Candidates hoping to make it on the March 17 primary ballot have another week to collect the required signatures from local registered voters, but those hoping for the coveted first spot filed that paperwork Monday morning.
Kim Foxx

“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.

Twenty-eight defense attorneys were interviewed for a new report, which claims Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has reversed some of the “tough-on-crime” policies that previously existed in her office.

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.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk candidate Michael Cabonargi, Illinois Supreme Court candidate P. Scott Neville and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx will have the coveted endorsement of the Cook County Democratic Party in next year’s elections.

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.

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.
Ruling date scheduled for June 21

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.

The Cook County Clerk on Thursday released more than 250 pages related to the “Empire” star’s abruptly halted prosecution for allegedly filing a false police report. Read the entire file.

A Cook County judge vacated a sealing order that had kept the case file removed from the public eye following intense public scrutiny over the prosecution’s handling and dismissal of the high-profile case.

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and her top assistant will not have to testify about their dismissal of criminal charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett despite a request for a special prosecutor to investigate how that case was handled.