Free Republic

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s choice to be director of violence prevention is a longtime anti-violence worker in Chicago, her administration announced. Norman Livingston Kerr will start in the $130,000-per-year role Monday, officials said. Originally from Jamaica, Kerr is a Chicago Public Schools graduate and former director of CeaseFire. He also worked at UCAN, a group that works with “15,000 at-risk children, youth and families across Illinois,” according to the organization. At UCAN, Kerr led the organization’s community violence intervention efforts, the mayor’s office said.

Illinois State Police on Monday arrested a dozen anti-violence protesters who were trying to march onto the Kennedy Expressway near O’Hare International Airport. Eight men and four women were arrested, given $120 citations for being a “pedestrian on a highway,” and released, according to State Police Major David Byrd. Among those arrested was the Rev. Gregory Livingston, who organized the protest. Livingston and about 60 other protesters were met by dozens of state troopers who lined the Cumberland Avenue entrance ramp to Interstate 90. A trooper on a megaphone repeated: “This is the Illinois State Police. It is against the...

NEWARK - A skirmish broke out between rival activists on the steps of City Hall Wednesday during what had been intended as a demonstration against violence in Newark. Police were called to the scene after a small crowd began arguing over escalating violence and the city's attempts to curb it. The noon press conference was called by a group of activists led by Salaam Ismial, co-chair of the New Jersey Study Commission on Violence, and Abdul Muhammad, a longtime Newark anti-violence activist. In a release announcing the event, the two said they planned to ask Mayor Ras Baraka to...

Two “Stop the Violence” organizers allegedly beat one of their colleagues so severely that he vomited blood and was left unconscious in critical condition. Nikole Ardeno and Emanuel Velez, both 30, accused their former roommate of stealing their property, and allegedly punched and kicked him in the street until he had seizures. Arrested moments later, Ardeno was still wearing the same “Stop the Violence” T-shirt she had on the night before when she coordinated a march protesting two recent shootings, Washington Police Chief Chris Luppino said. The victim, Joshua Magraff, also is a community organizer with the anti-violence group, and...

IRVINGTON, N.J. (AP) — Six people face charges after an anti-violence rally in northern New Jersey allegedly turned into a melee. Wednesday night's march in Irvington — which was intended to honor two women who were fatally shot near a school in the Essex County community last week — began peacefully. But Police Chief Michael Chase told The Star-Ledger of Newark that tempers flared when members of the Newark's Anti-Violence Coalition tried to move the demonstration into the street, despite an officer's warning to stay on the sidewalk.

A woman at the forefront of Rochester's anti-violence movement for more than two decades, has been indicted on federal charges. Juliet Anderson, 73, faces three counts of money laundering. Federal prosecutors say she used hundreds of thousands of dollars that she knew was drug money, to build a home in Orleans County. Prosecutors say Anderson got the more than $200,000 in cash that she gave to builders from her grandsons. Four of them are named in the same indictment as Anderson. They're accused of being involved in a major cocaine trafficking network. The heads of many agencies Anderson was actively...

A group of black ministers announced a plan today to help stop violence in Minneapolis' North Side neighborhoods. Rev. Jerry McAfee of New Salem Baptist Church said he would make his a church where people could turn in guns without any questions. Earlier this week, a person he didn't want to identified turned in a loaded 9mm Beretta. McAfee said any guns the church receives will be immediately given to police. McAfee, who was surrounded by other North Side ministers, activists and members of the Minnesota State Baptist Convention, said they are also working with gang members to get them...