21-05-2025
Afternoon Briefing: Illinois lawmakers pass Prisoner Review Board reforms
Good afternoon, Chicago.
Illinois lawmakers advanced a bill that would emphasize domestic violence awareness training for members of the state's Prisoner Review Board, which came under criticism after releasing a man from state custody who then allegedly attacked a former girlfriend and fatally stabbed her young son.
The bill's passage came 14 months after authorities say Crosetti Brand broke into his ex-girlfriend's apartment on Chicago's North Side and attacked her before fatally stabbing her son, 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, when the boy tried to come to her rescue. The 39-year-old Brand is on trial for the attack and Jayden's family has filed a lawsuit against the review board alleging negligence in the case.
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Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into war-torn Gaza, decrying the violence and suffering in the Middle East during his first general audience as pope today in St. Peter's Square. Read more here.
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