Cook County

19 Stories

Judge's Order Bars ICE From Courthouse Arrests

Homeland Security defends the practice, saying 'there are no legal sanctuaries'

(Newser) - The top judge in Cook County, which includes Chicago, has signed an order barring ICE from arresting people at courthouses. Detaining residents outside court has been a common tactic for federal agents, who have been stationed outside county courthouses for weeks, making arrests and drawing crowds of protesters, the AP...

Cops: Chicago Teen Killed 6 People in 9 Months

'It's difficult to comprehend how anyone could easily take someone's life'

(Newser) - While most people were hunkered down at home during the early months of the pandemic, one teen went on a killing spree in Chicago, massacring six people within a span of nine months. So said local police and prosecutors on Wednesday in announcing murder charges against Antonio Reyes, now 21,...

Indiana Toys With Idea of Adding Some Illinois Counties
Indiana Toys With Idea of
Annexing Some Illinois Counties
in case you missed it
Feb 22, 2025 3:05 PM CST

Indiana Toys With Idea of Annexing Some Illinois Counties

House bill is in the very early stages

(Newser) - Every once in a while US counties toy with the idea of secession—either to form their own state or join another . One such effort is underway in Indiana, where a House committee on Monday passed a bill that takes a very initial step in an effort to adopt a...

Trump Wins Big Tax Case Over His Chicago Skyscraper

After years of legal wrangling, former president, investors to recoup $1M in property tax refunds

(Newser) - For more than a decade, former President Trump and other owners of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago have sought to recoup a hefty property tax refund on the building. Now, it looks like Trump can claim success in this longtime battle: On Monday, the Illinois Appellate Court...

Chicago Drivers Can Now Get Anti-Carjacking Stickers

They warn that vehicle will be tracked as soon as it is reported stolen

(Newser) - Chicago is the carjacking capital of America, but authorities hope stickers will help turn things around. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says owners of cars made after 2014 can register for stickers that warn would-be carjackers that the vehicle is part of a tracking program, Axios reports. Drivers signing up...

Shoppers Run as Gunfire Erupts in Mall

A man was killed, police say, and 2 people were wounded

(Newser) - A shooting at a suburban Chicago shopping mall left one man dead and two other people wounded, including a teenage girl, while shoppers ran for cover, police said. A person of interest was taken into custody after the Friday night shooting at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall in Rosemont,...

Reynaldo Munoz: 3,000th on a Troubling List

His is the 3,000th exoneration recorded since 1989 in the US

(Newser) - This exoneration story does not include a tearful family reunion outside the courthouse. Reynaldo Munoz already served 30 years for a murder he did not commit and had been out on parole since 2016, living with his high school sweetheart and family in Florida, per USA Today . But his story...

DNA Leads to Mother's Arrest in 2003 Slaying of Twins

Woman decided no one would know about boys' birth: police

(Newser) - Cook County sheriff's detectives watching Antoinette Briley waited for her to finish her cigarette. She dropped it, and they picked it up, giving them the DNA sample they needed. Briley, 41, is now charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her two newborn twins, WBBM...

He Told Sisters to Wear Masks. He Was Stabbed 27 Times

Jessica Hill, 21, and Jayla Hill, 18, are accused of attempted murder in Chicago

(Newser) - A security guard for a Chicago store is recovering from dozens of stab wounds after prosecutors say two sisters confronted him over being told they had to wear face masks. Per the Chicago Tribune , Cook County prosecutors said in court Tuesday that 18-year-old Jayla Hill and her sister Jessica, 21,...

Review Finds Fault With Prosecutor in Smollett Case

Investigation reveals abuses of discretion but no crimes

(Newser) - A special prosecutor in Chicago said Monday that Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and her office repeatedly abused their discretion and made false public statements in the case against actor Jussie Smollett last year, but he concluded they did nothing criminal. In his findings released after a monthslong...

Jussie Smollett Investigator: 'I Am Not Perfect'

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx says she's open to an outside investigation

(Newser) - Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx is open to an outside investigation into her office's decision to drop all charges against Jussie Smollett, the prosecutor wrote in a newspaper editorial. Foxx said in a Friday night op-ed for the Chicago Tribune that a review about prosecutors' decision to...

R. Kelly Turns Himself In
R. Kelly Turns
Himself In
Feb 23, 2019 6:30 AM CST

R. Kelly Turns Himself In

R&B star is now in police custody in Chicago

(Newser) - He was acquitted over a decade ago on child pornography accusations. Now, R. Kelly is about to face the music on a whole new set of charges , and he turned himself in Friday to begin that process. The Chicago Sun-Times reports the 52-year-old R&B star, real name Robert Kelly,...

Women Lawyers Sue to Stop Masturbating Inmates

Even pizza didn't get them to stop

(Newser) - Public masturbation is so rampant in Chicago's Cook County Jail that officials offered inmates pizza to stop, a federal lawsuit claims. Hundreds of female public defenders and law clerks working at the jail and other lockups have had to endure "on an almost daily basis" inmates who "...

Chicago Now Has America's Highest Sales Tax

Officials say they're trying to stay ahead of 'pension tsunami'

(Newser) - A penny here and a penny there has added up to decimated wallets for people in Chicago, who now have the highest sales taxes in America. In a move that takes effect Jan. 1, Cook County has raised its sales tax from 0.75% to 1.75%, bringing the total...

County With 5.2M People Will Dismiss Minor Pot Cases

Cook County to steer drug offenders away from jail

(Newser) - An Illinois county with more people than most states is going to stop prosecuting minor pot cases as part of a major overhaul of how it deals with low-level drug offenses. Officials in Cook County—which includes Chicago, and is America's second most populous with around 5.2 million...

Chicago to Post Photos of Mystery Stiffs Online

Cook County aims to give closure to victims, even if it's not pretty

(Newser) - If your loved one died in a grisly way, finding a grisly photo of them online might not be your favorite way of finding out, but the Cook County medical examiner's office is betting it's better than nothing. The county, which includes Chicago, has begun posting photos of...

Coroner: Lottery Winner Murdered With Cyanide

Urooj Khan's death officially ruled a homicide, but no no clues emerge

(Newser) - It's official: Urooj Khan didn't die of natural causes. Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina today ruled the lottery winner's death a homicide, saying he'd died of cyanide toxicity and confirming his initial diagnosis in January, CNN reports. But because there's no cyanide left in...

Do We Really Need to Chain Inmates Giving Birth?

Maybe the Cook County settlement will change things: Sadhbh Walshe

(Newser) - Chicago's Cook County Jail last month paid $4.1 million to settle a lawsuit by female inmates who say they were shackled when giving birth. Really, America? writes Sadhbh Walshe in the Guardian . "The practices of making pregnant women wear belly chains and of shackling their hands and...

Female Inmates Sue Over Shackles While Giving Birth

Say they endure labor with arms, legs cuffed

(Newser) - Twenty former inmates are suing the Cook County sheriff's office alleging that they had to give birth while restrained with handcuffs and leg shackles, reports the Chicago Tribune . The practice is illegal, though a sheriff's spokesman says women are allowed to be restrained until labor begins, and they rely on...

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