Phone of groom accused of killing bride tracked to Mexican border
May 18, 2012 Leave a Comment
The newlywed husband accused of killing his wife and leaving her dead in a bathtub — still wearing her wedding dress — had his phone tracked to a town near the Mexican border, according to a federal documents filed Thursday. Arnoldo Jimenez, 30, also told a “close associate” to tell authorities that he was fleeing to Mexico, according to a federal affidavit. Jimenez was born in Texas, but his parents live in Mexico. Read More
Man paid prostitutes in heroin, food from McDonald’s dollar menu: cops
May 16, 2012 Leave a Comment
A West Side man who allegedly forced young girls into prostitution — and then rewarded them with drugs and food from McDonald’s dollar menu — was ordered held in lieu of $1 million Wednesday. DaJuan Brown, also know “Juan Clark,” beat and exploited at least 12 girls for a five-year period, sometimes locking his victims up without any food or appliances at his West Side apartment, according to Cook County prosecutors. Brown, 35, would ply the girls with heroin and if they met their quotas with johns he would reward them with more drugs and food from the McDonald’s dollar … Read More
Third rock-throwing incident in a week damages cars on I-57
May 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
Five cars were damaged by rocks that were thrown on I-57 on Sunday night, the third such incident on an area expressway in recent days. The cars were damaged about 8 p.m. Sunday on northbound I-57 near 147th Street, Illinois State Police District Chicago Sgt. Juan Valenzuela said. There was no significant damage to the vehicles, Valenzuela said, though some sustained shattered windows. No one is in custody and no one was injured. It marked at least the third reported incident of rock throwers damaging vehicles within the last week. Several Stevenson Expressway drivers reported Saturday that rocks, possibly thrown … Read More
Echoes of ’67: Israel unites
May 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — In May 1967, in brazen violation of previous truce agreements, Egypt ordered U.N. peacekeepers out of the Sinai, marched 120,000 troops to the Israeli border, blockaded Eilat (Israel’ssouthern outlet to the world’s oceans), abruptly signed a military pact with Jordan and, together with Syria, pledged war for the final destruction of Israel. Read More
Warden at Pontiac prison under investigation
May 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
PONTIAC, Ill. — The acting warden of the Pontiac Correctional Center is under investigation by the Illinois State Police and has been placed on administrative leave. Randy Pfister was arrested Thursday night. Stacey Solano, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Corrections, says a special prosecutor will be handling the case but would not give any details. The Livingston County state’s attorney’s office refused to comment. Pfister was released from Livingston County jail on Friday and did not post a bond. ——— Associated Press … Read More
Felon charged with selling 47 guns to federal informant
May 10, 2012 Leave a Comment
A convicted felon is charged in federal court with illegally supplying 47 guns to an informant who secretly recorded the transactions on the South Side. Read More
Man gets 37 years for brutal stabbing death of girlfriend
May 8, 2012 Leave a Comment
Lake County Associate Judge George Bridges sentenced Trent Lee to 37 years in prison Tuesday for the 2010 murder of his girlfrien, Nichelle McNeal, at a party in Zion. Read More
Obama no healer of our nation’s angst
May 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
“The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states … ” Read More
2 dead, at least 15 wounded in weekend shootings
May 6, 2012 Leave a Comment
Two people have been killed, and at least 15 other people — one of them a 12-year-old girl — have been wounded in shootings across the city since Friday afternoon. Read More
Jewelry store manager charged with stealing gold bars from business
May 4, 2012 Leave a Comment
Daniel Knaack, a 12-year employee of a west suburban jewelry store, has been charged with stealing and then reselling more than $200,000 worth of gold bars from the store over a six-month period, police said. Read More
Financial adviser ripped off $1.5 million from clients: feds
May 3, 2012 Leave a Comment
A Chicago investment adviser was indicted this week on charges of ripping off clients to the tune of $1.5 million, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. Dimitry Vishnevetsky, 33, raised about $1.7 million from investors by offering and selling commodities and promissory notes as well as brokerage services, according to court records, and used the bulk of it as a personal bank account — making mortgage and car payments, taking vacations, dining out, even covering athletic club dues, federal authorities said. To conceal the fraud, court records show, he allegedly used the remaining money to make “Ponzi-type payments to some investors.” But … Read More
Man arrested in threats against suburban high schools
May 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
Police say Tom G. Rohrbach called in threats to shoot up southwest suburban high schools because he enjoyed watching their response. Read More
Man charged with stealing $212,000 from Villa Park Islamic center
April 30, 2012 Leave a Comment
Inam Rahim of Naperville, the former business director at a Villa Park Islamic center, stole more than $200,000 from the organization by writing phony paychecks to his wife, DuPage County authorities said Monday. Read More
While Syria burns, Obama stands idly by
April 30, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Last year President Barack Obama ordered U.S. intervention in Libya under the grand new doctrine of “Responsibility to Protect.” Moammar Gadhafi was threatening a massacre in Benghazi. To stand by and do nothing “would have been a betrayal of who we are,” explained the president. Read More
Nine arrested in West Side drug bust
April 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
Nine purported gang members were arrested after police busted an open air drug market on a West Side street corner on Friday. Police say the arrests are part of an ongoing strategy to get rid of street gang narcotics and gang activity “block by block.” A spike in shootings and violence near Ohio and Hamlin streets led Narcotics Divisions Officers to begin their investigation of the corner two months ago. Tied to the Conservative Vice Lord gang, police seized $6,700 in illegal funds and heroin with an estimated street value of $3,000. Speaking at the Humboldt Park corner on Saturday … Read More
Witness: Man threatened Jennifer Hudson’s family multiple times
April 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
Two months before three relatives of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson were killed, the accused gunman went on a tirade about how he was going to kill Hudson’s sister and the rest of her household, a Hudson family friend testified Thursday. Read More
Witness: Accused killer wanted to hurt Jennifer Hudson’s brother
April 24, 2012 Leave a Comment
A friend of William Balfour testifies at the murder trial that Balfour told him he wanted to beat Jason Hudson — a few months before the triple murders, during the second day of testimony. Read More
Farewell, the New Frontier
April 23, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — As the space shuttle Discovery flew three times around Washington, a final salute before landing at Dulles airport for retirement in a museum, thousands on the ground gazed upward with marvel and pride. Yet what they were witnessing, for all its elegance, was a funeral march. Read More
Mother accused of fracturing son’s skull, puncturing his foot with toothpicks
April 22, 2012 Leave a Comment
The mother of an 11-month-old boy hospitalized with skull fractures, a broken clavicle and puncture wounds in his feet from toothpicks has been charged with multiple counts of felony child abuse. Read More
Bank robbery suspects speed from Michigan City to Elburn, fling cash on highway
April 20, 2012 Leave a Comment
A police chase of bank robbery suspects — who reached speeds of 100 miles per hour — began in Northwest Indiana on Friday afternoon and ended when the suspects crashed an SUV in the far northwest suburbs. Witnesses said the suspects threw cash and clothing out of the SUV’s window onto the highway. Read More
Suburban courthouses closing on weekends beginning May 5
April 18, 2012 Leave a Comment
Cook County’s suburban courts will officially close on weekends starting in May as part of a cost-saving measure, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans announced Wednesday. Those arrested in the suburbs over the weekend will be shuttled to Chicago to appear before a judge at the 26th and California courthouse starting May 5. The Bridgeview courthouse closed on weekends in January and the remaining four courthouses — Maywood, Markham, Skokie and Rolling Meadows — were to follow. But the four facilities remained open after suburban law enforcement raised questions about the costs and time involved in transporting suspects from their communities … Read More
Home invader shot dead on steps on South Side, witness says
April 16, 2012 Leave a Comment
A man was shot to death on the front steps of an Englewood home, and a witness said it was a home invasion that was foiled by a man who lives there. Read More
Obama’s dismal record in solving our debt crisis
April 15, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Here we go again. Read More
Taxi driver found shot to death in his cab
April 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
A 31-year-old taxi driver from south suburban Lansing was found shot to death in his taxi in the city’s Englewood neighborhood early Saturday. Police responding to calls of shots fired at 2:45 a.m. found the victim in his cab in the 1200 block of West 69th Street, police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said. The victim, identified as Adegboye Oguntade, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 3:43 a.m, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Oguntade died from a gunshot wound to the back, the medical examiner’s office said. … Read More
Court allows hearsay evidence against Drew Peterson
April 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
Dealing a crucial setback to Drew Peterson, an Illinois appellate court has ruled prosecutors can present additional hearsay evidence implicating the former Bolingbrook cop in the drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Read More
Lake County asks state for review after jail inmate’s death ruled homicide
April 10, 2012 Leave a Comment
The Cook County medical examiner’s office Tuesday said it has ruled the death of a Lake County jail inmate a homicide, prompting the Lake County state’s attorney’s office to ask the state to review an initial investigation into the incident. Read More
Boy, 13, shot and killed in shooting in Archer Heights on South Side
April 8, 2012 Leave a Comment
A 13-year-old boy was killed and two others were injured in a shooting Saturday night in the South Side Archer Heights neighborhood, police said. The shooting took place at 9:49 p.m. near the intersection of South Spaulding and West 46th Street, police said. The 13-year-old and two other males were walking on the sidewalk when two males emerged from a gangway and fired shots, police said. Police said the 13-year-old boy was shot in the body and head and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A 15-year-old was shot in the left forearm and thigh, … Read More
Mother allegedly stabbed son, herself
April 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
On the weekend her former husband remarried, Sameera Samreen allegedly slashed their 3-year-old son’s throat with a knife, then did the same to herself, DuPage County authorities said. The youngster and his mother both survived their injuries, but the 28-year-old Addison woman now faces felony charges of aggravated battery to a child as a result of the March 31 attack, officials said Friday. “Any crime against a child is serious, but this is very disturbing,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said Friday. Samreen, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, remains jailed on $1 million bail. … Read More
Retired doctor charged with murdering his 95-year-old mother
April 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
Retired doctor Charles Odell Davidson of Dyer, Ind. is facing murder charges after authorities said he killed his 95-year-old mother and then shot himself in the face, but survived. Read More
Patti Blagojevich on husband’s prison sentence: ‘What planet’ are we on?
April 3, 2012 Leave a Comment
Fourteen years in prison for Rod Blagojevich. Ten days in prison for his former chief of staff. Same corruption case. Same judge. “How do you explain that to your children?” Patti Blagojevich asked on her Facebook page. In a recent Facebook posting, Illinois’ former first lady says she “can’t help but wonder what planet we are on” where one person gets ten days and another 5,110 days. U.S. District Judge James Zagel last week sentenced former Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris on one count of conspiracy to commit bribery for helping Blagojevich try to sell President Barack Obama’s vacated … Read More
Obama’s flexibility doctrine revealed
April 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
“On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it’s important for him (Putin) to give me space. … This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility.” Read More
Dwyane Wade’s nephew hurt in store shooting
March 31, 2012 Leave a Comment
A nephew of NBA superstar Dwyane Wade was one of five people wounded in a gang-related shooting at a South Side convenience store Thursday night that also left one man dead. Read More
Man charged with breaking into White Sox GM’s home ‘unfit’ for trial
March 30, 2012 Leave a Comment
A homeless man who prosecutors claim broke into the home of White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams, then drank beer, ate pizza and defrosted a lobster was found “unfit” to stand trial on Thursday. Wayne L. Field III had on Williams’ clothing — including a fur and World Series ring — and was peeking through the window of the GM’s home on Nov. 21, 2011, when an officer helping with a burglary investigation approached, according to a police report. When the officer asked his name, the 51-year-old replied, “Wayne Field III,” police said. That matched the name on a hospital … Read More
Joliet man gets nine years for sexually abusing young girl in 2006
March 27, 2012 Leave a Comment
Douglas K. Alsup of Joliet admitted Tuesday he molested a young girl in 2006 and was sentenced to nine years in prison for the crime. Read More
The reckoning on Obamacare
March 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Obamacare dominated the 2010 midterms, driving its Democratic authors to a historic electoral shellacking. But since then, the issue has slipped quietly underground. Read More
Brother charged with shooting dog with air rifle
March 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
Brotherly love was in short supply at an Oak Forest home on Friday, authorities say. That’s when Jose Angeles, 23, allegedly hit his brother Ivan in the head with a baseball bat. Perhaps worse, he also shot his brother’s dog with an air rifle, prosecutors say. Charged with domestic battery and animal cruelty, Angeles on Sunday was ordered held on bail of $25,000. Information on the condition of his brother, and his brother’s dog, was not available Sunday. … Read More
Emanuel: State rep charged with corruption should step down
March 23, 2012 Leave a Comment
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday jumped on the bandwagon of Democratic politicians demanding the resignation of state Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) because of the federal bribery charges against Smith. “I do not think — while Mr. Smith won the primary — that his name should be on the ballot in November,” Emanuel said. “He’s already shown a violation of the code of conduct that comes with the honor of serving the public.” Smith won his Democratic primary battle on Tuesday with 77 percent of the vote just one week after he was busted by the feds for allegedly accepting $7,000 … Read More
Oak Lawn activist gets probation for forging election petitions
March 22, 2012 Leave a Comment
Oak Lawn Tax Watch chairwoman Myrna Jurcev was sentenced to a year on probation after admitting Wednesday she forged signatures on petitions in a botched attempt to change the village’s form of government. Read More
Man shot across street from alderman’s office on North Side
March 20, 2012 Leave a Comment
A man was shot in the left calf Monday afternoon across the street from the office of a North Side alderman. Police said the shooting took place around 2:20 p.m. in the 4500 block of North Broadway Street in the Uptown neighborhood. That’s the same block as Ald. James Cappleman’s 46th Ward office. In a statement, Cappleman said the shooter fired three shots across the street from his office near the intersection of Wilson and Broadway. The shooter missed his intended target and hit another man in the calf, Cappleman said, adding that the shooter fled on foot and left … Read More
Seaweed in your gas tank?
March 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Yes, of course, presidents have no direct control over gas prices. But the American people know something about this president and his disdain for oil. The “fuel of the past,” he contemptuously calls it. To the American worker who doesn’t commute by government motorcade and is getting fleeced every week at the pump, oil seems very much a fuel of the present — and of the foreseeable future. Read More
One dead, 16 hurt in overnight shootings
March 17, 2012 Leave a Comment
One man was killed and 16 others were wounded in shootings throughout the city between Friday night and Saturday morning. Joel Sanroman, 42, died after he was shot in the head while in a vehicle in Marquette Park early Saturday, authorities said. Sanroman was driving in the 3100 block of West 53rd Street about 12:45 a.m. when several males on the street started yelling gang slogans at his car and fired as he passed, police said. A few minutes later, two men–ages 22 and 21–who standing in the 7400 block of South Blackstone Avenue were shot when a gunman stepped … Read More
Romeoville man charged with having child pornography
March 15, 2012 Leave a Comment
Jason C. Horton of Romeoville admitted to police he’s been downloading and watching child pornography for years after officers caught him with several computer videos of young children engaging in sex acts this week, prosecutors said. Read More
Man accused of bomb-making now also charged with having child porn
March 13, 2012 Leave a Comment
Bryan Roehr of Wood Dale, accused of building explosives with ingredients he bought online, has been charged with also obtaining child pornography from the Internet, DuPage County authorities said Tuesday. Read More
Obama vs. Israel
March 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
Priority No. 1? Stop Israel WASHINGTON — It’s Lucy and the football, Iran-style. After ostensibly tough talk about preventing Iran from going nuclear, the Obama administration acquiesced to yet another round of talks with the mullahs. Read More
Police kicked, bitten in scrap outside strip club
March 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
A Chicago Police sergeant was kicked in the back and an officer bitten in the hand by one of two men arrested outside a Far South Side strip club early Sunday. The arrests came after one of the men had punched a manager of the club, police said. A Calumet District police sergeant was patrolling in the area of the 12000 block of South Doty Road at 1:45 a.m. when a patron of a nearby strip club walked up to the club’s manager and punched him in the face, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said. The sergeant, who was … Read More
Cab driver shoots two outside depot, turns self in at Police Headquarters
March 10, 2012 Leave a Comment
A cab driver walked into Chicago Police Headquarters Friday night and turned himself in for shooting two people at a Near South Side cab depot less than an hour earlier. Read More
Trial begins for sanctuary owner accused of neglecting animals
March 8, 2012 Leave a Comment
Dawn Hamill, longtime owner of Dazzle’s Painted Pastures Rescue and Sanctuary, is on trial on 10 misdemeanor charges she neglected animals she was supposed to be caring for. Read More
Boy charged with bringing loaded gun to Island Lake school
March 6, 2012 Leave a Comment
A juvenile was charged with unlawful use of a weapon after he brought a loaded gun to a middle school in northwest suburban Island Lake Monday morning. Read More
Police: Man arguing with girlfriend throws her dog off porch, breaking its hip, leg
March 4, 2012 Leave a Comment
A man accused of throwing his girlfriend’s dog off the porch of his Humboldt Park home during an argument was ordered held on $30,000 bond Saturday. Darrick Sharkey, 24, of the 4200 block of West Iowa, was charged with one felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals, police spokesman Hector Alfaro said. The dog’s rear left leg and hip were broken when Sharkey threw the animal off the back porch of the first floor of his home on Feb. 25, Alfaro said. The dog received treatment from the city’s Department of Animal Care and Control. Sharkey was arrested Friday and … Read More
Vernon Hills murder suspect ‘felt like I was possessed’
March 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
The night his girlfriend’s mother was murdered “felt like a dream” to the man accused of her death, according to statements he made to investigators days after the murder. Read More
Teenage boy shot dead in Marquette Park
February 29, 2012 Leave a Comment
A 15-year-old boy was shot dead in the Marquette Park neighborhood Tuesday night. The shooting occurred in the 6900 block of South Washtenaw Avenue, where the boy was shot in the chest and neck at 9:30 p.m., police said. The teenager was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival, according to Fire Media Affairs. Sun-Times Media Wire … Read More
One dead, two critically wounded in Morgan Park shooting
February 27, 2012 Leave a Comment
A 20-year-old man was killed and two teens critically wounded, police said, in a shooting Sunday afternoon in the Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far South Side and seven people were injured when an ambulance responding to the scene struck a vehicle that ran a red light. The 20-year-old, a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy were walking on the street in the 11600 block of 3:30 p.m. when someone inside a white or tan vehicle opened fire on them, according to police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien. One was shot in the chest and stomach, O’Brien said. Another male … Read More
Woman sexually assaulted on CTA Red Line train on South Side
February 25, 2012 Leave a Comment
A 26-year-old woman was sexually assaulted and robbed at knifepoint while riding a CTA Red Line train on the South Side early Friday. Read More
Lawyer: Man rammed ex-wife’s car, shot her six times in self defense
February 23, 2012 Leave a Comment
Jerry L. Hudson of Bolingbrook is on trial in DuPage County on charges he murdered his ex-wife, Melissa Bridgewater, outside an Oak Brook hotel on Jan. 1, 2010. Read More
Police cite funeral home with failing to properly care for human remains
February 21, 2012 Leave a Comment
A South Side funeral home whose sales practices were under federal investigation was hit with a city ordinance violation Monday for “failure to provide adequate shelter, protection, care and disposition of deceased human remains,” police said. Read More
Obamacare’s wreckage
February 19, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Give him points for cleverness. President Barack Obama’s birth control “accommodation” was as politically successful as it was morally meaningless. It was nothing but an accounting trick that still forces Catholic (and other religious) institutions to provide medical insurance that guarantees free birth control, tubal ligation and morning-after abortifacients — all of which violate church doctrine on the sanctity of life. Read More
Police use stolen Apple MacBook’s tracking software to find it
February 17, 2012 Leave a Comment
Police used tracking technology to trace a $4,500 laptop that was swiped from a Hinsdale office building — and caught the alleged thief still holding it, police said. The 17-inch Apple MacBook laptop had been left in a conference room of an office building. Its owner went to lunch and returned to find it gone. He called police, who activated the machine’s internal tracking technology. Police traced it to a home in Addison, and officers from Hinsdale and Addison went out at 5 p.m. Wednesday. When they got to the home, they saw a barefoot man leaving through the back … Read More
City advances plan to target sellers of hallucinogenic bath salts
February 15, 2012 Leave a Comment
Chicago would go after head shops, bars, gas stations and other businesses that sell synthetic stimulants disguised as bath salts that mimic the effects of cocaine, Ecstasy and methamphetamines under a crackdown advanced Tuesday to stay one step ahead of the profiteers. Less than two months after banning synthetic marijuana, the City Council’s Finance Committee moved to block a product already illegal under state law but still sold with impunity. Bath salts have become increasingly popular with student athletes because they don’t show up on drug tests. The ordinance was approved unanimously after Cara Smith, deputy chief of staff to … Read More
Judge bans woman from Nieman Marcus
February 13, 2012 Leave a Comment
A Cook County Judge has banned a South Side woman from shopping at high-end designer department store Nieman Marcus. Deli worker Vicky Davis, 44, was banned from the Magnificent Mile landmark Sunday by Judge Peggy Chiampas during a brief court hearing. Prosecutors allege Davis — who is charged with felony retail theft — tried to walk out of Nieman Marcus on Saturday with a $745 Fendi designer handbag she had not paid for. If she manages to pay 10 percent of her $10,000 bail and get out of Cook County Jail, “You cannot go shopping at Nieman Marcus,” Chiampas told … Read More
The Gospel according to Obama
February 13, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — At the recent National Prayer Breakfast, seeking theological underpinning for his drive to raise taxes on the rich, President Barack Obama invoked the highest possible authority. His policy, he testified “as a Christian,” “coincides with Jesus’ teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’ ” Read More
Two toddlers abandoned on South Side street
February 11, 2012 Leave a Comment
Two toddlers were left alone on a chilly street in Hamilton Park Friday on the South Side, and police are now trying to find out who abandoned them. A white minivan dropped off the children — a boy and girl believed to each be about two years old — on the street in the 7100 block of South Normal, an alert from Wentworth Area detectives said. Both children are described as 2-feet-6, 30-pound African-American children with a medium complexion, black hair and brown eyes, police said. DCFS has taken protective custody of both children, police said. Anyone with information about … Read More
County board to debate controversial immigration policy
February 9, 2012 Leave a Comment
Cook County commissioners will be on the hot seat Thursday as they face critics and supporters of a controversial policy directing the county sheriff to ignore requests from the feds to hold suspected illegal immigrants in jail longer. Immigration rights activists, expected to show up by the dozens at a public hearing in the downtown county board room, will call on elected leaders to stand by the new policy, which saves county taxpayers money and some of the U.S. citizens drawn in to deportation investigations, merely because of their last names. Brian McCann, too, is expected to testify that the … Read More
Man who cut baby from mother’s womb can argue he didn’t get fair trial
February 7, 2012 Leave a Comment
Fedell Caffey, the man who cut a baby from his mother’s womb in 1995, hideously killing her and two of her children, will get a chance to argue that he was denied a fair trial, a federal judge has ruled. Read More
Pressing hard for the fall of Assad
February 6, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Imperial regimes can crack when they are driven out of their major foreign outposts. The fall of the Berlin Wall did not just signal the liberation of Eastern Europe from Moscow. It prefigured the collapse of the Soviet Union itself just two years later. Read More
Sources: Naperville teacher died trying to save friend; man charged
February 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
School teacher Shaun Wild was fatally stabbed while attempting to stop a man from attacking Wild’s former college football teammate at a Naperville nightclub early Saturday, sources said. Daniel Olaska, 27, has been charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the crime, prosecutors said Saturday. Read More
Prosecutor Alvarez creates team to probe wrongful conviction claims
February 3, 2012 Leave a Comment
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office has established a new unit that will solely investigate wrongful convictions claims, which critics have said weren’t sufficiently probed. The office has always taken such cases seriously, but the new unit marks a “shift in philosophy,” in which the office intends to “increase our focus and our openness about these cases,” State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said. “In my view, my job is not just about racking up convictions, it’s about always seeking justice,” she said. Read More
Disability-parking abuse crackdown targets meter cheaters in Loop
February 1, 2012 Leave a Comment
Ten able-bodied drivers who authorities say used disabled-parking placards or license plates to try to park for free in metered spots around downtown Chicago were ticketed Tuesday in the city’s first sting operation since stricter, new city penalties for the offense took effect Sunday. Read More
The judge, the madam and the baby she ‘bought’
January 30, 2012 Leave a Comment
A notorious madam, convicted of running a brothel, goes to court to prove she’s fit to be the adoptive mom of two little girls. Kimberly Miniea has fought to get the children back from foster care for more than two years, ever since police raided the home where her prostitutes charged $220 per trick. She’s had some discreet help from a family friend: retired Judge James M. Bailey. Read More
Woman injured trying to stop couple from stealing her car at Gurnee mall
January 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
A north suburban woman was injured when she tried to stop two people from stealing her car and was struck by the door of the car as it drove away Wednesday night outside the Gurnee Mills mall. The victim, a 19-year-old Round Lake Heights woman, told Gurnee police that after she got off work at Gurnee Mills in the 6100 block of Grand Avenue on Wednesady evening, her boyfriend had picked her up and drove her to her parked car in the parking lot. She started her car and left it running to warm up while she waited in her … Read More
Gun owner ID cards soar in Chicago
January 26, 2012 Leave a Comment
Chicago has seen a 16 percent spike in the number of people holding state firearm owner’s identification cards in the past two years, state officials said Wednesday. About 122,000 people possessed FOID cards at the beginning of this year compared to 105,000 at the beginning of 2010, said Monique Bond, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Police. Illinois residents must possess a FOID card to buy guns in the state. Illinois State Police officials check an applicant’s identification and background before issuing a card. The uptick in FOID cards follows the City Council’s approval of a July 2010 ordinance lifting a … Read More
Illinois to allow courtroom cameras on ‘experimental basis’
January 24, 2012 Leave a Comment
The Illinois Supreme Court will open up trial courts to cameras on an experimental basis, handing news broadcasters a major victory in a 29-year battle to bring high-profile trials to the masses. It’s unclear, however, whether Cook County will be part of the experiment. Read More
Man who stole NW Ind. cop car: ‘It was desperate and sad and I am very apologetic’
January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment
William Blankenship III, in jail for stealing a police car in northwest Indiana and hiding from police for two days, said in a jailhouse interview that ‘I regret the whole thing.’ Read More
Suicide march
January 22, 2012 Leave a Comment
“Are you better off today than you were $4 trillion ago?” Read More
Court hears tapes of ‘The Monk’ at trial
January 20, 2012 Leave a Comment
High-line mob thief Joseph Jerry “The Monk” Scalise does not have a high opinion of Oscar D’Angelo — the controversial lobbyist and onetime pal to former Mayor Richard Daley. “That m – - – - – - – - – - – is so arrogant,” Scalise said of D’Angelo, according to recordings the FBI secretly made that were played in federal court for the first time Thursday. Scalise wanted to break into D’Angelo’s home, according to the tapes. Or scoop D’Angelo off the street like a dogcatcher does with a dog. “Choke ’em and take ’em right in,” said Scalise, … Read More
Surfer arrested off Oak Street Beach
January 18, 2012 Leave a Comment
Police arrested a man surfing in Lake Michigan Tuesday evening on the Near North Side. Police from the Near North District and Marine Unit responded about 5 p.m. to a report of a man surfing in Lake Michigan off Oak Street Beach in the 1000 block of North Lake Shore Drive, police said. Rex Flodstrom, 40, of the 200 block of East Delaware Place was arrested and cited for disorderly conduct, two counts of violating a Chicago Park District ordinance and one count of being in a park after hours because beaches are closed until May 25. Lifeguards are not … Read More
Wrong-way driver nearly hits state trooper
January 16, 2012 Leave a Comment
Illinois State Police arrested a wrong-way, allegedly drunk, motorist early Monday on the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94) after the driver nearly struck an ISP trooper conducting a traffic stop. The trooper was conducting a traffic stop on the northbound Kennedy Expressway about 1:45 a.m. at North Kostner Avenue when the trooper spotted the headlights of a wrong-way driver headed at him and the vehicle he had pulled over, according to Illinois State Police Mark Hall. The wrong-way driver swerved onto the shoulder, nearly striking the trooper’s squad car, Hall said. The squad car had its lights on at the time, Hall … Read More
Ron Paul is not going to go away
January 16, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Two stories came out of New Hampshire. The big story was Mitt Romney. The bigger one was Ron Paul. Read More
Woman acquitted of eavesdropping charges for recording cops sues city
January 14, 2012 Leave a Comment
A woman found not guilty of secretly recording Chicago Police officers who allegedly tried to discourage her from filing a complaint against an officer who groped her filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the city and the officers. Read More
Police: Man stabbed to death by girlfriend in Lake View
January 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
A woman is in custody after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death during an argument Wednesday in the North Side Lake View neighborhood. Police say the 42-year-old woman stabbed her boyfriend, also 42, in the abdomen while they argued in an apartment in the 600 block of West Patterson Avenue about 10:15 p.m. Brian Hawkins, of the 2500 block of East 77th Street, was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 11 p.m.. The woman is in custody and charges are pending. Belmont Area detectives are investigating. … Read More
Man found shot to death in Edgewater alley
January 10, 2012 Leave a Comment
A man found fatally shot Monday night in the North Side Edgewater neighborhood, police said. The man was found about 11:45 p.m. in an alley in the 5800 block of North Kenmore Avenue, police said. Aaron Price, 32, of the 5500 block of North Winthrop Avenue, was pronounced dead at 12:30 a.m. at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. He had been shot multiple times, police said. No one was in custody early Tuesday. Belmont Area detectives are investigating. … Read More
Three stabbed on the South Side
January 8, 2012 Leave a Comment
Three people — including a woman and teenage girl — were stabbed in the South Shore neighborhood Saturday afternoon. Police responded at 4:18 p.m. to a reported stabbing in the 1300 block of East 71st Place that stemmed from a possible noise disturbance, according to preliminary police information. Emergency personnel found a 40-year-old man and 34-year-old woman stabbed in the head and a 14-year-old girl stabbed in the hand, police said. All three were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The adults were listed in serious condition, while the girl was in good condition. The … Read More
A worthy challenger
January 8, 2012 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — After every other conservative alternative to Mitt Romney crashed and burned (libertarian Ron Paul is in a category of his own), from the rubble emerges Rick Santorum. But he isn’t just the last man standing. He is the first challenger to be plausibly presidential: knowledgeable, articulate, experienced, of stable character and authentic ideology. Read More
Teen, man seriously hurt among 4 shot in West Garfield Park
January 6, 2012 Leave a Comment
One man was seriously wounded while three other people, including a teen boy, were hurt when shooters opened fire at a group of people on a West Side Garfield Park street Thursday afternoon. At least two gunmen walked up and opened fire at a group standing on the sidewalk in the 200 block of North Kenneth Avenue about 2:50 p.m., police said. A 24-year-old man shot in the chest was the most severely wounded among the four people hit by gunfire, police said. He was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park in serious condition. A 14-year-old boy … Read More
Police: Nephew gouges out man’s eyes during Joliet Township argument
January 4, 2012 Leave a Comment
A career criminal allegedly gouged out his uncle’s eyes while the two men fought over a remote control New Year’s Eve, police said. Will County Sheriff’s police were called shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday to a residence in the 1100 block of McKay Street where a 62-year-old man reported he had been attacked. A deputy was allowed inside and found the victim at the bottom of the basement stairs with his hands stretched out in front of him, saying, “Please help. I cannot see,” reports said. The victim, whose name was not released, had “blood streaming from both eyeballs, covering … Read More
Jogger in critical condition after pit bull attack on Southeast Side
January 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
A man is in critical condition after being attacked by two pit bulls while jogging in Rainbow Beach Park on the Southeast Side Monday morning. Read More
A tragic story about our cosmic destiny
January 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
— Huge excitement. Two Earth-size planets found orbiting a sunlike star less than a thousand light-years away. This comes two weeks after the stunning announcement of another planet orbiting another star at precisely the right distance — within the so-called “habitable zone” that is not too hot and not too cold — to allow for liquid water and therefore possible life. Read More
Driver who killed girl, 10, again faces multiple DUI charges
December 31, 2011 Leave a Comment
During the nearly 18 months since he finished his punishment for killing a 10-year-old Lockport girl while driving drunk, Glen Higgginbotham Jr. has been arrested twice more for DUI. The first DUI arrest came a year ago, only five months after the Yorkville man was discharged from a prison sentence he received — in part for his conviction in the May 1999 drunken driving crash that killed Candace Graham. His second DUI arrest came Christmas Day. Now, Higginbotham, 33, is facing two court dates in January on the separate drunken driving cases. Court records show that Higginbotham has a history … Read More
Police share numbers connected to food delivery robberies
December 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
Chicago police are warning food delivery drivers and business owners of several armed robberies of delivery drivers that have taken place in the South Side Prairie and Grand Crossing districts. The two districts are east of the Dan Ryan Expressway, between about 31st to 75th streets. The robbers order the food using cell phones, the community alert from Calumet Area detectives said. When the drivers arrive at the location the food was ordered to, they are then robbed at gunpoint, the alert said. The cell phone numbers that have frequently been used in these robberies, according to the alert, are: … Read More
Second man charged in ‘09 murder of 3 teens
December 27, 2011 Leave a Comment
More than two years after three teen boys were gunned down in a gang-related triple homicide on the Southeast Side, a second suspect has been charged in their murders. Geovanni Lopez, 22, of the 17000 block of South Commercial Avenue in Lansing, was charged Monday with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 20, 2009, slaying in the 2900 block of East 87th Street, according to police News Affairs. Lopez is the second suspect to be charged in the shooting that claimed the lives of Johnny Edwards, 13, a sixth-grader, and Bowen High students Kendrick Pitts, 17, … Read More
The Republicans’ payroll tax debacle
December 26, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Now that Congress has reached agreement on what must be one of the worst pieces of legislation in years — the temporary payroll tax holiday extension — let’s survey the damage. Read More
Gas station attendant shot in robbery in Canaryville
December 24, 2011 Leave a Comment
A gas station attendant was in serious condition after being shot in a robbery Saturday afternoon at a BP station at 43rd Street and State Street in Canaryville. Read More
Man charged for exposing himself at Naperville school
December 23, 2011 Leave a Comment
A west suburban man was charged Thursday with exposing himself to a staff member at a Naperville school. Police responded at 3:18 p.m. Thursday to Beebe Elementary School in the 100 block of East 11th Avenue in Naperville for an exposure incident and learned custodian Kenneth R. Brown exposed himself to a staff member, according to a Naperville police release. Police said Brown made contact with the staff member, but she did not require medical attention. Brown, who also works at the school, fled before police arrived, the release said. Police initiated a canvass of the area and found Brown, … Read More
Man kills himself, hours before he was to plead guilty to sex crime
December 21, 2011 Leave a Comment
A former Will County Health Department counselor and high school basketball referee accused of trying to arrange a sexual tryst with a 13-year-old girl last year committed suicide hours before he was expected to plead guilty and learn his sentence in court, authorities said. Read More
Winnetka fitness owner charged with forgery
December 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
Police are urging members of a chain of fitness clubs to check their billing statements after the owner of a Winnetka location allegedly forged a customer’s signature on a fitness contract and charged several thousand dollars in fees to their credit card. Winnetka police arrested Silvia Knilans, 35, of the 2700 block of Birchwood in Wilmette, Thursday on felony charges of forgery and unlawful use of a credit card. Winnetka police officials reported Knilans owns and operates Body Empowered Fitness, at 552 Lincoln Ave. in Winnetka. After a person signed up for a one-month temporary membership at the fitness club, … Read More
What cheek-turning gets you: Dissed
December 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
“Ask Osama bin Laden … whether I engage in appeasement.” Read More
New book exposes world of sex crimes against children
December 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
Sex crimes involving children have dominated headlines in recent months. From the abuse scandal that rocked Penn State to a Schaumburg teacher accused of masturbating in front of his students to a Chicago pimp convicted of luring and forcing young girls into prostitution. While examples abound, there’s still a learning curve for the public, law enforcement and even judges on how to handle such crimes, according to a new book, “Child Exploitation and Trafficking; Examining the Global Challenges and U.S. Responses.” Written by Virginia Kendall, a federal judge in Chicago, and T. Markus Funk, a former prosecutor here, the book … Read More
Oak Lawn man gets 17 years for killing wife
December 15, 2011 Leave a Comment
Joseph Jesk, a 24-year-old Army veteran who had recently returned from the war in Iraq, was sentenced to 17 years in prison after he admitted to killing his wife, Heather, in the couple’s Oak Lawn home in 2010. Read More
Officers track iPhone thief with GPS app
December 13, 2011 Leave a Comment
GPS technology led Chicago police officers to two men who allegedly robbed a man for his iPhone in the Northwest Side Noble Square neighborhood Tuesday morning. It was 2:40 a.m. and the 24-year-old victim was walking home from the Blue Line station at Division when two men approached him in the 1400 block of West Blackhawk Street, according to Shakespeare District Lt. Michael Mulkerin. The men, 18 and 19, threatened the victim with a knife and demanded his iPhone, according to Mulkerin. The suspects fled with the phone and the victim called police, who arrested the two men near North … Read More
Obama’s campaign for class resentment
December 12, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — In the first month of his presidency, Barack Obama averred that if in three years he hadn’t alleviated the nation’s economic pain, he’d be a “one-term proposition.” Read More
Four wounded in rush-hour shooting in busy intersection in Uptown
December 10, 2011 Leave a Comment
Four people were wounded — three critically — in a Friday night shooting in the Uptown neighborhood. The apparent drive-by shooting happened just before 6 p.m. near North Sheridan and West Wilson, Chicago Police spokesman Ronald Gaines said. Police said three people were found on the scene and a fourth person took himself to Weiss Memorial Hospital. Chicago Fire Department paramedics took three men to hospitals in critical condition. Two of the men were taken to Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston and the third was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. The CTA rerouted the Sheridan (No. 151), Wilson/Michigan … Read More
Aurora woman pleads guilty in crash that killed two
December 9, 2011 Leave a Comment
Alia Bernard of Aurora pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of aggravated driving under the influence for causing a May 2009 crash that killed Wade and Denise Thomas of St Charles. Read More
Vandals strike Christmas decorations
December 7, 2011 Leave a Comment
While Santa’s arrival isn’t expected for a couple more weeks, it appears the Grinch has already arrived and gotten to work in the Chicago area. At least two suburbs have reported instances of Christmas decoration-related vandalism recently, ranging from lights being to a creative and a possibly offensive re-positioning of outdoor decorations. In Evanston, sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, someone cut the Christmas lights in a yard on the 1900 block of Lee Street, according to a police report. In west suburban Lombard, police have reported a few instances of Christmas decorations being vandalized or stolen. Last Thursday … Read More
Mugger chooses wrong victim: MMA fighter
December 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
A convicted felon chose the wrong victim when he tried to rob an ultimate fighter Friday night on the Southwest Side and ended up with two black eyes and a gunshot wound to the ankle. Read More
Buckle down: Mitt vs. Newt?
December 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
— It’s Iowa minus one month, and barring yet another resurrection, or something of similar improbability, it’s Mitt Romney versus Newt Gingrich. In a match race, here’s the scorecard: Read More
Son charged with mother’s murder in Bolingbrook
December 3, 2011 Leave a Comment
A 23-year-old man allegedly murdered his mother during a domestic dispute in Bolingbrook Friday, police said. Michael L. Marzo has been charged with one count of first-degree murder in the slaying of 52-year-old Shirley M. Marzo, Bolingbrook police Lt. Michael Rompa said. The woman’s daughter told officers who responded to the domestic call in the 500 block of Nassau Avenue that her mother was dead. Shirley Marzo was discovered in the bathroom with multiple stab wounds to her back, police said.. After an extensive search, Michael Marzo was arrested in Chenoa — about 80 miles southwest of Bolingbrook, Rompa said. … Read More
Prosecutors: Lockport man beat father to death
November 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
Scott Sullivan told police his father fell. Paramedics found 86-year-old Fred Sullivan lying on his back in his son’s living room July 18, 2010. He couldn’t talk and, according to prosecutors, he never would again. Paramedics said the senior citizen’s face was swollen, his skin was torn and his body bruised. They found blood in the living room and the dining room — on the carpet, the walls and the ceiling. “His father did not fall,” James Long, an assistant state’s attorney, told a Will County jury. “He suffered a physical assault.” That assault came at the hands of his … Read More
Prosecutors: Lockport man beat his father to death
November 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
Scott Sullivan told police his father fell. Paramedics found 86-year-old Fred Sullivan lying on his back in his son’s living room July 18, 2010. He couldn’t talk and, according to prosecutors, he never would again. Paramedics said the senior citizen’s face was swollen, his skin was torn and his body bruised. They found blood in the living room and the dining room — on the carpet, the walls and the ceiling. “His father did not fall,” James Long, an assistant state’s attorney, told a Will County jury. “He suffered a physical assault.” That assault came at the hands of his … Read More
The Grover Norquist myth
November 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Democrats are unanimous in charging that the debt-reduction supercommittee collapsed because Republicans refused to raise taxes. Apparently, Republicans are in the thrall of one Grover Norquist, the anti-tax campaigner, whom Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., called “the 13th member of this committee without being there.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid helpfully suggested “maybe they should impeach Grover Norquist.” Read More
Mom, boyfriend charged in death of 4-year-old
November 27, 2011 Leave a Comment
The mother of 4-year-old boy who died of blunt-force trauma was charged with concealing a homicide, and her boyfriend, who lived with the family was charged with murder. Read More
Man in custody, 2 others sought in West Side charter school’s 6th burglary
November 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
A 21-year-old man is in custody and police are searching for two others after the three were spotted by police after burglarizing a West Side charter school — the sixth burglary reported at the school since Sept. 13. A burglary alarm went off at Polaris Elementary Charter School at 620 N. Sawyer Ave. at 3:27 a.m. Friday and police, knowing the school had been hit before, got there by 3:33 a.m., police said. Officers saw three men coming out of the school and they began running as police approached. Police saw one of the men carrying a duffel bag, which … Read More
Driving on a suspended license? Stop quickly and maybe the cops won’t notice
November 23, 2011 Leave a Comment
Some advice to motorists driving on a suspended license: Try not to attract a police officer’s attention when you’re behind the wheel. Read More
Chicago man guilty of trafficking young girls
November 21, 2011 Leave a Comment
A Chicago pimp on Monday was convicted of trafficking juveniles — girls as young as 12 — forcing them into prostitution and keeping them in the life through beatings and violent threats. Datqunn Sawyer, 32, now faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years behind bars following a trial that exposed the violent underworld of forced sex trafficking in Chicago. Read More
Obama’s great pipeline sellout
November 20, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — In 2008, the slogan was “Yes We Can.” For 2011-12, it’s “We Can’t Wait.” What happened in between? Candidate Obama, the vessel into which myriad dreams were poured, met the reality of governance. Read More
Fourth conviction in 2004 murder of West Side shopkeeper
November 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
Lee McGee thought nobody was watching when he nonchalantly rifled through the pockets of the West Side storekeeper he and his nephew gunned down in a hail of bullets seven years ago. McGee had also enlisted the help of his girlfriend, who worked at Best Fit clothing, to remove the business’ video surveillance tape before the 2004 botched robbery. But what Latorria Fields didn’t know was that the camera system she believed was broken had been fixed by her boss In Taik “James” Jung, 50. On Friday, after watching snippets of the footage that captured some of the flashing gunfire … Read More
Jail guard who smuggled pot to Bucktown baseball bat attacker gets probation
November 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
A Cook County jail guard who helped smuggle marijuana into the cell of the man charged in the infamous brutal Bucktown baseball bat attack was sentenced to 30 months probation earlier this week. Jerome Prusa, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct for the June incident before Cook County Judge Joseph Claps last month, according to court records. Claps sentenced Prusa on Wednesday and also ordered the Westchester man to pay $500 in fines, perform 10 days of community service and undergo random drug tests. Unbeknownst to Prusa, the sheriff’s office was conducting an undercover sting in the … Read More
Bolingbrook man on trial for sex assault of 15-year-old girls
November 15, 2011 Leave a Comment
Jose Solis of Bolingbrook is on trial in Will County this week on charges he sexually assaulted two 15-year-old girls in 2009. Read More
The 2011 election: A split decision
November 14, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — The 2011 off-year elections are a warning to Republicans. The 2010 party is over; 2012 will be a struggle. Read More
6-year-old shot playing ‘cops and robbers’ in Morgan Park
November 13, 2011 Leave a Comment
A 6-year-old was shot while playing “cops and robbers” in Far South Side Morgan Park neighborhood Sunday morning, according to sources. Read More
Web video of Red Line attack has police looking for victim
November 11, 2011 Leave a Comment
A startling Internet video shows a young man striking an older man at a CTA station on the Near North Side, then getting on a train and apparently joking about the attack with friends. The video was graphic enough to grab the attention of police, who are attempting to locate the victim, apparently a homeless man, to see if he wants to press charges. But charges may be unlikely as the attack happened several months ago, and the victim has not come forward to file a report. “It is an open investigation and detectives are still trying to find the … Read More
2 brothers convicted of swindling elderly in home-repair scams
November 9, 2011 Leave a Comment
A federal jury Wednesday convicted two brothers of swindling elderly Chicago residents in a home-repair scam believed to have claimed dozens of victims on the West and South Sides. John J. Sullivan, 49, of Surprise, Ariz., and Daniel J. Sullivan, 45, of Niles, promised expensive repairs but intentionally failed to complete the projects between 2002 and 2006, federal prosecutors said. They face forfeiture of up to $1.2 million in illegal proceeds as well as prison terms of up to 20 years on each of two counts of fraud when they are sentenced Jan. 26. A co-defendant, Patrick R. Rooney, 53, … Read More
Teen gets two years in prison for attacking gay man
November 7, 2011 Leave a Comment
An Oswego man was sentenced to two years in prison for beating a man because he was gay. Read More
How Obama lost the war
November 7, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama was a principled opponent of the Iraq War from its beginning. But when he became president in January 2009, he was handed a war that was won. The surge had succeeded. Al-Qaida in Iraq had been routed, driven to humiliating defeat by an Anbar Awakening of Sunnis fighting side-by-side with the infidel Americans. Even more remarkably, the Shiite militias had been taken down, with American backing, by the forces of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. They crushed the Sadr militias from Basra to Sadr City. Read More
Newborn found dead in public washroom was strangled
November 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
A newborn baby boy found dead in a garbage can at a Salvation Army store in Streamwood was strangled after being born alive, authorities said Saturday as they searched for the infant’s mother. The 6-pound, 11-ounce baby was born alive Friday in the store’s restroom, then apparently strangled and hidden in a trash can there, Streamwood police Cmdr. Dan Barnes said. The 18-inch long, full-term baby still had his umbilical cord attached when he was discovered by a store employee, police said. Police are searching for a Hispanic woman who may be the baby’s mother — she was in the … Read More
Source: Suspect in Indian Head Park stabbing death contacted girl’s mom
November 4, 2011 Leave a Comment
A man in custody in connection with an Indian Head Park teen’s death may have called or texted her mother on the teen’s cell phone either before or after she died, a law enforcement source told the Sun-Times. Read More
More check-writing trouble for convicted forger, thief
November 1, 2011 Leave a Comment
James Vainisi of St. Charles man is accused of writing bad checks, including one to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office. Read More
Man fatally shot, but where?
October 31, 2011 Leave a Comment
Police in Harvey are investigating the death of a man who was anonymously dropped off at a hospital in the south suburb early Sunday after he had been shot. Jamail Xavier Seay, 20, of the 14200 block of South Stewart Avenue in Riverdale, was pronounced dead at 1:30 a.m. at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, according to medical examiner’s office. An autopsy Sunday found that Seay died of a gunshot wound to the chest and his death was ruled a homicide. … Read More
To all you dictators: Pay close attention
October 31, 2011 Leave a Comment
There’s a lesson for you in Gadhafi’s demise WASHINGTON — You’ve got your Mexican standoff, your Russian roulette, your Chinese water torture. And now, your Libyan crossfire. That’s when a pistol is applied to the head and a bullet crosses from one temple to the other. Read More
35 years later, inmate on deathbed confesses to missing man’s murder
October 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
The family of a Rolling Meadows man who disappeared in 1975 may get some closure more than 35 years later after a Joliet man serving time in state prison confessed to his murder — and another killing — on his deathbed. Michael Mansfield, a 19-year-old college student from Rolling Meadows, was home on break on Dec. 31, 1975, when he left his home and was never seen again, a release from Rolling Meadows police said. The disappearance came six days before he was scheduled to testify against Russell Smrekar, his Lincoln College roommate, who was accused of stealing a guitar … Read More
Gang member sentenced to 60 years in prison for slaying by Aurora hotel
October 27, 2011 Leave a Comment
Edgar Hill was shot to death in 2007 as he tried to stop gang member Enrique Torres from breaking into a car parked outside an Aurora hotel. Torres was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison for shooting Hill three times as he lay helpless on the ground after struggling with Torres and another gang member. The sentence imposed by DuPage County Judge Robert Kleeman will keep the 28-year-old Naperville man behind bars until he is about 86 years old. Prosecutors praised the sentence, saying the 35-year-old Hill was slain for “just trying to do the right thing.” “This senseless … Read More
Harper College wrestler charged in home invasion in which he was shot
October 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
A Harper College wrestler, shot and badly wounded after he broke into a police officer’s DuPage County home, told investigators he was drunk and didn’t remember entering the house. Kerin Ramirez was shot once in the abdomen by an off-duty Wood Dale cop after fighting for at least 10 minutes with the veteran officer and a neighbor — a retired cop — who came to his aid, DuPage County authorities said Monday. Read More
Republicans deliver smackdowns in the desert
October 23, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — On Tuesday night, seismologists at the Las Vegas Oceanographic Institute reported the first recorded movement of a hair on Mitt Romney’s head. Although it was only one follicle, displaced a mere 1.2 centimeters, the tremors were felt from Iowa to New Hampshire. Simultaneously, these same scientists detected signs of life in Rick Perry, last seen comatose at the recent Dartmouth debate. Read More
Truck tailgates latest hot item for thieves
October 22, 2011 Leave a Comment
Catalytic converters. Spare tires. Now tailgates? Suburban police are warning pickup truck drivers to beware of thieves who are nabbing the tailgates off parked trucks. Oswego police said six of the pricey tailgates — they cost around $4,200 — have been swiped since May. Two tailgates were taken off Ford F250s, three from Ford F350s and one from a Ford F450. None of the trucks was more than three years old. One of the tailgates had a rearview camera installed on it, police said. The tailgates have been stolen while the trucks were parked in business parking lots and residential … Read More
County inspectors accused of taking cigarette tax bribes
October 21, 2011 Leave a Comment
Two Cook County revenue investigators have been fired for allegedly accepting “thousands” of dollars in bribes — hush money from convenience stores and other outlets selling cigarettes without paying the local tobacco tax. Read More
Defense argues Cellini not involved in extortion scheme
October 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
The defense in the corruption trial of millionaire power broker William Cellini got to the heart of its case Tuesday, asserting that he wasn’t the mastermind nor even a knowing participant in a scheme to extort a Hollywood producer for campaign contributions to ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Cellini lawyer Dan Webb hammered away at government witness Stuart Levine by painstakingly going word-for-word through secretly recorded phone calls that prosecutors said were damning, asking Levine to pinpoint precisely where Cellini told Levine he’d conveyed to Rosenberg that a $1.5 million contribution to Blagojevich was a condition for Rosenberg getting a $220 million … Read More
Homeless man accused in rape had history of drifting, arrests
October 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
Teresa Dodson hadn’t laid eyes on her elder son, Dennis, for years. The last she knew about a decade ago, he had an address in Independence, Mo. “We’ve been trying to find him for a long time,” she said from her Iowa home. She knows now he’s in the Cook County Jail, on the psychiatric floor of the hospital wing. For drugs, she assumed. Denny’s drug problems started after he and some friends stole hog tranquilizers as a teenager from a vet’s office, she said. “None of them were quite right after that,” she said. Dodson certainly didn’t know her … Read More
Police lieutenant under investigation for dropping infant
October 15, 2011 Leave a Comment
A Chicago police lieutenant is under investigation for allegedly dropping a man’s 4-month-old infant after he handcuffed the man in a restaurant, according to police and news reports. Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 News reported that Chaz Byars claimed the lieutenant came into an Auburn-Gresham restaurant last Tuesday to investigate reports of shots fired. He began interrogating another man when Byars came to the man’s defense. That’s when “he grabbed my child’s car seat and my child fell out and hit his head,” Byars told Fox. Byars said he was handcuffed and arrested. Byars said doctors told him the boy checked out … Read More
Robber hits same Loop bank for fourth time
October 13, 2011 Leave a Comment
A man who is believed to have robbed a Loop bank branch at least three times in the past two months may have struck for the fourth time Wednesday afternoon. About 1:30 p.m., a man handed a note to a teller at the Chicago Community Bank branch at 52 E. Lake St. implying he had a weapon, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said. The man got an unknown amount of money and was last seen fleeing eastbound toward Michigan Avenue, Mirabelli said. No one was injured and the man did not show a gun. It is believed this same … Read More
Four teens wounded in South Side shooting
October 10, 2011 Leave a Comment
Four teenagers were wounded in a shooting in the South Side Grand Crossing neighborhood Monday afternoon. The shooting happened about 2:50 p.m. on the 7200 block of South Evans Avenue, according to police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien. Police had no details on the shooting as of about 3:20 p.m. The victims were all in their mid to late teens, Fire Media Affairs Chief Kevin MacGregor said. A 14-year-old was taken to University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital in serious condition. Two victims, in fair to serious condition, were taken to Jackson Park Hospital, he said, and the fourth, believed … Read More
Gone in 60 nanoseconds
October 10, 2011 Leave a Comment
“We don’t allow faster-than-light neutrinos in here,” says the bartender. Read More
Three dead, 20 wounded by citywide gunfire
October 8, 2011 Leave a Comment
At least three people are dead and 20 others, including 10 teenagers, were wounded in apparently separate shootings during a bloody 13 hours throughout the city Friday and early Saturday. The first murder happened Saturday night in the Lake View neighborhood. A 29-year-old man — identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office as Louis Cotto — was standing with a group of people on a corner in the 3900 block of North Ashland Avenue when he was shot in the chest and back about 1:20 a.m. in a possible drive-by shooting, police said. About 4 a.m., a male was … Read More
Woman stabbed in shoulder while riding CTA train
October 6, 2011 Leave a Comment
A woman was stabbed in the shoulder while riding a CTA Red Line train on the South Side, police say. It happened at 9:21 p.m. in the 3400 block of South State Street, police said. A woman was stabbed in the shoulder while riding the train. The altercation happened on a southbound Red Line train near the 35th Street station, CTA spokeswoman Wanda Taylor said. Police were called but by the time they arrived, those involved in the fight had left, she said. Still, the woman was taken to Mercy Medical Center in good condition for her injuries, police said. … Read More
Blagojevich’s Northwest Side home goes on the market
October 3, 2011 Leave a Comment
The Ravenswood Manor property that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, his wife, Patti, and their two children have called home since 1999 is officially on the market. The asking price: $1.07 million for the 13-room brick home, built in 1929. “The best thing about it is that it was the place we raised our children,” Patti Blagojevich said in an interview Monday. The 3,817-square-foot property was listed Sunday. Blagojevich would not say how much equity the family has left in the home. “It was built in 1929 by a man building high rises along Lake Shore Drive. When the economy slowed … Read More
Man shot dead in Northwest Side drive-by
October 1, 2011 Leave a Comment
A Northwest Side man was fatally shot in an early Saturday drive-by in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood. The man — identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office as 20-year-old Xavier Silva — was shot about 4:20 a.m. in the 2200 block of North Mango Avenue, police News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan said. Police said the man was outside when he was struck by gunfire from an apparent drive-by shooting. His friends then took him to an unidentified hospital. Silva, of 3236 N. Natchez Ave., was pronounced dead at 4:58 a.m. at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, the medical examiner’s office … Read More
Police: Man fatally shot while driving on Far South Side
September 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
Police are searching for a gunman who shot and killed a man while he was driving Thursday night in the Burnside neighborhood on the Far South Side. The shooting happened about 10:10 p.m. in the 9400 block of South Avalon Avenue, police said. A man, whose age was not immediately available, crashed the vehicle he was driving after he was shot by an unknown gunman, according to police. A man in his 20s was dead on the scene, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. No one was in custody Thursday morning, police said. Calumet Area detectives are investigating. … Read More
Police again called to home of state senator for domestic incident
September 27, 2011 Leave a Comment
A call of a domestic battery at the north suburban home of State Sen. Suzanne “Suzi” Schmidt and her husband prompted a visit from Lake County Sheriff’s police for the second time in about six weeks. As in the previous visit to the home in the 38500 block of Ardmore Lane in Lake Villa, which occurred on Aug. 16, no charges were filed, police said. At approximately 6:30 p.m. Monday, Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the home for a report of a domestic battery, a release from the sheriff’s office said. Deputies met with Robert Schmidt and Suzanne Schmidt … Read More
Return of the real, soak-the-rich, class warrior Obama
September 26, 2011 Leave a Comment
In a 2008 debate, former ABC News broadcaster Charlie Gibson asked Barack Obama about his support for raising capital gains taxes, given the historical record of government losing net revenue as a result. Obama persevered: “Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.” Read More
Man accused of kidnapping ex charged with attempted murder
September 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
A woman was held for more than two months against her will and regularly abused by a former boyfriend who has been charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and domestic battery in the case, Chicago police say. Read More
Former TSA manager at O’Hare charged with murder in Mississippi
September 22, 2011 Leave a Comment
A top federal Transportation Security Administration official who until 2008 worked at O’Hare Airport is being held in a Mississippi jail, accused of murdering a co-worker. Ruben Orlando Benitez — whose family still lives in Chicago — is charged with the murder of TSA worker Stacey Wright, 43. Mississippi authorities allege the 45-year-old stabbed Wright to death at her home in D’Iberville, a city of less than 7,500 people halfway between Mobile and New Orleans on the Gulf Coast. He began as a screener at O’Hare but was promoted to transportation security manager before he was transferred to Jackson, Miss., … Read More
What is the Valadez Law?
September 20, 2011 Leave a Comment
After Chicago Police Officer Alejandro Valadez was slain, the Illinois Legislature passed a law to give prosecutors a new weapon to lock up gang-bangers. The so-called Valadez law requires prison time for street gang members convicted of possessing a loaded gun in a public area. Shawn Gaston, now on trial for Valadez’s June 2009 murder, was on probation for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a gun possession charge. When Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Valadez law in December 2009, he said, “The bill is really passed to protect every citizen in our state from street gangs and firearms belonging … Read More
A Ponzi scheme that should be fixed
September 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
The Great Social Security Debate, Proposition 1: Of course it’s a Ponzi scheme. Read More
Lemont siblings charged in 6 robberies
September 18, 2011 Leave a Comment
A brother and sister from Lemont are scheduled to appear in bond court Sunday after they were charged with several armed robberies of women on the South and Southwest Sides. Jaclyn Madera, 28, and Steven Madera, 36, were each charged with six counts of armed robbery. Jaclyn Madera was charged in four separate incidents. Her brother was charged in five incidents and was also charged with one count of aggravated battery and cited for having a replica firearm, police said. The siblings would drive around the South and Southwest Sides looking for immigrant women who were alone outside, police said. … Read More
Markham suspends police officer for lacking gun card, source says
September 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
Another south suburban police officer is under scrutiny for not having a valid state firearm owner’s identification card, a law enforcement source said. Markham suspended the officer last week after the state revoked his firearm card because he was convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery in 1997 in Virginia, the source said. Markham requires officers to have the card, which allows them to possess a handgun. The Chicago Sun-Times previously reported Robbins Police Officer Charles Smith was charged Sept. 1 with illegal possession of a firearm by a felon. Smith, who was convicted of mail fraud in 1998, had two handguns … Read More
Police: Man shot after pointing gun at officer on South Side
September 14, 2011 Leave a Comment
A 19-year-old man shot by police in the Hamilton Park neighborhood after allegedly pointing a gun at an officer is in custody Tuesday night. Englewood District tactical officers were attempting to stop the man at 7300 S. Morgan St. about 5:30 p.m. to conduct a field interview when he refused to stop, pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at the officers as he tried to run east on 73rd Street, a statement from police said. One officer discharged his weapon, striking the man. He was taken into custody and taken to an area hospital for treatment, the … Read More
Man seriously wounded in West Pullman shooting
September 11, 2011 Leave a Comment
A man was seriously wounded late Saturday when he was shot in the back in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. About 11:50 p.m. a 25-year-old man was shot in the back near the intersection of South Lowe Avenue and West 124th Street, according to police News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines. The man was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Gaines said. No one was in custody early Sunday. Calumet Area detectives are investigating. … Read More
PR executive charged with raping women he met online
September 10, 2011 Leave a Comment
As vice president of a downtown public relations firm, Ignacio Carrillo spent his days dealing with some high-profile clients, but Cook County prosecutors allege he spent at least some of his nights raping women he met on dating websites. Read More
Seven Chicago area people charged in national Medicare billing case
September 8, 2011 Leave a Comment
Seven Chicago area people were among 91 defendants charged nationally with false billing scams that allegedly defrauded Medicare and private insurers of $295 million. Federal authorities said Wednesday that the coordinated charges involved the largest amount of alleged bogus billings in a single operation in the history of a specialized strike force targeting health care fraud. A Chicago area vascular surgeon, three chiropractors and other area medical professionals were among those charged in unrelated alleged schemes. Dr. John Natale, a vascular surgeon who at times worked out of Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights and lives in South Barrington, was … Read More
Man shot in head, seriously wounded on South Side
September 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
A man shot in the head early Monday in the South Side South Shore neighborhood was alert enough to drive himself to an area hospital, police said. The man, 36, was shot in the head on the 1300 block of East 74th Street at 12:03 a.m., police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said. Circumstances surrounding the shooting were not yet known early Monday, but the man remained conscious and was alert enough to drive himself to Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center, Alfaro said. He was later transferred to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County where he remains … Read More
Man shot, killed in Altgeld Gardens fight
September 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
A man was shot and killed during a fight Sunday night in the Far South Side Altgeld Gardens neighborhood, police said. The man, 29, was fighting with several people in the 600 block of East 133rd Street when a male shooter pulled out a handgun and shot him in the chest, police said. Police described the melee as a large street fight. Nicholas Jackson, 29, of the 600 block of East 133rd Street, was pronounced dead at 11:37 p.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. No one was in custody early Monday, police said. Calumet Area detectives are … Read More
Obama Taps Labor Expert To Head Council Of Economic Advisers
August 29, 2011 3 Comments
ABC News’ Mary Bruce (@marykbruce) Reports: President Obama today announced that he is nominating labor economist Alan Krueger to lead his Council of Economic Advisers, saying he expects Krueger to provide him with “unvarnished” advice on the economy. Ahead of… Read More
Obama On Irene: ‘It’s Going To Take Time To Recover’
August 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
ABC News’ Mary Bruce Reports: In the wake of Hurricane Irene, President Obama said today that “it’s going to take time to recover from a storm of this magnitude” and vowed that the federal government is doing everything in its… Read More
The Presidential Planner: After The Storm, Obama Spends Day In White House Meetings
August 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
ABC News’ Mary Bruce (@marykbruce) Reports: After spending the weekend bracing for Hurricane Irene, President Obama will return to a schedule of closed-door meetings at the White House today. Obama spent the weekend meeting with his emergency response team and… Read More
In America’s pantheon: King in word and stone
August 29, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — It is one of the enduring mysteries of American history — so near-providential as to give the most hardened atheist pause — that it should have produced, at every hinge point, great men who matched the moment. A roiling, revolutionary 18th-century British colony gives birth to the greatest cohort of political thinkers ever: Jefferson, Adams, Madison, Hamilton, Washington, Franklin, Jay. The crisis of the 19th century brings forth Lincoln; the 20th, FDR. Read More
Irene Remains Dangerous, Obama Warns
August 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
ABC News’ Tahman Bradley Reports: As a weakened but still dangerous Tropical Strom Irene pushes up the East Coast, President Obama urged Americans to remain vigilant. “I want people to understand that this is not over,” Obama said in a… Read More
"This Week" This Week — 8/28/2011
August 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
We started with the latest details on Hurricane Irene’s move through the Northeast: Governor Chris Christie told us about Hurricane Irene’s impact on New Jersey: The FEMA director talked to us about the national response to Hurricane Irene: In our… Read More
Obama Engaged in FEMA Response to Irene
August 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
ABC News’ Tahman Bradley Reports: President Obama has received regular briefings about Hurricane Irene’s impact. During the wet and windy weekend in Washington, senior advisors and cabinet officials have updated the president on the response and recovery effort taking place… Read More
Top Al Qaeda Leader Killed, U.S. Govt. Says
August 27, 2011 Leave a Comment
ABC News’ Tahman Bradley Reports: Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed, the Obama administration said Saturday. He was killed August 22 in Waziristan, Pakistan. Believing al-Rahman was deeply involved in directing al Qaeda operations, an administration official… Read More
Obama Visits FEMA’s Hurricane Response Center
August 27, 2011 Leave a Comment
From Tahman Bradley: As Hurricane Irene’s Category 1-force winds pounded the coast of North Carolina today, President Obama visited FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C. After touring the facility, Obama shared what he’s most worried about. “The biggest… Read More
Obama Seeks Unity of 9/11: ‘Let’s Summon That Spirit Once More’
August 27, 2011 Leave a Comment
As the nation grapples with a lagging economy, and the destruction from Hurricane Irene, President Obama invoked the memory of Sept. 11, 2001, in his weekly address, calling on Americans to unite through acts of service in their communities. Read More
White House Hosts Hundreds of Bowlers in May
August 26, 2011 Leave a Comment
At least 230 visitors to the White House during May came for the express purpose of bowling, according to visitor logs released today. Read More
Boehner Says Obama Being Disingenuous on Regulatory Burdens
August 26, 2011 Leave a Comment
House Speaker John Boehner says President Obama’s public effort to curb government regulations belies reality, with 218 pending new rules poised to add billions in costs for American businesses and potentially hurt the creation of jobs. Read More
Obama Cuts Short Martha’s Vineyard Vacation for Hurricane Irene
August 26, 2011 Leave a Comment
President Obama will return to Washington, D.C., tonight, one day earlier than originally planned, White House officials said. Read More
President Obama on Hurricane Irene: ‘Take It Seriously. Don’t Wait. Don’t Delay.’
August 26, 2011 Leave a Comment
The words were stark and foreboding: “I cannot stress this highly enough: If you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. Don’t wait. Don’t delay,” President Obama warned this morning from the Blue Heron Farm here where he is wrapping up his 10-day vacation. Read More
Trumka Tells Obama to Stop ‘Nibbling Around the Edge’ on Jobs
August 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
AFL/CIO President Richard Trumka today urged President Obama to put forth “bold solutions” to the nation’s unemployment crisis in his post-Labor Day jobs speech, warning of political peril if he’s seen as merely “nibbling around the edge” of the issue Read More
Comcast Employees Top Donors to Obama Campaign Accounts
August 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
Employees of media giant Comcast have contributed more money to President Obama’s reelection bid than employees from any other organization, according to a new analysis of Federal Election Commission data by the Center for Responsive Politics. Read More
Obama’s ‘Project Vote’ Hones Focus on Minorities, Counters GOP Effort on Voter Laws
August 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
President Obama’s reelection campaign today launched a targeted voter outreach plan aimed at boosting registration and turnout among seven key minority constituencies for the 2012 election. Read More
White House Weighs Mortgage Refinancing Programs
August 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
President Obama’s economic team is actively discussing several new ideas to help struggling homeowners, including another refinancing initiative for millions of government-backed mortgages and possible changes to existing refinancing programs, which heretofore have had only limited success. Read More
Fewer See Improved Race Relations Under Obama
August 24, 2011 Leave a Comment
As President Obama prepares to commemorate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., with a speech at a new King monument on the National Mall, fewer Americans than two years ago say they believe race relations have improved under the country’s first black president, according to a new Gallup survey. Read More
Obama Campaign Hiring: Seeking ‘Head for Politics, A Sense of Humor, and Buckets of Common…
August 24, 2011 Leave a Comment
If you’re an unemployed Democrat with a knack for Facebook and Twitter, President Obama’s reelection campaign may have a job for you. Read More
What Does the President Think About the Criticism of His Vacation?
August 24, 2011 Leave a Comment
ABC News’ David Kerley reports: Libya, earthquakes, and now a hurricane all during the President’s Martha’s Vineyard vacation. Conference calls on the golf course, reignited criticism from several quarters about the 10-day holiday on this island off of Massachusetts. So,… Read More
Obama in Dead Heat with Romney, Perry, Paul, Bachmann in Gallup Poll
August 22, 2011 Leave a Comment
President Obama is in a statistical dead heat when matched with each of four GOP presidential contenders in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, according to a new Gallup survey of registered voters. Read More
Top U.S. Official: Moammar Gadhafi Regime ‘Absolutely’ Past Tipping Point
August 22, 2011 Leave a Comment
Last night President Obama said Moammar Gadhafi’s regime is at a “tipping point.” And this morning the top U.S. diplomat on the ground went even further, telling me the 42-year rule is “absolutely” past the tipping point. “What’s clear is… Read More
This is Obamaland: Bad luck, bad faith
August 22, 2011 Leave a Comment
“We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, got the economy moving again. … But over the last six months, we’ve had a run of bad luck.” Read More
First Family Visits Vineyard Main Street, Bookstore
August 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
ABC News’ Stephanie Smith reports: On the first full day of his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, the president made his first public appearance at a well-known bookstore, “A Bunch of Grapes,” in the nearby town of Vineyard Haven. Just after noon,… Read More
Obama Campaign Email With Criticism of Krugman, Liberal Blogs Triggers Ire
August 18, 2011 Leave a Comment
A controversial email from an Obama campaign staffer in New Mexico to statewide supporters earlier this month highlights the ideological divide on the left over the debt ceiling deal, while raising the ire of the president’s most liberal critics. Read More
Donald Trump Handicaps the 2012 Republican Field
August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
Donald Trump isn’t a candidate – and he isn’t in a hurry to become one – but he certainly wants to play a role in the 2012 presidential election. Here’s what Trump thinks of the 2012 contenders and those Republicans… Read More
Donald Trump Would ‘Put Country First’ and Pay More Taxes
August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
Donald Trump backed up fellow billionaire Warren Buffett’s op-ed in the New York Times and said he’d be willing to pay more in taxes – but he doesn’t think Wall Street would go along with it. “I would be willing… Read More
Donald Trump Still Flirting with a 3rd Party Run?
August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
That’s what the business tycoon told me yesterday when we sat down at Trump Towers. But there are a few conditions that need to be met in order for him to make a 2012 bid. “If the economy continues to… Read More
Transcript: My Interview With Donald Trump, Part I
August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
I sat down with real estate mogul Donald Trump yesterday. Here is the first part of the transcript of the interview: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Trump, thank you for joining us again. DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So we have… Read More
Transcript: My Interview With Donald Trump, Part 2
August 17, 2011 Leave a Comment
I sat down with real estate mogul Donald Trump yesterday. Here is the second and final part of the transcript of the interview: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s talk about taxes. Warren Buffet made another splash with his op-ed in the New… Read More
Donald Trump: Rick Perry Is an ‘Impressive Guy’
August 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
That’s what Donald Trump told me this afternoon when I asked him if he would support the latest candidate to enter the 2012 race – Texas Governor Rick Perry. “Well, I think he’s a very impressive guy. I’ve spoken to… Read More
Christine O’Donnell on Michele Bachmann Newsweek Cover: ‘Absolutely’ Sexist
August 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
The picture of Michele Bachmann on the cover of Newsweek was “absolutely” sexist, the former GOP nominee for the 2010 Delaware Senate seat told me. Christine O’Donnell said she speaks from experience when she says women candidates –mainly Republican women… Read More
President Obama in the Heartland
August 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
The president comes to Iowa just two days after the Straw Poll to talk about the economy. Our “World News” report: -Jake Tapper Read More
The Presidential Planner: Obama Launches Midwest Bus Tour
August 15, 2011 1 Comment
ABC News’ Mary Bruce (@marykbruce) reports: President Obama launches his three-day, three-state Midwest bus tour, focused on jobs and the economy today. First stop, Cannon Falls, Minn., where the president will hold a town hall meeting this afternoon. According to… Read More
‘THIS WEEK’ This Week – 8/14/2011
August 14, 2011 Leave a Comment
In an exclusive interview, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the presidential race after a disappointing third place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll: And Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., talked about her Iowa Straw Poll win and her… Read More
Exclusive With Secretary Tim Geithner: ‘Spectacle’ in D.C. Damaged Economy; Hasn’t Decided to Leave…
August 2, 2011 Leave a Comment
Congress may have avoided default when the House voted to raise the debt ceiling last night, but Sec. Tim Geithner said the chaotic negotiating process hurt our economy and the U.S. may still be downgraded. “I think confidence here was… Read More
Full Transcript: My Interview With Secretary Tim Geithner
August 2, 2011 Leave a Comment
I sat down for an interview with Tim Geithner yesterday. Here is the full transcript: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Secretary, thanks for doing this. TIM GEITHNER: Nice to see you. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So it looks like this deal is going to… Read More
Sec. Geithner on Debt Deal: Don’t Know If We Will Avoid Downgrade
August 2, 2011 Leave a Comment
That’s what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me when I asked if a credit rating downgrade is more likely because of the way the long, drawn-out process unfolded in Washington. “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. I think this… Read More
Obama adopts the Bush Doctrine
May 23, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Herewith President Barack Obama’s May 19 Middle East speech, annotated: Read More
plaintext test
May 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
kie offensive tackle Gabe Carimi, who continues to recover from a right knee injury, has been ruled out for Monday night’s game against the Eagles, coach Lovie Smith announced following Saturday’s practice. Read More
test tax2
May 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
“I’m going to do my part to lead a constructive and civil debate on these issues.” Read More
Demagoguery 101: The Obama touch
May 16, 2011 Leave a Comment
“I’m going to do my part to lead a constructive and civil debate on these issues.” Read More
Figuring out professor Obama’s war
March 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is proud of how he put together the Libyan operation. A model of international cooperation. All the necessary paperwork. Arab League backing. A Security Council resolution. (Everything but a resolution from the Congress of the United States, a minor inconvenience for a citizen of the world.) It’s war as designed by an Ivy League professor. Read More
Obama’s Social Security snow job
March 14, 2011 Leave a Comment
WASHINGTON — Everyone knows that the U.S. budget is being devoured by entitlements. Everyone also knows that of the Big Three — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — Social Security is the most solvable. Read More