Illinois

Inspired Stories 07/14/21, 16:33

While his father is stationed overseas, a 5-year-old boy in Belleville, Illinois bonds with a neighbor over yardwork. It was not easy for 5-year-old Brian Kelly when he knew he would have to live apart from his father, 43-year-old Dan Kelly, who was called on a mission with the Air Force ...

U.S. 03/02/21, 03:58

Facebook users in Illinois stand to gain between $200 and $400 each after the tech giant was ordered to pay a $650 million settlement for illegally collecting biometric data for facial recognition. Although Facebook claimed it had done nothing wrong, in January 2020, it attempted to settle the case for $550 ...

2022 Campaign 08/24/20, 03:38

A rap musician who wants to become the next president of the United States was removed from voting ballots because electoral paperwork arrived late. Kanye West disappeared from the ballot in Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Montana after his election campaign team allegedly submitted his nomination form after the due date. West has ...

2022 Campaign 03/16/20, 03:43

An online session between voters and the Democratic Party's lead contender for presidency was forced to end early after multiple setbacks on March 13. Joe Biden had to cut his livestreamed Illinois Town Hall meeting short after suffering several technical problems that prevented voters from being heard. The Democratic presidential candidate had ...

Inspired Stories 11/29/19, 05:37

Trooper David Cibrian and Trooper Raymond Snisko of Illinois State Police were on duty when they received a call for a motorist assist around 4:15 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, on Interstate 55. When they arrived at the scene, the troopers learned that an organ transport vehicle had broken down. The vehicle ...

U.S. 11/19/19, 10:20

A prosecutor who came under harsh criticism when her office suddenly dropped charges against actor Jussie Smollett and is now the subject of a court-ordered investigation announced Tuesday she is running for reelection. In her news release saying she’s seeking the position again, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx addressed the ...

U.S. 10/23/19, 10:28

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was expected to detail how the nation's third-largest city should deal with a $838 million budget deficit when she delivered her first budget address Wednesday morning, Oct. 23, as striking teachers marched through the city's downtown. Lightfoot's speech to the City Council came on the fifth day ...

Politics 08/26/19, 05:47

Former Rep. Joe Walsh on Sunday, Aug. 25 announced his bid for the Republican presidential primary, becoming the second 2020 GOP candidate seeking to challenge President Donald Trump. Already in the race is former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, according to The Associated Press. Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Walsh, once a backer ...

U.S. 08/01/19, 13:46

Reports from ProPublica and the Wall Street Journal published this week reveal that dozens of suburban Chicago wealthy parents transferred guardianship of their teenage children to help them get government-issued financial aid meant for students in need. The investigations found that dozens of affluent parents in Chicago with the attorney’s help exploited a loophole in ...

U.S. 06/18/19, 13:16

A University of Illinois graduate student has told jurors that the man on trial for abducting and killing a 26-year-old visiting scholar from China attempted to get her into his car by posing as an undercover police officer.Emily Hogan testified Tuesday that Brendt Christensen wore mirrored sunglasses and flashed a ...

U.S. 06/13/19, 19:33

A former University of Illinois doctoral student on trial in the killing of a visiting scholar from China bought Drano and garbage bags three days after the slaying, according to testimony Thursday.The detail came during the second day of the federal murder trial of Brendt Christensen in the June 2017 ...

U.S. 06/13/19, 15:02

An Illinois broadcast meteorologist who was taken off television after criticizing an unpopular "Code Red" weather alert system has been fired, his former employer confirmed.Joe Crain's dismissal was confirmed Thursday by Rob Ford, a spokesman for Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Crain's former employer, WICS-TV in Springfield, Illinois. Ford declined ...

U.S. 06/12/19, 14:30

As federal prosecutors on Wednesday shared with jurors grisly details of how they claim a former University of Illinois doctoral student kidnapped a visiting scholar from China, then brutally beat and killed her, defense attorneys intent on sparing their client a possible death penalty offered an exceptional claim: He did ...

U.S. 06/12/19, 14:29

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed sweeping protections for abortion on Wednesday in a new law that establishes access to the procedure as a "fundamental right" for women.The move in the state where Democrats control the House, Senate and governor's office comes as several Republican-majority states have taken up steep restrictions ...

U.S. 06/11/19, 23:31

Opening statements are set for Wednesday in the death-penalty trial of a former University of Illinois graduate student charged with kidnapping, torturing and killing a visiting Chinese scholar, a case closely watched by Chinese students across the U.S.A federal judge moved the trial to Peoria in central Illinois after Brendt ...

U.S. 06/11/19, 08:07

Jury selection is expected to wrap up in the trial of a former graduate student accused of kidnapping and killing a University of Illinois scholar from China.Brendt Christensen is charged in the 2017 death of Yingying Zhang. Her body was never found.Jury selection began June 3 in Peoria, Illinois. Opening ...

U.S. 06/10/19, 13:49

The Catholic bishop in Springfield, Illinois, banned Holy Communion to Catholic lawmakers who voted for an extreme abortion law that also repeals decades-old restrictions on abortions in Illinois. Bishop Thomas Paprocki issued the decree on June 2. Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, both Catholics, have ...

U.S. 06/03/19, 23:15

A federal judge in central Illinois will continue vetting would-be jurors at the death penalty trial of a former University of Illinois student charged with killing a visiting Chinese scholar.Tuesday will be the second day of a process to pick a jury to hear evidence against 29-year-old Brendt Christensen. Jury ...

U.S. 06/02/19, 13:43

A former University of Illinois graduate student is set to stand trial in the 2017 disappearance and suspected killing of a visiting scholar from China — a case in which the death penalty is possible and that has been closely watched in the home country of the victim, whose body ...

U.S. 05/30/19, 12:58

Two central Illinois men are charged with first-degree murder in the Chicago shooting death of a woman who was shielding her 1-year-old daughter from their gunfire.Authorities say 39-year-old Michael Washington and 23-year-old Eric Adams are due in court Thursday. They are both from Urbana.The men are charged in the Tuesday ...