Jennifer Hudson will sing a tribute to Whitney Houston at tonight's Grammy Awards, a person was killed after crashing head-on into a CTA bus, and other news. more ›

The population at Cook County Jail dropped from 75,496 in 2007 to 62,098 this year. But Dart and Alvarez blamed the length of stays at the jail on the courts. more ›

Here's an 1896 film from the Lumière brothers that's believed to be the first film shot in Chicago. more ›

One idea to balance the budget is a plan approved by City Council allowing inmates at Cook County Jail to work at the City's Animal Care and Control pound on the South side. more ›

A White House study released yesterday showed that 83 percent of men arrested in Cook County last year tested positive for at least one illicit drug. more ›

40 years ago today in Cook County Jail, B.B. King played a concert at Cook County Jail that became one of the hallmark moments of his long career. more ›

Last month, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart implemented a comprehensive policy to separate inmates at Cook County Jail by gender identity, rather than birth sex. It's believed the policy is the first of its kind in the country. more ›

Cook County commissioners made a dramatic u-turn at their last meeting -- the forthcoming regime change led them to discuss containing costs. more ›

• A car crash in Maywood that killed three has been ruled a road rage incident; the Tribune has details on the bizarre incident.
• 10 DUIs = 24 years in prison.
• CBS 2 is reporting an Asian Carp has been hooked in the Garfield Park lagoon.

With a drop in inmates over the past several years, the Cook County Jail is preparing to close down two buildings in an effort to save money. Sheriff Tom Dart said, "When every government agency is looking for ways to cut costs and save taxpayer dollars, it makes no sense to keep half-empty buildings operating at full capacity." According to Chicago Current, the move will hopefully save $15 million. Between 2004 and 2009, the number of inmates processed at the jail shrank from around 106,000 to 86,000. This comes in the wake of the earlier announcement that 600 new guards will be hired over next two years at the jail, a move made as part of a deal with the federal government. more ›

As part of an on-going effort to get out from under the glare of federal court supervision, Cook County will hire more than 600 new jail guards by next Spring, the Tribune reports. A report filed by the U.S. Department of Justice last year concluded "that the jail has failed to adequately protect inmates from harm and serious risk of harm, including physical harm caused by inappropriate and excessive force used by staff and violence by other inmates; failed to provide adequate medical and mental health care, including suicide prevention; and failed to provide adequate environmental conditions, including fire safety and sanitation, all resulting in unconstitutional living conditions." more ›

We don't know what it is about Chicago that the Discovery Channel loves so much, but we're not complaining. Both Liar's Club and the Metro have been featured recently on the show Ghost Labs and Dirty Jobs was recently in town as well. Now, part of Chicago is getting the limelight all to itself. The channel will debut a new three-part series tomorrow night called Cook County Jail, which focuses on...well, do we have to spell it out for you? Parts one ("Brains & Brawn") and two ("Gang Ties") air tomorrow night, starting at 8:00 p.m. more ›

The last three jurors and six alternates were selected in the trial of a man charged with the rape and murder of 11 South Side women in the 90s on Friday at the Criminal Courts Building, according to Chicago Breaking News. more ›

Inmates at Cook County Jail's oldest maximum-security prison often resort to using toothpaste caps and toilet paper to jam their jail cell doors and sneak out, but recently it seems the old locks on the doors have rendered their extra efforts unnecessary. "Some of them are so bad they can literally slide the door, give the door a little jiggle, and it will slide open," a Cook County sheriff's correctional officer said to the Chicago Sun-Times. According to an investigation conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times/Better Government Association, there have been at least 288 problems with cell doors in the 608-cell prison called Division 1, between February 2007 and last May. more ›

On Thursday, a federal jury ruled against the Cook County Jail in regards to inmates' complaints of illegal strip searches and behavior by the sheriff's department staff was "sexually degrading." While a Cook County Sheriff's spokesman said, "correctional officers and staff acted appropriately and did not violate constitutional rights,' the jury thought otherwise. But Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is already planning an appeal. Said Dart, "We have to do everything physically possible to make sure people aren't bringing weapons into the jail or bringing narcotics into the jail, so we do that. With that in mind, are there times when strip searching is a necessity? Absolutely. Anyone who would tell you otherwise is out of their mind." more ›

An early morning fight during breakfast at the Cook County Jail has left 11 inmates injured from stab wounds. No guards were hurt during the melee, which occurred around 4:30 a.m. Five inmates were treated for non-life-threatening injuries at nearby hospitals while six were treated at the on-site hospital. [Tribune] more ›

Probable cases of the swine flu (H1N1 Influenza A) in the state of Illinois have increased to 85 with 3 more cases confirmed. The Illinois Department of Public Health also confirmed that the first cases in Central Illinois have surfaced. Until now, the cases were confined to the greater Chicagoland area, but now probable cases have popped up in Sangamon County and Winnebago County. State Health Director Dr. Damon Arnold said in a statement, "We anticipated seeing cases of the H1N1 flu virus across Illinois, and we expect to see more. However, there is no need to be alarmed." more ›

An inmate in the Cook County Jail managed to sneak a loaded gun in with him - even though he was searched four times - by tying the gun to the drawstring of his shorts and allowing it to dangle between his legs. Bennie Ellison, 39, was arrested on drug charges on March 18 and searched multiple times by police and Cook County sheriff deputies, but the gun was never discovered. When Ellison realized he'd have to change clothes for a bond hearing, he abandoned the gun in the jail laundry room where another inmate discovered it. Ellison has been charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a felony, for the incident. [WGN Radio] more ›

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly sided with several thousand former Cook County Jail inmates in a lawsuit against the jail, claiming the strip searches they were subjected to upon entering the jail were humiliating and often done in deplorable conditions. The suit was officially brought by former inmates Kim Young, Ronald Johnson, and William Jones on behalf of themselves and numerous other prisoners against Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan and Sheriff’s employees Callie Baird, Scott Kurtovich, and Salvador Godinez (collectively the Sheriff Defendants) for violating their rights with these searches upon their arrival at the jail. more ›

William Balfour, the man accused of killing three family members or actress/singer Jennifer Hudson - including seven-year-old Julian King - has been moved from Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet to Cook County Jail. The request was made by his lawyer so it would be easier to consult with Balfour and a judge approved. However, Balfour will be subject to the same 10-day limit the Cook County Jail imposes on holding all parole violators, which means Balfour could soon wind up back at SCC. more ›

A brawl in a maximum security wing at Cook County Jail is on lockdown after a fight Tuesday night injured seven inmates. Several inmates suffered non-life threatening "puncture" wounds from shanks and a few suffered some head injuries. The brawl broke out in a room where inmates are allowed to watch television. A jail spokesman said a search of cells for more weapons is ongoing. more ›

Following his arrest early Friday morning on suspicion of DUI, the Bears waived Tank Johnson on Monday. In the team's release to the media, GM Jerry Angelo said, "We are upset and embarrassed by Tank's actions last week. He compromised the credibility of our organization." So what great crime ultimately lead to Tank's dismissal from the Bears? He was stopped for driving 40 mph in a 25mph zone at 3:30am in Gilbert, Arizona and cited... more ›

After serving 60 days of his 120-day sentence, the Bears' Tank Johnson was released from Cook County Jail early Sunday morning. His sentence was reduced for "good behavior" during his time incarcerated, which included a private cell and nearly 100 visits from family, friends and teammates. Maybe Tank could call up Paris Hilton and tell her jail ain't so bad! While serving his time for probation violations, Johnson pleaded guilty to the gun charges that... more ›

"walk16" via bluekale. more ›

In the latest episode of the ongoing Tank Johnson saga, the Bears' defensive tackle finally went before a Lake County judge on the gun-related charges that stemmed from the December raid on his Gurnee home and subsequent arrest. Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a firearm without an owner's identification and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. However, the presiding judge will allow Johnson to serve the sentence concurrently with the four-month... more ›

Mike Quigley would have you believe that he supports good government for Cook County. He came into office in 1998, the lone reformer on the bloated and corrupt board. By his second term, he found brotherhood: joining forces with Forrest Claypool, Larry Suffriden, and Tony Peraica, they managed to form an alliance and win some victories against John Stroger's Machine. In 2005 he threw his hat in the ring to challenge the former County Board... more ›

Having plead guilty to probation violations last month stemming from his December arrest on guns charges, Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson faced sentencing on Thursday. In a Skokie courtroom, Cook County Circuit Court Judge John Moran sentenced Johnson to 120 days in jail and fined him $2,500. Bears head coach Lovie Smith and Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher spoke on Johnson's behalf prior to sentencing. Imagine how long he'd be incarcerated if they hadn't! Speaking... more ›

Despite what some people think, we've lived here long enough to know when a cabbie is starting to give us the runaround. And now we just nip it in the bud. We call out the Lower Wacker route before they start to pull some other crap. We tell them to take Ashland instead of going all the way east to Lake Shore Drive. But there's one thing we have never been really strong on —... more ›

Here's the scenario: Cook County's in the hole by about $500 million. Infamous Board President Todd Stroger wants to slash jobs without raising taxes, which has many people up in arms, including newly elected Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. Stroger wants to dispose of some of Dart's courtroom staff and police force. What's a rookie sheriff of the most populated county in Illinois to do? more ›