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The coronavirus pandemic has altered the horse racing schedule in a big way. The Kentucky Derby has been postponed until Sept. 5, but horse racing does return for live action this weekend in the form of the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Arkansas Derby is usually a prep race for the Kentucky Derby, but was moved to the first Saturday in May after the Run for the Roses was moved to Saturday, Sept. 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The race offers 170 total Kentucky Derby qualifying points for each division. The winner...

The documents kept by the Iraqi Intelligence Service were meticulous in detail and sweeping in scope. In some, Iraqi intelligence officers in the United States are directed to use informers to track the "criminal'' actions of one current and one former Chicago area resident, both Assyrian Christians from Iraq who founded an anti-Saddam Hussein political party. Another accuses the group of being influenced by "imperialists'' and "Zionists.'' Others include the exact dates of the group's meetings and conventions in Chicago and elsewhere, the names of the people who ran the events, those in attendance and what statements were made. Trips...

FoxNews just reported that an agent for Saddam Hussein has been arrested in Chicago. .....developing....

In just two races, The Factor has blazed his way to a place among the most exciting three-year-olds in the nation. The Rebel Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Oaklawn Park will be a crucial step in determining how far his talent will take him in horse racing. The War Front colt’s trainer, Bob Baffert, will look to Oaklawn for the second straight year as a proving ground for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1). Last February, Baffert sent a horse to Hot Springs, Arkansas, for the first time since 2001, and he may have wondered what took him...

By Joy Tiz | Published: July 13, 2010 The anti-terror wing of the Marriott Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois bounced a conference to be held by Muslim activist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir. The organizers, predictably, insist that they advocate “peaceful government reform”. Reporter Manya Barchear’s excruciatingly nuanced account claims the conference was “dedicated to reviving the prevailing system of rule that immediately followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad”. Chicago PC code for Sharia Law. "But a Washington-based interest group called Responsible for Equality and Liberty, or REAL, said that although Hizb ut-Tahrir explicitly condemns violence, its ideology suggests otherwise. Speakers...

Sorry for the radio silence this week — I'm knuckled down on a book deadline. But I came up for air to talk to our buddy Guy Benson about the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which wants to supplant our Constitution with shariah. The group, one of whose alumni is KSM, had its first national convention in Chicago last week — called "Fall of Capitalism, Rise of Islam."

An Islamic political organization that opposes democracy and is calling for the fall of capitalism held its annual conference in Oak Lawn last weekend, drawing the ire of protesters who voiced their opposition to the group’s beliefs Hizb ut-Tahrir America, a faction of international organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, hosted what is widely believed to be their first conference in America on Sunday at the Hilton Oak Lawn.

Islamic Supremacist Group Holds First U.S. Conference Friday, July 17, 2009 Diane Macedo Print ShareThis YouTube The Khilafah Conference 2009 is scheduled to be held July 19, 2009 at the Hilton Oak Lawn hotel. A group committed to establishing an international Islamic empire and reportedly linked to Al Qaeda is stepping up its Western recruitment efforts by holding its first official conference in the U.S. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global Sunni network with reported ties to confessed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Al Qaeda in Iraq's onetime leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It has operated discreetly in the U.S. for...

In fundraising probe, Palestinian activist may face more charges: Federal prosecutors indicated Monday new charges might soon be filed related to a long-running Chicago grand jury probe of fundraising for the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The disclosure came during a court hearing for Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar, a Palestinian activist from Virginia facing federal charges for refusing to testify before the grand jury despite a grant of immunity. The grand jury wanted to question Ashqar about his relationship with Hamas and its members. Ashqar was initially indicted last year on one count of criminal contempt, and a new indictment handed...

The strange case of an Iraqi agent caught operating on American soil. His arrest may be the first of many. KHALED DUMEISI, a newspaper publisher in northern Illinois, was surprised when federal agents showed up at a modest condominium in suburban Chicago to arrest the man known to his colleagues in Iraqi intelligence as "Sirhan." He shouldn't have been shocked. First, the FBI, according to a complaint unsealed Wednesday in Illinois, had the goods on Sirhan. Among his offenses: supplying false press credentials for Iraqi intelligence agents; spying on Iraqi opposition leaders--at times, using a mini-camera implanted in the end...

In the speech at a celebration of Saddam Hussein's birthday in 2001, the Oak Lawn man praises the Iraqi ruler as a "great'' and "inspirational'' leader. A federal judge ruled Friday that prosecutors can show jurors a videotape of Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi's remarks at his trial on charges that he acted as an unregistered agent of the Iraqi government. The trial begins Monday in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors accuse Dumeisi of spying on Iraqi opposition members in the United States. Federal judge Suzanne Conlon agreed with prosecutors that the speech, made at the headquarters of the Iraqi Mission to the...

Musician Dawud Wharnsby believes everyone has their own way of making a difference in the world. "Some people are able to donate their money to good causes; some people are able to donate their time," he said. "For me, music and expression through song has always been the tool that I use." The French Canadian singer-songwriter, who converted to Islam in 1993, on Thursday brought his musical message of peace to the cafetorium at Columbus Manor Elementary School in Oak Lawn, performing guitar and percussion-based songs for the schoolchildren. "Music has been a crucial part of who I am and...

Sheik Jamal Said stood before the packed mosque and worked the crowd like an auctioneer. Speaking Arabic, the prayer leader asked for a donation of $10,000. No one responded. He asked for $5,000, and three men raised their hands. < SNIP> The recipient of the worshipers' generosity was Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian activist accused by the U.S. government of aiding terrorists. And the prayer leader's passionate appeal is a reflection of the ascendancy of Muslim hard-liners at the mosque, one of the most outspoken and embattled in the U.S. The mosque did not become this way without a struggle. Relying...

Oak Lawn Public Library Patrons Say "No" to Playboy Magazine 9/30/2005 8:04:00 AM By SafeLibraries.org Oak Lawn, IL - Safe Libraries announced the results of its survey confirm that patrons are opposed to the subscription to Playboy magazine by the Oak Lawn Public Library. The survey was conducted by an independent social research firm at the village's Fall on the Green festival during September 9-11, 2005. It was initiated in response to the approval of the subscription's retention solely by the members of the Oak Lawn Public Library board of trustees on June 21, 2005. The board members contended that...

Alleged spy seen in video calling Saddam 'our inspired leader' ILLINOIS -- Prosecutors say he spied on dissidents, reported to U.N. mission honeycombed with secret agents. By MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer CHICAGO (AP) -- Jurors watched a video Tuesday in which a man accused of spying on Iraqi dissidents for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service described the dictator as "our inspired leader" and spoke scornfully of "American colonial imperialism." "A light has illuminated our path and our procession toward the struggle and the liberation," Khaled Dumeisi said in describing Hussein at an April 2001 birthday party for the dictator at...

Disclosure of classified info complicates trial of alleged Iraqi agent Prosecutors say a page of grand jury testimony should never have been turned over to the defense. CHICAGO (AP) -- A community newspaper publisher accused of spying on Iraqi opposition groups in the United States for Saddam Hussein's intelligence service wants the charges thrown out because federal prosecutors mistakenly disclosed classified information. Khaled Abdel-Latif Dumeisi, of Oak Lawn, is scheduled to go to trial Monday on federal charges of perjury and failing to register as a foreign agent. But lawyers for Dumeisi, 61, filed court papers this month detailing efforts...