Category: Breaking Chicago News

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Bullets flew at federal agents in Little Village on Saturday, and now there’s a manhunt on.

A man driving a black Jeep opened fire on U.S. Border Patrol agents during an immigration enforcement operation in the Little Village neighborhood, according to the Department of Homeland Security, then fled the scene. Fox News Digital reports authorities are now hunting for the gunman, who remains at large.

The Chicago Police Department says there are no reports of anyone being struck by gunfire. But the scene didn’t end with the shots. DHS says a crowd threw a paint can and bricks at federal vehicles, and a flash-bang was deployed as crowds surrounded the agents for multiple blocks.

DHS called it part of “a growing and dangerous trend of violence and obstruction” against federal law enforcement.

Chicago aldermen pushed back hard. Ald. Michael Rodriguez of the 22nd Ward posted video to Facebook accusing the agents of “causing all sorts of mayhem” — “They’re doing things that are unconstitutional, that are illegal,” he said. “They are causing fear and mayhem in our communities and that’s unacceptable.” Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez of the 25th Ward livestreamed the chaos and confronted agents on camera.

Little Village is one of the city’s proudest Mexican-American neighborhoods, and Saturday’s gunfire put it at the center of a national fight over immigration enforcement in Chicago. When shots ring out at federal agents on 26th Street, nobody wins — not the feds, not the neighbors caught in the middle.

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as the manhunt continues.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

PART ONE OF A THREE-PART SERIES

CHICAGO URBAN DAILY — SPECIAL REPORT

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— For decades, the south suburban municipality of Harvey, Illinois — roughly 20 miles south of Chicago — has stood as an emblem of post-industrial economic decline, fiscal crisis, and systemic public corruption. Once a thriving manufacturing hub, Harvey has progressively succumbed to municipal decay, pension defaults, police department scandals, and persistent federal criminal probes targeting its civic leadership.

A Legacy of Systemic Mismanagement and Federal Scrutiny

Harvey’s descent into structural insolvency and political scandal accelerated over successive administrations. Millions of dollars were diverted from police and firefighter pension funds to cover municipal operating expenses, triggering state intervention and severe budget cuts that left public safety and essential services compromised.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have launched multiple public corruption investigations into Harvey, resulting in indictments and convictions of municipal officials and political insiders involved in bribery and extortion schemes — from strip club license shakedowns to municipal land payoffs.

Grassroots Resistance: Amir Shakur and the Charge Against Mob Violence

As frustration with local government reaches a boiling point, local activist and independent journalist Amir Shakur (“Amir Shakur Speaks”) has emerged as a prominent voice demanding accountability.

Shakur says he was targeted and assaulted during public meetings by political enforcers tied to municipal leadership — and that local officers allegedly failed to intervene or report instances of mob-style violence directed at political critics. He has filed federal and state lawsuits naming the City of Harvey, city officials, and members of the Harvey Police Department, alleging a pattern of mob violence led by political cronies and actively aided or ignored by local police. Shakur claims individuals acting at the behest of municipal leadership targeted, harassed, and physically assaulted civic advocates and residents who spoke out against town corruption.

The Federal Lawsuit Against the City of Harvey

Shakur’s federal lawsuit against the City of Harvey names the city, its top officials, and members of the Harvey Police Department — alleging civil rights violations, a coordinated pattern of mob-style violence against critics, and police complicity through deliberate inaction. The case seeks to hold municipal leadership accountable in federal court and to establish a public record of the abuse residents have endured for years.

A Call to Action for the Community

Through public broadcasts and grassroots organizing, Shakur is urging residents, business owners, and former employees who have experienced or witnessed police brutality, intimidation, or extortion to step forward. The goal: compile a comprehensive record of systemic rights violations to bolster pending litigation and compel federal intervention.

The Escalating Call for Federal Consent Decrees

Despite reform promises by municipal figures, community leaders argue that internal self-policing in Harvey remains impossible. Reform advocates say federal oversight is the only remaining viable mechanism to break the cycle of corruption — restoring local integrity, rebuilding the police department through federal consent decrees or court-appointed monitoring, and ensuring state and federal grants meant for infrastructure and public safety aren’t siphoned into illicit schemes.

Looking Ahead

For Harvey’s residents, the fight against corruption is no longer just about financial management — it’s a battle for basic safety, constitutional rights, and community dignity. As civil rights lawsuits mount and community members step forward, the call for federal authorities to intervene directly in Harvey grows impossible to ignore.

This is Part One of a three-part series. Parts Two and Three are coming.

Have information to share? Community members with concerns about police brutality, intimidation, or corruption in Harvey are encouraged to contact Amir Shakur directly at amirshakurspeaks@gmail.com.

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as this series continues.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— An overnight break-in spree tore through Beverly this week, and one of Chicago’s own says she’s done with brick-and-mortar for good.

Six businesses along West 95th Street were hit in the brazen overnight spree, and Chicago Police Area Two detectives are on the case, Fox 32 Chicago reports. One person of interest has been questioned — but as of Friday night, no charges had been announced.

Among the businesses hit: Kolors, the boutique Chicago rapper Queen Key opened in April. The break-in broke more than her windows — it broke her faith in the city. “It made me lose hope in the city for real,” she told Fox 32. She says she’ll move the business online and has “no interest in doing it again” when it comes to a physical storefront.

That’s the part that should sting City Hall. When a hometown artist opens a business on the South Side and a single night of smashed glass sends her packing to the internet, that’s not just a police report — it’s a verdict on whether small business owners feel safe investing in their own neighborhoods.

Police are still investigating. No arrests have been made.

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as detectives hunt the crew behind the spree.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Three weeks before Election Day, Chicago just became part of a national scare.

The Illinois State Board of Elections’ Chicago office received what officials called a “suspicious envelope” Thursday evening, spokesman Matt Dietrich said. “We evacuated the office and notified law enforcement immediately,” Dietrich said. “The FBI now has the envelope and our office will be open as usual tomorrow.”

Hours earlier, a second scare unfolded downtown. A suspicious envelope with white powder was delivered to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office at 118 N. Clark St. Thursday morning. The substance turned out to be baking powder. A mailroom employee found and opened the envelope, then quickly sealed it inside a plastic bag and brought it upstairs. Firefighters and police responded to a level I hazardous materials alarm at 10:25 a.m. and had the situation resolved within 45 minutes. No injuries were reported.

“It’s frightening,” Pappas said. “The whole place went on red alert.” The FBI’s Chicago field office confirmed it responded to an incident “in the City Hall vicinity” Thursday.

Both envelopes are part of a sweeping federal probe. The FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the U.S. Capitol Police are investigating a wave of letters — more than 100 by some estimates — sent to congressional offices, secretaries of state and election offices across the country. Some of the letters contained an unknown substance; the Associated Press reports that some carried threats and traces of fentanyl, prompting some election offices to stock the overdose reversal drug naloxone. Election offices in Louisiana and Oklahoma were evacuated this week; postal inspectors intercepted a white-powder package bound for the Ohio secretary of state’s office.

Law enforcement is working to intercept more letters, but a notice from the Senate Sergeant at Arms warns “it is possible that some letters may reach their destinations.”

The timing is hard to miss. Early voting in Illinois began September 24. A classified federal threat briefing for election officials — scheduled for the same week — was postponed Thursday after technical difficulties.

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as the FBI hunts whoever is behind the mail.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Police in the northwest suburbs say they stopped a mass shooting before it happened.

Alexandros Paporakis, 19, a Taco Bell cashier from Palatine, was arrested Sunday afternoon as he left his home — the same day detectives believe he may have planned to carry out an attack, Palatine police said.

His own co-workers sounded the alarm. They told police they had received concerning digital communications from Paporakis, including an eight-page document titled “Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto).” The document described Indian, Jewish and African American people as “subhumans” and outlined a plot to kill as many of them as possible, according to a court document obtained by the Associated Press. Co-workers said Paporakis openly identified as a white supremacist at work and told them he “couldn’t wait to kill Indian people.”

Investigators believe he planned to target the largest Hindu temple in Aurora, about 40 miles southwest of Palatine, though the exact intended location remains under investigation. Detectives who searched his home recovered a rifle, multiple loaded rifle magazines, hundreds of rounds of additional rifle ammunition, and a tactical vest containing body armor with a patch displaying imagery associated with white supremacist extremism.

Paporakis faces felony charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawful weapon possession. At a detention hearing Wednesday, a judge ordered him held; his next court appearance is October 30. The FBI is assisting the investigation.

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily as the case moves through court.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— The school corruption case keeps growing. Two more defendants admitted in federal court Tuesday that they paid off a superintendent to feed on public school money.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— After 65 years, the file is no longer cold. Chicago police announced Monday they have identified the killer of 8-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz — and he was one of their own.

Gloria was abducted on November 12, 1960, on a short walk from her West Englewood home to a nearby church to receive communion. Her body was later found in a ravine, shot twice in the head. The killing ignited a massive manhunt — local and state police, firefighters, Boy Scouts and veterans fanned out across the city, and investigators questioned more than 1,300 people. It never cracked.

The break came from science that didn’t exist in 1960. The FBI linked DNA from carefully preserved evidence — a bullet, the girl’s clothing, and a white communion purse carrying a fingerprint — to genetic genealogy databases, leading investigators to Thomas F. McInerney Jr., who was 24 at the time and had just joined the Chicago Police Department in 1959.

McInerney went on to serve 28 years on the force, retiring in 1987 as a homicide detective. He died in Las Vegas in 2006 at age 70 — he will never face a courtroom.

“McInerney should never have worn the CPD star, and it is devastating to accept that he was never identified and held accountable while he was alive,” the department said in a statement Monday.

Gloria’s brother Adam, who was an infant when she was killed, said it plainly: “He never paid his dues. You hope he’s going to pay his dues with the good lord.”

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily for updates as investigators review whether the case connects to any others.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Hundreds of hotel workers walked off the job Friday morning at six of downtown Chicago’s biggest hotels, throwing picket lines up right in front of the city’s biggest tourism weekend of the fall: the Chicago Marathon.

The strike, called by UNITE HERE Local 1, hit the Millennium Hotel Knickerbocker Chicago, the Palmer House Hilton, the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, the Westin Chicago River North, and the Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago. Room attendants, cooks, dishwashers, bell staff, front desk agents, servers, and bartenders all joined the walkout after contract talks collapsed.

This is just the opening shot. More than 7,000 workers across 46 hotels voted last month — by an 85% margin — to authorize a strike after contracts expired August 31. Local 1 President Karen Kent says workers at any of the remaining properties “could be on strike at any moment,” and the union has warned as many as 40 more hotels could join the line.

The demands are straightforward: better wages, stronger health care and pension benefits, civil rights protections, and safer workloads. The union notes Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt have returned billions to shareholders in recent years — and says the workers who make the guests’ stays possible haven’t seen their share.

The timing is no accident. The walkout landed two days before the 48th Chicago Marathon, when tens of thousands of runners and spectators flood the city and hotels like the Sheraton Grand sell out completely. Union leaders know exactly the leverage a packed city gives them.

As of Monday morning, the union has announced no end date. The hotels say they plan to keep operating, but marathon-weekend guests should expect thinner service.

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily for updates as this labor fight develops.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— A Far South Side man is now charged with murder in a deadly stabbing on East 87th Street.

Kelly Day, 32, was charged with first-degree murder, according to the Chicago Police Department. Police say Day got into a verbal and physical altercation with another man in the 1400 block of East 87th Street last Wednesday. During the fight, Day allegedly stabbed the man multiple times.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where he died. Day fled the scene but was arrested just a few hours later, police said. He was expected to appear in court Saturday for a detention hearing.

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily for updates on this developing story.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.

NEWS FLASH

CHICAGO (CHICAGO URBAN DAILY)— Another violent night in Chicago — a woman dead, and four more people hurt before sunrise.

The overnight violence stretched from Thursday evening into Friday morning, hitting three different neighborhoods. A 48-year-old woman was killed in Chicago Lawn after what police describe as an argument turned deadly. It happened around 10:10 p.m. Thursday inside a home in the 3400 block of West 59th Place. Police say the woman argued with a man she knew, and he stabbed her in the chest with a sharp object before fleeing. She was taken to Christ Hospital, where she died. Police recovered a weapon at the scene and say the stabbing appears to be domestic-related.

In Roseland, a 26-year-old man was stabbed around 8:45 p.m. Thursday during a fight with two men he knew inside a residence in the 200 block of East 108th Street. He was cut on the abdomen and taken to Roseland Hospital in fair condition.

In Englewood, a 25-year-old man was shot around 11:23 p.m. in the 6900 block of South Lafayette Avenue after an argument in traffic with someone in a gray SUV. The shooter fired on him, hitting him in the chest and left leg. He lost control of his car and crashed into a pole. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. The shooter fled.

One more man was shot in the leg in a separate incident. Area One and Area Two detectives are investigating.

Five lives changed in a single night. And the city keeps asking the same question: when does it stop?

Stay tuned to Chicago Urban Daily for updates on this developing story.

Reported by Chicago Urban Daily News. Visit chicagourbandailynews.com for updates.