Dave Byrnes

I'm Dave, a reporter currently based in my home city of Chicago. Since 2014 I've worked for news outlets in Chicago, the Chicago suburbs and Pierre, South Dakota, with stretches of working as a trucking dockworker, bartender and English tutor in between. I've been pursuing freelance work since late March 2025, but prior to that I spent four years covering politics, the courts, labor and science for Courthouse News Service. Some of the major issues I've covered include the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the federal trials of R. Kelly and Mike Madigan, and the multifaceted legal fight over Illinois' assault weapon bans. When I'm not working, I enjoy astronomy, busking and playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Courthouse News Service •

Federal financial watchdog agency dismisses suit against TransUnion

CHICAGO (CN) — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has tossed its almost three-year-old regulatory enforcement lawsuit against credit reporting agency TransUnion, according to a court stipulation published Friday morning. The bureau and the agency say in the joint stipulation that the bureau is voluntarily dismissing its federal complaint against both TransUnion and John Danaher, one of its executives. The bureau sought a "pause" in the case earlier this month, citing President Donald Trump's shakeup of its leadership.
Courthouse News Service •

Can the KIND Act help fix Illinois’ foster care system?

(CN) — If you were a child in foster care, would you rather be cared for by a stranger or a grandparent? According to researchers from the University of Illinois, foster kids generally do better when placed with family — but it’s not always as simple as finding a relative with a spare room. Instead, families face a variety of barriers when trying to take in an underage relative, from a lack of government assistance to an inability to meet foster care licensing standards. Criticism of these structural barriers and their role in perpetuating economic and racial inequality goes back decades. A new law in Illinois known as the Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act seeks to break down some of them.
Courthouse News Service •

Jury deadlocks, partially convicts ex-Illinois House speaker in sprawling federal corruption trial

CHICAGO (CN) — Jurors on Wednesday returned a split verdict in the monthslong federal corruption trial of ex-Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan. Jurors found Madigan guilty on 10 of the 23 corruption charges he faced and not guilty on seven counts. They did not return a verdict on his co-defendant and longtime ally Mike McClain. The jury deadlocked on the six charges McClain shared with Madigan: an overarching racketeering conspiracy charge that ran throughout case's multiple "episodes," and additional fraud, bribery and racketeering counts.
Courthouse News Service •

Trump administration sues Illinois, Chicago, Cook County over immigrant protection laws

CHICAGO (CN) — The Trump administration filed a federal lawsuit against Illinois, Chicago and Cook County on Thursday morning, claiming local laws designed to protect immigrants violate the constitution. The lawsuit declares a "national crisis" of illegal immigration and asserts a need to enforce federal immigration laws. "This action seeks to put an end to one state’s efforts to impede the federal government from doing that," the government writes in the suit.
Courthouse News Service •

Chicago City Council blocks effort to weaken immigrant protections ahead of Trump inauguration

CHICAGO (CN) — The Chicago City Council on Wednesday headed off an effort to weaken municipal immigrant protections, as the country prepares for a second Trump presidential administration. City councilors voted 39-11 in favor of tabling a measure that would have amended Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance, stripping the ordinance's protections for immigrants arrested or convicted for certain crimes.
Courthouse News Service •

Seventh Circuit stays ruling against Illinois assault weapon ban

CHICAGO (CN) — The Illinois assault weapon and extended ammo magazine bans are back in play as of Thursday afternoon, per an order from a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals panel that freezes a lower court's recent ruling against the bans. "The absence of support in other circuits for the district court’s disposition lends strength to a conclusion that the Illinois statutes should remain in force until final appellate resolution," the three-judge appellate panel wrote.
Courthouse News Service •

Federal judge declares Illinois assault weapon ban unconstitutional

(CN) — A federal judge in southern Illinois permanently blocked enforcement of the state's assault weapon ban Friday afternoon, following a bench trial on multiple consolidated suits against the ban this September. The ban — as codified in the 2023 Protect Illinois Communities Act — survived multiple challenges at the state and federal level before U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn, a Donald Trump appointee, ruled it unconstitutional on Friday. Anticipating his decision would be appealed to the Seventh Circuit, McGlynn issued a monthlong stay of his sweeping injunction.
Courthouse News Service •

Feds tell jurors of bribery web in corruption trial of ex-Illinois House speaker

CHICAGO (CN) — Opening arguments began Monday in the corruption trial of former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who faces 23 bribery, fraud, racketeering and conspiracy charges related to five "episodes" over the last 14 years. The former speaker wore a charcoal suit with a red tie, watching dispassionately and taking notes as federal prosecutor Sarah Streicker laid out the government's case against him. "Madigan abused his power and used the organizations he led to engage in a pattern of corrupt conduct over and over and over again," she told the jurors.
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