South Loop

Los robos ocurrieron entre las 7:20 y las 8:20 a.m. el jueves, según la policía. | Archivos Sun-Times

Crime

Thieves take ATM after crashing into South Loop currency exchange

The crash-and-grab theft happened as film crews for the TV show “Chicago Fire” were setting up for a scene at a nearby restaurant.

By Sun-Times Wire

Chicago police work the scene where a man was shot while riding on a Red Line train near 47th Street Red Line station, Tuesday, June 21, 2022.

Crime

Man on parole for armed robbery charged in beating, robbery of woman on CTA Red Line train

The 61-year-old woman was found unresponsive aboard a train about 1:30 a.m. Thursday with cuts and bruises to her face, broken ribs and trauma to her body.

By Kaitlin Washburn

Children paint a mural that reads “Protect Our Home”

News

‘Protect our home:’ Girl Scouts paint mural in support of resident opposition to proposed data center in South Loop

Local residents continue to rally against the expansion of a data center, citing concerns of noise disruption and potential air pollution, according to the president of the Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance.

By Phyllis Cha

Harold Washington Library in the Loop, shown on Tuesday, is one of the Illinois libraries closed after receiving bomb threats.

Crime

Library bomb threats prompt closings citywide, special police attention

All Chicago libraries closed after unfounded bomb threats Thursday, part of what has been called a national “disturbing trend” of intimidation over books offered on library shelves.

By Cindy Hernandez, Tom Schuba, and 1 more

Austin Paramore, who debuted his first graphic novel entitled, “Malcolm Kid and the Perfect Song,” holds his graphic novel while sitting outside the Henry B. Clarke House in the Near South Side neighborhood, Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Books

Teen sets out to save jazz musician’s soul in Chicago man’s debut graphic novel

‘Every step of the way I was almost like, “This isn’t actually going to happen,” ’ Austin Paramore said of his journey to get his graphic novel published.

By Mitch Dudek

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara (left); Mayor Brandon Johnson (right).

City Hall

FOP’s John Catanzara blasts Brandon Johnson for calling teen looting a ‘trend’: ‘That means, do whatever the hell you want apparently.’

“Nobody is renaming anybody little mini-Al Capones. But they certainly, in many cases, had the same, terrorizing effect that Al Capone had 100 years ago,” the Chicago police union head said.

By Fran Spielman

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Crime

Chicago gun violence: 2 killed, 24 wounded in weekend shootings

A man was shot to death Friday evening in Riverdale on the Far South Side, and a 17-year-old boy was shot to death in North Lawndale early Saturday

By Sun-Times Wire

Lawndale

Black-owned cafe opening West Side locations: ‘An investment in peace’

Momentum Coffee is a cafe and co-working space with locations downtown and on the South Side. It recently opened a new cafe in North Lawndale. Another will open soon in Austin.

By Michael Loria

2024 Democratic National Convention

‘A game-changer’: Chicago City Council members, residents react to return of Democratic convention

The Democratic National Committee announced Tuesday morning that Chicago will host the 2024 convention next August. Chicago beat out New York and Atlanta.

By Catherine Odom and Mitchell Armentrout

Crime

Lyft driver charged with firing gun in South Loop movie theater in dispute with passenger

Babacar Mbengue, 35, of Oakland on the South Side, is charged with reckless discharge of a firearm, Chicago police said. No one was hurt.

By Emmanuel Camarillo

Top row: 5th Ward candidates Tina Hone (left) and Desmon Yancy. Bottom row: 4th Ward candidates Prentice Butler (left) and Lamont Robinson.

Elections

South Side 4th, 5th Ward City Council candidates focus on public safety, development

A state lawmaker and the outgoing incumbent’s chief of staff are vying for the open seat in the 4th Ward. And just to the south, a lawyer is competing against a religious charity director in the 5th Ward.

By Mary Norkol

Three people were killed in separate crashes across the Chicago area during a winter storm early Saturday.

News

Woman, 72, struck and killed by truck in South Loop

Police say a box truck turning north onto the 1100 block of South Wabash Avenue struck a woman in a crosswalk. She was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

By David Struett

Crime

Chicago Auto Show guard tackles man who dropped gun, cash at McCormick Place

Oscar Luiz, 22, of Indiana, allegedly dropped a loaded gun and cash and ran Sunday at the Chicago Auto Show. An officer tackled Luiz and took him into custody.

By David Struett

The Bridgeport artist who goes by ZorZorZor painted this mural in an alley off Harrison Street between Michigan and Wabash avenues.

Bridgeport artist ZorZorZor’s South Loop alley mural won her a distant fan and a paid commission

By Sun-Times staff

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Crime

Fatal shootings of couple found in South Loop home ruled murder-suicide

Leticia Zaragoza, 45, and Joseph P. Fry, 36, were discovered in their apartment in the 2000 block of South Indiana Avenue around 3 p.m. Monday, police said.

By Sun-Times Wire

A CTA worker was injured in a fall Saturday.

News

CTA worker hurt in fall in South Loop

The employee was working on a platform below the tracks when he fell to a parking lot underneath.

By Sun-Times Wire

Artist Kaitlyn Beiriger’s 2021 mural “Time Piece” at 1014 S. Michigan Ave.

‘Twilight Zone’ and the pandemic inspired artist Kaitlyn Beiriger’s South Loop mural

By Austin Hojdar

Crime

Driver was going 75 mph in wrong lane when he hit car fleeing police in South Loop, prosecutors say

Kendall Sprouts, 18, charged with reckless homicide, hit a driver making a U-turn in the 1400 block of South Michigan Avenue as that driver fled police last weekend, police said.

By Tom Schuba and Matthew Hendrickson

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Crime

Man beaten, robbed on Red Line train in South Loop

The man was beaten and robbed after refusing to give cigarettes to a group of men on the Red Line train, police said.

By Sun-Times Wire

Jones College Prep located at 700 South State Street, in The Loop neighborhood, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021.

Education

Jones Prep principal suspended amid uproar over goose-stepping student in German soldier’s uniform on Halloween

“We should have handled the incident with greater care,” the school’s principal, Joe Powers, told parents in an email earlier Friday.

By Mitch Dudek and Nader Issa

The Luna Blues Machine musicians and sisters Balinda Cervantes (left) and Maritza Cervantes (right) during the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Maxwell Street Market, Sunday, October 30, 2022.

News

Maxwell Street Market celebrates Halloween, Día de los Muertos

Children decorate pumpkins and sugar skulls in anticipation of Halloween on Monday and Día de los Muertos on Tuesday.

By David Struett

News

Hair relaxer caused Missouri woman’s cancer, lawsuit alleges

A lawsuit filed against L’Oreal and Chicago-based Namaste Laboratories cites federal study data of elevated cancer rates among women who used relaxers.

By Andy Grimm

Persona Lounge, 408 S. Wells St., left of the Cactus Bar & Grill.

The Watchdogs

City should have shut down Loop club before weekend killing, Ald. Sigcho-Lopez says

Police closed Persona Lounge after a security guard was charged with killing another guard there but should have shut it down after a July shooting outside the club left two people dead and three wounded, Sigcho-Lopez says.

By Frank Main and Tim Novak

Hundreds of protesters surround the Christopher Columbus statue in Grant Park Friday night.

News

Columbus Day arrives, and still no Columbus statues

In August, the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans demanded that Columbus statues be returned to Grant and Arrigo parks by Columbus Day and protected at city expense. It didn’t happen, but the two sides are talking.

By Fran Spielman

Crime

Man shot, killed during argument in the Loop

Suspect, 24, treated at hospital and taken into custody by police after shooting in 400 block of South Wells early Sunday, police said.

By Sun-Times Wire

A man was stabbed to death Aug. 23, 2022, in River North.

Crime

Man killed in South Loop shooting: police

An unidentified man was killed after being shot in the 1200 block of South Plymouth Court.

By Sun-Times Wire

Crime

Man shot in neck on Red Line

He was on the train in the 100 block of West Cermak Road when someone shot him, police said.

By Sun-Times Wire

A soon-to-open Circle K store at 190 W. Madison St.

Business

Battle of the convenience stores: Circle K moves into downtown

The chain is leasing locations in and near the Loop, taking advantage of available space to expand its brand here.

By David Roeder

Chicago police work the scene where four people were shot the 400 block of North State Street early Sunday.

Crime

Downtown, another weekend of violence: ‘Everyone in the community is extremely distressed’

After a mass shooting Sunday morning, an attempted carjacking early Monday led to a shootout in the South Loop. “The casual violence of these incidents is terrible,” one community leader said of Chicago’s crime cycle.

By Fran Spielman

City Hall

Lightfoot says higher ticket threshold for speed cameras would cost city $80 million this year and next

“I haven’t heard anybody who thinks it’s a good idea to increase the speeds talking about what they’re gonna do in an election-year budget to find the revenues ... necessary to replace the revenue stream. That is now front-and-center on peoples’ minds,” the mayor said.

By Fran Spielman