Police and Courts

Two Chicago attorneys appeared Friday morning at a hearing to ask a DeKalb County Judge to release Jack McCullough from prison immediately.

A lawyer for Rod Blagojevich is disappointed the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the imprisoned former Illinois governor's appeal of his remaining corruption convictions, including his attempt to sell the vacant U.S. Senate seat once occupied by President Barack Obama.

An Illinois village faces a lawsuit from two men who say they were targeted during an investigation into the death of a police officer who authorities later determined staged his suicide to appear he was gunned down in the line of duty.

At least 10 law enforcement agencies in Illinois, including South Pekin, have turned to the Internet to raise enough money to purchase body cameras for officers.

Firefighters in Normal are investigating flames that destroyed three Unit Five School buses parked in the transportation center on Eagle road.

One McLean County judge has been suspended without pay for judicial misconduct stemming from his actions in the wake of an extra-marital affair with another judge, who is being censured.

Judge Scott Drazewski will begin his four-month suspension May 1st. Following a Judicial Inquiry Board review, the suspension was handed down against Drazewski and Judge Rebecca Foley was censured. The two began an extra-marital affair in late 2010.

Bloomington police shot a bull as it trotted along Main Street. The bull escaped from a processing facility on Bunn Street and went on the move, through the parking lot of an apartment complex on Tracy Drive. There were children waiting for a school bus and other pedestrians there. When officers approached, the bull it damaged a vehicle and charged an officer. Police say no one was injured, and the meat processor picked up  the carcass.

Illinois lawmakers are considering a proposal that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Instead, people caught with 10 grams or less of cannabis would pay a maximum fine of 200 dollars.

Illinois lawmakers are seeking to give every person leaving prison a state ID.

It took Deangelo Hampton two months to get an ID after he was released from prison.

"They talking about you can use your jail stuff to get state IDs, that’s just a lie. We went through a lot."

A police chase in Normal ended when the man being chased died after apparently shooting himself.

The incident began as an apparent hostage situation when Normal police were called to a residence on Normal Avenue by a woman claiming the man was holding her against her will. When he fled in a vehicle, police chased him until the gunshot rang out inside the vehicle as it stopped on Towanda Avenue near Rowe Drive in Bloomington.

A federal judge is easing travel restrictions during Jesse Jackson Jr.'s supervised release so the ex-congressman can take his children to visit his imprisoned wife more often and see the children's grandparents in Chicago.  

Court documents show the judge signed the order Monday after Jackson's attorneys filed it. The motion says it's burdensome that Jackson and the children are limited to monthly visits with his wife and unable to visit Chicago family, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson.  

Bloomington City Manager David Hales will present a $207 million budget to the city council Monday. The plan eliminates a structural deficit, projected at $7.5 million from last year.

The father of a 21-year-old Carbondale woman killed in a 2012 shooting has won a legal ruling to obtain photographs related to her death. The Illinois Attorney General's Office has ordered Illinois State Police to provide Larry Young with photos from its investigation of his daughter Molly's death at the home of her ex-boyfriend, a former Carbondale police dispatcher. Molly Young's case remains open after a special prosecutor couldn't determine whether a single gunshot to her head was an accident, suicide or homicide.

Bradley University has chosen a 24-year U.S. Army veteran to be the campus' new crime prevention officer. Nathan Hayes says he's quickly adjusting to his new job. The school named Haynes to the position earlier this month as part of an effort to strengthen relationships between students at the Peoria campus and the police. Haynes says police should let people know officers are there to help, not harass. Haynes is originally from Oneida. He was in the Army before he came to Bradley in 2014 as a patrol officer.

State Troopers and Woodford County Sheriff's investigators say they have arrested three people for drug induced homicide. The case involved a bus hitting and killing an 18-year old woman on Interstate 39 near Kappa.

Bloomington Police say they have uncovered evidence in a 31-year old cold case murder, though the suspect has died.

The McLean County Coroner has identified the man struck and killed by a train early Monday morning.

Overall crime in the City of Bloomington fell by about seven percent last year. In the Town of Normal it went up about four percent. But, Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner says year to year swings are not a good sign post. Bleichner says the five year trend has Normal down about four percent. He says there are ebbs and flows from year to year.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will appear at a public event next month at the University of Illinois in Champaign. The university's College of Law says she will conduct a wide-ranging hour-long discussion with Professor Robin B. Kar. The March 7 event is free, but tickets are required. Sotomayor joined the Supreme Court in 2009. She is the country's first Hispanic justice.

The Mayor of Normal says the police department in his town has reinvigorated community policing efforts in the last year. Speaking on GLT's Sound Ideas, Chris Koos says the effort can result in better understanding of law enforcement by the general population. "Ideally in the next generation we are going to have more people looking at police as a career," Koos said.

The City of Bloomington is not the only area town looking at a body camera pilot program. Speaking on GLT's Sound Ideas, Mayor Chris Koos says the town of Normal will also do one. "It wouldn't surprise me if we do it cooperatively with the city of Bloomington, so we all have the same equipment," Koos said.