Lisa Black

John Sullivan, shown in his Oak Lawn home in 2014, thought he was renting his house to a corporate executive and his family. Instead, he ended up renting to a couple with a history of allegations of fraud. He says they paid little in rent, had to be forced out through a lengthy legal action, trashed his house and stole his appliances.

Ex-con couple pile up fraud complaints while authorities do little

May 23, 2019 at 2:17 a.m.

John Sullivan grimaces as he recalls the day Robert and Connie Brown came looking to buy his Oak Lawn home. With thinning gray hair and a can-do attitude, Bob seemed...

Waukegan alderman used tire iron to beat sick raccoon to death

May 24, 2019 at 4:13 a.m.

A Waukegan resident waiting for an animal control officer to pick up a sick raccoon says she was horrified instead to observe Ald. Larry TenPas beat the animal to death...

Young couple who died in McHenry County crash were planning to get married

May 23, 2019 at 2:01 a.m.

Two women and a man died after a car crash and fire Friday afternoon near McHenry in McHenry County, authorities said. The three 18-year-olds died after the crash about 2:10...

McHenry County Sheriff's deputies investigate a fatal car crash on Lilly Lake Road in McHenry County on Nov. 27, 2015, in Lakemoor, Ill.

Fiery crash in McHenry County kills three 18-year-olds; bystanders try to free passengers

May 23, 2019 at 2:01 a.m.

Two women and a man died after a car crash and fire Friday afternoon near McHenry in McHenry County, authorities said. The three 18-year-olds died after the crash about 2:10...

Elaine Ellbogen is photographed in Libertyville on April 15, 2015. She died less than two months later, when she was struck by a train in Deerfield. She was 85.

A late-in-life friendship and a lost opportunity to say ‘you matter’

June 16, 2018 at 4:47 p.m.

Elaine Ellbogen refused to be confined, even while under a court-appointed guardianship. At 85, she often signed herself out of her Libertyville nursing home, walked to the Metra station and...

Shoppers walk along Michigan Avenue in the rain Nov. 27, 2015, in Chicago. The rain has led the National Weather Service to issue a flood warning over the next few days for areas by the Des Plaines River and other parts of Lake County. The city of Des Plaines in Cook County has experienced some flooding.

Flooding likely in Gurnee, advisory in effect elsewhere in Chicago area

May 24, 2019 at 4:12 a.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning over the next few days for areas by the Des Plaines River near Gurnee and other parts of Lake County. The...

Matthew Erickson and his dad, Ben, goof around while waiting for his next doctor's appointment Aug. 16, 2012, at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. Matthew had an MRI that day to help assess where to go next with his treatment for brain cancer.

Boy born with brain cancer inspires as he reaches survivor milestone

May 10, 2019 at 8:36 a.m.

Matthew Erickson greets his mother the same way every morning, waving his right foot in the air from his bed. He wiggles his toes around, wrinkles his nose and makes...

Officers patrol near Route 59 and Rollins Road in Fox Lake during a manhunt for three suspects in connection with the shooting death of Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz on Sept. 1, 2015.

Fox Lake cop’s widow says don’t rush to judgment as bank accounts frozen

May 24, 2019 at 4:11 a.m.

The widow of disgraced Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz is asking the public and law enforcement officials not to rush to judgment as authorities continue to investigate illegal...

Fox Lake’s ‘G.I. Joe’ scandal the latest in village’s colorful history

June 16, 2018 at 4:55 p.m.

Before Fox Lake was scandalized by a police officer who staged his suicide to look like murder, the village endured flare-ups of notoriety dating back to its days as a...

Denysse Martinez, 18 months, plays as her mother, Virginia Cruz, sits in the toddlers room at Family Focus inside of Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Highland Park on Nov. 2, 2015.

Family Focus offers Latino families support, connections in Chicago’s north suburbs

June 16, 2018 at 4:59 p.m.

As a newly arrived immigrant in Highwood, Maribel Benavidez enrolled in English classes and tried to make new friends through her job as a waitress. But she had to quit...

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