Latest news with #pre-MemorialDay
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chicago officials call for calm ahead of Memorial Day weekend as homicides decline
The Brief City leaders urge calm ahead of Memorial Day weekend, historically one of Chicago's most violent, as homicides are down 40 compared to last year. Officials emphasize community involvement, with Superintendent Snelling saying police can't "arrest our way out of this" and highlighting programs like basketball tournaments and violence intervention workers. Mayor Johnson defends his public safety approach, citing drops in shootings, victims, and robberies, while a proposal to reinstate emergency curfew powers remains on hold in City Council. CHICAGO - Chicago's top officials are calling for calm ahead of Memorial Day weekend — often one of the city's most violent — as homicides continue to fall and the summer season begins. What we know Homicides are down by 40 compared to this time last year, and the city is on pace to finish the year with fewer than 400 homicides for the first time in decades — if the downward trend holds through the warmer months, which typically bring a spike in violence. Mayor Brandon Johnson, Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and other officials held the city's annual pre-Memorial Day safety press conference Thursday, emphasizing that public safety depends on more than just law enforcement. "Now, to get through the summer again and make it the most peaceful summer that we can possibly have, we are going to need everyone. Everyone has to step up. We as a police department, we are not going to arrest our way out of this. And if we can avoid making arrests, that's a good day for us," Snelling said. City-led initiatives for the weekend include a basketball tournament in high-crime neighborhoods and the deployment of dozens of community violence intervention workers to work alongside police. One tool officers won't have this year is the ability to impose a snap curfew — an emergency power currently on hold in the City Council. Johnson has expressed skepticism about the measure and pointed to the drop in homicides as evidence his broader safety strategy is working. "Shootings are down. Shooting victims are down. Robberies are down. All of that is the result of collective response and responsibility. I remember the 90s when it was 900 people getting murdered every single year. I remember that. We have turned the page. We're going to build the safest, most affordable big city in America and we're going to do it together," Johnson said. Memorial Day weekend traditionally marks the unofficial start of summer and has long been associated with a surge in shootings and violent crime in the Chicago area.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Flags honor veterans' graves in annual Memorial Day tradition
JOPLIN, Mo. — An annual pre-Memorial Day tradition continues in Joplin. In association with the 'Peace Church Cemetery Association', members of Joplin's American Legion Post 13 placed flags this afternoon on more than two dozen Veteran headstones, as well as a monument at the historic cemetery. Veterans buried there fought in the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World Wars one and two and the Korean War. 'Without the veterans we wouldn't be a free nation, we wouldn't be free here and we wouldn't be able to do the things that we do, so we just want to honor them and we do that two or three times a year and each time we thank them for their service and salute them,' said Jim Beeler, Peace Church Cemetery Association. 'And it's something to us that's a real honor to be able to do because it allows us to honor that veteran and show that we really appreciate what they did while they were in service,' said Bob Harringon, American Legion Post 13. Today's ceremony concluded with a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps. The Peace Church Cemetery Association continues to honor and tell the stories of those who are laid to rest on the property. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
