Citywide

Bucktown clerk was shot during staged robbery tied to nationwide immigration fraud scheme

October 23, 2026 5:36 PM Tim Hecke
A suburban Chicago man who organized hundreds of fake armed robberies to help people fraudulently obtain U.S. immigration visas has been sentenced to two years in federal prison. But one of the staged holdups took a horrible turn at a Bucktown liquor store when a purported robber accidentally shot a store clerk in the abdomen, critically injuring him, according to police reports.

CTA

Blue Line robber with warrants in 3 counties is caught after passengers complain he’s smoking crack on the CTA — while on electronic monitoring

October 22, 2026 8:40 AM Tim Hecke
A man charged with robbing a Lurie Children’s Hospital employee on a Blue Line train spent months on the streets and on the CTA despite facing charges in three counties, being wanted on multiple arrest warrants, and wearing an electronic ankle monitor — until concerned passengers tipped off police the old-fashioned way: they told officers he was smoking a crack pipe on the train.

Citywide

Facing City Council grilling, Johnson administration suddenly announces gunshot detection ‘pilot’

October 21, 2026 7:26 AM Tim Hecke
More than two years after Mayor Brandon Johnson deactivated ShotSpotter, the city’s gunshot detection network, despite opposition from his handpicked police superintendent, two-thirds of the City Council, and 70% of city residents, his chief procurement officer on Tuesday announced that the administration is “preparing to launch a pilot program to evaluate a range of violence interruption and public safety technologies, including gunshot detection systems.”