Illinois

Illinois is adding tens of thousands of people to its population total, and California is getting misplaced sailors on an aircraft carrier put in the right location, after successfully asking for a review of their 2020 census figures.

New York City also appears to have gotten an additional 1,090 people added to its population total recently after asking the Census Bureau to double-check the city’s numbers from the head count of every U.S. resident, city officials said.

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son pleaded not guilty Monday following his indictmen t by an Illinois grand jury.

Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of Hanaan Shahin on Oct. 14. Authorities said the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — The father of freed American teen hostage Natalie Raanan said Friday she’s doing well following two weeks in captivity after she and her mother were abducted in Israel by Hamas and held in Gaza.

Uri Raanan of Illinois told The Associated Press that he spoke to his daughter Friday by telephone. “She’s doing good. She’s doing very good,” said Uri Raanan, who lives in the Chicago suburbs. “I’m in tears, and I feel very, very good.”

16 October 2023; MEMO: A landlord in Chicago, Illinois, killed a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounded his mother in an attack motivated by anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian sentiments related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) expressed shock and called for an end to Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian rhetoric.

The young boy was brutally stabbed 26 times, while his mother suffered over a dozen stab wounds.

CHICAGO, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain Friday proclaimed that "our strike is working," after the Big Three U.S. automakers made concessions in the negotiations this week.

"We are making significant progress," Fain said during a Facebook livestream Friday afternoon as the union's strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers entered the 22nd day. "In just three weeks, we have moved these companies further than anyone thought was possible."

CHICAGO, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Negotiations between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Big Three U.S. automakers continued Saturday as the union's strike against the three enters the 9th day.

On Friday, UAW added 38 General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV parts distribution centers to strike, involving 5,600 workers.

The union is pushing for significant wage increases, an end to the tiered wage system, and cost-of-living increases, among other demands, the Detroit News reported Saturday.

Ford Motor Co. is spared from the expansion of the strike.

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday will introduce Larry Snelling, the police department’s counterterrorism head, as his choice for police superintendent of the nation’s third-largest city.

The introduction comes after Johnson named Snelling on Sunday after a monthslong search led by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability. The selection of Snelling, 54, to head the department is subject to City Council approval.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois will soon outlaw advertising for firearms that officials determine produces a public safety threat or appeals to children, militants or others who might later use the weapons illegally, as the state continues its quest to curb mass shootings.

Gun-rights advocates say the plan, which Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pledged to sign into law, is an unreasonably vague decree that violates not only the constitutionally protected right to own guns but also free speech.

CHICAGO (AP) — Leading up to the 2020 election, Facebook ads targeting Latino and Asian American voters described Joe Biden as a communist. A local station claimed a Black Lives Matter co-founder practiced witchcraft. Doctored images showed dogs urinating on Donald Trump campaign posters.

None of these claims was true, but they scorched through social media sites that advocates say have fueled election misinformation in communities of color.

CHICAGO (AP) — A tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, prompting passengers to take shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Chicago.

“This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area,” it said.