Free Republic

Illinois had the biggest decrease in population according to a new report from the Census Bureau. Between July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2014, the state lost 9,972 people. On the other end, Texas saw the largest population increase adding more than 450,000 people during that time. Cook County saw a very slight decrease in population. It’s one of four counties with a population of more than 1 million to experience a decrease. Others include industrial counties like Wayne County, Michigan; Cuyahoga, Ohio; and Allegheny, Pennsylvania. The rate of people leaving Cook County for other counties has been increasing since...

Father Who Torched Apartment to Kill His Daughter and Son-in-Law Found Guilty of Murder Subhash Chander set fire to a 36-unit Oak Forest building in 2007 because he was angry and offended. His 3-year-old grandson also died. By Dennis Robaugh (Patch National Staff) March 21, 2015 at 11:18am A grandfather who torched an Oak Forest apartment building seven years ago to kill his pregnant daughter, her husband and their 3-year-old son — because his daughter’s choice of husband offended him — has been convicted on three counts of first-degree murder. Subhash Chander, 64, an angry, argumentative heavy drinker, now faces...

ities: The problem with socialism, Margaret Thatcher once noted, is you eventually run out of other people's money. In progressive Chicago, that's hit home as Moody's has cut its credit rating to two grades above "junk." Chicago's finances are staggering under the weight of an unfunded pension liability that Moody's Investors Service has estimated at $32 billion, eight times the city's operating revenue. Chicago has a $300 million structural deficit. And Illinois law requires the city to up its 2016 contributions to its police and fire pension funds by $550 million. "This is an unfortunate wake-up call for anyone still...

On Jan. 22, Jason Hammond accepted a noncooperating plea deal from prosecutors in Cook County, Illinois: He will serve 41 months for his role in an organized assault on a casual dining establishment in the Chicago suburb of Tinley Park. On May 19, 2012, Hammond and 17 others stormed the Ashford House restaurant with bats and hammers, interrupting lunch and leaving 10 people injured. But instead of years in jail, America should perhaps consider sending Hammond a thank-you card. He is not to be confused with his twin brother, Jeremy Hammond, who is serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison...

Whoops! Technical difficulties identified with Cook County voting machines. “This was a calibration error of the touch-screen on the machine,” Scalzitti said. “When Mr. Moynihan used the touch-screen, it improperly assigned his votes due to improper calibration.” A “calibration error” – indeed: if you vote for one candidate with an “R” after his name and the machine registers a vote for the candidate with a “D” after his name, you could call that a calibration error. The same way you could call going in for a surgery to have your gangrenous left leg amputated and the doctor mistakenly removes the...

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – Admitting his confidence in Cook County ballot integrity is shaken, State Representative Candidate Jim Moynihan (R-56), was shocked today when he tried to cast a vote for himself and the voting machine cast it for his opponent instead. “While early voting at the Schaumburg Public Library today, I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” said Moynihan. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a...

The Democrat mantra that voting fraud is rare takes another blow today with the stunning story of a GOP candidate unable to vote for himself in Cook County Illinois. The Illinois Political Review reports: Admitting his confidence in Cook County ballot integrity is shaken, State Representative Candidate Jim Moynihan (R-56), was shocked today when he tried to cast a vote for himself and the voting machine cast it for his opponent instead. “While early voting at the Schaumburg Public Library today, I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” said Moynihan....

The Democrat mantra that voting fraud is rare takes another blow today with the stunning story of a GOP candidate unable to vote for himself in Cook County Illinois. The Illinois Political Review reports: Admitting his confidence in Cook County ballot integrity is shaken, State Representative Candidate Jim Moynihan (R-56), was shocked today when he tried to cast a vote for himself and the voting machine cast it for his opponent instead. “While early voting at the Schaumburg Public Library today, I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” said...

The Democrat mantra that voting fraud is rare takes another blow today with the stunning story of a GOP candidate unable to vote for himself in Cook County Illinois. The Illinois Political Review reports: Admitting his confidence in Cook County ballot integrity is shaken, State Representative Candidate Jim Moynihan (R-56), was shocked today when he tried to cast a vote for himself and the voting machine cast it for his opponent instead. “While early voting at the Schaumburg Public Library today, I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” said Moynihan....

HARVEY, Ill. (WLS) -- A Harvey police officer was shot by a burglary suspect who is now holding people hostage inside a home at 147th and Robey, officials said. The officer was wounded in his arm, according to spokesperson Sean Howard, and was taken to Advocate Christ Hospital. The police officer came across a burglary in progress and exchanged fire with the offender, Howard said. The offender then ran into the home, where he is now holding people hostage. Officials do not know how many hostages are being held.

A man with a concealed carry permit shot at an armed robbery suspect who was running from a cell phone store in Crestwood, prompting an officer who was also chasing the suspect to take cover, police said. The man with the permit told police he was about to step inside an AT&T store at 4756 W. Cal-Sag Road around noon Saturday when he noticed the store was being robbed, Crestwood police said in a statement. The man said he stayed outside to prevent anyone from entering, police said. After he saw the suspect leaving through a back door, he entered...

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown's husband has been hit with a federal subpoena asking him to appear before a grand jury as part of an investigation into a state anti-violence program. It is the second, ongoing probe into Cook that is also looking into how monies were dispensed from the $54 million anti-violence program. Cook was paid more than $154,000.00 in salary and benefits from the grant funds.

Kass exclusive: Suburban officer charged in 95-year-old's death Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass discusses charges filed in the death of 95-year-old John Wrana. John Kass April 2, 2014 An officer was charged this morning in the police killing of 95-year-old John Wrana, the World War II veteran who was fatally shot with beanbag rounds in his apartment at a south suburban senior facility last year. Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s office said patrolman Craig Taylor, 43, was charged with one count of reckless conduct, a Class 4 felony. Taylor has been with the Park Forest Police Department since January,...

“I’ve had two years to think about this,” Judge Cynthia Brim said Friday downtown before the seven-member Illinois Courts Commission. “I have a different understanding and perspective of my condition.” The commission is considering a complaint filed by the state’s Judicial Inquiry Board. A board attorney argued Friday that Brim remains “mentally unable to perform her duties.” But Brim — who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type and has been hospitalized multiple times for mental illness since 1993 — said she now knows she must carefully monitor her condition and keep taking medication regularly. “You’re not expecting to...

A Sun-Times survey of thousands of pages of court records found that since 2006, Cook County judges have handed down hundreds of improper boot camp sentences to violent felons. Simons’ case ended in tragedy. Less than two years after he was sent to the four-month boot camp program, Simons was charged with murdering Kermit Delashment II, a 21-year-old college student with big dreams. Delashment’s death was the 500th killing of 2008 in Chicago. In all, 17 armed robbers got such a break during that period in Cook County. After their release from the program, 12 of those 17 men were...

The Park Ridge City Council has agreed to a deal that will pay the city $2,000 for each new utility box installed by AT&T as the company looks to expand its U-verse cable, Internet and telephone services to the community. But some elected officials remain wary about the proposed locations of some of the large cabinet boxes and their impacts. With 1st Ward Alderman Joe Sweeney and 7th Ward Alderman Marty Maloney absent, the council on Sept. 3 voted 5-0 in favor of a “landscape agreement” with AT&T. The company has most recently proposed installing video-ready access devices at up...

Invoking the Boston Marathon bombings, a national conservative group has filed a lawsuit aimed at a Cook County ordinance that requires jail personnel to disregard federal immigration detainers. The Washington-based Judicial Watch says the county has no legal right to ignore the detainers, which are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests that local jails hold specified individuals up to two business days beyond what their criminal cases require. President Obama’s administration says the detainers, which help ICE put the inmates into deportation proceedings, are crucial for focusing immigration enforcement on criminals. Cook County officials say detainers also erode community trust...

Please Join Cook County Republicans,Lake County Federation, United Republican Fund and Friends of Jim Oberwies for a luncheon with Grover Norquist. Kindly RSVP Sally Nyhan Sallynyhan@aol.com 847-904-7060

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -For the first time, the Cook County medical examiner's office has posted photos of unclaimed bodies on their website in an effort to help identify them. The program is generating some controversy because of the graphic images, but for the sake of people missing loved ones, this is a decision where the medical examiner believes the ends justify the means.

The nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was indicted Monday for involuntary manslaughter in the 2004 death of a 21-year-old man outside a Chicago bar, and a grand jury is continuing its inquiry into whether authorities covered up or impeded an investigation of a relative of the city's most powerful man. Richard Vanecko, 38, was indicted by a Cook County special grand jury in the death of David Koschman of Mount Prospect. Koschman died days after he fell and struck his head during a fight with Vanecko outside a bar in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood.