Sheila O’Brien, who successfully petitioned for a special prosecutor to take over the Jussie Smollett investigation, is now seeking to bar the Cook County state’s attorney from using taxpayer dollars to pay for her own outside counsel.

In three weeks, Illinois will become the 11th state with legalized marijuana sales. On Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker joined Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx as she began the process of vacating thousands of low-level cannabis convictions.

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett is back in the headlines as the state’s attorney whose office cleared him of charges announces she’s running for re-election. Our politics team digs into that story and more in our weekly roundtable.

In her first campaign ad for 2020, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx acknowledges missteps in the Jussie Smollett case and calls out critics like President Donald Trump and the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police.

The latest member of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office isn’t a human. She’s a dog. We meet the new Labrador retriever, Hatty.

It was a real dog of a ceremony this week during a swearing-in at the state’s attorney’s office in Chicago.

Veteran attorney Dan Webb, who was appointed last month to review actor Jussie Smollett’s criminal case, said he has no recollection of making a $1,000 contribution to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in 2016.

A new partnership between the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and a nonprofit could help clear tens of thousands of low-level marijuana convictions from Cook County records. State’s Attorney Kim Foxx explains.

The announcement comes five months after the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped criminal charges related to a racist and homophobic attack actor Jussie Smollett allegedly orchestrated.

The high-profile case won’t be transferred to another court and the judge handling the proceedings has denied Jussie Smollett’s efforts to get involved.

A new report analyzes the prosecution practices and case settlements under Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Among the findings: The number of sentences involving prison time fell “significantly” in 2018.

Sheila O’Brien, the retired appellate judge who successfully petitioned for a special prosecutor to review the Jussie Smollett case, says four motions filed last week by the actor’s California-based attorneys should be ignored.

Attorneys for the former “Empire” actor continue to proclaim their client’s innocence, and say a judge’s recent decision to allow a special prosecutor to review criminal charges against the actor is a “travesty of justice.”

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.

As she releases 2,000 pages of documents related to the high-profile case, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx claims she recused herself because of a false rumor that she was related to the “Empire” actor.

A Cook County judge will decide next month whether a special prosecutor is needed to review the handling of the Jussie Smollett case by the state’s attorney’s office.