Free Republic

A Depression-era mural depicting white children playing outside in the winter was removed from Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park because school officials said it failed to represent the school’s diversity. While some said the mural was upsetting to students of color who felt it excluded them from the school, a local historian likened the removal to a “modern-day book burning.” Cynthia Brito Millan, a coordinator for the middle school’s Social Justice Club, said the push to remove the mural began in February at a district school board meeting. Students expressed frustration about an atmosphere of exclusion for students...

Carolyn Carpeneti, Mayor Willie Brown's fund-raiser and mother of his 2-year-old daughter, has been paid at least $2.33 million over the past five years by nonprofit groups and political committees controlled by the mayor and his allies, public records show. The relationship intensified after Brown was elected. ... According to people who know them, then-Assembly Speaker Brown met her at a party during the 1995 mayor's race. Brown, who is married but has been separated from his wife for 25 years, was dating lawyer Kamala Harris, now a candidate for district attorney. Nevertheless, Brown soon phoned Carpeneti and invited her...

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx described “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett as a “washed up celeb who lied to cops” in texts messages released Tuesday by her office in response to a public-records request by the Chicago Tribune. Foxx compared Smollett’s case to her office’s pending indictments against R&B singer R. Kelly in text messages to Joseph Magats, her top assistant, on March 8, the paper reported “Pedophile with 4 victims 10 counts. Washed up celeb who lied to cops, 16 (counts),” she wrote. “… Just because we can charge something doesn’t mean we should.”

Empire actor Jussie Smollett will no longer co-star in the Broadway revival of the play Take Me Out amid lingering charges that the performer staged a hate crime against himself, according to a report. Jussie Smollett delivered a reading of the 2003 Tony-winning play in New York City 12 hours prior to allegedly faking a racist and anti-gay attack in downtown Chicago. The Daily Mail reported Tuesday that the 36-year-old California native has since been “cut” from the play, citing the controversy surrounding the January 29th ordeal. “Everything was set to go and the producers were planning to announce that...

It’s just a fact of life that handguns are now permanent legal fixtures in the American landscape. We have to live with that. But the freedom to own a firearm doesn’t mean it has to be free of charge. It doesn’t mean that owners can’t be a tiny bit inconvenienced. And someone’s right to own a gun certainly does not trump the safety rights of the rest of us. This is what the pro-gun people don’t seem to understand. Gun rights advocates in Illinois are in an uproar over legislation that is being debated in the General Assembly. The bill...

Chicago police have released surveillance photos of two male suspects who allegedly attacked a McDonald’s security guard on April 7 with a glass bottle. The McDonald’s at State and Chicago, in the upscale Gold Coast neighborhood, has a history of problems. Chicago police have been called to the restaurant more than 30 times during the past month. During the recent incident, a security guard asked the two men to leave after they were disruptive to customers and employees at the McDonald’s at 10 E. Chicago Ave. around 3:15 p.m. on Saturday. The men exchanged words with the security guard before...

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said she is still on track to begin wiping clean thousands of minor cannabis convictions in the coming months, but acknowledges that her office is still trying to determine how exactly to implement her bold plan. She also said in an interview with the Sun-Times last week that her office was also taking a look at her office policy toward prosecuting those arrested for the sale of marijuana, but said the review was still in its early stages. Foxx bemoaned the fact that her office continued to see people arrested on minor drug charges...

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx is not going to resign. She’s going to run. Last month, Foxx plunged into a white-hot controversy when her office dropped all charges against the actor Jussie Smollett, accused of staging a fake assault and claiming he was the victim of a hate crime. The venom leveled at Foxx is not about Jussie Smollett. It’s about taking down the first African American woman to serve as the county’s top prosecutor, and about her efforts to bring justice and equity to communities of color. Her law enforcement critics, mostly white men, say Foxx is soft...

Full title: Mom says she and 'giggling' son with special needs were asked to leave movie theater for 'disruptive behavior' An Illinois mother was in tears after she was kicked out of a movie theater following complaints that her disabled son was making too much noise. Jennifer Daly posted on Facebook after taking her two sons to see Dumbo Friday night at AMC Lake in the Hills in a suburb of Chicago. One of her sons, Jonathan, has a rare form of dwarfism and Daly said it is a struggle to get him out for an excursion... The mother said...

Legislation proposing the separation of Chicago from Illinois is intended to spark discussion about the overarching influence of the city in state politics, not actually lead to the creation of the 51st state, according to a central Illinois lawmaker who sponsored the measure. GOP state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, the bill's sponsor, said the proposal would urge U.S. Congress to make the nation's third-largest city its own state, the State Journal-Register reported. "It's more of a frustration of the policies than the true belief that Chicago and Illinois would be better off as separate states," Davidsmeyer said. "I don't believe that...

Kim Foxx: I welcome this investigation and pledge my full cooperation and the cooperation of my office as [Inspector General] [Patrick] Blanchard conducts his review.

Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot said illegal immigrants are always welcomed to her city, even if President Trump is the one sending them there. On Friday, Trump confirmed reports that he was seriously considering relocating asylum seekers who exceeded their 20 days in custody to Democratically controlled sanctuary cities nationwide. Lightfoot, who was recently elected mayor, appeared on CNN and reaffirmed the sanctuary policies in her city. She dismissed Trump as being “provocative” and told CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that her city has been dealing with asylum seekers for decades. Trump's threats are “much ado about nothing.”

White House officials have tried to pressure U.S. immigration authorities to release detainees onto the streets of "sanctuary cities" to retaliate against President Donald Trump's political adversaries, according to Department of Homeland Security officials and email messages reviewed by The Washington Post. Trump administration officials have proposed transporting detained immigrants to sanctuary cities at least twice in the past six months - once in November, as a migrant caravan approached the U.S. southern border, and again in February, amid a standoff with Democrats over funding for Trump's border wall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district in San Francisco was among those...

The city of Chicago’s effort to get some sort of face-saving reimbursement from Jussie Smollett on a voluntary basis was a failure. Smollett was sent a bill for just over $130,000 and given a deadline (last Thursday) to pay up. He declined. So now the city is taking the next step in the form of a civil lawsuit. From the Chicago Tribune: The upcoming battle in civil court promises in many ways to mirror the criminal charges against Smollett that were abruptly dismissed by prosecutors last month. Both center on the same question: Did Smollett stage a physical assault...

The marketing for Star Wars 9 is due to begin at this week's Star Wars Celebration in a dedicated panel on Friday, April 12 at 9.00am-10.00am PT (12.00pm-1.00pm ET, 5.00pm-6.00pm GMT). It's here we're expected to get the title and first trailer for Episode IX, likely at the end of the hour if the approach taken with Star Wars: The Last Jedi is anything to go by. The Star Wars 9 Celebration panel, as with all major Star Wars events over the weekend, will be live-streamed on the official Star Wars YouTube channel and also on StarWars.com..

Jussie Smollett has just been hammered with a lawsuit the City of Chicago promised ... and he may effectively go on trial for allegedly staging the "attack" in January. All told, the City wants what will almost certainly be upwards of a half a million dollars. The lawsuit -- to recover the costs of investigating the case -- outlines what the City claims Jussie did. It says Jussie and Abel Osundairo had been friends since 2017 -- socializing and exercising together. It says Abel assisted Jussie in obtaining recreational drugs. The lawsuit claims Jussie told Abel shortly before the "attack,"...

Jussie Smollett was all smiles during a day at the beach in Hawaii on Wednesday as he enjoyed some down time with his family while the legal fallout from his sensational case raged on in Chicago. The 36-year-old Empire actor was pictured laughing as he ate , talked to his sisters and unloaded a car with children's bags and towels for a fun-filled day out. They were spotted at the Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park in Kailua on the Big Island.

by Jenn Carter The City of Chicago has filed a civil suit against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, seeking to recover the cost of Chicago Police Department overtime hours expended searching for the perpetrators of a "hate crime" that Smollett allegedly perpetrated against himself. And unlike the criminal case, which was dropped by an embattled prosecutor, Smollett is "almost certain" to LOSE this case, according to one legal expert -- and a ton of money along with it -- far more than the amount currently sought. Looks like Jussie should have settled when he had the chance. Here's more... Chicago's...

Chicago prosecutor Kim Foxx played the race card to salvage what remains of her career after she inexplicably protected Jussie Smollett for playing the race card. What does Foxx keep after playing the race card? Her fake integrity? As many know, Foxx developed epic conflicts of interest for having private communications with the Smollett family and with Tina Tchen, the former chief of staff of Michelle Obama. The Kim Foxx saga is now half farce, half film noir, like an Elmore Leonard novel about Hollywood hustlers and race, with some Tom Wolfe thrown in. Foxx didn't go to just anybody...

The Chicago Police Department arrested Smollett, a TV actor, alleging he staged a phony hate crime. Foxx recused herself because of contact she'd had with Smollett's representatives. Nevertheless her office secured a 16-count indictment against Smollett, yet later abandoned the case without warning or good explanation. It turns out Foxx's recusal was informal. And by the way, she asserted, the odds of conviction were uncertain -- despite her top assistant's boast that the case was solid. Foxx also said violent crime cases are more important to pursue. From Friday afternoon to Sunday evening, 33 people were shot in Chicago, six...