Associated Press

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    Chicago woman charged in alleged US prostitution ring

    CHICAGO  — A 31-year-old who prosecutors say went by “Madame Priscilla Belle” is accused of running a multistate prostitution business from a three-story Chicago building that functioned like a brothel. A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday says Jessica Nesbitt generated millions through prostitution services she and her employees provided in Illinois, Washington, D.C., California, Florida, Indiana, Nevada and Wisconsin. At an initial hearing in Chicago, the single mom pleaded not guilty to multiple prostitution-related charges. Defense lawyer Barry Sheppard told Judge […]

  • Police: Pirates’ Vázquez attempted to have sex with minor

    GREENSBURG, Pa. — Pittsburgh Pirates closer Felipe Vázquez was being held Wednesday in a Pennsylvania jail on multiple felony charges after allegedly telling investigators he attempted to have sex with an underage girl during a meeting at her house in 2017. Vázquez is charged with statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors, all felonies, and a misdemeanor count of indecent assault of a person under 16 years old. The charges are related to Vázquez’s alleged […]

  • Wheaton College students contend Millennium Park rules hurt speech, religious liberty

    CHICAGO — Four Wheaton College students have sued the city of Chicago, claiming rules for a popular park undercut the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. Earlier this year, Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events divided Millennium Park into 11 sections and prohibited “the making of speeches and passing out of written communications” in 10 of them. Millennium Park is home to Cloud Gate, better known as The Bean, by British artist […]

  • Trial of 2 underway in 2015 murder of 9-year-old Chicago boy

    CHICAGO — The trial of two men charged with first-degree murder in the 2015 slaying of a 9-year-old Chicago boy got underway Tuesday with a prosecutor noting the victim brought a basketball to a park while his alleged killers “brought guns.” Dwright Boone-Doty and Corey Morgan are charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Tyshawn Lee. Boone-Doty and Morgan are being tried together but before separate juries, each of which will only consider the evidence as it pertains to […]

  • Dillinger family members apply again to exhume his grave

    INDIANAPOLIS — Family members of 1930s gangster John Dillinger have submitted a new application to exhume his Indianapolis gravesite. The Indiana State Department of Health said it received the latest application Tuesday. Dillinger’s family first applied to exhume the remains in July as part of a planned History Channel documentary. The deadline to exhume and return the remains was Sept. 16, and the exhumation did not occur. The History Channel last week dropped out of a planned documentary on Dillinger that […]

  • DCFS opens 24 new investigations of alleged clergy abuse

    CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has opened 24 new investigations into alleged misconduct by Catholic priests amid concerns that cases turned over by the Archdiocese of Chicago weren’t properly reviewed. The Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday that the archdiocese turned over more than 1,000 cases under a 2006 agreement requiring it to notify the agency every time it became aware of an abuse allegation, even if the accuser was no longer a minor. The 24 new investigations involve […]

  • Trump names hostage negotiator Robert O’Brien as national security adviser

    WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he’s naming hostage negotiator Robert O’Brien as his new national security adviser. Trump tweeted the announcement from California, while on the third and final day of a West Coast fundraising swing. “I am pleased to announce that I will name Robert C. O’Brien, currently serving as the very successful Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs at the State Department, as our new National Security Advisor,” Trump said. “I have worked long & hard […]

  • Cost to clean up Grant Park after Lollapalooza over $600,000

    CHICAGO — Organizers of the Lollapalooza music festival have received their largest bill in years to restore Chicago’s Grant Park after damages caused by last month’s event. The Chicago Tribune reports Lollapalooza received a $645,000 bill this year to clean up Grant Park. It’s the highest amount incurred by the festival since 2011 when promoter C3 Presents spent over $1 million to revive Grant Park. The four-day festival that year was battered by frequent storms. The work to restore the park to its […]

  • Senn High School theater teacher accused of sex assault

    CHICAGO — A Chicago Public School theater teacher was charged with sexually assaulting a student, beginning when she was 15 years old. Joel Ewing allegedly assaulted the now 21-year-old woman at Senn High School, where he taught, and at a hotel while they were on an overnight school trip. The 40-year-old Ewing was charged criminal sexual assault. However, Cook County prosecutors on Tuesday told Judge Arthur Wesley Willis that he could end up facing multiple felonies. Senn principal Mary Beck, […]

  • Indiana, Illinois AGs investigate after fetal remains found

    INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s attorney general said Monday that he will work with his Illinois counterpart to investigate what he called the “grisly discovery” of more than 2,000 medically preserved fetal remains at the Illinois home of a late doctor who performed abortions in Indiana. Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill said he and Democratic Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul have “agreed to work together” as Hill’s office coordinates an investigation of the remains found at the home of Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, […]

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