Chicago police on Monday released hundreds of files from the investigation into Jussie Smollett’s claim he was attacked by two men, including releasing video footage for the first time of the “Empire” actor wearing a thin white rope wrapped around his neck.

Brendt Christensen has been found guilty in the kidnapping and death of Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang, setting the stage for what could be the first death sentence handed down within Illinois since the state abolished capital punishment in 2011.

In a ruling that leaves open the possibility that actor Jussie Smollett could be charged again, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin suggested Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx mishandled the case.

The body of Yingying Zhang has never been found, but the vehicle she was last seen entering was allegedly driven hundreds of miles in the days before and after her disappearance. More from the high-profile trial of Brendt Christensen.

The Grammy-winning cellist stops in Chicago as part of his Bach Project, an ambitious tour of 36 cities across six continents to explore the common language of culture. See photos from the event.

Brendt Christensen appeared “excited” and laughed when talking about killing Yingying Zhang, his former girlfriend testified Thursday at Christensen’s death-penalty trial.

Attorneys for R. Kelly have one week to respond to a lawsuit alleging sex abuse or face losing the case. Associate Judge Moira Johnson gave Kelly’s lawyers until June 26 to respond.

During testimony Wednesday, Terra Bullis described her past relationship with Brendt Christensen and how she came to wear a wire for FBI investigators who believe he is responsible for the disappearance of Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang.

Investigators have largely cleared Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn for how it dealt with a Chicago woman accused of cutting a baby from his mother’s womb and claiming him as her own.

The murder of Laquan McDonald and ensuing public outrage in Chicago are the focus of a new documentary on Showtime. We speak with “16 Shots” writer and director Rick Rowley.

Federal prosecutors and Brendt Christensen’s defense team are each expected to call their final witnesses before Friday. Among those slated to testify: Christensen’s former girlfriend, who wore a wire for the FBI, and his ex-wife.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke received blowback from faith and community leaders on Chicago’s West Side for appointing a white woman to fill a vacancy formerly held by a black woman.

A Chicago police spokeswoman said that Bryshere Gray, who plays a younger brother of Jussie Smollett’s character on the Chicago-based Fox TV show, was pulled over Thursday.

“I want to test my limits and experience everything,” Brendt Christensen wrote in his profile on Fetlife.com, a social media site for adults with alternative sexual interests, weeks before Yingying Zhang disappeared.

Illinois banned capital punishment in 2011, but a state resident now faces a possible death sentence in a first-of-its-kind murder trial since that ban took effect. A Northwestern law professor explains how that’s possible.

An infant boy who was cut from a Chicago woman’s womb with a butcher knife died Friday at a hospital where he had been in grave condition since the April attack that killed his mother, family spokeswomen said.