Author: chicagoinquirer

by Andrew Selsky SALEM, Ore.  — Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan is in hot water, with Republican lawmakers calling for her resignation and the Democratic governor seeking investigations because Fagan took a consulting job with a marijuana firm. The matter came to a head Friday after Fagan’s office released an audit of the state’s marijuana regulators, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. The audit called for the OLCC to “reform” some rules for marijuana businesses, saying they are “burdens” when combined with federal restrictions on interstate commerce, banking and taxation. Fagan, a Democrat, recused herself from the audit because…

by Greg Beacham LOS ANGELES  — LeBron James made sure the Lakers had the appropriate urgency for a closeout playoff game. Their raucous fans constantly urged them to end an infuriating decade without a postseason celebration on the Lakers’ home court. When that much passion coincided with a spectacular defensive performance by Anthony Davis, the Memphis Grizzlies didn’t stand a chance. Davis had 16 points and 14 rebounds while blocking five shots and dominating the paint, D’Angelo Russell scored a career playoff-high 31 points and Los Angeles completed its first-round upset of the Grizzlies with a 125-85 victory in Game…

by Andrew Seligman LAKE FOREST, Ill.  — Darnell Wright helped Tennessee re-emerge as a national power. The Chicago Bears hope the feisty blocker can do something similar for them. Chicago selected the Tennessee offensive tackle with the No. 10 overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday night, giving quarterback Justin Fields more protection after trading back one spot with Philadelphia. “That’s what I’m here for is for anything he needs,” Wright said. “That’s my job to keep him clean. Amazing. Amazing quarterback and the things he does, we’re going to have a great team.” He said he was “in shock” and…

by Maryclaire Dale SAYREVILLE, N.J.  — Nicole Teliano used to play games on her phone in the mayor’s office while her mother worked down the hall several evenings a month, tending to the tedious, often acrimonious task of serving in local government. The 11-year-old girl didn’t mind sharing her mother, Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, with the nearly 50,000 residents of the central New Jersey town, the young people she nurtured as a pastor of a prosperity gospel church in Newark or the Nigerian church colleague she married in a festive ceremony in Abuja in November. “Well, my mom was a…

by Eric Tucker WASHINGTON  — Former Vice President Mike Pencetestified Thursday before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter. Pence’s appearance before a grand jury in Washington scrutinizing the president he once loyally served is a milestone in the Justice Department’s investigation and likely gives prosecutors a key first-person account about certain conversations and events in the weeks preceding the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. It also carries significant political implications, coming as…

by Dan Sewell CINCINNATI  — Jerry Springer, the onetime mayor and news anchor whose namesake TV show featured a three-ring circus of dysfunctional guests willing to bare all — sometimes literally — as they brawled and hurled obscenities before a raucous audience, died Thursday at 79. At its peak, “The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the daytime talk show was a favorite American guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey’s show. Springer called it “escapist entertainment,” while others…

by Emily Wagster Petus JACKSON, Miss.  — The white woman who accused Black teenager Emmett Till of whistling at and accosting her — which caused his 1955 lynching in Mississippi and galvanized a generation of activists to rise up in the Civil Rights Movement — has died at 88. Carolyn Bryant Donham died in hospice care Tuesday night in Westlake, Louisiana, according to a death report filed Thursday in the Calcasieu Parish Coroner’s Office. Her death marks the last chance for anyone to be held accountable for a kidnapping and brutal murder that shocked the world. Till’s mother, Mamie Till…

by Amy Beth Hanson and Sam Metz HELENA, Mont.  — Moves to stifle the voice of the first transgender woman elected to Montana’s legislature over her stand on gender-affirming care for children may have silenced her in the chambers of the state House, but Rep. Zooey Zephyr said she’s confident they’ve only amplified her message to constituents at home and others watching across the nation. “There are many more eyes on Montana now,” Zephyr said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But you do the same thing you’ve always done. You stand up in defense of your community and…

by Andrew Seligman LAKE FOREST, Ill. — While raving about Jalen Carter’s talent, Chicago Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham revealed little Tuesday when it comes to whether the team would feel comfortable taking a chance in the draft on the Georgia defensive tackle. “I think the more time you spend around him, the more you realize he’s a good player, but you get to know him more as a person,” Cunningham said. Cunningham said there’s “no denying” Carter’s talent, but will make “the best decision for us and our organization.” The Bears come in with the No. 9 overall…

by Elliot Spagat SAN DIEGO  — U.S. immigration offices have become so overwhelmed with processing migrants for court that some some asylum-seekers who crossed the border at Mexico may be waiting a decade before they even get a date to see a judge. The backlog stems from a change made two months after President Joe Biden took office, when Border Patrol agents began now-defunct practice of quickly releasing immigrants on parole. They were given instructions to report to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at their final destination to be processed for court — work previously done by the Border…