Annie Sweeney

Shaila Foreside, shown in December at 71st Street and Jeffery Boulevard, said Chicago police did not show up after she called 911 to report a threat.

Many 911 calls deserve an ‘immediate’ police response. But in thousands of cases, officers didn’t arrive for more than an hour.

June 14, 2024 at 6:43 p.m.

The Sunday sun was an hour or so from rising over the lake as the Jeffery Pub was closing on Aug. 14, sending patrons out the door and on their...

Sandra prepares to leave the Fox Valley Adult Transition Center, the final part of her 22-year incarceration on Jan. 13, 2022. Sandra said she watched other women leave and come back, picking up new convictions and facing further setbacks. As she prepared for her own release, she reflected on that cycle questioning why the system doesn't want to interrupt it.

Sandra Brown beat the odds to get a college education while in prison. Now free, she seeks to make the process easier for others.

January 24, 2023 at 5:34 p.m.

Sandra Brown walked gingerly down a walkway to the side door of Decatur Correctional Center. She wore jeans and a hooded sweatshirt that said "The Reclamation Project," and her hair...

Investigators view the outside of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago after the two prisoners escaped from the building. Authorities discovered them missing from their cell at about 8:45 a.m.

Bedsheets and dental floss: 10 years ago, two Chicago bank robbers pulled off a stunning jail escape

December 18, 2022 at 12:46 p.m.

Ten years ago, Chicago awoke to the stunning sight of bedsheets dangling from the 17th floor of the federal high-rise jail in the Loop and a made-for-Hollywood tale of two...

State Rep.-elect Nabeela Syed, (D-51st District) outside the Illinois State Capitol building in Springfield on Nov. 28, 2022. Syed supports gun safety and was one of several candidates backed by state and national gun safety groups who won as a result of campaigns in which gun violence often was a central focus.

Illinois’ gun debate: Legislation, litigation and emotion fuel one of the state’s most polarizing conflicts

December 4, 2022 at 3:17 p.m.

Born 10 days before Columbine, 23-year-old Nabeela Syed's opinion on guns in this country began forming in the third grade. It was that school year that Syed heard the jiggling...

Members of the community attend an interfaith service on July 10, 2022, at Glencoe Union Church after seven people were killed on July Fourth during a mass shooting in Highland Park.

Report released 5 months after Highland Park shooting makes gun safety recommendations for Illinois

December 2, 2022 at 3:25 p.m.

Though Illinois is considered to have some of the strongest gun laws in the country, researchers are recommending additional steps to ensure the public is safe from firearm violence. A...

Arewa Winters poses for a portrait after attending a public hearing allowing members of the community to give input on the Chicago Police Department consent decree at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Nov. 29, 2022.

‘About life and death’: Community members slam Chicago Police Department’s reform efforts

November 30, 2022 at 2:09 a.m.

In what is now a familiar refrain in Chicago, residents told alarming stories Tuesday to a federal judge about what they described as racist and traumatic encounters with Chicago police...

In this courtroom sketch, from left, twin brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores, 33, of Chicago, appear before Chief U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo at federal court in Chicago in 2015.

Judge rules wives of Chicago twins who cooperated against ‘El Chapo’ did not have immunity

November 8, 2022 at 7:57 p.m.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the wives of twin Chicago drug traffickers who cooperated against Sinaloa boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman did not have immunity from prosecution, a considerable...

Robert Boik, then-executive director of the Office of Constitutional Policing & Reform at the Chicago Police Department, addresses reporters during an interview about the department's progress in meeting consent decree deadlines, on Sept. 8, 2021, in Chicago. Boik was fired in August.

Staffing shortages in Chicago Police Department negatively affecting reform effort, court monitor reports

November 3, 2022 at 1:19 p.m.

The Chicago police office that oversees the massive reform of the department is suffering from staffing shortages that could impede the court-ordered overhaul of the department, according to the latest...

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown speaks during a hearing on the Chicago Police Department budget at City Hall on Oct. 21, 2022.

Superintendent Brown finally responds to Chicago cop deployment study: Another study is needed, he says.

November 2, 2022 at 10:00 a.m.

More than a year after he was given an analysis that raised questions about the effectiveness of Chicago police patrol response and assignments, Superintendent David Brown is now calling the...

Chicago police Superintendent David Brown, left, speaks during Police Department budget hearing at City Hall Friday.

Chicago police superintendent defends 120-day suspension for officer accused of Proud Boy ties

October 21, 2022 at 11:19 p.m.

The discipline of a Chicago police officer who was investigated for alleged ties to a white nationalist group became a flashpoint during Friday's wide-ranging Police Department budget hearing, which saw...

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