Free Republic

COOK COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is threatening to have Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart criminally charged. In letters obtained by ABC7 I-Team through the Freedom of Information Act, ICE requested Sheriff Dart serve immigration subpoenas. The federal agency said failing to serve them could result in prosecution for tampering with a witness. The Cook County Sheriff's Office says it cannot release an individual in custody to any law enforcement agency or federal agents for an interview. The sheriff's office also says three of the individuals named in the letters were released before the office received...

Dozens of decomposing bodies were found Thursday at a Far South Side funeral home, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. A funeral was in progress when police, acting on a tip, showed up at South Chicago Chapel, 2939 E. 95th St., police said. Police had been told bodies at the South Deering funeral home were not being stored at or below 40 degrees, as required by state regulations, according to a police report obtained by the Sun-Times. Officers were met by funeral director Clark Morgan, who accompanied them on a walk-through of the building, according to the police...

Snapchat’s automated system flagged a private DM to three contacts and triggered an FBI alert in under 60 minutes, ending her teaching career Sixty minutes. That’s how long it took for a private Snapchat message to travel from Kristen Volpe’s phone to the FBI to the deputies standing in her elementary school hallway. On January 29, 2025, the 22-year-old student teacher at John L. Hensey Elementary in Washington, Illinois, vented to her boyfriend and two roommates — three people total — after a student closed her laptop mid-class and wiped her lesson plan. She referenced shooting the student or the...

In the coming months, for the first time in the 191-year history of the Chicago Police Department, white officers will no longer be the largest racial group in the department’s rank-and-file. Data from the city’s Office of Inspector General shows that likely before the end of 2026, Latino officers will overtake white officers as the plurality in the department. For many, the literal changing face of the department will take it further from the ingrained imagery of its past, when the sons of immigrants from Ireland and other points in Europe may have been the first to come to mind....

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has consistently said he’s focused on winning a third-term for governor this November — and despite the speculation, those close to him insist he hasn’t made a decision on whether he’ll run for president in 2028. But the governor is showing up in presidential polls, and he’s building coalitions with state parties while also strengthening his national name recognition. He has also explored future fundraising paths that don’t include self-funding — if a presidential run is truly in the cards. Pritzker is on the list of names popping up on presidential polls, which the New York...

Five people were killed and two others were injured in what Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly described as a targeted mass shooting against one family over the weekend in East St. Louis. Two suspects, ages 15 and 16, have been arrested in connection with the investigation. Authorities said the suspects were taken into custody at Holten State Park. As of Sunday evening, their names had not been released. The shootings took place at three different places in the city — Jones Park, a residence in the area of 39th and Summit and the Samuel Gompers Homes. “The picture is...

With Lindsey Graham's death, and John Cornyn's defeat, Mike Lee is second in seniority, next to 92 year old Chuck Grassley (elected in 1980). Grassley has been maintaining the old blue slip tradition, preventing the confirmation of US Attorneys that Democrats don't like. If Grassley dies, or chooses to be chair of another committee come January, Mike Lee will be chair (assuming the Republicans hold the Senate). Thom Tillis (who also blocked nominees) will also be gone, and Ken Paxton will likely be added. On the Democrat side, Dick Durbin is retiring (moving Whitehouse to ranking member) and Amy Klobuchar...

Twenty-four children have been reunited with their families, 305 fugitives arrested, and 179 charges filed against defendants in 140 cases in a multi-agency federal operation, says the Justice Department in annoucing a weeks-long, multi-agency operation. The DOJ posted on Thursday that 11 agencies had participated "as part of this first-of-its-kind ‘badgeless’ enforcement initiative in Chicagoland in recognition of our nation’s 250th Birthday that focused on a single mission for roughly 60 days: to set aside barriers and focus exclusively on disrupting violence in the Chicago and Rockford areas by arresting the worst of the worst offenders." [snip] Chicagoland is the...

The list: Connecticut Illinois Maine Massachusetts North Carolina Oregon Rhode Island Vermont Washington Pennsylvania

... "One of the things that we should have pride about, and that all around the country, I think people look in envy about the fact that Illinois truly does step up and protect our LGBTQ+ community," Pritzker said, "and we're not going to stop." One of the bills Pritzker signed, HB4834, removes testosterone from the Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program — the electronic database that collects information about specific medications and treatments. The bill also prevents the addition of estrogen, mifepristone, and misoprostol — the latter two of which are used to end pregnancies early — to the monitoring program....

On Thursday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) responded to Sen. Chris Murphy’s (D-CT) proposal to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour by saying that “I’m delighted that Sen. Murphy is talking about this and I think the voting record of a lot of us, the Democrats that had led on this before is we’re willing to do it, it was $15, plus inflation adjustments.” Co-host Joe Mathieu asked, “I want to ask you, quickly, with our small amount of time remaining here, Congressman, if you think raising the minimum wage would help. …...

A Mexican national who was previously deported from the United States returned illegally, then tried to launch a drug-and-guns business relationship with a stranger he met in a Chicago truck dealership parking lot by offering to sell him a pound of methamphetamine and an AK-47, according to federal court records. That stranger turned out to be a federal informant. Now, Leonel Mercado Jaimes is charged with distributing nearly a pound of methamphetamine after authorities say he followed through on the drug sale and later admitted he had re-entered the country illegally after being deported in 2015. According to a federal...

Woke Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared he was reupping the city’s “Trans Femicide State of Emergency” to highlight violence against transgender women — despite just one reported killing of a trans person this year, compared with nearly 200 other murders across the city. His social media posting announcing the initiative drew widespread mockery as critics pointed out his bizarre focus on a small population as the city is plagued by dozens of weekly shootings primarily involving Chicagoans of color. Johnson’s declaration suggests an ongoing epidemic of trans murders. There have been 14 transgender people were killed in Chicago between 2016...

The project was sold to the community – despite massive opposition from all sides, originally – as a huge influx of construction jobs for the community. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a building project, that money doesn’t all go to an architect; the vast majority gets spread around among small businesses, employing building materials vendors and plumbers, drywallers and carpenters, electricians and glaziers, carpet layers and escalator installers. This should have been a godsend for the area; it simply wasn’t. According to the African American Contractors Association, there’s a long list of such small businesses who...

Post See new posts Conversation Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh 🚨 HOLY CRAP! ICE has just arrested an Illinois teacher in a Tren de Aragua TRIPLE M*RDER CASE, MASS SHOOTING Democrats RELEASED HER FROM JAIL She reportedly came in 2021, then overstayed her visa, and ASSISTED the killings 🤯 "She drove 2 gunmen affiliated with TdA...where they allegedly opened fire." She ALSO reportedly helped them FLEE THE SCENE "3 killed, several injured." GET THEM ALL OUT! This is why ICE and DHS need maximum fun. 🇺🇸 Thankfully, the gunmen were DEPORTED. VIDEO AT LINK............

President Trump tore into lefty Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday over spiraling violence in Chicago – after a bloody weekend in the Windy City left at least five people dead and 22 others wounded, according to reports.

After officials kicked off the opening weekend of the Barack Obama Presidential Center with a widely mocked “land acknowledgment” — a nod to the political far left that believes the United States was built on “stolen land” — a traditional Native American dance show was featured during Saturday’s scheduled events. The Black Hawk Performance Company is a Native American dance troupe based in the Chicago area, composed of dancers from several Indigenous tribes. Saturday marked the third day of the Obama Presidential Center’s grand opening, which featured musical and cultural performances ranging from international superstars like John Legend to local...

At least 13 people were injured late Friday night when two gunmen opened fired from a vehicle into a crowd in the city's Princeton Park neighborhood, Chicago police said. Police said at around 11 p.m., officers were called about a person who had been shot along West 95th Street near South Wentworth Avenue. A preliminary investigation determined a red SUV pulled alongside a large crowd, and two suspects inside the vehicle began firing gunshots before fleeing the scene. When officers arrived on the scene, they found two people who had sustained gunshot injuries. A 32-year-old woman was shot twice in...

The Chicago man accused of burning a cross in Grant Park last week made his first court appearance on Thursday, as a judge denied prosecutors' request to keep him locked up until trial. Merlin Lu, 21, is charged with two felony counts of hate crime, one felony count of property damage, one felony count of arson, and additional misdemeanor charges including disorderly conduct and burning a cross to intimidate. At his first court appearance on Thursday, Cook County prosecutors sought to have him detained while he awaits trial, but the judge said the state failed to show what he did...

Former President Barack Obama formally opened his presidential center in Chicago on Thursday with a call to defend democracy as three former presidents joined him on stage in an extraordinary event featuring politicians, A-list celebrities, athletes and other internationally known figures. “I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious our democracy truly is and remind us what we can achieve when we embrace our shared responsibilities as citizens,” the nation’s first Black president told the crowd. Bono, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Marc Anthony and Eddie Vedder took turns on the stage ahead of...