Nov 24 Chicago releases graphic video of officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald By Joshua Barajas A Chicago police officer was charged with first degree murder and held without bail Tuesday for shooting a black teenager 16 times, an encounter that was caught on the squad car’s dash cam. Continue reading
Nov 04 Chicago school district discriminated against transgender student, report says By Kamaria Roberts A suburban Chicago school district is now under fire for not allowing a transgender student access to the girls’ locker room. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a 14-page report outlining the… Continue reading
Oct 27 ‘Very disturbing’ homicide spike draws alarm from Obama administration By Eric Tucker, Associated Press WASHINGTON — This year has brought an unusually grim and steady drumbeat of violence throughout the country. Continue reading
Oct 21 Chicago PD Superintendent on alleged secretive interrogation sites: ‘It’s simply not true’ By David Coles The Chicago Police Department is again being accused to have violated the civil rights of suspects and is under the microscope. Continue reading
Oct 17 Supreme Court considers appeal of Chicago suburb’s assault weapons ban By Mark Sherman, Associated Press The Supreme Court has so far resisted elaborating on two landmark decisions that established a nationwide right to defend one's home with a gun. That could change with a new appeal filed by gun owners that challenges a Chicago suburb's… Continue reading
Oct 15 The rise and fall of ex-U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert By Associated Press CHICAGO — A federal grand jury has accused former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of agreeing to pay $3.5 million in hush money to keep an unidentified person silent about "prior misconduct" by the Illinois Republican. Continue reading
Aug 26 Blame the improving economy for worst traffic ever in U.S. By Joan Lowy, Associated Press WASHINGTON — More jobs and cheaper gasoline come with a big, honking downside: U.S. roads are more clogged than ever now that the recession is in the rearview mirror. Continue reading
Jul 20 Watch 10:34 Gangs and guns fuel Chicago’s summer surge of violence By PBS News Hour In Chicago, the number of shooting deaths has climbed in 2015 after falling the last two years. Vonzell Banks was one of the victims -- a 17-year-old church choir drummer, who got caught in the crossfire during a family outing… Continue watching
Jul 20 A Chicago ‘nightcrawler’ knows the city’s violence all too well By Chris Bury PBS NewsHour special correspondent Chris Bury reports on the uptick of deadly violence in Chicago. In the report, he introduces us to Paul “Pauley” Lapointe, a news photographer who has witnessed much of this violence, and who serves as a… Continue reading
Jul 20 Why a Chicago church allowed us in to film a teenager’s funeral, and why that’s important By Dan Morris When we asked the Reverend Derail Smith if we could film the funeral of 17-year-old Vonzell Banks, he hesitated. But ultimately the circumstances outweighed such concerns. "People need to see what’s going on here," he said. Continue reading