Free Republic

In the race for the Illinois United States Senate seat, Republican challenger Jim Oberweis is reaching out again to the African-American community in Chicago, which has traditionally voted Democratic. State Senator Oberweis says he cannot win the U.S. Senate seat without votes cast by African Americans, so he's pulling out all the stops to get his share.

In the race for governor, it’s not just Republican versus Democrat — there’s a new voice trying to elbow in. WGN’s Courtney Gousman talks to the Libertarian candidate fighting for your vote in November, Chad Grimm.

P resident Barack Obama was expected to fly home to Chicago on Wednesday, to help boost Gov. Pat Quinn’s bid for re-election. WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Obama’s popularity might be wavering nationally, but it’s still pretty high in Illinois, and Quinn was welcoming the president’s appearance at what’s expected to be a campaign fundraiser on Wednesday. “I’m looking forward to that,” Quinn said. “I’m a good friend of President Obama, and he’s a good friend of mine. He’s helped me in the last election, and I really need his help now. I’m really grateful that he’s coming...

White couple sues, says sperm bank gave vials from black donor By Meredith Rodriguez, Tribune reporter contact the reporter A white Ohio woman is suing a Downers Grove-based sperm bank, alleging that the company mistakenly gave her vials from an African-American donor, a fact that she said has made it difficult for her and her same-sex partner to raise their now 2-year-old daughter in an all-white community. Jennifer Cramblett of Uniontown, Ohio, alleges in the lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, that Midwest Sperm Bank sent her the vials of an African American donor's sperm in September 2011...

Rahm Emanuel won election as mayor of Chicago three years ago in part because of his strength in the African-American community, but enough black voters have since soured on him that a black labor leader is emerging as a potential rival in the city's February election. Emanuel easily won the majority of voters in every African-American ward in 2011 to become mayor of Chicago, the nation's third-largest city. Since then, a persistently high murder rate, the closing of 50 public schools and a sense that Emanuel is out of touch have hurt his position and invited a bid from Karen...

J.M. Berger @intelwire Follow Developing: Chicago man indicted for threats to rape, bomb and decapitate students at University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale J.M. Berger @intelwire Follow Developing: Chicago man indicted for threats to rape, bomb and decapitate students at University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale

As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, O'Hare International Airport had cancelled more than 530 flights and anticipates delays throughout the day as officials try to return flight traffic to normal after a fire Friday at the FAA's radar facility. The fire at the agency's Aurora radar facility wreaked havoc on the nation's air travel system and is also behind at least 50 flights were cancelled at Midway Airport, with an average 40 minute delay for incoming and outbound flights, according to the Chicago Avaition Department. The FAA said Saturday that technicians were working to complete a “damage assessment and timeline for...

An already bizarre trial involving allegations an African despot hired a pair of obscure South Side businessmen to overturn U.S. sanctions against his regime — with the help of Illinois politicians — took an even stranger detour Friday. In the process, former U.S. Sen. Roland Burris got sideswiped, if not outright run over, with completely unrelated — and to this point unsubstantiated — accusations he once tried to shake down a contractor while in office. Burris might be asking what he did to find himself in the middle of this mess, or just maybe he knows. I’ve always been as...

the 25 biggest systems by assets averaged a 7.45% return from 2004 to 2013, but liabilities tripled over the same period leaving them facing a $2 trillion shortfall as investment returns can’t keep up with ballooning obligations. The top 25 funds account for 40% of the entire US public pension system with Illinois, Kentucky, Connecticut, and Louisiana at the top of the 'most underfunded' list. .... the New York-based credit rater’s calculation of liabilities tripled in the eight years through 2012, ... liabilities are crowding out spending for services, roads and schools.

Flights are slowly resuming at O’Hare Airport after a fire at an FAA air traffic control center in Aurora forced a complete halt to flights in and out of O’Hare and Midway Airports. Hundreds of flights are cancelled at O’Hare, and that’s put thousands of travelers in long lines to re-book their trips. Some people stuck in Terminal 3 waited in line for at least one hour to reschedule their flights. Some travelers didn’t receive any notification about the cancellations and delays, and were shocked when they arrived at O’Hare and saw the long lines. Some people got alerts too...

Fire, Apparent Suicide Attempt At FAA Center Snarl Air Traffic By Jason Hanna and Thom Patterson, CNN September 26, 2014 (CNN) -- A contract employee at a Chicago-area air traffic control center apparently set a fire and tried to kill himself, officials said Friday, shutting the facility and stopping all flights at the world's second-busiest airport. The bizarre situation has resulted in a "ground stop," triggering the cancellation of more than 700 flights at O'Hare International Airport and more than 150 at nearby Midway Airport, according to the Chicago Department of Aviation. The employee was being treated after suffering self-inflicted...

A fire at a Federal Aviation Administration outpost in Chicago that has grounded dozens of flights locally may in fact be arson, NBC News reported on Friday. Earlier, an NBC affiliate reported that the fire, which took place at a suburban Chicago FAA location, halted departing flights from O'Hare and Midway International airports. However, sources told NBC News that the fire may have been intentionally set.

Flights at both Chicago airports have been halted Friday morning, due to a fire at Federal Aviation Administration radar facility in Aurora. Emergency crews found a man with self-inflicted wounds while putting out the fire. A ground stop was in place at O’Hare International and Midway International airports as a result of the fire. Flights headed into both airports were being diverted to other airports, while flights departing the airports were being delayed. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said fire investigators were at the scene, as part of the DuPage County Fire Investigation task force. Aurora...

Springfield Bishop Calls For Exorcism Tied To Gay Marriage By Manya Brachear Pashman Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield said he will offer prayers for "exorcism in reparation for the sin of same-sex marriage" at the same time Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign the same-sex marriage bill into law next week. Paprocki said he will offer the prayers intended to cast out evil at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in the state's capital Wednesday. "It is scandalous that so many Catholic politicians are responsible for enabling the passage of this legislation and...

What follows is the most powerful recorded police checkpoint scene I have witnessed since posting: Extremely Powerful Video – Happy 4th of July from a Police State Checkpoint, last summer. While the former incident happened in Tennessee, the following occurred in Illinois. The American pleb who was accosted by Illinois State Police was DeKalb resident Ryan Scott. While it starts off slow, make sure you watch it all the way to the end. While one of the the police officers is reasonable, the other one can’t stop yelling and seems to derive a particular pleasure from repeatedly informing the citizen...

Two teens were shot to death and at least 13 other people, including a 12-year-old boy, were wounded in shootings between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The most recent shooting was a homicide that happened about 4:10 a.m. Saturday in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, and the boy killed was the seventh person shot in that area in the West Garfield Park and Lawndale neighborhoods on the West Side.

The police hadn’t even come for him. When four fully-armed officers of a Swat team burst into Jacob Elliott’s house in Peoria, Illinois in April they were looking for the source of a parody Twitter feed that had upset the town’s mayor by poking fun at him. ... A Peoria judge this week ruled that the police were entitled to raid the house on North University Street on 15 April under the town’s “false personation” law which makes it illegal to pass yourself off as a public official. Judge Thomas Keith found that police had probable cause to believe they...

(CNSNews.com) - House Speaker John Boehner (R.-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) joined forces early Wednesday evening as the House passed a continuing resolution that will fund the government after the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, and that will permit funding for Planned Parenthood (the nation's largest abortion provider), the entirety of Obamacare, and an amendment requested by President Barack Obama "to train and equip appropriately vetted elements of the Syrian opposition." The bill passed 319 to 108 with four members not voting. But there were not enough Republican members to pass the bill without...

Chicago's newest selective enrollment high school will not be named after President Barack Obama, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel had announced with much fanfare when unveiling the high profile school project. In a statement this morning, Emanuel said he would look for other possible names. “Over the last few months, my team has listened to questions and concerns from the community, ranging from location of the building to the naming of the school. We take that community input seriously, which is why – as we continue to look for a thoughtful way to honor President Obama – we will look for...

Economy In Crisis: A new study by the Illinois Policy Institute shows in the past four years, the number of new food-stamp recipients in the state has outpaced new jobs nearly 2-to-1. Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, locked in a tight re-election battle with self-made billionaire Republican Bruce Rauner, has been arguing that Illinois, arguably the bluest of blue states, has turned the fiscal corner and is on its way back. The recovery may be slower than Quinn wants it to be — but, he says, it is real. It is an odd recovery, though, that makes more people dependent...