Edith Brady-Lunny

Alan Beaman returned to the Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday in his ongoing pursuit of a jury trial against the Town of Normal and three former police officers involved in the 1993 murder investigation that led to his 12-year stint in prison before the state’s high court reversed his conviction.

Female soldiers share some of the same battlefields and challenges as their male counterparts but the contributions of women in the military have received faint recognition.

The father of an 8-year-old girl killed in 2019 by his girlfriend pleaded guilty Thursday to child endangerment.

The number of people in the U.S. now required to register as sex offenders is edging close to the one million mark.

A Bloomington man pleaded guilty Monday to failure to report a June crash that left a motorcyclist dead.

Andre Hursey is keenly aware that his life could have taken the same negative turn that short-circuited the lives of many of his peers.

For the 99,000 women incarcerated in U.S. prisons, the path to the criminal justice system is littered with broken relationships, physical and sexual abuse, and addiction.

On a day off from his 70-hour work week, David Cruz met with a tutor who helps him with language skills he hopes will bring him closer to his dream of a better job and U.S. citizenship.

A former McLean County prosecutor should be suspended from practicing law for 60 days for his failure to comply with state rules for licensed attorneys, according to a recent recommendation by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.

UPDATED 3:25 p.m. | Kyle Brestan was convicted of murder Wednesday in the 2017 stabbing death of a 27-year-old Washington woman.

Alan Beaman is not entitled to a jury trial on his claim that three former Normal police detectives conspired to wrongfully convict him of murder, the Fourth District Appellate Court ruled in its opinion released Tuesday.

A judge denied Don Whalen’s request Monday for the return of half the $100,000 bond he posted after he was granted a new trial on murder charges.

UPDATED 4:10 p.m. | Closing arguments will be delivered Tuesday in the murder trial of Kyle Brestan in the brutal stabbing death of Shannon Hastings.

UPDATED 4:45 p.m. | Evidence collected by Bloomington police in the days after Shannon Hastings’ blood-soaked body was found in a Bloomington hotel was the focus of testimony Thursday in the Kyle Brestan murder trial.

Lawyers for Don Whalen renewed their arguments Wednesday in support of a new trial for Whalen on murder charges in the 1991 beating death of his father.

Text messages exchanged between Kyle Brestan and a woman he’s accused of stabbing 105 times show a rocky relationship, according to evidence presented Wednesday in Brestan’s murder trial.

UPDATED 4:30 p.m. | Jurors in the Kyle Brestan murder trial viewed graphic photos Tuesday of stabbing victim Shannon Hastings as she laid in a pool of blood in a Bloomington hotel room.

Opening statements are expected Tuesday in the murder trial of Kyle Brestan in the 2017 stabbing death of a Washington woman.

The bench trial and sentencing hearing for a terminally ill McLean man was delayed Friday until a judge can determine if the defendant has the medical and psychological capacity to move forward on sexual abuse charges involving four minors.

UPDATED 4:35 p.m. | Cynthia Baker was convicted Tuesday of murder in the death of her boyfriend’s 8-year-old daughter who died from internal injuries prosecutors attributed to blows Baker inflicted to the girl’s stomach during ongoing and severe abuse.

Cynthia Baker's fate is now in the hands of a McLean County jury.

The torment and torture that marked Rica Rountree’s life in the months before death in January were played Friday for a jury considering murder charges against Cynthia Baker, the Normal woman depicted in 30 minutes of video that brought some jurors to tears.

In their interviews with authorities, Cynthia Baker’s children described a home where Baker punched, whipped and tortured 8-year-old Rica Rountree, according to testimony Thursday at Baker’s murder trial.

UPDATED 4 p.m. | In her last days before her death, Rica Rountree showed signs of fatigue and unexplained injuries, the child’s third grade teacher testified Wednesday in the murder trial of Cindy Baker.

A Bloomington man facing murder charges in the 2017 brutal stabbing of a woman was sentenced to 36 years in prison Friday for possession of pornographic images of a teenage girl.

A former manager of the city-owned arena, once considered “a rising star,” was sentenced Monday to 24 months conditional discharge for stealing public funds—a punishment less serious than that requested by the state.

Hundreds of probation officers from across Illinois are in Normal this week to learn new methods to help offenders stay in the community and further reduce the state’s incarceration rate.