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The recent fatal stabbing of a 2-year-old Joliet boy, allegedly at the hands of his 6-year-old brother, has bolstered calls to amend how Illinois’ criminal code handles young children.
Within hours of Joliet police responding to a 911 call from the mother shortly after 5 p.m. on Sept. 6, the older brother was placed in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which arranged a mental health evaluation at a local hospital the next morning. The department declined to confirm if he was still in its care as of Wednesday since the investigation into the stabbing is ongoing.
The 6-year-old boy could be charged with murder because Illinois is one of 24 states without a minimum age for criminal responsibility.
“There are very real questions about whether children are capable of forming criminal intent, of understanding the impact of their actions and intending to cause harm,” said Lisa Jacobs, a law professor at Loyola University Chicago and the vice chair of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission. “Does a 6-year-old understand death?”
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Donald Trump says no to a second presidential debate with Kamala Harris
Former President Trump said Thursday that he won’t do a second debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
There was no immediate response from the Harris campaign, which challenged Trump to a second debate immediately after the first one on Tuesday night.
As war rages in Gaza, Israel’s crackdown on West Bank insurgency is killing Palestinian youths
As the world’s attention focuses on the far more deadly war in Gaza less than 80 miles away, scores of Palestinian teens have been killed, shot and arrested in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has waged a months-long crackdown.
City to announce phase one of plan to combine homeless and migrant shelter systems
Next Thursday, the city will release its initial plans to combine Chicago’s legacy homeless shelter system with the system for migrants.
Homeless advocates have long championed the move, saying it will better serve unhoused Chicagoans and recently arrived asylum seekers with wrap-around services: employment, food, and health care. Some have pointed out, however, that providers helping asylum seekers may be new to housing and homelessness, which could pose challenges.
Convicted ex-US Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. pushing for presidential pardon with help from suburban mayors
Convicted former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is ramping up an effort to get politicians to encourage President Joe Biden to pardon the former congressman before the Democratic president leaves office early next year.
Jackson, who served about 17 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2013 to conspiring to defraud his campaign fund of roughly $750,000, has enlisted the help of south suburban mayors from his former congressional district and also put out a general call on his Facebook page for others to write letters of support to Biden.
First Watts accuser to settle lawsuit in line for $500,000 payout, records show
The first settlement agreement between the city and an alleged victim of ex-Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts puts Watts’ accuser in line for half a million dollars, records released Thursday show.
Alvin Waddy’s lawsuit was the first to reach resolution out of more than 150 that have been filed against the city related to Watts and his team. It remains to be seen how the agreed payout affects the rest of the cases, but given the sheer volume of lawsuits, the Watts scandal could become one of the most expensive in Chicago police history.
As Foxtrot launches comeback, hiring, licenses and leases are biggest hurdles, CEO says
As upscale convenience store chain Foxtrot plots a comeback, licensing, staffing and lease renegotiations are among its biggest challenges, CEO Mike LaVitola said yesterday.
“It is people and licenses,” LaVitola said in a virtual conversation with food writer and TV personality Steve Dolinsky hosted by the Executives’ Club of Chicago.
Cook County property tax incentive taken advantage of by hundreds of landlords annually aims to boost affordable housing
Hundreds of Cook County landlords each year are taking advantage of a property tax incentive designed to preserve and create affordable housing. The participating landlords are spread throughout Chicago and nearby suburbs, with the densest concentrations on the city’s South and West sides, especially neighborhoods considered ripe for gentrification such as South Shore.
Can Zach LaVine become tradeable? Is Artūras Karnišovas on the hot seat? 5 questions for the Chicago Bulls.
Less than three weeks remain until the Chicago Bulls return to the Advocate Center to prepare for the upcoming season. They enter with more questions than answers following the departures of DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso and the unsettled discontentment of Zach LaVine’s failed trade venture.
Here are five big-picture quandaries facing the Bulls ahead of training camp, which will commence on Oct. 1.
3 things we learned from Chicago Blackhawks prospects camp, including Colton Dach taking things ‘one step at a time’
A couple of Chicago Blackhawks prospects didn’t even have time to put on slides.
The Hawks had to beat feet Thursday to get out of Fifth Third Arena and make an afternoon flight to St. Louis, illustrating how little time they’ve had — two days — to prepare for the Tom Kurvers Prospects Showcase, which includes a game against the Blues on Friday and one against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ opens soon in Chicago, a third and final version of the epic sequel
In the theater, success typically is associated with expansion, with going bigger, broader, grander. And yet with the theatrical sequel to J.K. Rowling’s stunningly successful series of novels about a bespectacled boy-wizard and his dramatic school friends, the British director John Tiffany has, at first glance, gone in precisely the opposite direction as he has journeyed from London to Chicago. An all-new and radically shorter version of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” opens at the Nederlander Theatre on Sept. 26.
What to do around Chicago: Mexican Independence Day, Englewood Music Fest and the final Fire games of summer
Celebrate Mexican Independence Day at events across the city. For the first time in more than a decade, the two-day El Grito Chicago will be held in a downtown location — in Grant Park.