Several dozen more criminal convictions tied to Ronald Watts have been tossed out, bringing the total number of dismissals tied to the disgraced ex-Chicago police sergeant and his team in recent years to more than 200.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago have charged Michigan brothers Donald Henkel, 61, and Mark Henkel, 66, along with 59-year-old Raymond Paparella, with mail fraud or wire fraud.

They want authorities to launch a kidnapping prosecution against the woman who set off the lynching by accusing the Black Chicago teen of improper advances in 1955.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu said former Ald. Danny Solis is one of the most significant government informants and witnesses of the last several decades. 

Former Ald. Danny Solis caused “generational” harm to Chicago and residents of the 25th Ward, his successor told the judge overseeing the criminal case facing the disgraced former alderperson.

Attorneys for the 57-year-old inmate had sought a stay, citing pending litigation in another court challenging the constitutionality of South Carolina’s execution methods, which also include the electric chair. 

Kim Foxx’s office on Friday will present 214 marijuana cases to be automatically expunged, bringing the total number of low-level convictions erased since Dec. 2019 up to 15,191.

Brianna Gibbs, 28, has been charged with first-degree murder in the Sunday morning killing of 27-year-old Tyrone Pittman following a physical altercation in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.

A federal judge in Florida struck down the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation Monday, and the Biden administration said the rule would not be enforced while federal agencies decide how to respond to the judge’s order.

The decision from U.S. Attorney John Lausch comes two months after Van Dyke was released from custody after serving about half of his 81-month sentence handed down by a Cook County judge in 2018.

The bankruptcy filing Sunday in Texas puts civil litigation on hold while the business reorganizes its finances. The filing came a week before a jury in Texas was set to begin considering how much money Jones, who has already lost the defamation lawsuits, should pay the families of Sandy Hook victims.

The lone homicide victim was a 27-year-old man who was found just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning in the 8400 block of South Aberdeen Street.

Chicago officials annually take in hundreds of guns through buyback programs. But decades of research shows such programs don’t reduce gun violence, in large part because they don’t result in guns being taken from people who aren’t supposed to have them. 

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown says his department needs to do a better job of engaging with the community. He joined “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” to discuss everything from ghost guns to police reform in Chicago.

Two high-ranking police officials interfered with the investigation of the shooting death of a Chicago Police sergeant, according to a report released Friday by the city’s interim watchdog.

Pretice Phillips, 46, was held without bail following a hearing Friday after he was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the March shooting death of 32-year-old Kevin Change.