Officer Craig Lancaster, an active member of the Chicago Police Department, has reportedly been charged with aggravated battery following a May incident with 14-year-old JaQuwaun Williams outside Gresham Elementary School.

The racketeering trial of former Ald. Ed Burke is on hold for at least a week after an attorney in the case tested positive for COVID-19, the judge in the case said Thursday.

A federal judge this week sentenced 51-year-old Ayanna Nesbitt to one year and one day in prison after she entered a guilty plea to one count of wire fraud.

State audits point to troubling conditions in juvenile detention centers, but no agency has strong enough oversight to bring about change.

Since the beginning of 2023, Cook County Jail administration has reported 16 deaths in custody, with five attributed to overdoses, according to Cook County Medical Examiner records. To address the uptick in overdose deaths, jail leadership took unprecedented measures, including what some called a facility-wide paper ban. 

The selection process, which began slowly Monday morning, has continued at a leisurely pace throughout Tuesday. No jurors have yet been officially seated to hear the case.

The reversal occurred days after officials in Calumet City mailed several citations to Hank Sanders, a Daily Southtown reporter whose job includes covering the suburb, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday. The Southtown is owned by the Tribune’s parent company,

Since the Protect Illinois Communities Act became law in early 2023, the sale of numerous types of guns, cartridges and accessories has been illegal in Illinois. People who owned the covered guns prior to the law can keep them but are required to register them with the state.

According to a statement from the Chicago Police Department, the shooting occurred just before noon Monday in the 7300 block of South Dante Avenue.

Former Ald. Ed Burke entered the Dirksen United States Courthouse for the first time since June 2019 accompanied by his wife, former Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Ann Burke, and a phalanx of attorneys.

One of the player’s “Black Aces” teammates was Kyle Beach, who reached a settlement with the Blackhawks in December 2021 after alleging he was sexually assaulted by then-video coach Brad Aldrich. The lawsuit filed last week raises similar allegations against Aldric.

Just as proceedings were set to begin, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart announced that Robert Crimo Jr. had agreed to plead guilty to seven Class A misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct, rather than the seven felony charges he had faced.

A federal lawsuit awaiting a judge’s ruling says city of Aurora terms for Revv Aviation illegally disadvantage one of their competitors at the Aurora Municipal Airport. Revv’s owners have donated to Mayor Richard Irvin’s campaign fund and hosted a fundraiser for him. 

Former Ald. Ed Burke, once the most powerful member of the City Council, is scheduled to go on trial starting on Monday at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on 14 charges of bribery, extortion and racketeering — charges that are usually brought against members of the mob or street gangs.

Illinois’ nearly year-old ban on guns deemed assault weapons can stand, per a decision issued Friday by a federal appeals court. Still, other legal challenges could be ahead.

Hank Sanders reported in an Oct. 20 story that consultants told Calumet City administrators the city’s stormwater infrastructure was in poor condition before flooding wrought by record September rains. Officials say Sanders continued to call and email city employees, drawing complaints including from Mayor Thaddeus Jones.