Author: chicagoinquirer

by Our reporters SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday notified the state Supreme Court that he will appeal a local judge’s ruling that eliminating cash bail for criminal defendants is unconstitutional. Raoul’s notice requests the high court reverse Wednesday’s ruling by Kankakee County Circuit Judge Thomas Cunnington. Cunnington decreed that the General Assembly violated the constitution’s separation of powers clause by eliminating cash bail in the so-called SAFE-T Act criminal justice overhaul. The issue of bail should be left to the judiciary, he said. The rest of the SAFE-T Act, which updates rules and procedures for…

by Michael R. Sisak and Jill Colvin Democrats in Congress released thousands of pages of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns Friday, providing the most detailed picture to date of his finances over a six-year period, including his time in the White House, when he fought to keep the information private in a break with decades of precedent. The documents include individual returns from Trump and his wife, Melania, along with Trump’s business entities from 2015-2020. They show how Trump used the tax code to lower his tax obligation and reveal details about foreign accounts, charitable contributions and the performance…

by Michael R. Sisal and Jill Colvin A House committee is set to release six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, pulling back the curtain on financial records that the former president fought for years to keep secret. The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted last week to release the returns, with some redactions of sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers and contact information. Their dissemination comes in the waning days of Democrats’ control of the House and as Trump’s fellow Republicans prepare to retake power in the chamber. The committee obtained six years of Trump’s…

by Andrew Seligman CHICAGO  — DeMar DeRozan scored 42 points and the Chicago Bulls rallied to beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks 119-113 in overtime Wednesday night. The Bulls trailed by 15 early in the fourth quarter, only to pull even in the closing minute of regulation. DeRozan scored 10 in overtime, Nikola Vucevic hit a 3 in the extra period and the Bulls beat one of the NBA’s best teams after losing to one of the worst — Houston — two nights earlier. Antetokounmpo matched a season high with 45 points and set one with 20 rebounds. He…

by David Koenig and Heather Hollingsworth DALLAS  — Travelers who counted on Southwest Airlines to get them home suffered another wave of canceled flights Wednesday, and pressure grew on the federal government to help customers get reimbursed for unexpected expenses they incurred because of the airline’s meltdown. Exhausted Southwest travelers tried finding seats on other airlines or renting cars to get to their destination, but many remained stranded. The airline’s CEO said it could be next week before the flight schedule returns to normal. Adontis Barber, a 34-year-old jazz pianist from Kansas City, Missouri, had camped out in the city’s…

CHICAGO  — A Lufthansa flight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, Germany, made an unscheduled landing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after a passenger’s laptop caught fire, the airline said. Monday night’s landing at O’Hare was a precautionary step after an overheated laptop caused a small fire in the passenger cabin, the airline said. The fire was out by the time the plane made a safe landing, WLS-TV reported. None of the passengers were injured, but two flight attendants were treated for smoke inhalation following the “unscheduled landing,” Lufthansa said in a statement. The airline said its ground staff was helping…

by Rebecca Santana and Elliot Spagat WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court is keeping pandemic-era limits on asylum in place for now, dashing hopes of migrants who have been fleeing violence and inequality in Latin America and elsewhere to reach the United States. Tuesday’s ruling preserves a major Trump-era policy that was scheduled to expire under a judge’s order on Dec. 21. The case will be argued in February and a stay imposed last week by Chief Justice John Roberts will remain in place until the justices make a decision. The limits, often known as Title 42 in reference to a…

by Michelle Price WASHINGTON — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will be asking voters for a second term leading one of the nation’s biggest cities. Republicans will try to take full control of the Virginia Legislature. Governors’ mansions are up for election in Louisiana and Mississippi, and a Democratic governor in red-state Kentucky will try to hang on for another term. While much of the political focus in 2023 is on the emerging presidential race, voters in some states will be weighing in on lower-profile contests that will nonetheless provide fresh insight into their priorities and views on the direction of…

by David Koenig DALLAS  — Southwest Airlines scrubbed thousands of flights again Tuesday in the aftermath of the massive winter storm that wrecked Christmas travel plans across the U.S., and the federal government said it would investigate why the company lagged so far behind other carriers. A day after most U.S. airlines had recovered from the storm, Southwest called off about 2,600 more flights on the East Coast by late afternoon. Those flights accounted for more than 80% of the 3,000 trips that got canceled nationwide Tuesday, according to tracking service FlightAware. And the chaos seemed certain to continue. The…

by Mark Gonzales CHICAGO — Kevin Porter Jr. scored a season-high 36 points and the Houston Rockets used a 17-1 run in the third quarter to beat the Chicago Bulls 133-118 on Monday night, snapping a five-game losing streak. Alperan Sengun added 25 points and Jalen Green had 24 for Houston, which scored the first 10 points of the game but blew an 18-point lead before its third-quarter spurt. “This was definitely one of those games where you saw the result of us learning and getting better,” Porter said. DeMar DeRozan scored 31 for the Bulls, who won their previous…