Police and Courts

Police in Normal have arrested a man they believe is a one-man car burglary wave.

Officers say they found 22-year old Marquel Butler of Bloomington in the 1500 block of Torrey Pines Road early Tuesday morning.

Leaders from five area religious denominations came together last night for what is becoming a hallmark of Bloomington-Normal’s Not In Our Town efforts -- a bringing together of all faiths and even those questioning their faith. This time it was for prayer service, including a reading of names and moment of silence for victims and the families of shooting victims in Dallas, Minnesota and Louisiana.

The Reverend Frank McSwain from Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Bloomington delivered a fiery message in which he called racism a moral issue.

U-S Senator Dick Durbin says he's glad Illinois has a stop-gap budget. But he says the year-long budget crisis didn't help reduce urban violence in Illinois.

Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys face a midnight deadline for motions regarding the sentence they'd like former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to receive when his case returns to court for a resentencing hearing next month. 

Be safe out there. That's one of the messages police administrators are telling officers in the wake of the ambush of police in Dallas. Rick Bleichner is the Chief in Normal.

"They live with a certain amount of concern and caution when they approach their jobs every day. Something like this obviously just brings it to the forefront. It's another daily reminder of what could happen," Bleichner said. He said just talking about it can help relieve stress.

Colleagues, friends and family members are paying tribute to Abner Mikva, a former Illinois congressman and judge who died Monday at age 90.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says he regarded Mikva as his "North Star for integrity, independence and progressive values." Durbin says Mikva's "record of public service was proof that the good guys can win without selling their souls."

A Cook County judge has sided with a veteran from Urbana and ordered the state to add Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to the list of conditions eligible for treatment with medical marijuana.

Judge Neil Cohen ordered the Department of Public Health's director to add PTSD within 30 days. The sternly worded ruling says Director Nirav Shah “engaged in a private investigation, hidden from public view'' that was “constitutionally inappropriate.''

Authorities in McLean County have found five malnourished horses, and one has been euthanized. Sheriff Jon Sandage says a neighbor tipped off deputies to the horses.

Damage assessment and cleanup has begun in Pontiac after a tornado tore through the west and south parts of town Wednesday night. Mayor Robert Russell said the tornado clipped about two blocks of residential housing on the south end of the city, causing some injuries in a mobile home park.

"The good news is that nobody critical. Some broken bones and maybe a broken hip and some cuts and bruises, but if you saw the devastation that went through, we're very very fortunate," said the Mayor.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated. 

At least one tornado struck Pontiac, Illinois Wednesday night causing heavy damage and at least three injuries. Information is still being collected by fire and law enforcement officials, though some reports indicate children were among those injured when a mobile home was destroyed. The Fire Department said overnight "some injuries appeared to be somewhat serious."

Police in Normal and Bloomington are looking for a man they believe has committed child sexual abuse. 24-year old Deondre A. Watts is believe to have left the state for now.

Former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock has returned to the floor of the House of Representatives for the first time since his resignation.

More than 12 years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the gulf coast, a fraud case involving State Farm Insurance will go before the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices have agreed to hear arguments in the Bloomington-based company's appeal of 758,000 dollars in damages.

An Illinois lawmaker is pushing legislation to take away former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert's taxpayer-funded state pension following his conviction in a hush-money case.  

Hastert receives a $28,000 annual pension from Illinois' General Assembly Retirement System from his service in the Legislature. Democratic state Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant's bill introduced Tuesday would revoke pensions for lawmakers who commit a felony against a student or other victim.  

After a decade of lawsuits, Unit Five has settled the final case involving a victim of convicted child molester Jon Andrew White. White was a Unit Five teacher, who later got a job in Urbana schools and continued molesting students.

It has been three years since someone killed 26-year old Haileigh Eichorn of Bloomington. And police spokeswoman Sara Mayer says detectives are not dropping the investigation.

Bloomington Police say a man robbed the Dollar General store in the 900 block of East Oakland Avenue at gunpoint.

Bloomington police have released two videos of a man applying tar to a downtown bench (scroll down to see videos). The man is unidentifiable in both videos.

The department is ended its investigation on May 12 into an incident last month in which tar was spread over a public bench in an apparent effort to deter a homeless man from using the bench.

The man's only set of clothes was ruined.

Police say they have insufficient evidence to make an arrest.

Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison for breaking federal banking rules in a scheme to cover up sexual abuse.

Studies show prisoners who stay connected with their families have lower recidivism. 

Yet, the cost of keeping in touch is proving quite high for many.  Prison phone call rates are unregulated.  In Illinois, that's resulted in some hefty bills.  Danielle Chynoweth of Urbana is with the Center for Media Justice, which has worked on this issue nationally.  

"One third of families of the incarcerated went into debt to pay for phone calls and visits alone.  These are people taking out loans to pay their phone calls," Chynoweth said.

Attorneys in Peoria filed a joint petition Thursday in hopes of reopening a more than 45-year-old murder case involving the killing of a police officer.

Formal steps by a state's attorney in Illinois to permanently dismiss the case against a man he believes was wrongly convicted in a 1957 killing have not deterred the victim's brother from seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor.