Larry Hoover, 74, ex-chief of Gangster Disciples in Chicago, had been serving multiple life sentences for over 50 years
Donald Trump has commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, a former Chicago gang leader, who had been serving multiple life sentences for more than five decades.
Hoover, 74, is the co-founder of Gangster Disciples, a gang described in court documents as “large and vicious” that sold “great quantities of cocaine, heroin, and other drugs in Chicago”.
Continue reading...Outlet calls story, created by freelancer working with one of the newpaper’s content partner, a ‘learning moment’
Illinois’ prominent Chicago Sun-Times newspaper has confirmed that a summer reading list, which included several recommendations for books that don’t exist, was created using artificial intelligence by a freelancer who worked with one of their content partners.
Social media posts began to circulate on Tuesday criticizing the paper for allegedly using the AI software ChatGPT to generate an article with book recommendations for the upcoming summer season called “Summer reading list for 2025”. As such chatbots are known to make up information, a phenomenon often referred to as “AI hallucination”, the article contains several fake titles attached to real authors.
Continue reading...Pope faced questions about his handling of clerical sexual abuse cases earlier in his career after a survivors group filed a complaint
Groups supporting clergy-molestation survivors say they are gravely concerned and insulted by the election of Pope Leo XIV after he overcame questions about his handling of clerical sexual abuse cases earlier in his career to become the Roman Catholic church’s first-ever US-born leader.
Before Robert Prevost’s ascent to the papacy at age 69, he was leading a chapter of the Augustinian religious order in his home town of Chicago when allegations surfaced that a priest and Catholic high school principal under his jurisdiction had molested at least one student as well as kept child-abuse imagery.
Continue reading...Some users wonder whether new pope has had Chicago’s favorite liqueur Malört while others reference The Bear
The internet exploded with humor and Chicago pride on Thursday following the historic announcement that Robert Francis Prevost, a 69-year-old American clergyman from Chicago, has been named the new pope.
Now known as Pope Leo XIV, Prevost has become the first clergyman from the United States to lead the Roman Catholic church, ending the Vatican’s longstanding opposition to the idea of a US pontiff.
Continue reading...TV personality embeds in one of several raids in US cities in what Tom Homan says are only ‘beginning stages’
The TV personality Dr Phil joined the US border czar, Tom Homan, in a choreographed immigration raid in Chicago, one of several conducted in US cities over the weekend in what Homan claimed was only “the beginning stages” of Donald Trump’s promised threat to deport millions of people from the country.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) said it had made 956 arrests on Sunday, bringing the total since Trump took office to 2,681 arrests – short of the 1,200 to 1,500 daily arrests that Trump has reportedly demanded. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s White House has issued a directive to Ice field offices that they should make 75 arrests daily and that agency managers would be held responsible for missed targets, raising fears of indiscriminate arrest tactics.
Continue reading...Ice confirms ‘enhanced targeted operations’ in a city on edge after Trump officials warned of enforcement actions
US federal authorities have begun immigration raids in Chicago, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) statement confirmed on Sunday, just days after incoming “border czar” Tom Homan said officials were “reconsidering” after details leaked into the press.
In a statement, Ice said its agents, along with the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the US Marshals Service, had begun conducting “enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce US immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities”.
Continue reading...Administration to send 100 to 200 officers to city on day two of new presidency, Wall Street Journal reports
Donald Trump’s incoming presidential administration plans to launch a large immigration raid in Chicago the day after he takes office, according to unnamed officials talking to various media outlets.
Federal immigration officers will target more than 300 people, focusing on those with histories of violent crimes, one official told the Associated Press, marking Trump’s initial attempt toward fulfilling his campaign promise of large-scale deportations.
Continue reading...Flight left Chicago’s O’Hare airport on morning of Christmas Eve and body discovered at Hawaii’s Kahului airport
Police are investigating the discovery of a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii, the airline and the Maui police department said in statements on Wednesday.
The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on flight 202, which arrived at Kahului airport from Chicago on Tuesday, United said in an emailed statement.
Continue reading...Shooting occurred at the Forest Park CTA Blue Line station early on Monday, according to police
Four people were shot and killed on a Chicago metro train early Monday, according to news reports.
Police said they had received a 911 call at about 5.27am that three people were shot on a train at the Forest Park CTA Blue Line station.
Continue reading...Rough weather forces flight from Mexico to Chicago to make emergency landing in Memphis
Severe turbulence caused injuries to seven people on a United Airlines flight from Cancun in Mexico to Chicago and forced an emergency landing in Memphis, according to the airline.
The Boeing 737 was hit by the rough weather and forced to land on Wednesday in the latest such incident to hit the industry. One person was taken to hospital.
Continue reading...This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. You can find all of our US elections coverage here.
Now comes Pat Ryan, who represents a New York battleground district in the House of Representatives.
He hit out at Donald Trump for his reported insults towards military veterans, then obliquely referenced the newfound optimism Democrats are feeling since Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term:
These last few weeks have felt like a new day in America, when we are waking up, rising up, patriots, to demand a president who does not just treat our veterans with respect, but everyone with respect.
We do not retreat, we are the United States of America, we lead!
Continue reading...Her acceptance address was short on policy and poetry, but the Democratic nominee took the fight to Donald Trump
It was not a political address for the ages. It was not even the best of the convention (no one can compete with the Obamas). But Kamala Harris did enough in her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday to put an exclamation mark on one of the most dramatic turnarounds in modern political history.
And she made you reflect that you would not want to be Donald Trump facing her in next month’s televised debate. A speech that was short on policy and poetry was nevertheless devastating in skewering the menace from Mar-a-Lago. Trump can expect the same kind of interrogation when the two go head to head that would make most mortals tremble.
Continue reading...Movement launched protest after party rejected requests for Palestinian American to speak on the main stage
A sit-in that began Wednesday evening in protest of the Democratic convention’s denial of a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage continued on Thursday.
Uncommitted, a national movement that began in Michigan, won 30 delegates to the convention and has tried to use the party process to pressure Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to broker an end to the war in Gaza. The sit-in has been taking place outside the United Center, where Harris will speak this evening, is the latest attempt to get the Democratic party to allow greater prominence for the anti-war movement at this week’s convention in Chicago. Organizers were expected to remain in place until or unless the party changes course.
Continue reading...Tim Walz and Bill Clinton headline the third night amid reports Oprah Winfrey will also appear. Here’s a look at other noteworthy speakers on the schedule
The Democratic national convention is under way, with primetime addresses scheduled for tonight from Bill Clinton; Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate; and many more.
CNN reported that Oprah Winfrey, the talkshow host and longtime Democrat, is set to appear on the main stage. In previous elections, Winfrey lent her star power to Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Chris Murphy, US senator, Connecticut
Olivia Troye, former Trump administration national security official
Bennie G Thompson, member of the US House of Representatives, Mississippi
Andy Kim, member of the US House of Representatives, New Jersey
Stevie Wonder, singer-songwriter and musician (performance)
Kenan Thompson, comedian, and guests (remarks on Project 2025)
Mindy Kaling (host introduction)
Hakeem Jeffries, US House of Representatives Democratic leader
Bill Clinton, former US president
Nancy Pelosi, former US House speaker
Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania
Catherine Cortez Masto, US senator, Nevada
Amanda Gorman, national youth poet laureate, whose performance of The Hill We Climb at Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration wowed the audience
Wes Moore, governor of Maryland
Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary
John Legend and Sheila E, musicians (performance)
Amy Klobuchar, US senator, Minnesota
Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota and Kamala Harris’s running mate (keynote address)
Democratic national convention 2024 live updates
Monday: For the People
Tuesday: A Bold Vision for America’s Future
Wednesday: A Fight for Our Freedoms
Thursday: For Our Future
Continue reading...The ‘joyful warrior’ will seek to build on the momentum of his and Kamala Harris’s campaign
Tim Walz will seek to build on the intense enthusiasm surrounding his and Kamala Harris’s campaign on Wednesday, as the newly anointed vice-presidential nominee headlines the third night of the Democratic national convention in Chicago.
The speech will give Walz an opportunity to introduce himself to a much wider audience of voters, as most Americans were unfamiliar with the Minnesota governor before Harris selected him as her running mate earlier this month. An ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted last month, shortly after Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed Harris, showed that only 13% of Americans knew enough about Walz to register an opinion of him.
Continue reading...Stephanie Grisham, ex-press secretary who excoriated Trump on Tuesday, to be followed by lawmakers and voters
Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump’s former press secretary, excoriated the Republican presidential nominee at the Democratic national convention on Tuesday, saying: “He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth.”
Grisham, a Republican operative who also served as a spokesperson to Melania Trump, offered firsthand accounts of the former president’s behavior behind closed doors.
When are Michelle and Barack Obama speaking?
The lineup of notable Democratic speakers tonight
Obama to bring message of hope to convention speech
Here are the rising stars and politicians to watch this week
What to know about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz
Continue reading...President set to receive electrifying welcome but thousands also expected to protest in Chicago over Israel military aid
Joe Biden will take centre stage for perhaps the last time on Monday night when he addresses the Democratic national convention in Chicago – as the US president faces a backlash over one of his most complex legacies.
Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to converge in the host city to demand that the US end military aid to Israel for its ongoing war in Gaza. Activists have branded Biden “Genocide Joe” and called for the vice-president, Kamala Harris, to change course.
Andrew Roth and Rachel Leingang contributed reporting
Continue reading...The former president snapped and snarled through his interview – and looked for all the world like an old crank
After keeping an audience of interrogators waiting, Donald Trump finally arrived on stage for his Wednesday appearance at the convention for the National Association of Black Journalists over an hour late. He blamed the delay not on the furious behind-the-scenes between the NABJ and his campaign about whether he could be factchecked in real time, but on what he described as organizers’ inability to calibrate the audio equipment in time for his highly controversial panel discussion. “It’s a disgrace,” he snarled.
When ABC’s Rachel Scott opened the proceedings by asking the former president his impetus for addressing the Black journalists, women and Chicagoans in the crowd who have been regularly subject to his hostility, Trump dismissed the question as “horrible” and called Scott “nasty” before turning his bluster meter up to 11.
Continue reading...Many expressed frustration with National Association of Black Journalists for inviting ex-president ‘into our home’
On Wednesday afternoon, Donald Trump participated in a contentious panel hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). The discussion, held in Chicago at the organization’s annual convention, began after an hour-long delay, with a room full of journalists tensely awaiting the program.
During the wait, Philip Lewis, the HuffPost deputy editor, shared on X that the hold-up was being caused by a disagreement between the NABJ and the former president. “I’m told that Trump is demanding that NABJ not do the live factchecking and that’s why the event hasn’t started yet,” he wrote. “We’re in a standoff.”
Continue reading...Officials have mixed accounts around arrest of Sinaloa co-founder El Mayo after Guzmán López turned himself in
Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of Sinaloa cartel co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in federal court in Chicago, days after his arrest in a dramatic operation in which he may have delivered his father’s former business partner to US authorities.
Guzmán López, 38, was detained on Thursday alongside Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, the other co-founder of one of Mexico’s most powerful organised crime groups, after touching down in a small plane in El Paso, Texas.
Continue reading...