Category Archives: Illinois

Drone footage shows collapsed Illinois warehouse after tornadoes sweep US – video

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An Amazon warehouse near Edwardsville, Illinois, about 25 miles (40km) north-east of St Louis, was destroyed in extreme weather conditions on Friday night. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people were hurt by the roof collapse, but emergency services called it a 'mass casualty incident' on Facebook. One official told KTVI-TV that as many as 100 people may have been in the building, working the night shift, at the time of the collapse.

Up to 100 people are feared to have been killed after a devastating outbreak of tornadoes ripped through Kentucky and other US states on Friday night and early Saturday morning

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Arkansas tornado: two dead after nursing home ‘pretty much destroyed’

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Five seriously injured, says county judge in Arkansas, as rescue workers in Illinois attend site of roof collapse at Amazon warehouse

At least two people were killed when a tornado ripped through an Arkansas nursing home, while a roof collapsed at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois, reportedly causing many injuries.

Craighead county judge Marvin Day said the tornado struck the Monette Manor nursing home in north-east Arkansas at about 8.15pm, trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed. About 90 minutes later the building had been cleared and everyone initially believed to have been inside had been accounted for, but Day said crews still must search the debris for possible additional victims.

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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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Where the buffalo roam: world’s longest wildlife bridge could cross the Mississippi

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Conservationist aims to replace old bridge with bison preserve, benefiting environment and spotlighting Indigenous history

Between Iowa and Illinois, spanning the only stretch of the Mississippi River that flows from east to west, sits an exhausted 55-year-old cement bridge. Each day 42,000 cars drive across the ageing structure, which is slated to be torn down and replaced.

But when Chad Pregracke looks at the bridge, he has a different vision entirely – not an old overpass to be demolished, but a home for the buffalo to roam.

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Three killed and four wounded in apparently random Chicago shootings

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  • Gunman killed by police named as Jason Nightengale, 32
  • Three women and girl seriously wounded as police seek motive

A man who police say killed three people and wounded four in a series of shootings in and around Chicago posted nonsensical and expletive-laced videos in the days and hours leading up to the attacks.

Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the Saturday afternoon attacks in which police say 32-year-old Jason Nightengale apparently chose victims at random.

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How watching my sons during the pandemic taught me resilience

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A photographer tells us what she learned from her two young sons while photographing them during the pandemic

December marks the 10th month of the Covid-19 pandemic. For a child this can feel like their entire life with no end in sight. For my two sons, nine-year-old Joey and eight-year-old Jackson, the initial transformation from normal to “new normal” did not exactly start out smoothly but turned out to be an unexpected gift.

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Three shot dead after gunman opens fire at bowling alley in Rockford, Illinois

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A suspect is in custody after what authorities believe was a random attack at Don Carter Lanes, 80 miles north-west of Chicago

A gunman has opened fire inside a bowling alley in Illinois, killing three people and injuring three others in what authorities believe was a random attack.

A 37-year-old male was taken into custody after the shooting on Saturday night at Don Carter Lanes in Rockford, about 80 miles (128 kilometres) north-west of Chicago, police said in a social media post.

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Illinois officer fired after shooting Black couple inside their vehicle

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Officer who fatally shot Marcellis Stinnette and wounded Tafara Williams committed ‘multiple policy’ violations, said police chief

Attorneys representing a Black woman who was shot and wounded inside a vehicle by a suburban Chicago police officer who also fatally shot her 19-year-old boyfriend called the officer’s firing “a first step in police accountability”, but said they were pressing ahead with their own investigation of the shooting.

The Waukegan police chief, Wayne Walles, announced late on Friday the firing of the officer who killed Marcellis Stinnette, a Black man, and wounded Tafara Williams, 20. Walles said in a brief statement the male officer committed “multiple policy and procedure violations”.

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Cheer star Jerry Harris arrested on charges of child sexual abuse images

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Harris admitted during interview after FBI agents raided his home that he had asked teen to send him photos and videos

Jerry Harris, the star of the Netflix documentary series Cheer, was arrested on Thursday on felony charges of production of child sexual abuse images.

The arrest comes three days after twin boys filed a lawsuit alleging he sent them sexually explicit photos of himself and cornered one of them in a bathroom and begged for oral sex.

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‘A couple of drinks with dinner’: Chicago police chief found asleep in his car

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  • Eddie Johnson says incident related to medication
  • Mayor’s comments differ from first official explanation

The top police officer in Chicago told the mayor he had “a couple of drinks with dinner” before he fell asleep at a stop sign while driving home on Thursday, an incident the chief contends was related to a change in his blood pressure medication.

Superintendent Eddie Johnson did not mention having anything to drink when he spoke to reporters on Thursday night and a department spokesman said then officers who responded to a 911 call reporting a man asleep in a car at a stop sign did not observe any signs of impairment.

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Nine-year-old charged with murder of five people in trailer park fire

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Prosecutors criticised after alleging the youngster started the blaze intentionally to kill three small children and two adults

A nine-year-old child has been charged with the first-degree murder of three children and two adults in a fire at a trailer park in Illinois.

The child was also charged with two counts of arson and one count of aggravated arson, the Peoria Journal Star reported. The juvenile’s gender was not identified.

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Yingying Zhang killing: US man jailed for life for rape and murder of Chinese scholar

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Brendt Christensen has never revealed the whereabouts of Yingying Zhang, whom he raped and then decapitated in Illinois

A former doctoral student has been spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison in Illinois for kidnapping and killing of a 26-year-old scholar from China.

Jurors deliberated for eight hours over two days at the court in Peoria before announcing they were deadlocked on whether 30-year-old Brendt Christensen should be put to death for killing Yingying Zhang.

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Threat to Missouri abortion clinic leaves neighboring providers scrambling

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With reproductive rights under aggressive attack, clinics across state lines are bracing for an influx of women seeking care

Dr Erin King felt a weight lift off her shoulders – at least for a few minutes.

The executive director of Hope Clinic in Granite City, Illinois had spent a week “scrambling” to prepare for an influx of patients from St Louis – just about a 10 minute drive across the Mississippi River – as Missouri threatened to close its last legal abortion provider by the end of the week at midnight.

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Louis Farrakhan denies antisemitism – then refers to ‘Satanic Jews’

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  • Nation of Islam leader speaks in Chicago after Facebook ban
  • Christian and Jewish leaders in city condemn invitation

In a speech denying allegations of antisemitism, misogyny and homophobia after Facebook banned him from the social media platform, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan referred to “Satanic Jews”.

Related: Facebook bans Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and other far-right figures

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Teen says he is long-missing boy who escaped from kidnappers

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Fourteen-year-old identifies himself as Timmothy Pitzen, who was six when he disappeared in Illinois

A 14-year-old boy who said he escaped from two kidnappers in Ohio told authorities he is from Illinois, where he went missing nearly eight years ago when his mother apparently took her own life.

The boy identified himself as Timmothy Pitzen and said Wednesday morning that he had “just escaped from two kidnappers”, police in suburban Cincinnati’s Sharonville wrote in a short incident report.

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Bernie Sanders’ Chicago 2020 speech to focus on fight against racism

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The Vermont senator will conclude a two-part launch in the Windy City, harking back to his student days in the civil rights era

With the Chicago skyline around him, Bernie Sanders will on Sunday conclude his two-part presidential campaign launch by emphasizing the role of race and racial discrimination in American society.

Related: Bernie Sanders draws on personal history in 2020 campaign launch

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R Kelly due in court following arrest on 10 sexual abuse charges

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  • R&B singer taken into custody in Chicago on Friday
  • Cook county state’s attorney says abuse dated back as far as 1998

The R&B star R Kelly is due in court in Chicago on Saturday, charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17.

Related: R Kelly in police custody after being charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse

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Jussie Smollett: Chicago police still seeking follow-up interview

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  • Actor’s lawyers angrily reject reports he may have staged attack
  • Police spokesman says trajectory of investigation ‘shifted’

Chicago police are still seeking a follow-up interview with Jussie Smollett after receiving new information that “shifted” their investigation of a reported attack on the Empire actor.

Related: Jussie Smollett attorneys dismiss reports of involvement in own 'attack'

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Gunman in Illinois warehouse kills five people – video

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A man opened fire on Friday in a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, an hour's drive west of Chicago. The shooter, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, was an employee at the industrial complex in Aurora. He also wounded five police officers before he was shot dead. 


• Aurora shooting: sacked employee kills five in Illinois warehouse

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