BRIGHTON, Colo. — A former paramedic who injected Elijah McClain with a powerful sedative avoided prison and was sentenced to probation Friday after his homicide conviction in the Black man’s death, which helped fuel the 2020 racial injustice protests. Jeremy Cooper had faced up to three years in prison after being found guilty in a jury trial last year of criminally negligent homicide. He administered a dose of ketamine to McClain, 23, who had been forcibly restrained after police stopped him as the massage therapist was walking home in a Denver suburb in 2019. The sentencing caps a series of ..read more

WASHINGTON — The IRS said Friday that more than 140,000 taxpayers filed their taxes through its new direct file pilot program and participants saved roughly $5.6 million in fees they would have otherwise spent with commercial tax preparation companies. The government pilot program, rolled out this tax season in 12 states, allows people with very simple W-2s to calculate and submit their returns directly to the IRS for free. Those using the program claimed more than $90 million in refunds, the IRS said. But despite what IRS and Treasury Department officials said was a successful rollout, they a ..read more

A multifaceted emergency services consolidation is underway in Lake County, joining a dozen municipalities’ dispatch centers with the goal of providing quicker response times and more effective emergency services. For over a decade, Lake County has been planning the consolidation of regional 911 services. Eventually, local 911 authorities, known as Emergency Telephone System Boards (ETSBs), will consolidate into a joint board, and regional Public Safety Answer Points (PSAP) will merge to form LakeComm, a first responder dispatch center. Once the merger is complete, it will be one of the larges ..read more

Student protests over the Israel-Hamas war have popped up on an increasing number of college campuses following last week’s arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University. The students are calling for universities to separate themselves from any companies that are advancing Israel’s military efforts in Gaza — and in some cases from Israel itself. Protests on many campuses have been orchestrated by coalitions of student groups. The groups largely act independently, though students say they’re inspired by peers at other universities. A look at protests on campuses in recent days: C ..read more

WASHINGTON — For the second time in recent months, President Joe Biden’s administration has delayed a plan to ban menthol cigarettes, a decision that is certain to infuriate anti-smoking advocates but could avoid angering Black voters ahead of November elections. In a statement Friday, Biden’s top health official gave no timeline for issuing the rule, saying only that the administration would take more time to consider feedback, including from civil rights groups. “It’s clear that there are still more conversations to have, and that will take significantly more time,” Health and Human Services ..read more

After a lengthy morning of speeches, sometimes tense questioning, and closed-door negotiations, Cook County Democrats Friday tapped county Commissioner Monica Gordon to replace the late county Clerk Karen Yarbrough on November’s ballot. A majority of the party’s 80 committeemen — some voting via proxy — also chose the current acting clerk and top Yarbrough deputy Cedric Giles to stay in the post through December, when an elected successor will be sworn in. The group gathered at IBEW Local 134 Friday morning to hear pitches and lob questions at 15 prospective candidates and spent much of the af ..read more

Video showing a Lansing police officer pushing a 17-year-old student at Thornton Fractional South High School is at the center of a federal lawsuit against the school district, the village of Lansing and the officer. The lawsuit, filed April 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, describes the push and a discussion between the officer and student that continued afterward. Detective Kiara Bogan, employed by the Lansing Police Department, was working as a student resource officer for the school March 7, according to the department and the lawsuit. A ..read more

William Kallas took over as mayor of Oakbrook Terrace from a scandal-plagued predecessor and led efforts to bring Lake Michigan water to the western suburb. “Mayor Bill was the right man at the right time to bring Lake Michigan water to (the city),” said former Oakbrook Terrace Ald. Kenneth Gallt. “Few people will ever understand the hours he put in for the betterment of our residents.” William J. Kallas, mayor of Oakbrook Terrace, circa July 22, 1997. (Oakbrook Terrace) Kallas, 90, died of congestive heart failure on March 28 at a hospital near his Crossville, Tennessee, home, said his daught ..read more

For months now, gun-related arrests in the parking lot of Topgolf in Naperville have mounted, each the result of a similar chain of events. Police, typically on a foot patrol, spot a firearm — in plain view, authorities say — inside a vehicle parked outside the 3211 Odyssey Court business. Officers set up surveillance, wait for the owner to return and, if that firearm is illegally possessed, make an arrest. The familiar bust has happened again and again. But what is known about the arrests beyond their frequency? Law enforcement — both active and retired — Topgolf representatives and police re ..read more

Good afternoon, Chicago. Pro-Palestinian protests continued for a second day today at Northwestern’s Evanston campus, with hundreds of students and faculty — many of whom spent the night in tents — pressuring the university to divest from funds connected to Israel or those that profit from its war in Gaza. Students and activists associated with the Northwestern Divestment Coalition started the “Northwestern Liberation Zone” Thursday morning at Deering Meadow, a popular common area on campus. By Friday morning, more than 40 tents covered the encampment — three times as many from the d ..read more