Free Republic

A man is facing felony terrorism and hate crime charges after authorities say he shot a Jewish man who was walking to a synagogue and then fired at responding officers during a weekend shootout in Chicago. Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, 22, has been charged with one felony count of terrorism and one felony count of a hate crime, Chicago Police Department Chief Larry Snelling said at a news conference Thursday. Abdallahi is also facing six counts of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and one count of aggravated battery with the discharge of a firearm, the...

"Batman" star Michael Keaton criticized supporters of former President Trump and billionaire Elon Musk in a recent social media post, accusing them of not seeing that the two businessmen think they’re "stupid." Keaton shared the scathing message to his Instagram on Tuesday, expressing his disbelief that conservative Americans are fans of the two figures who have been on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania to shore up support for Trump’s presidential race. "For some of you folks who uh – guys mostly, I guess – who are thinking about attending a rally with Musk and uh, Trump," he began in the...

Betelgeuse is our next door supergiant. It is almost 1000 times bigger than our sun and possibly it has already exploded in a giant supernova. How would we notice, how fast would the process be and what could we expect to see from Earth? Something happened in 2019 Betelgeuse is currently in the final stages of its short life. So when the red supergiant abruptly darkened in late 2019, the behavior led many to speculate that it might be about to explode. The loss of brightness was far greater than anything previously recorded. Analyzing data from Hubble Space Telescope and...

Protesters are expected to wreak such havoc at next week’s Democratic National Convention, some members of Congress have been told not to book hotels in their own names, according to a new report from Axios. They’ve also been warned to avoid staying in certain area’s of the host city, Chicago, and one Democratic lawmaker told the website they were “very concerned” about personal security./b> At least some area hotels have been getting calls from people with random requests for names. “The protesters aren’t staying in a designated protest site … and there are people who are going to go and...

Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) said Sunday on CNN’a “State of the Union” that Vice President Kamala Harris has “energized” the Democratic Party the way former President Barack Obama did in 2008. Host Jake Tapper said, “How will this convention be different with Vice President Harris as the nominee, then President Biden.” Pritzker said, “Well, remember, first of all, you were talking about reelection nomination, renomination, and now you’re talking about something completely different, right? We’ve got, I mean, this is a candidate who’s energized the party in a way that I haven’t seen, certainly since ‘08. And when I think...

CHICAGO — Nearly a year after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration floated the possibility of opening a municipally owned grocery store to help improve food access on the South and West sides, a feasibility study created for the city describes a municipal grocery model as “necessary, feasible, and implementable.” The study recommends the city pursue some version of a municipally owned store or stores — and finds such stores could even turn a profit. It also suggests the city not attempt to operate a supermarket itself, but rather partner with a for-profit operator, a non-profit operator or a co-op. Private grocers...

Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) were “just weird.” Pritzker said, “The electorate is energized. Democrats are ready to go. You’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people signing up to volunteer. Our candidate is the energizer bunny. She’s been everywhere all the time over the last several days, and we’re excited about that to get to see her in the battleground states and all over the country. Her message is one that I think resonates with people. One of those things, of course,...

CHICAGO -- At least 87 people have been shot, 16 fatally, in gun violence across Chicago since Wednesday evening during the extended Fourth of July holiday weekend, police said. The violence includes three mass shootings, one in which two women and an 8-year-old boy were killed and two young boys were left in critical condition after multiple shooters opened fire into a Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood home on the South Side. At least 19 of those shot were in mass shootings in Austin, Greater Grand Crossing and Little Italy. About 12:15 a.m. Friday, police responded to calls of shots fired...

The Fourth of July historically is one of the nation’s deadliest days of the year. A flurry of shootings around the holiday a year ago left more than a dozen people dead and over 60 wounded. And a year before that, seven people died in a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade near Chicago. Violence and mass shootings often increase in the summer months, with more people gathering for social events, teens out of school and hotter temperatures. Chicago ‘in state of grief’ In Chicago alone, 11 people had been killed and 55 wounded in shootings as of...

A woman dubbed 'America's worst mayor' will be probed by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after her town vetoed her attempts to block any investigation - the decision sent a town meeting into chaos. Police, on Monday, were forced to break up the room as the situation devolved following a 4-2 vote by the town board to reinstate Lightfoot, who will conduct an investigation into Mayor Tiffany Henyard. The Dolton mayor - who spoke into a golden microphone during the meeting - is currently under federal investigation, as well as immense pressure from her constituents to resign. She is being...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It's been a violent holiday weekend so far in Chicago. At least 41 people have been shot, nine fatally, since Friday evening. One of those shootings left a 5-year-old girl dead. Despite the still high shooting numbers, calls to stop the gun violence in the city seemed to have an impact. This holiday weekend's violence numbers, so far, are lower than last year's, when 53 people were shot, 11 fatally. The long weekend is putting Mayor Brandon Johnson's summer safety plan to the test. He spoke during a community walk over the weekend, criticizing previous administrations for...

Video footage on Tuesday emerged showing the moment when plainclothes Chicago police officers unloaded nearly 100 gunshots during a traffic stop last month, killing a man and subsequently leading to negative anti-cop coverage. However, the narrative of police killing an innocent man runs counter to the facts. As the New York Post reported, 26-year-old Dexter Reed was killed during a March 21 traffic stop in Humboldt Park on West Ferdinand Street after officers in an unmarked cop car pulled him over for failing to wear a seatbelt. The wild footage opens with a female officer and four others approaching Reed’s...

Tim Burton announced Thursday filming for “Beetlejuice 2” has officially concluded, letting fans know they’re one step closer to taking in the new flick. “Just finished shooting Beetlejuice. Thank you to everyone involved,” he wrote on Instagram. The 65-year-old filmmaker posted the caption alongside an image of himself sitting on a couch on the set of the movie. Production on “Beetlejuice 2” began in London in May, and was nearly complete in September during the SAG-AFTRA strike that put a freeze on Hollywood productions, People Magazine reported. Burton was so close to completing his film, his team was able to...

UPDATED: Sunday, November 5, 2023 8:15PM CHICAGO -- At least 34 people have been shot, seven fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A child was shot and critically injured inside a South Side home on Sunday afternoon, Chicago police said. Earlier Sunday, a man was killed and another was wounded in another Englewood shooting, police said. The two were shot while standing on a sidewalk around 1:10 a.m. in the 7400 block of South Stewart Avenue, according to police. One man, whose age has not been reported, was fatally shot in the head and the other, a...

– Chicago continues its first-place run in the rat race, topping Orkin’s Top 50 Rattiest Cities List for the ninth year in a row. Los Angeles moved up to the #2 ranking while New York rounds out the top three spots. Jumping up 10 spots this year is Houston to #20, and Greensboro, N.C., moves up 17 spots to take #50. New this year, Orkin is celebrating Chicago’s top spot placement by releasing a limited-edition t-shirt made available for free while supplies last. The shirt will feature a Top Rattiest City design made specifically for Chicago, commemorating the dedication of...

CHICAGO -- At least 26 people have been shot, five fatally, in weekend gun violence across Chicago, police said. A woman fatally shot a knife-wielding man early Sunday in Morgan Park inside a home on the Far South Side. The shooting happened around 12:45 a.m. when a 41-year-old man who the woman knew approached her with a knife inside her home in the 11500 block of South Vincennes Avenue, Chicago police said. The woman then pulled out a gun and shot the man four times in his torso, police said. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn,...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Biden-Harris National Advisory Board member Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) stated that the migrants coming to Illinois “are here legally, these asylum seekers, they’re here to get a hearing and to have a decision made about whether or not they can stay in the United States.” But the Biden administration must “make it clear to the people who are at the border that getting on a bus to Chicago or New York in mid-October, heading into winter, where it’s going to be 20 degrees or 10 degrees, and where we just do not...

CHICAGO — At least four more DePaul University students were robbed on the school’s Lincoln Park campus last night. It’s the latest in a string of violent crimes on the campus. In the first incident, an 18-year-old woman, an 18-year-old man, and a 16-year-old girl were robbed while seated in the school’s quad on the 2300 block of North Seminary, according to Chicago police. Two men approached them around 10:10 p.m. Saturday and one robber demanded property from the older victims. Another robber battered and robbed the 16-year-old, CPD said.Both robbers fled in a silver sedan, a Chicago police spokesperson...

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert was tossed out of a musical over the weekend over ‘unruly’ behavior throughout the show, according to a report. Boebert, 36, was attending “Beetlejuice: The Musical” at the Temple Hoyne Bell Theater in Denver Sunday evening along with an unidentified male after fellow audience members complained the two were being loud. Theater employees accused the two of “vaping, singing, recording and ‘causing a disturbance’ during the performance,” The Denver Post reported.

Lori Lightfoot is bringing her skills and knowledge to Harvard University to teach a health policy and leadership course. According to The Harvard Gazette, the former mayor of Chicago has been named a Richard L. and Ronay A. Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow for the fall semester at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The fellowship program provides a once-in-a-lifetime chance for people who recently held prominent positions in journalism, nonprofit organizations, multilateral institutions, government and other fields to spend time mentoring and instructing students who want to fill those positions. Lightfoot, who served as the first openly gay and...