swelter under extreme heat as climate crisis tightens grip on US – live

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Heat dome of high pressure hovers over Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma as thousands remain without power in Chicago with heavy rains knocking down trees and power lines

The heating of the earth’s atmosphere and oceans by the burning of fossil fuels made the current extreme heatwave across the us at least five times more likely, according to a recent analysis by Climate Central, a climate science non-profit.

The rolling heatwave marks the latest in a series of recent extreme “heat dome” events that have scorched various parts of the world.

If you have this sort of high-pressure system sitting stationary over a region, you can have these really impressive heatwaves.

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Chonk the snapping turtle delights locals with Chicago River appearance

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Rare sight of giant reptile basking by waterside offers hope that notoriously polluted waterway is getting cleaner

A large snapping turtle dubbed “Chonk” has become a viral favorite of Chicago residents after the enormous reptile has been spotted repeatedly lounging by the once-toxic Chicago River.

“Look at the size of that thing!” Joey Santore said as he filmed “Chonkosaurus”, or “Chonk”, as the giant creature lay atop of what appears to be an old rusty chain and tree snags.

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UN human rights experts begin US tour focusing on racial justice and policing

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Panel established in response to George Floyd killing will visit Washington DC, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York

A team of United Nations experts has arrived in the US on a tour that will focus on racial justice, law enforcement and policing.

On Monday, the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement, an independent panel appointed by the UN human rights council, began its two-week visit to the US.

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Chicago prosecutor to drop sex-abuse charges against R Kelly

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Cook county state attorney makes decision after two federal convictions that ensure singer will be locked up for decades

A Chicago prosecutor said Monday that she’s dropping sex-abuse charges against singer R Kelly, following federal convictions in two courts that ensure the disgraced R&B star will be locked up for decades.

Cook county state’s attorney Kim Foxx announced the decision a day ahead of a court hearing related to state charges accusing him of sexually abusing four people, three of whom were minors. Foxx said she would ask a judge to dismiss the charges at Tuesday’s hearing.

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‘We’re tired of being beaten’: protesters across US call for justice for Tyre Nichols

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After video of the brutal beating was released, people gathered to decry the violence and abuse of power

  • This article contains video depicting physical violence

Protests took place in multiple US cities late Friday after police released footage of Tyre Nichols’ fatal beating at the hands of Memphis police.

The video released late Friday shows several Memphis officers kicking Nichols repeatedly in the head, punching him in the face, and hitting him with a baton.

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Highland Park shooting suspect’s father faces charges for sponsoring son’s gun license

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Robert Crimo Jr was charged with seven felony counts of reckless conduct for helping his son obtain a license in December 2019

The father of the 19-year-old accused of killing seven people at a July 4 parade near Chicago has been charged with seven felony counts of reckless conduct, as a result of sponsoring his son’s application for a gun license in 2019.

The charges against Robert Crimo Jr were announced on Friday, and the Lake county state’s attorney, Eric Rinehart, said he surrendered to police and will have a bond hearing Saturday.

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Chicago’s ‘walking man’ dies nearly seven months after being set on fire

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Joseph Kromelis, nicknamed the ‘walking man’ as he was often spotted in the city on foot, died after being set on fire in May

Chicago’s famed “walking man” has died nearly seven months after authorities said an unprovoked attacker set him on fire in a horrifying example of a crime aimed at the homeless.

Joseph Kromelis, 75, died after being set on fire in May, said the local medical examiner’s office, the local news station ABC7 reported.

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Obama presidential library construction halted after noose found on site

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‘We have zero tolerance for any form of bias or hate,’ company says and offers $100,000 reward to help find who was responsible

The firm building former US president Barack Obama’s presidential library suspended operations after a noose was found at the construction site in Chicago and the police were called.

A $100,000 reward was offered by the construction company to help find who was responsible.

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Trax Records faces lawsuit over alleged unpaid royalties and lack of payment

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Marshall Jefferson and Adonis are among more than a dozen artists suing the pioneering Chicago house label

More than a dozen artists are suing the pioneering Chicago house label Trax Records, the estate of co-founder Larry Sherman, and current owners Screamin’ Rachael Cain and Sandyee Barns, Rolling Stone reports.

The plaintiffs, among them Trax co-founder Vince Lawrence and musicians Marshall Jefferson, Adonis and Maurice Joshua – allege that the label owes them unpaid royalties and in some cases that the label never paid them anything at all, according to a copy of the lawsuit seen by the Guardian.

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Tylenol murders: daughter tells of toll of unsolved killings, 40 years on

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Seven people died in 1982 after taking painkillers from bottle someone – police do not know who – had slipped cyanide pills into

Forty years after the infamous Tylenol murders killed her father and two other close relatives, a Wisconsin woman refuses to take the popular pain pills.

Kasia Janus also always verifies products are properly sealed before she buys anything at stores, she said in a recently published series of interviews with CNN that described the gut-wrenching legacy left behind for her by the unsolved Tylenol killings, which made tampering with medications as well as other consumer goods a federal crime but remain unsolved.

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Monkeypox cases appear to be declining in some large US cities

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Experts say the trend in New York, Chicago and San Francisco appears to be linked to immunity and behavior changes

Monkeypox cases in some large US cities appear to be declining, matching trends seen in Europe, and experts are cautiously optimistic the outbreak may have peaked in places hit hardest by the virus.

The optimism comes just as US officials on Friday said there’s enough of a supply of monkeypox vaccine available now – though the shots aren’t getting to some of the people who need the protection the most.

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Highland Park mass shooting suspect charged with 117 felony crimes

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Robert Crimo, 21, accused of killing seven and wounding dozens in Fourth of July attack in Chicago suburb, indicted by grand jury

The man accused of opening fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago, killing seven, has been indicted by a grand jury on 117 felony charges.

The indictment included 21 first-degree murder counts, 48 counts of attempted murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery, representing the seven people killed and dozens wounded in the attack on the Fourth of July event in Highland Park, Illinois.

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Highland Park suspect’s father to be investigated for signing gun application

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Robert Crimo Jr denies any responsibility for the attack, saying ‘I had no – not an inkling, warning – that this was going to happen’

The father of the Highland Park gunman will be criminally investigated in connection with the Independence Day attack for signing an affidavit supporting his son’s application for a gun license, police said.

Robert Crimo Jr, the father of Robert Crimo III – who is suspected of killing seven people at a Fourth of July parade in a suburb of Chicago – sponsored his son’s firearm owner application in 2019.

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Ex-Cheer star Jerry Harris sentenced to 12 years in prison for child sexual abuse images charges

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22-year-old breakout star on Netflix’s cheerleading show had pleaded guilty to crimes relating to child abuse images and soliciting sex from minors

Jerry Harris, the star of hit Netflix series Cheer, has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars in the US for crimes relating to child sexual abuse images and soliciting sex from minors.

Prosecutors had urged the lengthy sentence, saying that Harris’s status as a celebrity had enabled him to “persuade and entice” his young victims to engage in sexual conduct.

In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International

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Gun violence rattles US amid Independence Day celebrations – latest updates

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Suspect pre-planned Highland park attack and wore ‘women’s clothing’, police say

A new poll from Monmouth University has found that President Joe Biden remains unpopular, but for Democrats, that’s not its most troubling finding. The Biden administration has hoped that the supreme court’s recent rulings curtailing abortion access and expanding concealed weapons possession would fire up Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, but the poll instead shows that voters’ biggest issue remains the nation’s high rate of inflation - a trend that Biden has had little success in reversing.

First the bad news about Biden’s approval rating, which Monmouth reports actually worsened last month:

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Highland Park shooting: police say suspect used women’s clothing disguise

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YouTube has taken down page belonging to man in custody, while Instagram and Twitter have terminated his accounts

Seeking clues for a possible motivation, police were combing through the social media profile and published songs of the alleged attacker in the shooting that left at least six dead and 30 wounded in a Chicago suburb on the Fourth of July.

Robert E Crimo III, 22, was detained hours after the shooting Monday as a person of interest in the case, said the police chief of Highland Park, Illinois. Investigators have stopped short of calling Crimo a suspect, but on Tuesday they described finding evidence that he disguised himself in “women’s clothing” before opening fire on strangers with a high-powered rifle styled after an AR-15.

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Details emerge about victims of Highland Park Fourth of July shooting

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Shooting injured dozens and killed six, including 76-year-old grandfather Nicolas Toledo and teacher Jacki Sundheim

The first details have begun to emerge of the victims of the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, after a lone gunman fired into a crowd of people watching the Chicago suburb’s Fourth of July parade.

The shooting killed six and injured dozens, triggering panic and shock across the US as yet another attack disrupted what is usually a day of patriotic celebration.

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Police arrest person of interest in mass killing that targeted Chicago-area Fourth of July parade – latest updates

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At least six killed and 30 injured after shooting in Highland Park just after 10am local time

In a new statement, Biden condemned the shooting in Highland Park as a “senseless act of violence” and vowed to deliver the “full support of the federal government to assist.” As the search continues for the gunman, Biden said he had “surged” the federal law enforcement response and was monitoring the situation closely.

Jill and I are shocked by the senseless gun violence that has yet again brought grief to an American community on this Independence Day. As always, we are grateful for the first responders and law enforcement on the scene. I have spoken to Governor Pritzker and Mayor Rotering, and have offered the full support of the Federal government to their communities. I also surged federal law enforcement to assist in the urgent search for the shooter, who remains at large at this time.

Members of the community should follow guidance from leadership on the ground, and I will monitor closely as we learn more about those whose lives have been lost and pray for those who are in the hospital with grievous injuries.

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