Ahead of Fourth of July celebrations, local first responders and health care workers are reminding residents to practice firework safety by leaving fireworks to the professionals.

Robert Crimo Jr. entered a guilty plea to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct last week in Lake County court. Crimo sponsored his underage son’s firearm application three years before the July 2022 attack in Highland Park, even though the teenager had recently threatened violence.

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.

The bench trial of Robert Crimo Jr. is set to begin Monday in Lake County, more than 16 months after his son — Robert Crimo III — allegedly killed seven people and wounded dozens more during the Highland Park Fourth of July parade.

Attorneys for Robert Crimo Jr., who is set to go to trial next week on seven counts of reckless conduct, had sought to call his son — alleged parade shooter Robert Crimo III — to testify in his defense.

Judge George Strickland on Monday denied multiple motions filed on behalf of Robert Crimo Jr., including one that sought to have his criminal charges tossed out based on a violation of the state’s statute of limitations.

Judge George Strickland set a Nov. 6 trial date for Robert Crimo Jr. during a hearing Friday. Crimo Jr. faces seven counts of reckless conduct for allegedly helping his son, Robert Crimo III, obtain a firearm owner’s identification card (FOID) card.

Lake County Judge George Strickland said during a status hearing Friday that he intends the trial of Robert Crimo Jr. to begin sometime in late October or early November.

Three months after he was seriously wounded during the Fourth of July mass shooting in Highland Park, 8-year-old Cooper Roberts has returned to school, his family said in a statement Monday.

At least 100 people were shot, including 18 who died, between Friday evening and Monday night in what was so far the bloodiest weekend of 2021, according to Chicago Police Department data.

Calling a vaccination “the most patriotic thing you can do,” President Joe Biden on Sunday mixed the nation’s birthday party with a celebration of freedom from the worst of the pandemic.

This Fourth of July holiday we look at a word that has had different meanings for different Americans: patriotism, and what it means to some members of the Black community.

Chicago’s “challenging” holiday weekend turned more violent overnight after four people were shot in a drive-by shooting.

For many Latinos, both American-born and immigrants, feelings of pride and patriotism for the U.S. are complicated by history, racial injustice and cultural erasure, leading to questions of what it truly means to be an American patriot.

AAA forecasts that more than 47 million people will travel by car or plane this weekend in the U.S., a return to 2019 levels and 40% higher than last year. That includes 3.5 million airline passengers.

The Fourth of July holiday weekend will kick off Saturday with fireworks along the lakefront starting at 9:30 p.m. The display should be visible from Grand Avenue to at least 55th Street, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday.