Crime and Courts

Illinois State Police seized more than five pounds of methamphetamine following a traffic stop Tuesday in Livingston County.

When Ann Simmons last saw her daughter Rica Rountree alive on April 20, 2018, with obvious signs of abuse, she knew she had to change her life for the better if she was going to save her daughter’s life.

The hastily concluded investigation by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services into black eyes and bruises on a child who died weeks later of abuse is laid out in state records recently filed in a McLean County murder case.

After almost two years of waiting, Ann Simmons delivered a message Thursday to the woman who killed her daughter, 8-year-old Rica Rountree.

Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge Scott Drazewski will retire Dec. 31 after 23 years on the bench, according to a statement Monday from Illinois State Supreme Court Justice Rita Garmin.

Seven of Aaron Parlier’s former piano students should be allowed to testify at the first of six jury trials the Bloomington man will face on charges accusing him of sexual assault and child pornography, a prosecutor argued on Friday.

The McLean County chapter of Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense is mourning the shooting death of a 20-year-old man Monday afternoon in west Bloomington.

McLean County Coroner Kathy Yoder has released the name of the Bloomington man who was shot and killed Monday afternoon in a west Bloomington neighborhood.

UPDATED 7:30 p.m. | A 20-year-old man was killed and two others were critically injured in a shooting Monday afternoon on Bloomington's west side, authorities said.

A Decatur man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison for his part in the 2018 murder of a 20-year-old Bloomington man.

A Bloomington couple known for their community involvement say a weekend encounter with police and a seemingly hostile neighbor shows Bloomington-Normal still has plenty of work to do to bridge the racial divide.

Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said Tuesday he hopes the arrests of nearly 20 people on looting and other charges stemming from this week's vandalism in Bloomington-Normal will curtail the crime spree.

The vandalism and looting that has hit Bloomington-Normal in recent days isn't limited to major retailers. Some of it has been happening in neighborhoods.

UPDATED 6:20 p.m. | A man from Normal accused of causing second-degree burns to a 10-year-old child with severe disabilities claimed Friday the girl's injuries may have come from bathing by her in-home nurse.

The McLean County state’s attorney and sheriff said it’s not so easy to say how they will enforce executive orders from Gov. JB Pritzker.

For two decades, Jamie Snow has fought his McLean County murder conviction, but his battle with an infectious disease that has killed 12 of his fellow inmates may pose the biggest threat to his life.

Snow is serving a life sentence at Stateville Correctional Center in the death of Bill Little, a clerk who was fatally shot behind the counter of a Bloomington gas station on Easter Sunday 1991. The Exoneration Project is representing Snow in his effort.

Donald Whalen Jr., who served 28 years in prison for his father’s fatal stabbing, is back behind bars for allegedly violating the rules of his home detention program.

The response to violence that has rocked places of worship across the country is the topic of a forum later this month in Normal.

A federal grand jury has indicted three Bloomington-Normal men on child sex trafficking charges.