Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company’s connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.
Slain Oak Park Detective Allan Reddins warned a suspect not to draw his weapon moments before the man allegedly fired at him, according to five fraught snippets of body camera footage released by the Oak Park Police Department. Read more here.
The commercial real estate executive who paid $9.5 million in December for Michael Jordan’s massive Highland Park mansion announced that he is offering co-ownership shares in the home, with bids starting at $1 million apiece. Read more here.
How a coach will work with Williams is obviously a “huge factor” in whom the Bears pick, Poles said at his season-ending news conference. But he stopped short of saying the coach must have an offensive background. Read more here.
Ted Sofios, left to right, Michael Ressler, Jonathan Salem Baskin, Andrew Hollander-Urbach and Todd Rowan of Mortal Fools, a local band that performs rock versions of literary works by Shakespeare and Milton, on Jan. 5, 2025, at Fort Knox Studios before a show adapting Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey.” (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Like their taste in lyrics, Mortal Fools is atypical, as far as bands go. Its members get together infrequently — every several months — and when they do, they perform each show just once, at Evanston SPACE. Read more here.
President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters after a meeting with Republican leadership at the Capitol on Jan. 8, 2025, in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
The president-elect doesn’t have to go to jail, pay a fine or perform community service as a result of his New York hush money conviction. Here are some of the potential impacts and some things that won’t change. Read more here.
When the Griffith Police Department’s new chief Albert Tharp takes the reins, he hopes to give as much back to the community as it’s given him the last 15 years.
Tharp, a Detective Sergent with Griffith, ascended to the chief’s spot January 10. He replaces Greg Mance, who’s retiring after 26 years with the department and 12 as chief.
Like most people in their late teens, Tharp wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his life when he started at Indiana University Northwest in 2001. He decided to join the school’s cadet officer program, which exposed him to law enforcement, he said.
“It gave me direction,” Tharp said. “This program gave me the opportunity to graduate from the police academy and serve as a police officer while completing my college degree.”
He graduated from IU’s Police Academy in Bloomington in 2005 and stayed on with the IUN Police Department as a patrolman until 2009, when he was hired at Griffith, he said. Since then, he’s served Griffith as a Patrolman, Corporal, Detective, and Detective Sergeant as well as participated in the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force and the District 1 Law Enforcement Strike Team.
He’s also been an emergency vehicle obstacle course instructor, an evidence technician, an evidence/property room manager, Public Information Officer, and a member of the Lake County Fatal Overdose Review Team, he said.
Wanting to be chief, however, stemmed from wanting to do more for the community that “helped shape the person” he is.
“I believe Griffith is one of the finest communities in Northwest Indiana, and I’m excited about leading and supporting the officers of this department to make Griffith the safest community possible,” he said.
That will include keeping programs Mance started during his tenure, such as regular residency checks for registered sex offenders and people on probation, which further reinforces community safety and accountability, he said. As far as his own vision, however, that will come in due time.
“When it comes to implementing changes, I believe in a slow and methodical approach, building upon the strong foundation left by Chief Mance,” he said. “During the last 12 years that Chief Mance has served, he’s implemented important changes and innovations to the department, and while I recognize that I’m a different person and my leadership style may vary from his, I have great respect for his accomplishments.
“Over the coming days and weeks, I plan to engage in meaningful conversations with the members of the department to understand their perspectives and discuss how best to provide the support they need before committing to any changes.”
For his part, Mance said he hasn’t wiped the smile off his face in weeks.
“In 26 years, I have very few regrets,” Mance said. “I made a lot of friendships, a lot of great memories and had a lot of successes, so this is the right time for me to go.”
He includes among his successes the work the department’s done with community building, which he said is the key to crime reduction. He’s also pleased to have seen the NWI Regional SWAT growth, and he enjoyed working with legislators.
All eight of the internal candidates that applied for the position were talented, Mance said, so the Town Council couldn’t go wrong. He supports the choice of Tharp.
“I think he knows what the job entails,” he said.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Lake County prosecutors have upgraded the charges against a man who drove his car into a house on Christmas Eve, killing a passenger.
Marcos Corona-Vargas was initially charged with reckless homicide and DUI following the Dec. 24 crash near Lake Villa. But he is now charged with aggravated DUI causing a death, according to court records.
Corona-Vargas, 31, of Round Lake Beach, was ordered detained until trial after a Jan. 3 hearing, according to court records. The case is due back in court on Monday, after Corona-Vargas’ attorney filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider.
The crash happened around 7:35 p.m. on Christmas Eve in the 21300 block of West Engle, police said. Corona-Vargas was driving a Jeep eastbound when he left the road, drove through a yard and then struck a house, according to reports.
The front-seat passenger, Axel Maldonado, a 22-year-old Round Lake resident, was killed in the crash. Corona-Vargas and another passenger were hospitalized with serious injuries, police said. Corona-Vargas was booked into the jail following his hospital release, and he remains in custody.
Pound of cocaine
A man and woman from Kane County were arrested this month after a traffic stop near Lincolnshire that yielded a pound of cocaine, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver, Melissa M. Coquillard, 33, of Hampshire, and the passenger, Martin Gonzalez, 36, of South Elgin, were taken into custody.
Members of the sheriff’s Special Investigations Group pulled them over at about 6:20 p.m. Wednesday on Interstate 94 near the Illinois Route 22 exit, police said.
A sheriff’s office police dog sniffed around the vehicle’s exterior and alerted for the presence of narcotics, police said. A subsequent search located more than half a kilogram – 578 grams – of cocaine, police said.
Both Coquillard and Gonzalez were charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
“This case demonstrates the effectiveness of our specialized teams, including our K9 Unit, in intercepting dangerous drugs before they reach our communities,” Sheriff John Idleburg said. “ I commend the collaborative efforts of our deputies and our Special Investigations Group for their dedication to keeping Lake County safe.
“Drug traffickers pose a serious threat, and we will continue to aggressively pursue those who bring these substances into our community,” he said.
Drive-by shooting
Both of the women injured during a Jan. 5 drive-by shooting have been discharged from the hospital, according to the sheriff’s office.
They were hurt at around 2 a.m. when someone opened fire on their car on Green Bay Road in Beach Park. Both women sustained gunshot wounds.
Police arrested two suspects later that night following several chases that ended when Zion police deployed a tire-deflation device that punctured the tires on the suspect vehicle, a Dodge Challenger that may have been stolen in Wisconsin.
An 18-year-old Waukegan resident named Jonathan Garcia of the 1300 block of Judge Place, and a 16-year-old juvenile, were taken into custody and are facing weapons charges, police said.
Police are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting, the sheriff’s office said Friday.
Coffee with a Cop
Gurnee residents will have a great chance to interact with their police department and enjoy a free cup of joe at the same time at the upcoming “Coffee with a Cop” event.
It is scheduled for Feb. 8 from noon to 2 p.m. at the Gurnee Mills mall food court’s south dining pavilion near the Kohl’s store.
The event will also have a craft table for kids to make valentines that will be distributed to local seniors.
A Florida appeals court ruled on Thursday that lawsuits against the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resource officer at the time of the 2018 shooting in Parkland, Fla., can go to trial.
The 4th District Court of Appeal gave no details in its ruling that allows the civil suits against former Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Scot Peterson to proceed.
The ruling comes after Peterson was acquitted in 2023
of criminal charges of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury related to the shooting, which killed 17 people and injured dozens more.
The families of the victims, who are asking for an unspecified amount from him and the police department, say he failed to confront Nikolas Cruz during his six-minute rampage.
Peterson’s lawyers have said he had no legal obligation to stop the shooter.
“Florida law is unequivocal that whether it is by reason of a lack of legal duty, by application of statutory immunity, or both, as a governmental employee, Peterson cannot be held liable for an alleged failure to stop Cruz from committing mass murder,” Peterson’s attorneys wrote in a brief while making the case the court give him summary judgement.
The decision to let civil lawsuits proceed was made by Judges Dorian Damoorgian, Spencer Levine and Alan Forst.
The Hill has reached out to a legal representative of the victims for comment.
