Free Republic

Chicago law firms have found a new way to get paid at taxpayers’ expense: suing the city for alleged police misconduct. The suits are draining hundreds of millions from Chicago’s coffers at a time when the city can’t afford to lose a dime. Voters should hold their leaders accountable for enabling this racket. For years, Chicago has led the nation in overturning supposedly wrongful convictions. This has resulted in a windfall for law firms—both those suing the city and those hired by the city to settle cases. Since 2000, Chicago has paid over $700 million in settlements to criminal defendants...

The last time Jim Ryan ran for governor of Illinois, he offered voters a clear choice between a man who never took a dime in public life and Rod Blagojevich. And though many would like to forget it, they chose Blagojevich. "The infrastructure of the Illinois Republican Party has never really been for me," Ryan said over breakfast the other day as we talked about that 2002 campaign and his current run in the crowded GOP primary for governor. "I'm not a deal-maker. And senior Republicans knew my reputation. They knew I wouldn't be flexible." Seven years ago, Ryan, then...

In one of the first nationwide hypothetical polls for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, Illinois Governor and billionaire JB Pritzker ranks at the bottom, receiving the lowest level of support from minority voters as prominent Democrats begin preparing for potential campaigns. On Friday, the well-regarded Emerson College Polling released new results showing former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic field with 16 percent support. Former Vice President Kamala Harris follows at 13 percent, with California Governor Gavin Newsom close behind at 12 percent. JB Pritzker, billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune who invested over $350 million of...

For decades, Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan dominated the state’s political system, corrupting it to his own ends. What should we make of his ouster? The Chicago machine turned out some of the most notorious names in American public corruption, including Anton Cermak, Richard J. Daley, and Ed Kelly. The machine also turned out Mike Madigan, who ruled over Illinois politics for 50 years, 36 of which he spent calling the shots as House speaker. Most people thought Madigan would only leave office in handcuffs or a casket. Most people were wrong. For the first time since 1970, “the Velvet...

A business in Illinois, owned by a vocal critic of controversial Democratic mayor Tiffany Henyard, was destroyed in a fire deemed “suspicious” by authorities earlier this week. “The fire is suspicious in nature,” Dolton Deputy Fire Chief John Calhoun told WGN. “We do have the fire marshal out here currently with our [mutual aid] arson team.” The blaze erupted around 6 a.m. Tuesday, escalating to a three-alarm fire. No injuries were reported, but the building was a total loss, according to FOX 32 Chicago. A smaller fire occurred at the same site the previous week, WGN noted. The property, owned...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — A new bill under consideration in the Illinois House would allow individual municipalities to impose their own, local motor fuel tax on top of the state’s gas tax. House Bill 1283 would create the Municipal Motor Fuel Tax Law, allowing cities, towns and villages to impose their own gas tax, at a rate not to exceed 3 cents per gallon. The bill was introduced by Rep. Anthony DeLuca (D-80th). Illinois residents currently pay the second-highest gas tax in the country besides California, at 66 cents per gallon.

The Democrat dubbed “America’s worst mayor” will no longer hold the title after getting obliterated for re-election last night, a month after brawling with her constituents. As The New York Post reported, the antics and illegal behavior finally caught up to scandal-plagued Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard at the ballot box where she suffered a landslide loss in Democratic primary. Her opponent, Village Trustee Jason House, won almost 88% of the votes while Henyard could barely manage 12%. Making things even more embarrassing for Henyard, FOX 32 reported earlier in the day that she said she had “no competition” and would...

A violent Tren de Aragua gang member who is suspected of murder has been released from prison in Chicago despite a 2022 deportation order. Pedro Colmenares, 33, of Venezuela, entered the United States in 2022 and was ordered to be deported by an immigration judge just a few months later. In 2024, two years after he was ordered to be deported, Colmenares was back in the hands of law enforcement on a weapons charge. “DHS issued an ICE detainer on Colmenares, but because of its sanctuary policy, Cook County refused to comply with the detainer, and Colmenares was set free,”...

Mark Weyermuller @publicpolicyman It’s has been reported that Cook County Jail in Chicago under the direction of Sheriff Tom Dart has 300 illegal immigrants in jail that are gang members, felons, & other dangerous criminals. They will not allow Tom Homan & federal agents from ICE to take custody (detainers) of them to DEPORT THEM! @BenBergquam @bennyjohnson @SubxNews @CWBChicago @SPOTNEWSonIG @TrumpWarRoom @joerogan @CPD1617Scanner @RealTomHoman @IlliniJen @Awake_IL @realBlagojevich @BlackAndRightAM

DOLTON, Ill. – Embattled Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard was found in contempt of court Friday morning in a case over her alleged refusal to sign off on promised liquor licenses. Attorneys for the owners of St. Patrick’s, a three-story restaurant and banquet hall, said the business will finally be able to open after a judge found Henyard in contempt and forced her to sign the liquor licenses she’d allegedly been stonewalling for months. “It’s been a challenge to put it mildly. It shouldn’t be so difficult. This is an ordinary event to get liquor licenses issued,” Adrian Vuckovich, an attorney...

In a surprising turn of events, Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard has vetoed a unanimous board resolution aimed at investigating her use of tax funds, plunging the town into a storm of controversy. The mayor defends her veto by asserting it’s a preventative measure against potential personal attacks. Mayor Henyard’s actions have triggered public outrage, as recent revelations shed light on the alleged misuse of taxpayer money. Accusations range from indulging in lavish trips to orchestrating a $1 million giveaway and maintaining a $1 million police detail, all while drawing a hefty annual salary of $287,000.

Self-described “super mayor” Tiffany Henyard vetoed a resolution seeking to investigate her spending following allegations that she misused taxpayer money on lavish trips and her own $1 million police detail. The Dolton, Illinois, village board unanimously voted to open a probe into Henyard, calling on her to submit the village’s financial records and inviting the FBI to conduct its own investigation. Henyard, however, issued a veto on Monday, claiming the resolution was the result of personal attacks against her and stemmed from one-sided narratives. “As you can see, our village, our community, myself, we are under attack,” Henyard said at...

Rep. Chip Neiman has drafted legislation that would make it illegal to intimidate others with their genitals. The bill is in response to a nudist who, when asked to put on clothes at a public mailbox center, responded by bending over and spreading his buttocks. Sometimes, it’s not obvious a law is needed until a situation presents itself outlining a glaring hole. That’s exactly what’s happened in rural Crook County, where a nudist refuses to wear clothing in public when picking up his mail at a rural mailbox center. On one occasion, when asked to put on clothes, the man...

CHICAGO — Prosecutors yesterday charged Nicolas Ramirez, 20, with carjacking a woman at gunpoint in Little Village on Tuesday. Ramirez was on bail for another armed carjacking case and on probation for a felony gun case at the time. And, for good measure, he had warrants out on both cases because he stopped showing up for his court dates. When we report stories like the one you’re about to read, people often ask us, “How in the world was that person out on the streets?” It depends. But, in the case of Nicolas Ramirez, the answer is Cook County Judge...

Many find it shocking the Department of Justice (DOJ) could be capable of ginning up false allegations against a former president in a previous election and would again do the same prior to the 2024 election. This shock, however, is a mark of just how drastically conservatives have failed to recognize the long decline of the DOJ and its ultimate transformation into a political subsidiary of a radicalized Democratic Party. Conservatives would do well to observe seminal moments that have led the country’s top law enforcement entity to its present dire state. In that review, all roads ultimately lead back...

President Joe Biden has nominated April Perry, a former official with the Cook County State’s Attorney Office, to be the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. If approved by the Senate, Perry would replace John Lausch, who retired on March 11. A former Chicago Fraternal of Police Official, Martin Preib, blasted the nomination saying that Perry, Kim Foxx’s Chief Ethics Officer from 2017 to 2019, said nothing publicly when Foxx dropped the charges – in the face of overwhelming police evidence -- against actor Jussie Smollett for faking a hate crime. Perry resigned her position a few...

his is not the way to get ready for the Super Bowl. The food service director of an impoverished Illinois school district was charged with stealing $1.5 million of food — most of which was chicken wings. Vera Liddell, 66, alleging began stealing from the Harvey School District during the heigh of COVID-19, local TV station WGN station reported. The station reported that Liddell ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings for the district with school funds, but took all the poultry for herself. “The food was never brought to the school or provided to the students,” court records...

Crime Former school official accused of embezzling $1.5 million worth of chicken wings January 31, 2023 / 7:27 AM / CBS News A former official in a school district in the Chicago suburb of Harvey is accused in a bizarre scheme involving more than $1 million worth of stolen chicken wings, CBS Chicago reports. Vera Liddell is the former director of food services at Harvey School District 152. The Cook County State's Attorney's office alleges that Liddell launched an embezzlement scheme that resulted in the theft of wings that cost more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money. The alleged scheme...

A top Chicago police official’s car was stopped on the West Side during a drug arrest earlier this month, a police spokesman confirmed Wednesday. A Lexus registered to Yolanda Talley, chief of internal affairs, was pulled over Feb. 1 in the 500 block of North St. Louis Avenue and officers arrested Kenneth Miles, 34, on drug charges, according to an arrest report and police sources. Talley wasn’t in the car. Her niece was driving the Lexus, said Don Terry, a spokesman for the police department. According to a police report, officers in a gang investigations squad were targeting drug sales...

Chicago has a lot of great things to offer. It's super windy, freezing in the winter, scorching in the summer, the homicide rate is off the charts, and there are legions of rats roaming the streets. At least the deep-dish pizza is good! To solve the rat issue, Chicago has decided to release a ninja-army of 1,000 feral cats: Yep, Chicago was named "rattiest city" by pest-control group Orkin for the sixth year in a row.