Caroline Kubzansky

Caroline Kubzansky covers criminal justice with a focus on violence and its root causes for the Tribune. She previously worked as a general assignment reporter and started her career covering the northern suburbs. A graduate of the University of Illinois-Springfield's Public Affairs Reporting Program and the University of Chicago, she is a committed Chicago partisan and a native of Washington, D.C.

Plaintiffs Jennifer Moriarty, from left, Kyle Frankovich, and Juan Munoz listen to Attorney Antonio Romanucci during a press conference in Chicago at the law firm of Romanucci & Blandin on Sept. 17, 2026. The plaintiffs filed lawsuits over their treatment by federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

15 Illinoisans file claims against feds for alleged Operation Midway Blitz misconduct

September 17, 2026 at 5:37 p.m.

The claimants include an Evanston attorney who was detained while filming a federal arrest on Halloween and a man whose arrest outside Broadview was later used in government social media...

Minnie Miñoso Academy on Aug. 17, 2023, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

School bus aide charged after 12-year-old student found gun and fired out bus window in Bridgeport

September 15, 2026 at 4:06 p.m.

Authorities have charged a school bus aide with reckless conduct and carrying a gun in a public place near a school after a 12-year-old boy found the weapon and fired...

ICE arrested two during Carol Stream traffic stop, authorities say

September 14, 2026 at 6:21 p.m.

Federal immigration agents on Thursday arrested two people on the heels of a routine traffic stop by a west suburban police department, officials have confirmed.

A scrap of police tape is tied to a fence in the 700 block of North Christiana Avenue on Sept. 14, 2026, one day after a shooting that left six wounded and one dead in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. (Arthur Maiorella/Chicago Tribune)

Police reports offer new details in Humboldt Park mass shooting, bus crash

September 14, 2026 at 5:25 p.m.

The two-car, multishooter attack in Humboldt Park left six people wounded, police said. A seventh victim, an 18-year-old man, was shot a dozen times and killed.

Drill rapper BloodHound Q50 killed in 6-shooter attack, per police report, record label

September 14, 2026 at 5:06 p.m.

Chicago drill rapper Mikquale Cooper, better known as BloodHound Q50, was killed early Sunday morning at a Fuller Park gas station in an evidently coordinated shooting involving two vehicles and...

1 dead, at least 5 hurt in afternoon shooting in Humboldt Park that led to bus crash, police say

September 13, 2026 at 6:55 p.m.

Multiple armed people exited two vehicles and fired shots at a group of people. A woman inside a vehicle was also shot and then crashed into a CTA bus, police...

Joaquin Brito prepares pastries at his business, La Florencia Bakery, on Aug. 31, 2026. Last fall, a few blocks from Brito’s bakery, dozens of residents stood off with federal agents following a car chase and crash. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

Joaquin Brito locked his East Side bakery as federal agents threw tear gas last fall. He still worries today.

September 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

At the height of the blitz, he remembered that the East Side neighborhood was deserted after 7 or 8 p.m. Today, it's better, but he still keeps a look out.

Leo Feler sits in his living room, Aug. 11, 2026, in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, where an injured worker sought aid last October after federal immigration agents entered Feler's property to detain men installing siding on his home during Operation Midway Blitz. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Leo Feler’s Lakeview home was raided by immigration agents. He was hundreds of miles away.

September 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

In July, Leo Feler filed a federal lawsuit against the government and agents who executed the raid, alleging violations to his Fourth Amendment rights and seeking compensation for property damage.

Elvira Arzeta patrols the western suburbs before dawn on Sept. 10, 2026. For over a year, Arzeta has headed out of her home at 5 a.m. to patrol hot spots frequented by federal agents targeting immigrants. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

A city on guard: What the raids left behind after Operation Midway Blitz

September 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

It's been a year since the Trump Administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz.” What it left behind can be measured in the number of neighborhood patrollers, people who keep a wary eye...

Carol Stream police say ICE agents appeared during traffic stop

September 11, 2026 at 3:47 p.m.

Carol Stream police were in the middle of a traffic stop Thursday morning when federal immigration agents arrived and told them they planned to arrest the woman they'd just pulled...

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