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CHICAGO -- At least five people have been killed and 25 others wounded in citywide shootings so far this holiday weekend. In the weekend's latest fatal attack, a man was killed in a shooting Sunday in Grand Crossing on the South Side. The 29-year-old was found inside a 2011 Chevy Malibu about 7:10 p.m. in the 6800-block of South Stony Avenue with multiple gunshot wounds on the chest, Chicago police said. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The Cook County medical examiner's office hasn't released details on the death. About 12:55 a.m.,...

The number of homicides and shootings in Chicago spiked dramatically in 2020, ending with more bloodshed than in all but one year in more than two decades, statistics released by police on Friday revealed. After three years of falling homicide totals, 2020 ended with 769 homicides — 274 more than the previous year and the most since the 784 homicides in 2016. The latest shooting victim figures told the same story, with the year ending with 4,033 shooting victims compared with 2,598 the year before. And it never let up, as is illustrated by the fact that in December, there...

Is there any profession that has taken a bigger hit in the credibility department over the course of the COVID pandemic than teaching? That’s unfortunate given the fact that many teachers simply wanted to get back in the classroom as soon as possible, recognizing the dangers prolonged lockdowns represented to students. Yet, there have been so many high profile cases of teachers and their union leaders ignoring science for their own personal gain and laziness that it has unfairly tarnished everyone. One of the most recent cases involves a woman named Sarah Chambers from Chicago (because of course she’s from...

On Thursday, a teacher who is on the executive board of the Chicago Teachers Union, for whom she serves as an area vice president, reportedly urged special education teachers to refuse to return to work the week after New Years’ Day because it would be unsafe. A few hours prior to that, the teacher, Sarah Chambers, posted a photo on Instagram of a pool in Puerto Rico captioned, “Spending the last day of 2020 by the poolside.” “We have the whole pool to ourselves,” Chamber’s caption continued. “Then, we are going to old San Juan to get some yummy seafood...

An at-home haircut led to the coronavirus deaths of a Chicago couple who took every precaution they could prior to contracting the deadly virus, according to their distraught son. Joe Bruno said his parents, Mike and Carol Bruno, died from COVID-19 just nine days apart after the couple, who were married for 59 years, got infected during a Nov. 20 visit to his apartment so he could get a haircut from his sister. “We never thought this would happen to our family – and it did,” Bruno told WLS-TV Thursday. “This virus is really unforgiven and just attacks in really...

A man on the scene shot the robbery suspect in the chest and abdomen, police said. It is not clear if the man was the owner, employee, or another customer. Police said the shooter, 29, had a valid concealed carry permit. The robbery suspect was transported in critical condition to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

An accused serial burglar and thief has been sentenced to probation for a burglary in Lincoln Park last year — even though he was already on probation for two burglaries at the time of the alleged break-in. Jonathan Hernandez, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of theft in exchange for an 18-month probation sentence in the latest case, according to court records. He has been arrested seventeen times in Chicago since March 2014, according to CPD records. One year before his arrest, Hernandez was charged with threatening to shoot an off-duty police officer who confronted him as he allegedly burglarized...

I have to ask, “What’s the point of having police and a judiciary?” when I read about this case from Chicago, a city world-renowned for the level of lethal criminality its residents endure . .. An accused serial burglar and thief has been sentenced to probation for a burglary in Lincoln Park last year — even though he was already on probation for two burglaries at the time of the alleged break-in. Jonathan Hernandez, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of theft in exchange for an 18-month probation sentence in the latest case, according to court records. He has been...

CHICAGO -- A man was shot and killed by an employee while trying to commit a robbery at a store Saturday on the West Side, police said. He walked in to a cell phone store about 6:50 p.m. in the 3200-block of West Chicago Avenue, pulled out a gun and demanded property, according to Chicago police. A store employee, a 29-year-old man, pulled out his own gun and fired shots at the robber, striking him in the chest, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The 29-year-old has a valid concealed-carry license, police said....

Just You 'n' Me - Leonid & Friends

... How differently would white flight have unfolded absent the crime wave that began in the 1960s? According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the national homicide rate doubled between 1960 and 1980, from 5.1 murders per 100,000 Americans to 10.2, its highest level. Chicago, always a rough city, already had a homicide rate of 10.5 per 100,000 residents in 1960, but it exploded to 28.7 in 1980 and 30.7 in 1990. The riots of the 1960s saw lawlessness engulf entire neighborhoods. Chicago’s most serious disturbance was in April 1968, after Martin Luther King’s murder. Some of the looting...

Eleven people were shot, three of them fatally, Monday in Chicago, including a man who was killed in a shooting during a robbery in Bridgeport on the South Side. In the day’s first reported shooting, a 33-year-old man was wounded in Austin on the West Side. The man was sitting in a parked car about 1:20 a.m. in the 1000 block of North Mason Avenue when shots were fired, police said. He was transported to Stroger Hospital in fair condition. Thirty-eight people were shot, six of them killed, last weekend citywide.

US health officials closely tracking possible side effects of the first authorized COVID-19 vaccine said on Saturday they have seen at least six cases of severe allergic reactions out of more than a quarter million shots given - prompting one Illinois hospital to pause vaccinations. Medical experts said that a chemical called polyethylene glycol (PEG), a compound most commonly used in laxatives, 'could be the culprit' causing the reactions. PEG is an ingredient in the Pfizer vaccine as well as the Moderna Inc vaccine authorized on Friday.

A Chicago-area hospital halted coronavirus vaccinations for its workers after four people had allergic reactions, according to a report. Only one of the reactions was severe, said officials with the Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Ill., where vaccinations are expected to begin again on Sunday. The other three people who experienced reactions to the historic jab had only mild symptoms which are not unexpected after someone is vaccinated, officials said.

The Cook County Board voted Thursday to recognize Juneteenth as an official paid holiday for county government employees starting next year, following a year marked by racial justice protests over high-profile killings of Black people. In 2021, Juneteenth will be designated as one of 14 government holidays granted to all Cook County workers, making it the country’s largest populated county to grant a paid day off to celebrate both Black Americans’ freedom from slavery and their contributions to the nation. Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the measure, which outlines the centuries of mistreatment America has dealt on Black people....

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two teenage boys are accused of carjacking a 65-year-old woman at gunpoint Tuesday in Rogers Park on the North Side. The boys, 13 and 15, allegedly threatened the woman with a gun and took her vehicle about 3:50 p.m. after she parked in the 1200-block of West Farwell Avenue, Chicago police said. They were arrested less than half an hour later in the 4700-block of North Racine Avenue. Both were charged with one felony count each of aggravated vehicular hijacking and aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, police said. They have not been named because they are...

In November of 2019, CBS 2 interviewed Anjanette Young for the first time. A social worker and active in her church, Young had a jarring and traumatic story to tell: she told us her safest place – her home – was invaded that February. We quickly learned she was the latest victim in a pattern of wrong raids by the Chicago Police Department, uncovered by our team as part of its two-year series. But the story was different than others we reported in the past. Young said during the wrong raid, police entered the home and handcuffed her, all while...

Around 10:20 a.m. on Dec. 1, a man got off a northbound Metra Electric District train at the McCormick Place station, pulled out a collapsible rifle from his backpack, and fired a single shot while standing on the platform, according to the FBI and Metra Police. ] The man then placed the rifle back into his bag and exited the station. Chicago Police and Metra Police searched the area for the gunman, but could not find him. Luckily for the FBI, he did it in front of cameras. Images showed a man with close-cropped hair and a receding hairline. “When...

It was an appalling argument for an even more disgraceful cause: The Chicago Teachers Union tweeted out that the push to reopen schools is “rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny.” Wiser heads soon deleted the message, though not before one union supporter chimed in, “Been feeling this lately. We can discuss the merits of reopening but the conversation cannot be rooted in white supremacy.” Huh? It’s the worst sort of mental laziness — throw “racism” and “sexism” charges at anyone who opposes you.

Now that the media is looking for tips and clues, how about this one? Groot (Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot) and Fatass (Illinois Governor J. B. "Jabba" Pritzker) have shut down restaurants and bars, but opened up the airport bars full-throttle. I traveled in to Midway a couple of days ago, the bars that line the aisle down Concourse B were PACKED with maskless drinkers eating and drinking. I counted 70 people, all indoors, all dining, all drinking (did I mention indoors?) and not a one with a mask on. This is so much Groot's "For thee! Not for me!" approach....