HIGHLAND PARK – Nicolas Toledo wasn’t sure if he wanted to go to the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park. He used a walker and figured there would be a large crowd gathered to watch the parade’s floats, said Xochil Toledo, his granddaughter. The family didn’t want to leave him alone, so on Monday morning,…
HIGHLAND PARK – Six people were killed and dozens wounded when a gunman used a high-powered rifle to fire from a rooftop on people attending the Highland Park Fourth of July parade Monday. At 6:45 p.m., the Highland Park police said a “person of interest” identified “through investigative leads” as Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 22,…
HIGHLAND PARK — A gunman opened fire on an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago on Monday. He killed at least six people and wounded 24. Police say hundreds of marchers, parents with strollers and children on bicycles fled in terror. The suspect, who had apparently fired from a concealed spot on a rooftop, remained…
SPRINGFIELD – A federal judge in Chicago handed down a one-year prison sentence Tuesday for a former state senator who once chaired the Senate Labor Committee. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of embezzlement for receiving salary and benefits from Teamsters Joint Council 25 as a purported…
URBANA – Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger says he’s received a death threat for his role in investigating the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol. The Republican representative from the 16th congressional district told ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” the threat was mailed to his house from “the local area.” The letter says Kinzinger,…
CHAMPAIGN – Police departments across the U.S., including in Champaign County, are facing staffing shortages. The Champaign police department is using financial incentives to try to fill 20 officer openings. Within the last few months, it filled several vacancies after offering a $20,000 signing bonus. “Recruiting is getting harder,” Joe Lamberson, the Champaign police department’s…
It was a tale told by older generations to the younger generations, of men shot and killed and their bodies tossed into a creek during one of the fiercest race riots in the country. That tale was carried across the Mississippi River by those trying to escape the violence and through the generations of African…
URBANA – On Wednesday, The House passed the Protecting Our Kids Act, which would enact new gun control measures following the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas. It would raise the age required to buy a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21, and it would ban the sale of ammunition magazines with a capacity…
SPRINGFIELD — Gov. JB Pritzker has signed the “Jelani Day” bill into law, amending the Missing Persons Identification Act in hopes of preventing a repeat of what the Day family experienced last year. When Jelani Day went missing, his body was not found for nearly two weeks. Once found, Day’s remains went unidentified for three…
Illinois Public Media is committed to having calm and comprehensive discussions about reducing gun violence in Champaign-Urbana. Our fourth “News, Brews and Beatz” discussion happens on the evening of Monday, May 9, 2022. Illinois Public Media News and Public Affairs Director Reginald Hardwick previewed the next discussion with Morning Edition host Brian Moline. Brian: What will…
CHAMPAIGN – A Colonel in the Illinois State Police is the new Chief of Police in the city of Champaign. On Wednesday, City Manager Dorothy Ann David announced Timothy T. Tyler will become the new chief on June 6, 2022. Tyler’s starting annual salary will be $180,000. At a Wednesday morning news conference announcing his…
CHAMPAIGN – If the Champaign Police Department has enough staff, the Champaign Unit 4 School District Board of Education wants to reinstate resource officers – or SROs – at schools. Six school board members voted to renew the SRO contract at Monday’s meeting. Board member Elizabeth Sotiropoulos voted no. She said the board resolved to…
CHAMPAIGN – The three Democratic contenders for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District faced off on Tuesday, revealing different approaches to gun violence, reparations for slavery, immigration and more. Tuesday marked the first public forum with the three candidates. The progressive Jewish organization Bend the Arc hosted the event online. Illinois Democrats redrew the Congressional districts last…
CHAMPAIGN – The city of Champaign has announced three finalists for the role of police chief. Angela Coonce is the Commander of the North Patrol Division of the St. Louis, Missouri police department. She has held that post since November 2019. Most of her career has been with that department. She holds advanced degrees in Security…
COLUMBIA – Mo. — One of the first stops for people leaving prison in central Missouri is the Reentry Opportunity Center in Columbia. The center sees about 80 people a month who are in the process of putting their lives together after being incarcerated. According to the center’s program director, D’Markus Thomas-Brown, leaving prison often…