Courthouse News Service • 6th September 2024

Federal judge skeptical of landlord challenge to Chicago tenant-protection ordinance

Tenants sued landlord BBLI Edison this year for what they said were violations of Chicago tenant protections. A week later, the company sued the city over the same protections.

Courthouse News Service • 22nd August 2024

Delegates, representatives stage all-night sit-in to protest lack of Palestinian voices at DNC

CHICAGO (CN) — A collection of Palestinian-American delegates, politicians and allies staged an hourslong sit-in outside Chicago's United Center on Wednesday night in protest of a lack of Palestinian voices on the DNC stage. The sit-in began before the DNC programming ended for the night, and continued through to Thursday morning.

Courthouse News Service • 19th August 2024

Protesters rally in Chicago ahead of packed DNC week

One organizer said they expected "tens of thousands" of people to join the protest movement over the course of the Democratic National Convention.

Courthouse News Service • 6th August 2024

Seventh Circuit: Salvation Army ‘work therapy’ program doesn’t violate forced labor laws

Participants in the work therapy program painted it as a "coercive labor arrangement that serves only the organization’s financial interests."

Courthouse News Service • 19th July 2024

Federal judge rejects call to nix Chicago’s DNC security plan

CHICAGO (CN) — An LGBTQ advocacy group's federal lawsuit against Chicago met a significant hurdle on Friday, when a federal judge declined to block enforcement of the city's security plan for the Democratic National Convention. The group, Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws, filed suit in May after the city repeatedly denied its application to protest outside the convention.

Courthouse News Service • 24th June 2024

Chicago’s longest-serving city councilor gets two years in jail, $2 million fine

CHICAGO (CN) — U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall sentenced ex-Chicago alderman Ed Burke to two years behind bars on Monday, along with imposing a $2 million fine and a year of supervised release, after a 5 1/2-hour-long hearing in Chicago's Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse brought Burke's 5-year legal saga to a close.

Courthouse News Service • 25th August 2023

National Labor Relations Board slams union-busting tactics by employers

The National Labor Relations Board handed labor unions a major win Friday, with a ruling that punishes employer interference in union elections. "It's more than major. It's landmark," University of Illinois labor law professor Matthew Finkin said in a phone interview.

Courthouse News Service • 25th July 2023

Brothers sue Chicago after enduring police torture and decades of false imprisonment

The new federal lawsuits recall the legacy of police torture under disgraced Chicago detective Jon Burge.

Courthouse News Service • 4th February 2023

‘That’s not our jurisdiction’: Illinois counties wash their hands of water pollution concerns

The toothlessness of local authorities in dealing with water pollution, as well as the IEPA's unwillingness to pursue enforcement actions, is part of a larger trend of industrial deregulation that has steadily advanced in the US since the far-right Reagan administration. Most environmental standards for oil refineries have not been revised since 1985, despite an explicit goal of the 1972 Clean Water Act being "the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985."

Courthouse News Service • 7th May 2022

Whole Foods, white liberalism and short-term solutions to long term problems

"You got our TIF money and now you're leaving with our TIF money," Taylor said. "These companies don't care about us."

Courthouse News Service • 24th March 2022

$1 million gas giveaway in Chicago illustrates economic anxiety nationwide

CHICAGO (CN) — This rainy Thursday morning in Chicago, Moises Cruz woke up well before the sun. He wasn’t alone. Across the Windy City and its suburbs, hundreds of cars lined up near gas stations in the predawn hours, waiting to get their share of a $1 million free gas giveaway.

Courthouse News Service • 18th March 2022

Smollett attorney still on the hook in defamation case brought by Osundairo brothers

CHICAGO (CN) — The legal saga surrounding Jussie Smollett turned a new page Friday morning when a federal judge in Chicago released a ruling declaring that defamation claims against one of Smollett’s attorneys can proceed to trial.

Courthouse News Service • 15th March 2022

Lawsuit but no charges against Chicago cop who shot 13-year-old boy

CHICAGO (CN) — Shortly before 2:40 a.m. on March 29, 2021, Chicago police officer Eric Stillman fatally shot an unarmed 13-year-old Hispanic boy named Adam Toledo in the chest. Stillman will not face any state criminal charges for killing the teen, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday, but the officer and city were hit with a civil lawsuit filed by Toledo’s parents Elizabeth and Marco Toledo over their son’s death.

Courthouse News Service • 10th March 2022

Jussie Smollett sentenced to 30 months probation, 150 days of jail time

CHICAGO (CN) — Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced former Empire star Jussie Smollett to 30 months of probation on Thursday, including 150 days in Cook County Jail. The sentence, which also includes an order to pay $120,000 to the city of Chicago, follows a criminal trial in December which saw Smollett convicted of staging a bogus hate crime against himself in January 2019.

Courthouse News Service • 26th February 2022

The death knell is sounding for Chicago’s political dynasties

CHICAGO (CN) — The Romanovs. The Qing. The Bushes. No dynasty lasts forever, and in Chicago a string of recent federal court cases involving members of the city’s most prominent white political families — like the Daleys, Cullertons and Burkes – indicate these once-mighty clans may be nearing the end of their reigns too.

Courthouse News Service • 14th February 2022

Chicago political dynasty heir found guilty of tax fraud

CHICAGO (CN) — A federal jury found Chicago City Council Member and 11th Ward Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson guilty of seven counts of tax fraud on Monday night, for lying to federal regulators in 2018 about how much money he owed to the now-closed Washington Federal Bank for Savings and knowingly filing bogus tax returns for five years.

Courthouse News Service • 10th February 2022

Chicago police union raising dues to fund cop-friendly political campaigns

CHICAGO (CN) — The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police’s controversial chief announced Wednesday night that officers’ union dues would soon be going up. FOP President John Catanzara, who previously voiced an intention to run for the Chicago mayorship in 2023, said the anticipated $240 annual dues increase was specifically meant to raise money for police-friendly political action.

Courthouse News Service • 14th January 2022

Chicago Public School students protest in-person learning with district-wide walkout

CHICAGO (CN) — Hundreds of Chicago high school students gathered in front of the Chicago Public School District’s central offices Friday afternoon, after staging a walkout in protest of the district’s resumption of in-person learning. The students demanded better pandemic safety in schools, citing the ongoing Covid-19 surge in Chicago.

Courthouse News Service • 9th December 2021

Jussie Smollett found guilty of staging hate crime

CHICAGO (CN) — Former “Empire” star Jussie Smollett was convicted of criminal disorderly conduct Thursday for falsely reporting to police that he was the victim of a hate crime.

Courthouse News Service • 28th September 2021

Barack Obama breaks ground at his own presidential center

CHICAGO (CN) — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama joined the governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago in Jackson Park to break ground Tuesday, at the site of the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center.