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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...After video of the brutal beating was released, people gathered to decry the violence and abuse of power
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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...‘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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...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:
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...At least six killed and 30 injured in Highland park attack amid string of recent mass shootings
A person of interest in the mass killing that targeted a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park has been taken into custody, the Highland Park police chief said on Monday evening.
More than 100 law enforcement officers had scoured the suburb and surrounding areas after at least six people were killed and 30 injured when a lone gunman rained down bullets on the town’s independence celebrations on Monday morning.
Continue reading...Gunman apparently opened fire on paradegoers from rooftop, police say, as authorities still searching for suspect
At least six people are dead and 30 wounded in yet another mass killing in the US after a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb.
The attack in the affluent town of Highland Park disrupted the annual parade that celebrates American independence just after it began at 10am. It brought a scene of blood-soaked carnage to one that usually features flags, floats and marching bands.
Continue reading...Leaders and activists demand change after shooter targets Highland Park parade celebrating Independence Day
The shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park that left at least six dead and 24 wounded has rocked the small, well-off community in suburban Chicago, and shocked the US as a whole.
It is the latest in a slew of mass killings that have recently included a shooting at a school in Texas and the racist massacre of Black shoppers at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Continue reading...Civil rights leaders had called for new charges after Jason Van Dyke, convicted of murder in state court, was released in February
Federal authorities on Monday said they would not criminally charge Jason Van Dyke, the former Chicago police officer convicted of murder in the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald.
The US attorney’s office in Chicago said in a news release that the decision had been made after consulting with the McDonald family and that the “family was in agreement not to pursue a second prosecution”.
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