Category Archives: Chicago

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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Person of interest in custody after shooting at Chicago-area Fourth of July parade

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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.

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At least six dead in shooting at Chicago suburb’s Fourth of July parade

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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.

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‘This isn’t freedom’: Fourth of July shooting rocks Chicago and shocks US

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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.

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Laquan McDonald shooting: federal prosecutors will not charge officer

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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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US zoo fears teen gorilla’s exposure to phones is behind anti-social behavior

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Visitors to the Chicago zoo showing the 415lb Amare pictures and videos through the glass wall has made him dismissive to other male gorillas

A teenage gorilla in a Chicago zoo has been getting too much screen time, according to zoo officials.

Amare, a 415-pound gorilla at Chicago’s Lincoln Park zoo, has been staring a little too frequently at the screens of cellphones from visitors who show him pictures and videos through the glass wall – including selfies, family photos, pet videos and even footage of Amare himself.

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Jussie Smollett will be released from jail pending the appeal of his conviction

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The former Empire actor will be freed after posting a personal recognizance bond of $150,000, meaning he agrees to come to court as required

Jussie Smollett was ordered released from jail Wednesday by an appeals court that agreed with his lawyers that he should be released pending the appeal of his conviction for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack.

The ruling came after a Cook county judge sentenced Smollett last week to immediately begin serving 150 days in jail for his conviction on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police. In an outburst immediately after the sentence was handed down, the former star of the TV show Empire proclaimed his innocence and said, “I am not suicidal. And if anything happens to me when I go in there, I did not do it to myself. And you must all know that.”

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Equality was key to ancient Mexican city’s success, study suggests

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At its peak Monte Albán was home to 17,000 people, despite a lack of water supplies or fertile land

Greater equality than that experienced in other Mesoamerican cities may have been key to the successes of an ancient Zapotec community in Mexico which survived far longer than any contemporaneous metropolis, a new study suggests.

The ruins of Monte Albán – which include pyramids, canals and a ballgame court – sit on a semi-arid hilltop above the city of Oaxaca. At its peak the city, founded in 500BC, was the administrative and religious capital for the Zapotec people, and home to 17,000 people, despite a lack of water supplies or fertile land.

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Chicago police officers won’t be charged in shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo

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State’s attorney says there’s insufficient evidence to charge officers in the deaths of Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez

No charges will be filed against the Chicago police officers who chased and fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez within days of each other last year, prompting sharp criticism of how the department handles foot pursuits, a prosecutor announced on Tuesday.

The Cook county state’s attorney, Kim Foxx, said there was insufficient evidence to charge the officers in the deaths, which were captured on video that showed both suspects appeared to have handguns before the shootings.

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Actor Jussie Smollett sentenced to 150 days in jail for lying to police about fake hate crime

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Empire actor was found guilty in December in the attack that he orchestrated and must also serve 30 months of probation

Actor Jussie Smollett has been sentenced to 30 months of probation, including 150 days of jail time, and ordered to pay restitution for his conviction of lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that he orchestrated himself.

Smollett, who is Black and gay, reported to police that two men wearing ski masks beat him, and hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him on a dark Chicago street and ran off. The 39 year old was also ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution to the city of Chicago and fined $25,000 by Judge James Linn of Cook county circuit court.

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‘We get to breathe’: Chicagoans celebrate as city blocks metal shredder

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City won’t issue final permit necessary for potentially toxic plant in majority Latino neighborhood to open

A year after a hunger strike brought national attention to a potentially toxic metal shredder in a majority Latino neighborhood in Chicago, the city has announced it will not issue the final permit necessary for the plant to open, calling it an “unacceptable risk”.

“In an already vulnerable community, the findings from the [city’s health impact assessment] combined with the inherent risks of recycling operations and concerns about the company’s past and potential noncompliance are too significant to ignore,” said the Chicago department of public health commissioner, Allison Arwady, in a press release.

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Syl Johnson, much-sampled blues, funk and soul singer, dies aged 85

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Singer’s upbeat and socially conscious songwriting appears on tracks by Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy and Kanye West

Syl Johnson, the blues, funk and soul singer whose work was much sampled in US hip-hop, has died aged 85.

No cause of death was announced by his family, who said of Johnson: “He lived his life as a singer, musician and entrepreneur who loved black music … A fiery, fierce, fighter, always standing for the pursuit of justice as it related to his music and sound, he will truly be missed by all who crossed his path.”

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Jussie Smollett to return to witness stand after calling claim he staged attack ‘100% false’

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Empire actor faces charges he lied to Chicago police about an alleged anti-gay, racist attack in January 2019

Jussie Smollett will return to the witness stand on Tuesday at his trial in Chicago, where the former Empire actor said that claims he staged an anti-gay, racist attack on himself were “100% false”.

Prosecutors will continue cross-examining the 39-year-old, who appeared calm through several hours of testimony Monday. He told jurors “there was no hoax” and that he was the victim of a hate crime in his downtown Chicago neighborhood.

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‘We suffered for 66 years’: US ends latest Emmett Till murder investigation without charges

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The inquiry was reopened after a 2017 book claimed the white woman at the center of the case lied about Till whistling at her

The US justice department is ending its latest investigation into the death of Emmett Till, a Black teenager who was brutally abducted, tortured and killed in 1955, without filing any charges after failing to prove that a key witness lied.

Till’s family said it was disappointed by the news that there will continue to be no accountability for the infamous lynching.

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The Home Alone house is on Airbnb. Sounds like a trap | Stuart Heritage

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Just how lucky will the guests who get to stay at the McCallister house later this month be? I foresee trouble

In the interests of public service, I need to make you aware of a trap. Yesterday, a property became available on Airbnb. It is a large home in the Chicago area, available for one night only and it is suspiciously cheap. Look, it’s the Home Alone house.

Apparently, for $18 (£13.50), you and three friends can stay overnight in the iconic McCallister residence. You will be greeted by the actor who played Buzz McCallister. There will be pizza and other 90s junk food. There will be a mirror for you to scream into. There may well be a tarantula. It all seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? This is why I am convinced that whoever ends up staying there will be robbed.

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Jussie Smollett was ‘real victim’ of racist attack, lawyer says as trial begins

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Ex-Empire actor is accused of hiring two men to fake an attack in Chicago but new evidence could support Smollett’s defense

Jussie Smollett “is a real victim” of a “real crime,” his attorney said in opening statements at the ex-Empire actor’s trial Monday, rejecting prosecutors’ allegation that he staged a homophobic and racist attack in Chicago.

Defense attorney Nenye Uche said two brothers attacked Smollett in January 2019 because they didn’t like him, and that a $3,500 check the actor paid the men was for training so he could prepare for an upcoming music video, not as payment for staging a hate crime, as prosecutors allege. Uche also suggested a third attacker was involved and told jurors there is not a “shred” of physical and forensic evidence linking Smollett to the crime prosecutors allege.

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Outrage as McDonald’s CEO appears to blame parents of slain Chicago children

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Chris Kempczinski said his comments about fatally shot children in text to Chicago mayor lacked ‘empathy and compassion’

McDonald’s chief executive, Chris Kempczinski, has sparked outrage after the emergence of a text exchange with the Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, in which he appears to blame two Chicago parents whose children were fatally shot.

In the newly publicized texts between Kempczinski and Lightfoot from April, Kempczinski blamed the parents of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and seven-year-old Jaslyn Adams for their deaths.

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