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Two Pakistani nationals were indicted on Thursday for their roles in defrauding Medicare in a scheme conducted in Chicago, Illinois. The duo allegedly regularly billed “Medicare and private insurers” in excess of $10 million for “nonexistent healthcare services,” according to the Department of Justice. Kashif Iqbal and Burhan Mirza, and several other unnamed participants, “used nominee-owned laboratories and durable medical equipment providers to submit fraudulent claims to Medicare and private healthcare benefit programs for items and services not rendered. Mirza illegally obtained private identification information of individuals and providers as part of the fraud. He then used this data to...

Listen to this article 3 min Evanston, Illinois. will issue $25,000 to 44 residents in reparations payments, the City’s Reparations Committee has announced. Established in 2019 and approved by the City Council in 2021, the program issues $25,000 direct cash payments to Black residents and descendants of Black residents who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969. Evanston was the first city in the nation to pass a reparations plan, pledging $10 million over a decade to Black residents. The payments are intended to cover housing expenses, Evanston official Cynthia Vargas told the Chicago Tribune.

Evanston, Illinois. will issue $25,000 to 44 residents in reparations payments, the City’s Reparations Committee has announced. Established in 2019 and approved by the City Council in 2021, the program issues $25,000 direct cash payments to Black residents and descendants of Black residents who lived in Evanston between 1919 and 1969. Evanston was the first city in the nation to pass a reparations plan, pledging $10 million over a decade to Black residents. The payments are intended to cover housing expenses, Evanston official Cynthia Vargas told the Chicago Tribune. Tasheik Kerr, assistant to the city manager, said during a meeting...

is out thousands of dollars after they wrote two checks, not even close to that amount. They said they're victims of a check washing scheme, and believe it is taking place at their local post office. Therese Scarlati collected during her own investigation, collecting every sheet of paper, starting with those two checks. Therese sent a $165 check to her insurance company. Her husband wrote this $64 check for the water bill — both mailed on the same day, yet somehow the amounts were both changed. Her husband's was cashed for $5,700 in storage fees, while Therese's check was cashed...

Senate Bill 3842, introduced by Sen. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport), proposes adding “transgenderism” to the state’s legal definition of mental illness under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. The bill defines the term as identifying with a gender different from the one assigned at birth, according to the filed legislation. Under current Illinois law, “mental illness” refers to disorders that substantially impair a person’s thinking, perception, emotions, judgment, or behavior. The statute specifically excludes developmental disabilities, dementia, and substance use disorders. SB3842 would expand that definition for the first time to include gender identity. ... “We need to rid ourselves...

Numerous Democratic leaders say their high-migration, low-wage sanctuary city economies are crashing because President Donald Trump is requiring them to comply with national labor laws.“We are now expected to absorb the fiscal consequences of [federal] enforcement activities,” the treasurers of 16 states wrote to President Trump. “This is not acceptable.”The treasurers of Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, and nine other states are asking the federal government to exempt them from national laws that protect Americans’ civil rights, labor, housing, and anti-fraud laws.“We urge your administration to immediately scale back enforcement activities causing this harm and to ensure the economic stability...

DEI for buildings. . . . Hey, Chicago, try getting real. Behold: This exercise in ultra-woke-techno-narcissism for the Chicago lake-front is called (variously) Eden Rise or Sky Droplet by Yanko Design. It is supposed to be a “vertical farm skyscraper.” The promotional literature says it all: A skyline where fresh lettuce grows a few floors above your head, rainwater is harvested from the clouds, and the architecture itself works quietly to heal long standing urban inequities. This project dares to ask a radical question. What if skyscrapers did not just house people, but fed them?At the heart of this proposal...

We have another video masterpiece of peace and urban harmony from Chicago, otherwise known as America’s largest open-air shooting gallery. While Mayor Brandon Johnson continues to rail against ICE agents rounding up criminal illegals in his dystopian city, four gang members opened up on a rival’s car shortly after noon just across town from hizzoner. While the shooters only perforated their intended target in the butt-tocks, they did successfully kill the man’s girlfriend with their fusillade of lead. Thankfully and miraculously, the bangers with the blasters somehow missed the toddler in the back seat. Gabryel Ayers, 26, was driving the...

Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The 11th Hour,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should not be wearing masks during their operations in American cities. Paul said, “I think the main thing is if you want trust to develop again, I’m not somebody who wants to abolish ICE. I want ICE to behave within the rules and enforce the law. But I want them to behave in a normal, rational law enforcement manner.” Host Stephanie Ruhle said, “Do you think it’s OK for ICE to be wearing these masks? Paul said, “I think that anonymity and wearing...

A beloved business owner and mother was murdered 'execution style' in her bar after her cold-hearted killer demanded cash, according to police. Courtney Drysdale, 30, was shot dead on Monday at around 11 am while she was alone in her bar, The Line, in Momence, Illinois. Investigators say she was opening for the day when her suspected killer, Julius E Burkes Jr, 47, allegedly stormed inside and demanded money from the register. The terrified victim complied with his demands - but that did not stop him from fatally shooting her twice before fleeing the scene, Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey...

Illinois will join the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, or GOARN, to counterbalance the federal government’s withdrawal, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Tuesday. (snip) California also joined GOARN in late January.The withdrawal is complicated because there is no official way to leave WHO and the United States is the only country with the ability to do so. Experts say it’s up to WHO members when the departure is finalized, and they expect the matter to come up in meetings in February and May.

Federal agents carried out a military-style raid on a South Shore apartment complex last fall with the permission of the building’s owner and manager, according to new court filings that appear to confirm residents’ suspicions and corroborate key allegations driving a state investigation. The Trump administration has claimed the squalid building was a magnet for criminals and Venezuelan gang members, but the court records filed Tuesday indicate the harrowing raid was actually based on intelligence that “illegal aliens were unlawfully occupying apartments in the building.” Arrest reports for two of the 37 people detained in the overnight raid at 7500...

KANKAKEE COUNTY (WGN) — A suspect is in custody after he allegedly shot and killed a bar owner in Kankakee County on Monday morning. According to the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office, a 47-year-old man was apprehended as he left his Hammond, Indiana, home in the 6400 block of Rhode Island Avenue. He is currently being held in Indiana, where he awaits extradition back to Illinois. The deadly shooting unfolded inside of “The Line,” a bar located in rural Momence, near the Illinois-Indiana state line along Illinois Route 14, just before 11 a.m. According to police, officers were first called to...

Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson admitted Wednesday he was “in regular communication” with other mayors leading so-called “sanctuary cities” in efforts to impede enforcement of federal immigration laws. President Donald Trump called for an end to “sanctuary cities” in a post on Truth Social Monday, following a series of shootings, two of them fatal, that took place in Minneapolis involving Department of Homeland Security personnel engaged in immigration enforcement operations. Johnson said during a press conference at the National Press Club he’d been talking with Democratic Mayors Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Michelle Wu of Boston about how to combat...

Henyard promotes 'Tha New Wave' on Facebook; ex-colleagues to change pleas The former mayor of south suburban Dolton and Thornton Township supervisor appears to have stepped away from politics, at least for the time being. Tiffany Henyard surfaced on Facebook over the weekend with a video from what she described as the soft opening of her clothing store called "Tha New Wave." "I'm back!" she told viewers. "Well, I never went anywhere, but look at what I've been doing!" For more than ten minutes, viewers saw her tending a barbecue grill during a grand opening party, and giving a tour...

Illinois governor doubles down on comparing current moment to Nazi Germany rise during podcast appearanceGov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., said during a podcast on Tuesday that the current political "moment" was "slightly worse" than the COVID pandemic, despite the many deaths COVID caused. "I've Had It" host Jennifer Welch asked Pritzker how he was doing, and the governor said that while every day was a blessing, he's often asked about whether the current Trump administration was comparable the situation Americans were in during the COVID-19 pandemic. "It’s been challenging," he said. "I've been asked, is this like COVID, you know, the...

"GO ICE," the teacher at West Chicago’s Gary Elementary School, posted on Facebook last week. Shortly after the post was made, activists in the predominantly Hispanic community quickly began sharing the post and calling for action to be taken against the teacher, who Fox News Digital is not naming due to safety concerns. -snip Activists began circulating a flyer online, with a Change.org petition, calling for the employee's job and for students to stay home from school in protest, saying, "the casual way in which he publicly promoted the actions of ICE in our area is inappropriate and unsuitable for...

Landlord who tipped off ICE about illegal alien gang members faces investigation. The ‘sanctuary’ for illegal alien criminals movement began with radical activists harboring them in ‘churches’. That escalated to ordering law enforcement not to cooperate with immigration authorities. And from there sanctuary states like California began to penalize any law enforcement personnel who cooperated with ICE. Then came the riots, systemic harassment of immigration law enforcement personnel being coordinated from the top down, and now, in the next step, legal threats against American citizens who cooperate with ICE. Remember this massive raid on a hive of TdA gang members...

The headmaster of Chicago’s tony Latin School will resign less than two weeks after it was revealed that students were rehearsing Nazi marching themes for the second year in a row. Dr. Thomas Hagerman revealed his plans to leave his job in a Jan. 14 email to the Latin School community which cited health issues as the reason for his exit. “This decision comes after a great deal of thoughtful deliberation. I have been repeatedly reminded about the importance of attending more intentionally to my health and overall sustainability,” Hagerman wrote*** The surprise resignation comes two weeks after middle schoolers...

A Democrat judge has released a Chicago man with 57 prior arrests after he pleaded guilty to using a metal bar to smash a man’s jaw in a sneak attack.