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Archive for the ‘Crime’ Category

When Blue States Chase Away Their Billionaires – WSJ

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Cost of Living, Crime, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Economy, Education, Ethics, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, Wall Street Journal on October 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

America’s Governor Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) cheers Citadel founder Kenneth Griffin at the announcement of Carnegie Mellon University Miami on Thursday. | Jack Dempsey/AP Content Services for Griffin Catalyst/Associated Pres

By James Freeman | Wall Street Journal

An editorial in the Chicago Tribune laments what might have been had “Kenneth C. Griffin not become so frustrated with the state of Illinois as to move himself and much of the financial company he founded, Citadel, to Miami.” The Tribune is responding to the news that Mr. Griffin is moving a whole lot more to Florida after departing the expensive dysfunction of Illinois governance.

The Journal’s Deborah Acosta reported on Wednesday:

Hedge-fund titan Ken Griffin is donating $2 billion to start a Carnegie Mellon University campus in Miami, part of the largest-ever individual gift toward higher education.

The Pittsburgh-based university, known for its expertise in computer science, artificial intelligence and robotics, will open a 35-acre campus in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood that will focus on technology and innovation.

“The students who graduate and the tech companies that come to Miami to leverage those skills will change the very fabric of Miami for decades if not centuries to come,” Griffin said in an interview.

Citadel’s chief executive is also giving $1 billion to Carnegie Mellon’s main Pittsburgh campus. Griffin’s combined $3 billion donation is the largest single gift toward higher education from any individual, according to an announcement from Carnegie Mellon University.

The donation helps advance Griffin’s aim to establish South Florida as a leading global-business and technology hub.

Back in the Windy City, kudos to the Tribune editorial board for explaining the opportunity cost of driving away the state’s most successful people: “After all, persons who are willing to donate $3 billion to an institution of higher education are not to be found on every street corner.”

Of course New York politicians in general and the mayor of New York City in particular have also been unwelcoming and in some cases downright hostile to wealth-creators like Mr. Griffin. Leftists who enjoyed the mayor’s nasty media stunt outside Mr. Griffin’s Manhattan apartment can now reflect on whether it was worth removing the city as a possible landing spot for the largest individual gift in the history of U.S. higher education.

Article continues here.

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Prosecutors say Barrington mother sexually assaulted son’s teen friend, told him ‘I really shouldn’t be doing this’ and continued

Posted in Crime, Lake & McHenry County Scanner, Police Reports, School Districts on September 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Officials say Veronica M. Reyes, 41, of Barrington, is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy on multiple occasions in February and March as they revealed new details on the case during a Thursday court hearing, adding that Reyes’ home was the “party house” for her son’s friends and that she also physically abused other juveniles. | Photo – Left: Provided; Photo: – Right: Nick Rusin

By Sam Borcia | Lake & McHenry County Scanner

A Barrington mother accused of sexually assaulting her son’s 16-year-old friend told him, “I really shouldn’t be doing this,” then said, “Whatever, who cares,” and continued, prosecutors said, adding that she physically abused other children.

Veronica M. Reyes, 41, of Barrington, was charged Monday with four counts of criminal sexual assault, a Class 1 felony, and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony.

Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Eduardo Zermeno said Reyes is the mother of two of the victim’s friends and made herself a “constant presence” in her sons’ peer group.

She would drive the boy and other juveniles wherever they wanted to go and allegedly supply them with alcohol and cannabis.

Reyes used that access to isolate the boy inside her bedroom at her home in Barrington while the other juveniles who were there slept in other rooms, Zermeno said.

Reyes is accused of sexually assaulting the boy during two separate encounters roughly two to three weeks apart, each involving multiple sex acts.

The arrest warrant alleges the offenses occurred between February 10 and February 20 and between February 24 and March 13.

The boy told investigators that during the first encounter, Reyes asked him, “You’re 18, right?”

When he told her he was 16 and about to turn 17, Reyes noted he was close in age to her own 15-year-old son and said, “I really shouldn’t be doing this. This isn’t good,” Zermeno said.

The boy told Reyes that if she wanted to stop, she should stop, and Reyes responded, “Whatever, who cares,” and continued, Zermeno said. She later committed the same acts against him again.

Report continues here.

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Brandon Johnson joins fifteen (15) others running for mayor

Posted in Cook, County, Crime, Economy, Elections, Ethics, Illinois Policy Institute, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, School Districts, Taxes, Unions on September 14, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is seeking a second term, officially joining the growing field of candidates in the 2027 Chicago mayoral election.

By Dylan Sharkey | Illinois Policy Institute

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced Sunday that he is running for a second term, joining a host of other candidates competing to win the office in 2027.

The mayor posted a video on social media ending with “four more years.”

“I’m here because I’m the only candidate who’s fighting for working families. If you’re ready for a safer and more affordable Chicago, then now is our time!” Johnson posted on X.

He now joins a crowded field of candidates for mayor:

A University of Chicago poll released in July found Johnson’s approval rating at 23%, while just 13.6% of Chicagoans said they wanted him to seek another term.

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Ex-caregiver charged with sharing videos on Snapchat of nude residents at memory care home in South Barrington

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Crime, South Barrington on September 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Kristen Fisher looks at her wedding ring from her late husband Bernard “Skip” Fisher while at the Levin and Perconti law office in Chicago, Aug. 31, 2026. Fisher alleges that her late husband was videotaped nude while in the care of Encore Memory Care in South Barrington. | Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune

By Robert McCoppin | Chicago Tribune

Bernard “Skip” Fisher II suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and couldn’t speak. He was completely dependent on care at Encore Memory Care in South Barrington. Five days before he passed away in July, his wife, Kristen Fisher, said she received an alarming phone call from the Encore executive director.

Fisher was told that her husband and other residents had been videotaped naked at the home, and the images were shared among a group of facility employees via Snapchat.

“I was completely shocked,” Fisher said. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My husband was humiliated, he was degraded, and not able to defend himself. It immobilizes my every thought since then.”

Madison Russo, 25, of Bartlett, was charged with unauthorized videotaping and unauthorized dissemination of a person at their residence without their permission. Russo was scheduled to face arraignment on the charge Tuesday.

Officials from Encore did not return a phone call in a request for comment.

At least three other residents were also videotaped, a police report stated, one while naked in the shower, one on the toilet and another in her underpants in front of her wheelchair.

Report continues here.

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Resident confronted by masked suspect during overnight home invasion in Barrington Hills

Posted in Crime, Lake & McHenry County Scanner, Police Reports, VBHPD on August 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

File Photo – Barrington Hills Police Department | Photo: Nick Rusin

By Sam Borcia | Lake & McHenry County Scanner

Police say they are investigating after a resident was confronted by a masked suspect during a home invasion in Barrington Hills early Sunday morning.

The Barrington Hills Police Department responded around 4:57 a.m. Sunday to the 0-100 block of Hawthorne Lane in Barrington Hills for a report of a home invasion.

A 911 caller reported that an unknown person had entered the residence.

Police officials said the occupant was in a bathroom when they heard noises and were confronted by an unknown subject.

The suspect was described as a male wearing all dark clothing and a mask.

The occupant of the home screamed and yelled during the confrontation while attempting to close the bathroom door, police officials said.

The victim was not physically injured and the suspect subsequently fled the residence.

A preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect broke a window to gain entry to the house.

Report continues here.

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Pritzker Followed Fauci’s Guidance Blindly: The Illinois COVID Failures Nobody Owns- Wirepoints

Posted in Crime, Deception, Ethics, Perjury, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, School Districts, Transparency, Wirepoints on July 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »

By: Mark Glennon*

JB Pritzker didn’t just consult Dr. Anthony Fauci during the pandemic, he publicly attributed much of Illinois’ pandemic governance to him through at least the first two turbulent years of Covid. Pritzker regularly and forcefully endorsed Fauci’s pronouncements in his daily Covid briefings and elswhere. In September 2020, for example, Prizker said he “would not hesitate to follow the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci” whenever case surges required action. Fauci was a “very reliable source of information, Pritzker also said. “I rely on the guidance I hear from him.”

Even in April 2022, well after Fauci’s credibility was broken by dissenting epidemiologists and other experts and Fauci himself had changed course on some matters, Pritzker was still clinging to Fauci’s authority, saying he “hoped and prayed” Fauci was right that the worst was behind us.

But Pritzker and Fauci were wrong on fundamental issues from the start. Just two months after the pandemic started, it had become glaringly obvious to us at Wirepoints that facts were being grossly distorted and that Illinois’ policy response was patently irrational. Many mistakes were obvious even as they were made, which we documented with dozens of articles collected here.

It wasn’t about measured differences of opinion about science. It was a governor – and many others — who repeatedly hid behind a federal bureaucrat’s pronouncements to justify sweeping, often indefensible mandates on 12.7 million Illinoisans. Among the other guilty is the Illinois General Assembly, which stood aside as Pritzker ruled by executive fiat through his 39 consecutive emergency orders lasting from March 2020 to May 2023.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or relying on legacy media), you probably know that Fauci has already been exposed as a world class fraud. As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci was the face of establishment “science” on Covid. Most recently, his published diary exposes levels of narcissism and megalomania for the record books. The diary describes some of Pritzker’s phone conversations with him and Pritzker’s expressed admiration of him. On Thursday Fauci took the Fifth Amendment before Congress on most everything — over 100 times — despite the blanket pardon President Joe Biden gave him.

Among the topics during the pandemic on which Fauci was wrong or dishonest are these: probable leak from Chinese lab as the original virus source, asymptomatic spreading, fatality rates, blanket lockdowns, school closures, impact on youth, relevance of acquired immunity, social distancing, outdoor spread, masks, variant impact, vaccine efficacy and vaccine risks.

Overlay that against the list of Covid policy errors made by Illinois that we printed earlier and is copied below in full. I urge you to read it fully to appreciate the gravity and length of the list. Pritzker’s obedience to Fauci is linked to most but not all of it.

Article continues here.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.

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Victim left seriously injured after being punched in head by suspect at Metra station in Barrington

Posted in Crime, Lake & McHenry County Scanner, METRA, Public Safety on July 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Timothy A. Kirschner, 60, of Arlington Heights, (inset) is being held in custody after being charged with attacking another man by punching him in the head, causing serious injury, at the Metra station, 201 South Spring Street in Barrington, Saturday evening. | Background Photo: Google Street View; Inset: Provided

By Sam Borcia | Lake & McHenry County Scanner

A victim was hospitalized with serious injuries after police say a man punched him in the face at the Metra station in Barrington Saturday evening.

The Barrington Police Department and Barrington Fire Department responded around 8 p.m. Saturday to a report of a battery at the Metra station, 201 South Spring Street in Barrington.

Barrington Police Chief David Daigle said officers arrived and found an injured 42-year-old man.

Daigle said the victim reported he was punched in the face at the train station by a suspect, identified as Timothy A. Kirschner, 60, of Arlington Heights.

Four subjects, believed to be homeless, were hanging out at the station and talking.

The victim said something that offended Kirschner, who then attacked him, Daigle said.

The victim was transported to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington where he was diagnosed with serious injuries, including head trauma.

Report continues here.

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DOJ announces more than 175 charges, 300 fugitive arrests in Chicago area crime sweep

Posted in Chicago Sun*Times, Cook, County, Crime, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Elections, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Public Safety, Taxes, Unions on July 5, 2026| 1 Comment »

Flanked by federal law enforcement officials, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros speaks during a news conference at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Thursday, where he discussed the results of Operation New Dawn. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Editorial note: It is worth noting the coincidentally just one day before the crime sweep was reported, “Chicago police boss Larry Snelling announces retirement: ‘He’s leaving big shoes to fill’.”

By  Kade Heather | Chicago Sun*Times

Justice Department officials on Thursday announced the arrests of 300 fugitives as well as sweeping prosecutions against more than 175 people accused of violent crimes — all part of a massive federal law enforcement collaboration over the past two months.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros called the effort, which he created, “Operation New Dawn.”

“A new dawn of crime fighting is underway in Chicago,” Boutros, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said alongside other federal law enforcement leaders at a news conference Thursday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. He said the announcement was timed to coincide with the country’s 250th anniversary July 4.

The size of the joint effort was “an experiment,” Boutros said — and something that “had not been done before here in Chicago” and which “worked very, very well.”

In all, charges were filed against 179 people in 140 new cases, while 305 fugitives were arrested and 24 children who had been kidnapped or lost were returned home.

“Eleven federal agencies worked arm-in-arm as one cohesive, unified group to arrest dangerous criminals responsible for some of the most serious offenses,” Boutros said.

The 60-day operation was focused on the Chicago area and the Northern District of Illinois. It included partnerships between 11 federal agencies, among them the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigations; the Drug Enforcement Agency; U.S. Marshals Service; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Police announce 2nd suspect charged after masked suspects ransack luxury boutique in Barrington of $106K in merchandise

Posted in Crime, Lake & McHenry County Scanner on June 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Surveillance video captured a half-dozen suspects forcing entry to ReStyle Designers of Barrington, 121 South Cook Street in Barrington, and stealing nearly all of the products in just a minute early in the morning on December 28. Cortney J. Shivers, 32, of Chicago, (inset left) and Jeremiah K. Brown, 21, (inset right) have both been charged in connection with the incident. | Background: Screengrab; Insets: Provided

By Sam Borcia | Lake & McHenry County Scanner

Police have announced charges against a second of six masked suspects who allegedly ransacked a boutique retailer in Barrington, stealing over $100,000 worth of merchandise in December.

The Barrington Police Department responded around 5 a.m. on December 28 to ReStyle Designers of Barrington, 121 South Cook Street, following reports of a disturbance.

Barrington Police Chief David Daigle said a resident living above the business called 911 after hearing multiple males yelling loudly outside and witnessing two vehicles speeding away from the scene.

Officers discovered that the front door of ReStyle Designers had been forced open.

The business owner, who was notified of the incident, responded to the scene and provided officers with surveillance footage that captured a burglary, Daigle said.

ReStyle Designers of Barrington said nearly all of the store’s inventory was stolen, leading to years of hard work and trust “gone in seconds.”

Report continues here.

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Male nurse arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting resident of assisted rehab facility in Barrington

Posted in Crime, Lake & McHenry County Scanner on June 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Olufemi I. Olaifa, 40, of Schaumburg, (inset) was taken into custody after being charged with felony sexual assault of a woman who was a resident of Alden Estates of Barrington, located at 1420 South Barrington Road in Barrington, while he worked at the facility as a nurse. | Background Photo: Google Street View; Inset: Provided

By Sam Borcia | Lake & McHenry County Scanner

Police say they have arrested a male nurse accused of sexually assaulting a female resident while working at an assisted rehabilitation facility in Barrington.

The Barrington Police Department announced Tuesday that they had arrested Olufemi I. Olaifa, 40, of Schaumburg.

The police department received a report on February 22 of a sexual assault at Alden Estates of Barrington, located at 1420 South Barrington Road, according to Barrington Chief of Police David Daigle.

The report involved a 30-year-old female resident of the facility being the victim.

Detectives immediately initiated an investigation and learned that the victim was sexually assaulted by a male nurse who was employed at the facility, Daigle said.

DNA evidence was collected from the victim and submitted to the crime lab for forensic analysis.

Daigle said the results confirmed a DNA match to the suspect, identified as Olaifa.

Report continues here.

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