Free Republic

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot allegedly called the owner of a high-end exotic car dealership an "idiot" during a heated meeting after the store was targeted in an armed smash-and-grab robbery, according to a report. Lightfoot allegedly "got into a fight and walked out" of Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars during a meeting with store owner Joe Perillo, according to sources who spoke to CWB Chicago. One of the sources told the outlet the mayor called Perillo an "idiot" as she left the showroom, though Perillo told Fox News he did not hear her call him that. "I’m not aware that...

The speaker of the Illinois House said the state’s child-welfare caseworkers need to be treated like frontline emergency responders after a Department of Children and Family Services investigator was killed last week during a home visit, the second such tragedy in four-and-a-half years. Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, a Hillside Democrat, was asked about the troubled agency during an interview Monday with The Associated Press, one of several sit-downs he had with Statehouse reporters to mark his first year in office. Deidre Silas, an investigator who had just joined DCFS last summer, was stabbed to death Jan. 4 when she went...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, announced Tuesday that she has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.

Fire Chief Brad Liggett, 55, died suddenly on Saturday, the city of Freeport announced Sunday afternoon. Liggett served the Freeport Fire Department since July 2019. He worked previously for the city of Beloit Fire Department for 30 years and served as Beloit's fire chief for 16 years.

A CRACK team of scuba-diving sleuths has solved a staggering seven cold cases in just two months, bringing much-needed closure to heartbroken families who had been left without answers for years. The group, known as Chaos Divers, operates out of Southern Illinois and is comprised of divers Jacob Grubbs and Eric Bussick, and head of logistics Lindsey Bussick. The group users sonar technology to help solve cold cases that in some instances have been open for decades. Between October and December of last year, the trio managed to solve seven missing persons cases in a number of different states, including...

People are moving from high tax Democrat-run states to states that are more welcoming to businesses and individuals. The way Illinois is run shows many reasons why.In Illinois, the legislature schedules adjournment by May 31st and their salary is $69,464 per year. They also get substantial pensions and other benefits with a few years of service. They also get an extra salary if they are a leader or head of a committee. The legislature is very generous to itself.This year, they are scheduling adjournment by early April so they can campaign. My guess is their opponents don’t get taxpayer-paid time...

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) asserted on Wednesday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shared blame for the riot that occurred on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol. Stefanik, who serves as House GOP Conference chair, released a statement on the eve of the Capitol breach’s anniversary, thanking law enforcement for their work to control the riotous behavior but condemning Pelosi for ultimately being the one “responsible” for leaving the Capitol prone to attack. The New York Republican called it “unacceptable” that despite Pelosi’s nine-person investigatory committee — comprising seven Democrats and two of the most outspoken Never Trump Republicans in...

A police officer who was killed at a northern Illinois hotel pleaded for her life before a man allegedly shot her with her own gun after she was disarmed during a struggle, a prosecutor said. Bradley police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, were shot on Dec. 29 while investigating a noise complaint regarding dogs barking in a parked car outside a Comfort Inn. Bailey remained hospitalized Monday and is “fighting for his life,” Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe said during a bond hearing for Xandria Harris. Rowe said during Monday's hearing that Harris' co-defendant, 25-year-old...

A Cook County judge and her 3-year-old son were carjacked at gunpoint late Thursday night in Humboldt Park. Police said, around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, a 52-year-old woman was pulling into a garage of a home in the 1500 block of North Campbell Avenue, with her 3-year-old son in the back seat, when two men approached.

Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) said Monday he will not seek reelection after 15 terms in Congress. Rush told the Chicago Sun-Times he made the decision in the past several weeks and that it was a result of a conversation he had with his grandson. “I don’t want my grandchildren . . . to know me from a television news clip or something they read in a newspaper,” Rush told the Sun-Times. “I want them to know me on an intimate level, know something about me and I want to know something about them. I don’t want to be a historical...

Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe wants federal prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against Darius Sullivan and Xandria Harris, who face felony charges in the hotel shooting that killed Bradley Police Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic and critically wounded her partner last week. A Bradley police sergeant was “desperately pleading for her life” moments before a gunman fatally shot her using the officer’s own gun, Kankakee County prosecutors said Monday. Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jim Rowe is seeking life sentences for Darius Sullivan, 25, and Xandria Harris, 26, who face a litany of felony charges in last week’s hotel shooting that...

"The new year brings 287 new laws to Illinois – including one that will allow children to operate a lemonade stand without having to go through the red tape of acquiring a government permit. ..."

Illinois keeps losing people it can ill afford to lose. I recently checked in on a prospective donor who I met in Chicago three years ago. I didn’t know him at all back then, but it was easy to get a sense he cared deeply about Illinois. His passion for fixing Chicago’s problems was obvious from the moment I met him. He was everything Chicago should want from someone in the business community. An engaged and highly successful investor, tech entrepreneur and C-suite executive. Politically active yet still willing to get his hands dirty on real policy issues. Not scared...

Outraged by a freewheeling Christmas Eve Mass that featured jazz musicians, choreographed dances around the altar, and theatrical lighting effects, some Catholics are calling on Cardinal Blase Cupich to crack down on liturgical abuses in Novus Ordo Masses in the Archdiocese of Chicago, rather than imposing severe restrictions on reverential Traditional Latin Masses. Father Michael L. Pfleger, a well-known social activist in Chicago, celebrated the Dec. 24 evening Mass, which was live streamed from St. Sabina Church, a predominantly Black parish on the city’s South Side. Pfleger has been the pastor there since 1981. Many of those upset by the...

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed freshman Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois against another sitting House Republican, bucking the advice of GOP leadership. Shortly after Trump's endorsement, Miller, who was left without a seat after the state's redistricting process, announced she would run in the state's newly drawn 15th District, where GOP Rep. Rodney Davis is seeking reelection. "President Donald Trump inspired me to run in 2020 because our country needs principled conservatives in Congress who always put America First," Miller said in a statement on Saturday. "Today, President Trump is endorsing me because I am a conservative fighter...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was slammed on Twitter after she and her wife, Amy Eshleman, posted a video wishing a 'joyous Kwanzaa' ... The backlash comes as Lightfoot is accused of ignoring the city's surge in violent crimes, including a 25-year high murder rate, with 767 homicides in the city so far this year. Last week, she begged Attorney General Merrick Garland to send ATF agents to the city for six months to help get illegal guns off the street after she slashed the police budget ... Twitter users were quick slam Lightfoot, saying the the principles of Kwanzaa -...

A West Side man who tried to shoot someone in another car by firing out his rear passenger window while driving managed to shoot and kill his own backseat passenger instead, prosecutors said this week. Quincy Cole, 27, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of his passenger, 19-year-old Roderick James, on December 6, 2020. Cole was on bail for a pending felony arson case at the time of the killing. CPD records show that police wanted to charge him with murder in the pending case, but prosecutors only approved arson charges. The alleged murder of James makes Cole...

As Chicago ends its deadliest year in more than a quarter century, Police Supt. David Brown on Thursday promised more detectives to solve murders and more officers on the street to engage in “positive interactions” in neighborhoods. “We all know this has been a challenging year here in the city of Chicago,” Brown said at a news conference to discuss his goals for the new year. “Too many families are reeling from the loss of loves ones due to senseless gun violence. “Too many residents are dealing with the ripple effects of this trauma due to crime in our community,”...

Authorities in Illinois are searching for an "armed and dangerous" man after a police officer was shot and killed and another was wounded during a call Wednesday. The officers responded to a Comfort Inn at about 9:40 p.m. "for reported dogs barking in an unattended vehicle which was parked in the parking lot," Bradley Police Chief Donald W. Barber said Thursday morning in a statement. Officers found the room where the owner of the vehicle was staying and "initiated conversation," according to the statement. During the conversation, one of the people in the room attacked the officers, and shot both...

**SNIP** “I’m ecstatic about the Presidential Center’s location in Woodlawn, especially since Obama was our first African American president,” said Woodlawn homeowner John Odom in an interview with The Maroon during the town hall. “I just hope he doesn’t unintentionally displace his own African American community and cause an influx of Gold Coast residents. 63rd Street was once a thriving, safe African American community, and I would like to see the Obama library bring back some of that.” Patricia Tatum, a longtime Woodlawn homeowner and former nurse at UChicago Medicine, suspects that rising property taxes and pressure from land developers...