Chicago-area July 4 parade attack suspect pleads not guilty
The 21-year-old man accused of killing seven people and wounding dozens more in a shooting at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago has pleaded not guilty, a week after prosecutors announced he faces 117 felony counts in the attack.
I-TEAM: Accused parade shooter seen as โclear and present dangerโ but allowed to buy weapons
On Wednesday, new information revealed that police previously had made contact with the 21-year-old man accused in the attack at a 4th of July parade in Illinois and even considered him a โclear and present danger.โ
Illinois judge to rule on Rittenhouse extradition to Kenosha
Kyle Rittenhouse appears for an extradition hearing in Lake County court Friday, Oct. 30, 2020, in Waukegan, Ill. The 17-year-old is accused of killing two demonstrators in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 25, 2020, two days after a police officer trying to arrest Jacob Blake shot him seven times in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, Pool)
Chief: Illinois officer who fatally shot Black teen from Jacksonville fired
WAUKEGAN, Ill. โ A suburban Chicago police officer who fatally shot a Black man who was a passenger in a vehicle and wounded the Black female driver has been fired, the departmentโs officials announced late Friday. Police said that as the second officer approached, the vehicle started moving in reverse and the officer opened fire. The officer who shot the couple is Hispanic and a five-year veteran of the Waukegan Police Department. During a Thursday demonstration, Clyde McLemore, head of the Lake County chapter of Black Lives Matter, called for a federal investigation. Johnson said her daughter told her that Williams and her boyfriend had done nothing to provoke the officer.
Accused Kenosha gunman wonโt face charges in Illinois
WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) โ A 17-year-old accused of killing two protesters days after Jacob Blake was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will not face charges in his home state of Illinois, prosecutors said Tuesday. An investigation revealed the gun used in the Kenosha shooting was purchased, stored and used in Wisconsin, the Lake County Stateโs Attorneyโs Office said. There is no evidence the gun was ever physically possessed by Kyle Rittenhouse in Illinois, it said. Rittenhouse of Antioch, remains held in a juvenile detention center in Lake County without bond due to pending criminal charges in Kenosha. Rittenhouse is due back in Lake County court on Oct. 30 for an extradition hearing.
Future of Floridaโs Confederate general statue remains undecided
Lawmakers later decided to use a statue of educator and civil-rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune to represent the state. On July 7, Lake County commissioners reversed support they had given a year earlier to the Lake County Historical Society and Museum to house the Smith statute in the historic courthouse in Tavares. County commissioners said the anticipated arrival of the Smith statue in Lake County created divisions. The board argued that when Smith was born, Lake County was part of St. Johns County, which includes St. Augustine. The Smith statue has served as one of Floridaโs two representatives in the National Statuary Hall since 1922.
Big California wildfires burn on as death toll reaches 7
Mother Nature's helped us quite a bit," said Billy See, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection incident commander for a complex of fires burning south of San Francisco. The Santa Cruz fire is one of three complexes, or groups of fires, burning on all sides of the San Francisco Bay Area. You could overlay half of one of these fires and it covers the entire city of San Francisco, Bennett said Sunday. Authorities said their firefighting effort in Santa Cruz was hindered by people who refused to evacuate and those who were using the chaos to loot. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart said 100 officers were patrolling and anyone not authorized to be in an evacuation zone would be arrested.
Fight for what is right: Florida womans battle to keep Confederate statue out of community
As she approached the Old Lake County Courthouse, the fear she felt as a girl walking those same streets rushed through her body. A memorial for the Groveland Four was erected outside the Old Lake County Courthouse last year, when the young men were posthumously pardoned. "It's evil and wrong and we shouldn't have it here in our community," Hazelton said. In 2019 DeSantis officially requested the Kirby Smith statue be replaced by a statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American civil rights activist and educator. During a 2019 Lake County Board of County Commissioners meeting, residents spoke for and against the statue.
Florida woman charged with switching votersโ political party affiliations
CLERMONT, Fla. (AP) โ A central Florida woman is accused of submitting false voter registration information that switched the party affiliations of voters without their knowledge, sheriff's investigators said. She's charged with 10 felony counts of submission of false voter registration information. A day earlier Lake County officials had announced that 119 false voter registration applications had been filed, news outlets reported. Elections officials flagged the forms because they included incorrect information, including birth dates, Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers. Sheriff's investigators said all 119 false forms were assigned to Hall, a registered Republican, to collect.
Hepatitis A outbreak grows by 55 cases
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida had 55 new hepatitis A cases reported last week, bringing the total number of cases this year to 2,847 as of Saturday, according to Department of Health data. That brought the number of hepatitis A cases in Volusia County to 259 and Brevard County to 128, respectively. Other counties with the highest number of newly reported cases last week included Lake County, with six cases, and Sarasota County, with five. That brought the number of cases this year in Lake County to 145 and Sarasota County to 80. Nine counties had not reported any cases of hepatitis A this year: Baker, Bradford, Calhoun, Gadsden, Gulf, Highlands, Holmes, Jefferson and Lafayette.
Proposed statue of confederate general draws opposition
CNN VideoTALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Mayors from across Lake County want Gov. Ron DeSantis to prevent the statue of a Confederate general that has represented Florida in the nations capital for nearly a century from being displayed in their community. A state panel last year considered proposals for relocating the Smith statue and backed a plan to move it to the Lake County museum. DeSantis sent a formal request July 10 to the architect of the U.S. Capitol to substitute the Bethune statue for the Smith likeness. The 9-foot marble statue of Bethune, under construction in Italy, is expected to arrive at the nations capital in 2020.