Police and Courts

Suspects from Bloomington and Peoria were among those arrested last weekend during an FBI sting targeting men who allegedly used social media to try and lure minors into sexual activity.

A 19-year-old from Normal has pleaded guilty to gun and drug charges but still plans to mount a self-defense claim against murder charges at his trial in February.

UPDATED 10:10 a.m. | Bloomington Fire officials said fire destroyed an auto repair shop Thursday morning and tied up downtown traffic for several hours.

A $500,000 federal grant will help a Bloomington child and family service agency expand its weekly supervised visitations and safe exchanges to more clients.

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.

A McLean County jury Thursday found a Bloomington woman guilty of armed robbery with the use of a firearm.

The murder trial for a Normal woman accused of killing an 8-year-old girl has been delayed as prosecutors explore the defense’s alternative theory for how the child died.

For the first time in a decade, Thomas Meece is able to walk outside into the fresh air without a chaperone and plan for his future.

An Illinois free speech advocate spoke in Normal on Wednesday and compared President Donald Trump's characterization of journalists as "scum" and "dirt" to tactics used by tyrannical dictators of the past. 

A University High School cheerleading coach’s alleged comments to a 17-year-old student at a LaSalle County hotel were not criminal and won’t result in any charges, the North Utica police chief said Monday.

Editor's note: Four days after this story was published, the Utica police chief told WGLT it appears no formal charges will be filed against Miller in this case. That updated story is available online.

A Bloomington-Normal cheerleading coach and teacher has been placed on leave as authorities investigate an alleged incident at a hotel in LaSalle County.

A Bloomington man charged in the 2017 brutal stabbing death of a woman pleaded guilty Friday to child pornography charges involving a minor girl.

Bloomington Police said they have arrested a second person in connection with a shooting in which two people were hospitalized earlier this month.

A McLean County jury has convicted a former Bloomington arena manager of stealing money from the venue.

Bloomington Police are investigating a shooting that injured two people Tuesday afternoon on the city's southwest side.

A 26-year-old Bloomington woman was charged with attempted murder Saturday after allegedly stabbing her mother 15 times inside their apartment.

Police have arrested a man and a woman in Normal in connection with two recent Bloomington shootings. Two juvenile boys were wounded in shootings last Thursday and Friday on Peach and Lee streets.

A former TV hunting show host from East Peoria has admitted poaching and smuggling a deer. Federal prosecutors said forty-one-year-old Christopher Brackett used to host "Fear No Evil" on the Outdoor Channel. Brackett admitted killing two bucks in Indiana in 2013 within minutes of each other when state rules said he could only take one in a season.

Authorities say a 36-year-old suspect was arrested outside Bloomington on Saturday in connection with an armed robbery last month in Maryland.