Free Republic

The former CEO of the company at the heart of Chicago's red light camera bribery scandal has been indicted by a federal grand jury. Karen Finley — the 54-year-old former boss of Redflex Traffic Systems — was indicted Wednesday, three months after city worker John Bills was charged with soliciting bribes to help Redflex win the city's lucrative red light camera contract, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. . . . . . But evidence of unexplained spikes in tickets issued at intersections since then means the red light program remains a political headache for Emanuel.

Sheila Von Weise Mack was last seen alive on Monday when an argument she had with her daughter was captured by surveillance cameras in the lobby of the St. Regis Hotel in Denpasar, Bali A Chicago woman vacationing in Indonesia was killed -- her body stuffed inside a suitcase earlier this week -- and her daughter and another man were arrested. The body of 62-year-old Sheila Von Weise Mack was discovered on Tuesday in a suitcase in the back of a taxi, parked at the prestigious St. Regis Hotel in Denpasar. Mack's daughter, Heather Lois, 19, and another man, 21-year-old...

After a month of assaults and threats from the D.C. political class, venerable drug retailer Walgreen Co. announced it will remain headquartered in Illinois for the time being instead of entering a tax-inversion merger with Europe's Alliance Boots that would move it abroad to lower its tax bill. Good news for Washington, but the millions of Walgreen shareholders aren't partying it up. Walgreen lowered its expected earnings about 20%, or nearly $2 billion, annually by 2016. Shares of Walgreen buckled as much as 8.5% after its news hit the tape Tuesday afternoon, and gapped down an additional 17% at Wednesday's...

GAGE PARK — A dognapping in which a Pomeranian named Sunny was held for $250 ended with a woman being arrested and the pup safely returned home after detectives listened in on the ransom call, authorities said. "I just thank God I got my puppy back. When you have a puppy for a long time, a puppy is just like your kid," the dog's owner, a 66-year-old woman who asked that she not be identified, told DNAinfo Chicago. Charged in the theft is Daniela Ramirez, 26, of the 6000 block of South Troy Street, who was arrested Thursday and appeared...

"AWOL" It simply means not being where you are supposed to be at the time you are supposed to be there. Congressman Adam Kinzinger is just like Obama he runs around to fundraisers while Rome is burning! Since Congress represents the PEOPLE'S HOUSE, yes it is OUR HOUSE we will move forward for the best interest of the people in the 16th Congressional District. If Congressman Adam Kinzinger cannot lead we will take the lead ourselves and fight for the American People, the American Worker and the American Taxpayer. You are invited to a Illinois 16th Congressional District Townhall. It...

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., claims liberals are waging a "war on whites." If so, Barack Obama must be at war with himself. That's how goofy Brooks' logic sounds. But he's not nuts. It is an old reflex, when cornered in politics, to lash back with the same charge others have leveled at you — or, put another way, to project your own flaws onto other people. What's sad about Brooks' claim is his feeble attempt to play the white victim card, plucking the strings of white nationalism, just to have his way with the nation's immigration policy.

e polls show an overwhelming amount of support for Hillary Clinton and now Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., is ready to give her a boost as well. Gutierrez, who appeared on PoliticKING with Larry King, says Clinton has what it takes. “I will be happy to back Hillary Clinton, I think she has an astonishing background and a readiness," Gutierrez said. "If she’s ready, I’m ready for Hillary.”

Two summers ago a home invasion by gang members on the city's South Side went wrong when one of the robbers shot another one in the back of the head, according to Chicago police. Sixteen-year-old Douglas Bufford was killed, and 19-year-old Jermalle Brown was charged with first-degree murder. His trial begins on Aug. 15, and it may attract more attention than usual in a city plagued by violent crime, just as his arrest did. Why? Because at the time of the shooting, Douglas Bufford and Jermalle Brown were also on the Illinois state payroll, earning $8.50 an hour to hand...

Think Freely Media is sponsoring its first Great Communicators Tournament in 2014 to identify, from within the liberty movement or beyond, and promote individuals who can effectively and persuasively discuss and defend the free market and the founding principles. The 2014 Great Communicator will be named during the State Policy Network’s Annual Meeting in Denver, after competing in front of judges Guy Benson, Mary Katharine Ham, and Heather Higgins. Contestants will first submit a video of him or her describing a policy issue using moral arguments to support a free enterprise or limited government position. These videos should: •take the...

As Illinois became the last state to allow concealed guns in public, state officials wrote a host of rules designed to prevent irresponsible uses of force that could take innocent lives. But multiple instructors authorized to teach people how to tote guns under the new state program are police officers with documented histories of making questionable decisions about when to use force, a Tribune review has found. One instructor is an officer whom two suburbs sought to fire because of substantiated excessive force allegations, municipal records show. Another was accused by two ex-wives of physical abuse — and by one...

Pastor Corey Brooks is a giant on Chicago’s South Side, both figuratively and literally. Standing over six feet tall, the pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago is more than just a man of the gospel. To the neighborhood he serves, he’s a preacher, a mentor, a role model, and more importantly, he’s everything that the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson aren’t — an outspoken advocate and spokesman for the betterment of the lives of everyone in his community. I first met Pastor Brooks last year when I wanted to get involved in solving the problem of violence that...

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has pulled out of an Arlington Heights, Illinois, event "after the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) rallied its members to attend and protest the event."

Elected officials addressed thousands during the People’s Mass at Fiesta Del Sol in honor of dreamers, immigrants and the 47,000 children held at detention centers across the nation. WBBM’s Kimberly Easton reports a crowd of thousands listened intently to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Senator Dick Durbin. Both Emanuel and Durbin assured the Latino community they will not turn their backs on children who are fleeing a dangerous situation. “We are here today at Fiesta Del Sol. This is a Mass dedicated to the dreamers. The action that was taken by the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday was reprehensible. This...

Gun control advocates are learning the downside of getting their way. Recently, a federal judge struck down the District of Columbia's ban on the carrying of concealed handguns. Anti-gun forces have been losing in legislatures for a long time. Now they are finding that even where they win, they lose. Washington used to have the strictest gun laws in America. Besides the prohibition of concealed guns, all firearms had to be registered and handgun ownership was forbidden. Graphic: Legal restrictions of Illinois' concealed carry law Graphic: Legal restrictions of Illinois' concealed carry law READ THE STORY The restrictions had no...

Archaeologists Relocating Graves Found In Yard In Oak Brook August 1, 2014 7:34 AM CHICAGO (CBS) – A team of archaeologists has been excavating the yard of a west suburban home for the past two weeks, after the residents unearthed several graves from a 19th century cemetery. WBBM Newsradio’s Nancy Harty reports property along what’s now known as Kimberly Court in the Brook Forest subdivision of Oak Brook was once part of a cemetery that was active from 1830 to 1890. Dr. Kevin McGowan, director of the Public Service Archaeology & Architecture Program at the Uiversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,...

Evidence of the Central American refugee crisis has crossed into Waukegan public schools, where 77 children from Honduras have enrolled as of the last week of July for the 2014-15 school year. According to Sharon Aguina, director of School District 60’s English Language Learners program, the Honduran influx has combined with a spike in new arrivals from Mexico and other nations to produce an overall 40 percent increase in immigrant students. Also contributing to the 40 percent increase are 289 new immigrant children from Mexico, compared to 206 new students from Mexico last school year. Aguino added that while some...

More than half of the latest batch of air-traffic controller job offers nationwide went to people with no aviation experience as part of a program designed to expand hiring among the general public, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday. About 22,500 people without an aviation background initially applied. Of those, 837 were offered jobs. The remainder of the roughly 1,600 new controller slots went to more traditional applicants, including military veterans with aviation experience and accredited aviation school graduates. The hiring breakdown marks a major shift in FAA recruitment strategy, which is now geared toward trying to keep ahead of...

The state climatologist says last month's relative chilly temperatures tied the record for the coolest July in recorded Illinois history. And as data are revised he says it's likely this July will break the record.

Police: Gunman and victim in Loop shooting 'had been friends for years' By Marwa Eltagouri, Alexandra Chachkevitch and Meredith Rodriguez, Tribune reporters Less than a week after Tony DeFrances learned that he was being demoted as part of a downsizing of his company, authorities said he walked into his boss’s office Thursday morning for a one-on-one. Apparently upset about his demotion, DeFrances, armed with a gun, confronted CEO Steven LaVoie, a longtime colleague and friend at the supply technology firm ArrowStream in the Loop, police said. At some point, DeFrances, 60, and LaVoie, 54, struggled over the gun. LaVoie was...

An executive of a Loop company, upset that he was being demoted, walked into the CEO's office on LaSalle Street this morning and shot him twice before turning the gun on himself, police said. The executive, 59, was dead on the scene from a gunshot wound to the head. The CEO of ArrowStream, Steven LaVoie, 54, was wounded in the head and stomach and was in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.