Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration said Friday that more groups would be allowed to participate in next month’s Chicago Pride Parade but the declared compromise still left some in the city’s LGBTQ+ community frustrated and calling for the progressive mayor to ensure they are more involved in future decisions about the event. This year’s Pride Parade, being held June 30, will be limited to 150 groups — the smallest in years — and will be shorter and start an hour earlier. But Johnson’s compromise increased the number of group participants over a previous city proposal of 125. In what the ma ..read more

A yearslong battle over a historic Polish church in Pilsen moved from the streets into the chambers of Chicago’s City Council on Friday as church supporters who want it protected as a city landmark clashed with leaders of the Chicago Archdiocese who fear landmarking the church will halt any efforts to repurpose the property. During a daylong Commission on Chicago Landmarks hearing, dozens who back landmarking St. Adalbert Church provided fiery testimony and characterized the Archdiocese of Chicago and the nearby parish that now oversees the church property as greedy and disrespectful of St. Ad ..read more

A Kansas judge has ruled that former University of Illinois basketball star Terrence Shannon Jr. must stand trial on a rape charge after a woman testified Friday that she was “terrified” as she allegedly was being assaulted. Shannon, 23, appeared before Judge Sally Pokorny in Douglas County District Court in Kansas on Friday for a preliminary hearing. The Chicago native is charged with one count of rape or an alternative count of aggravated sexual battery, which is a felony, according to a criminal complaint. A jury trial is scheduled to begin June 10 in Kansas, according to court officia ..read more

A Lake County judge has given the company that publishes far-right websites and flyers designed to look like newspapers until 5 p.m. Monday to remove some personally identifiable voter information it publicly posted earlier this year in apparent violation of state law. In an order issued Thursday in response to a complaint from Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the publishers of the so-called “pink slime” publications must remove registered voters’ full birthdates and street addresses from their websites. That is consistent with publicly released state voting information under fede ..read more

Shouting could be heard from beyond the walls of Calumet City’s closed-door session Thursday as Mayor Thaddeus Jones sparred with an alderman over management of the City Council agenda. A meeting that began by recognizing high school football players ended immediately after city officials stormed out of their private meeting, where they discussed legal issues under an exception to the Open Meetings Act. The disagreement started shortly after the aldermen came out of the evening’s first executive session, when 6th Ward Ald. James Patton accused the mayor of illegally removing items that he prop ..read more

A 23-year-old Springfield woman has been arrested and charged with making a false bomb threat that targeted two Illinois state buildings last month, the Illinois State Police announced Friday. The ISP received a call on April 22 that a bomb had been placed in the Illinois Capitol building and in a Springfield public aid building. The state’s terrorism and intelligence center quickly cleared both buildings. Authorities tracked down the person who allegedly made the threats, Gabrielle Williams, through “cellular information and conducting interviews,” according to a  statement from the ISP ..read more

Christopher Crane was the CEO and president of Commonwealth Edison parent company Exelon from 2012 until 2022, a tenure during which he oversaw acquisitions that made Chicago-based firm the nation’s largest energy utility. With a background as a nuclear engineer, Crane significantly increased the efficiency of Exelon’s nuclear power plants and orchestrated the separation of the company’s utilities and power generation businesses before retiring due to health challenges. Crane, 65, died of complications from pneumonia April 13 in the intensive care unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said h ..read more

WASHINGTON — A soon-to-be-released Biden administration review of Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in its war in Gaza does not conclude that Israel has violated the terms for their use, according to three people who have been briefed on the matter. The report is expected to be sharply critical of Israel, even though it doesn’t conclude that Israel violated terms of U.S.-Israel weapons agreements, according to one U.S. official. The administration’s findings on its close ally’s conduct of the war, a first-of-its-kind assessment that was compelled by President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats i ..read more

A 1930 steam engine called The Empress pulled into downtown Franklin Park Wednesday – taking a break from its trek along the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad line on its trip from Calgary, Canada to Mexico City, Mexico – and hundreds turned out to witness the historic visit. The locomotive’s stop was part of the one-year anniversary of the Canadian Pacific’s purchase of the Kansas City Southern line. The buy created the only single-line railway connecting the three North American countries, and hauls freight. Onlookers snapped photos as the Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s steam locomotive ..read more

Good afternoon, Chicago. A Cook County judge today ordered factual documents sealed in the highly-scrutinized case of a man accused of killing 11-year-old Jayden Perkins and injuring his pregnant mother in a stabbing in their Edgewater apartment. Crosetti Brand, 37, who has a documented history of violence against women, is charged with murder, attempted murder and other felonies in a March attack he allegedly perpetrated just one day after he was released from prison where he was sent after threatening Jayden’s mother weeks earlier. The killing spurred grief and outrage in the commu ..read more