The effort to launch the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability is nearly five months behind schedule. Ald. Harry Osterman (48th Ward) said 37 people applied to serve on the seven-member commission, and praised those selected by a working group of alderpeople.

The decision reflects Biden’s struggle to use the limited powers of his office to advance his campaign promises, as well as his attempt to strike a balance between police and civil rights groups at a time when rising concerns about crime are eclipsing calls for reform.

With summer quickly approaching, WTTW News reporter Joanna Hernandez moderated the latest edition of our “Chicago Tonight: Latino Voices” community conversation about investments being made in young people by local organizations.

Carjackings in Chicago are up 5% in 2022 compared to the same time last year. Police have arrested 545 people this year in carjacking-related incidents, and of those, more than half are juveniles.

It has been more than two years since Nyisha Beemon’s daughter was shot and killed inside a convenience store. Now, she wants to purchase the store and turn it into a community hub that would offer support and counseling. 

Crime in Chicago usually peaks during the summer months, when hot temperatures force people outside and fray tempers. In recent years, the Memorial Day holiday weekend has been extremely violent.

Gaven Leon, 18, was charged Monday with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the unprovoked Feb. 3 shooting of 30-year-old Ryan Balbag, who was killed as he drove down Irving Park Road with two of his friends.

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (38th Ward) and Ald. Emma Mitts (37th Ward) — who both support the proposal — used a parliamentary procedure to prevent a vote on Monday. However, Public Safety Committee Chair Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th Ward) filed a notice with the city clerk’s office to ensure the measure would get an up-or-down vote on Wednesday. 

Multiple teens were among those who were injured in 20 separate shooting incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday, according to Chicago police data.

In addition to a new rule requiring minors visiting Millennium Park to be accompanied by a “responsible adult” after 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is asking for an expanded curfew to begin at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights. 

The data breach occurred Dec. 1 and technology vendor Battelle for Kids notified CPS on April 26, the district said Friday. A server used to store student and staff information was breached and four years' worth of records were accessed, CPS said.

The Defenders for All Act took effect at the beginning of this year. Since then, the Cook County Public Defenders’ immigration unit says it’s taken on over a dozen cases free of charge — the largest county in the nation to do so.

Two people were killed and seven people were wounded in a mass shooting late Thursday blocks from Michigan Avenue amid a continuing surge in violence downtown. Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the incident “an outrageous act of violence.”

A Manhattan judge declared Trump in contempt of court on April 25 and fined him $10,000 per day for not complying with a subpoena in New York’s long-running investigation into his business practices.

The 14-3 vote by the Chicago City Council’s Public Safety Committee tees up a showdown over the controversial measure by the full City Council, which is set to meet twice next week on Monday and Wednesday. 

Do inmates in Illinois prisons and jails have a right to safety? That’s the central question raised in a new publication written by former Cook County Department of Corrections Warden Nneka Jones Tapia.