The Chicago Police Department has begun the process of encrypting its dispatch channels to avoid disruptions from outside the police system. But some are calling into question the need for the change, and cite potential issues of transparency.

Nine years after Hadiya Pendleton’s death, her mother, Cleopatra Cowley-Pendleton, is still fighting to end gun violence. She founded Hadiya’s Promise – a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending gun violence through education.

The unanimous Supreme Court decision, released Sept. 22, resolves a 7-year-old lawsuit brought by Charles Green, who was sentenced to life in prison at age 16 after being convicted in a 1985 quadruple murder. Green was released in 2009, and wants to prove his innocence.

Zack Park, 34, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder stemming from the Saturday afternoon killing of 18-year-old John Park inside their family’s North Park neighborhood home.

A federal jury in Chicago convicted Ji Chaoqun, 31, of conspiracy to act as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security without notifying the U.S. attorney general, acting as a spy in the U.S., and lying on a government form about his contacts with foreign agencies.

During a press conference Monday afternoon, Police Superintendent David Brown said the man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after he was shot inside the police department’s Homan Square facility Monday morning.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed Josiah Brown was pronounced dead at Lurie Children’s Hospital at 10:16 a.m. Sunday, nearly a week after he was allegedly pushed into Lake Michigan.

Chicago police said 38 people were shot in 27 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday evening and 11:59 p.m. Sunday night. That included an 18-year-old killed Saturday afternoon and two men killed at a North Lawndale home Sunday.

State Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he took a $5,000 bribe from a firm that installed red-light cameras throughout the state and lied to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.

The Chicago Fire Department confirmed Friday that one male victim, who had suffered “extensive" burns in the blast, died from his injuries.

Cooper was shot in the back, and the bullet ripped through his body, severely damaging his aorta, liver, esophagus and spinal cord before exiting through his chest. He was taken first to Highland Park Hospital where he underwent a life-saving surgery, then spent in-patient stays at Comer Children’s Hospital and Shirley Ryan Ability Lab in Chicago.

A grand jury returned indictments on Wednesday against former Waukegan police Officer Dante Salinas in the Oct. 20, 2020, shooting that killed a 19-year-old local man, Marcellis Stinnette, and wounded his girlfriend.

Sixth Municipal District Judge Carl Boyd, who was arrested this week on allegations of domestic battery, has been placed on restricted duties, the chief judge’s office announced.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is running for re-election, said it was not enough for the lawmakers to resign as leaders of the Democratic Party in the Illlinois Senate.

In January, Illinois will eliminate cash bail —  money paid to release someone from jail, as a guarantee that they will return for trial. But the change won’t go into effect if a trio of state’s attorneys have their way as they seek to have the law, dubbed by drafters as the SAFE-T Act, declared null and void.

In all, the payments approved Wednesday are equivalent to 30% of the city’s annual $82 million budget to cover the cost of police misconduct lawsuits.