Bacon Flavored Bubbles? We're pretty much sold before you even finish the sentence. ThinkGeek, our favorite purveyors of strange bacon-flavored and/or caffeinated merchandise, brought this new gun to our attention. The same site that brought us dog beer and caffeinated soap now lets you shoot bacon flavored bubbles across the room! We've always loved bubble guns, but this takes it to a whole new level. more ›

While you were out watching football, hitting the farmers market, or squeezing in a weekend getaway before the cooler weather of fall arrives, there was still plenty happening here in the city and here's some of our weekend coverage you might have missed. more ›

If you can't take a bunch of knives into the Daley Center, it should go without saying that you can't take a gun in, either. But one man still tried this morning on the way to a hearing on the foreclosure of his home. Thomas Pridgeon, 48, showed up for his court hearing with a .45-caliber handgun tucked away in his briefcase with one bullet in the chamber and seven more in a clip. Pridgeon's defense when he was arrested and charged with unlawful use of a weapon: he forgot it was there. Tighter security has been in place at the Daley Center since the October 1983 Hutchie Moore shootings, when Moore, a wheelchair-bound police officer in the midst of a divorce trial, smuggled a gun into a courtroom where he opened fire, killing the presiding judge and an attorney. more ›

The investigation continues into the "non-criminal" shooting death of five-year-old Jonathan Jackson. Jonathan had been playing with his twin brother Jalin at a home they shared with many family members including their mother and several grandparents. The boys apparently discovered the gun and, thinking it was a toy gun, began playing with it. The gun fired, shooting Jonathon in the stomach. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead. It's not clear whether Jalin shot Jonathan or if Jonathan shot himself but the shooting has been ruled accidental. Police haven't said whose gun it was that was used or how the boys found it. The boys' uncle, Bruce Prince, told CBS 2, "I assume they found it somewhere and were playing with it." more ›

Northwestern University has sent out an alert that a man with a gun was spotted in the Rubloff Building on the Chicago campus. The alert reads: more ›

A struggle between a Chicago Police officer and a suspect last night resulted in the discharge of the officer's gun, but no one was hurt in the incident. Police had stopped Shardell Green for reckless driving but Green fled the scene on foot and a chase ensued. When officers caught up with Green, a struggle ensued and he tried to disarm one of the officers, causing the gun to fire. Green was on parole stemming from a 2006 vehicular hijacking conviction and has been charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery to a police officer and one felony count of disarming a peace officer. more ›

In a story that's sadly not as shocking as it should be, one (barely) teen and another child have been charged with assault after pointing a gun at a man. A 13-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy approached a pedestrian on the 1000 block of East 53rd Street in Hyde Park last night and, after a conversation, one of the children pointed a small, silver gun at the man and said, “I’ll just pop you right here." While details of how the children were apprehended is still unclear, police were involved, the children were charged with assault, and were turned over to the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. more ›

William Balfour was denied bail at a hearing today by Judge Raymond Myles. His attorney, Joshua Kutnick, claims there are no witnesses and no connection between Balfour and the murder weapon. Prosecutors presented arguments that included:

• Balfour told detectives that he was home at the time of the shootings, but cell phone records showed he was in the vicinity of the Hudson family home. more ›

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis expressed confidence that they've built a strong case against William Balfour, the suspect formally charged in the killings of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew. Police recovered the murder weapon and the SUV in which seven-year-old Julian King was killed. Said Weis, "I think if you talk to the new state's attorney [Anita Alvarez] she'll be as confident in this case as I am." Weis also says there is physical evidence putting Balfour at the scene of the shootings of Hudson's mother and brother inside their Englewood home on October 24. Balfour's attorney says his client has admitted nothing; Balfour has a bond hearing today. For Weis' sake, after a year of constant screw-ups, we hope he's right and has his shit together for once. more ›

William Balfour has been formally charged in the murders of Darnell Donerson, Jason Hudson, and Julian King, all relatives of actress/singer Jennifer Hudson. He has been charged with one count of home invasion and three counts of first-degree murder. Sources have told the Trib that most of the evidence is circumstantial, but police are confident they have done the proper legwork to secure a conviction, including motive, witnesses, cell phone records that tracked Balfour's movements the day of the shootings, and an alleged confession to his girlfriend. The Sun-Times also reported a source as saying Balfour confessed the murders to a friend, but didn't indicate whether or not this was his alleged confession to his girlfriend or an additional admission of guilt. His mother, Michele, said, "They have a botched-up investigation and they're trying to pin it on him." Balfour is set for a bond hearing tomorrow. more ›

Five weeks after the October 24 murder of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew, Chicago Police have finally arrested Hudson's former brother-in-law William Balfour in connection with the murders. He has been the prime suspect in the case since the start; he was already being held in a state corrections facility on parole violation charges stemming from a police investigation into his possible role in the murders and was transferred to Chicago Police custody once the arrest warrant was issued. more ›

The gun found yesterday in an alley a block from where the body of murdered 7-year-old Julian King was discovered matches the caliber of gun (.45) used in the murders of Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew, based on comparisons with shell casings found at the murder scene. A witness reported seeing a white vehicle drive through the alley and dump something. Still, police are remaining cautious since the area has high gang activity and consider it unlikely a suspect would drop a murder weapon so close to a crime scene. more ›

9:37 Dr. Peters, president of NIU, is thanking everyone for their response to the tragedy. He says he was "renew[ed]" by seeing the university community come together. more ›

CNN is identifying the shooter as 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak. more ›

Another wounded student has died, bringing the number of fatalities from yesterday's shooting at Norther Illinois University to 7. The gunman's identity will be announced at a news conference later this morning, but right now authorities have said he was a 27-year-old graduate student enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. [Trib] more ›

More reports out of NIU tonight: more ›

If you're like us, you're already getting pumped up for the Oscars! Not. Jeez, let's get past New Year's first, O.K.? Oops. Too late. The Chicago Film Critics Association has already jumped the gun and handed out their awards. To the surprise of no one the big winner was No Country for Old Men, the new Coen brothers movie that both impressed and disturbed us when we saw it last month. It won four awards in all (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem). We're very pleased that Bardem won; there wouldn't be much of a movie without his chilling character study, and he damned well better win the Oscar. more ›

Wow, Alderman Tom Tunney has been having an interesting couple of months. First he gets a ticket for talking on his cell phone while driving and may have received special favors from the police department, then he makes a sweet deal and moves his flagship Ann Sather's, and now it's being reported that Tunney was the victim of an attempted holdup yesterday afternoon just a block from his 44th ward office. more ›

The Trib rolled out Part II of its damning investigation of Chicago police officers shooting civilians, and it's just as intensive as Part I--plus it's accompanied by a harsh, determined editorial. God, agreeing with the Trib's editorial board...this is a whole new feeling. Today's report focuses on Officer Phyllis Clinkscales, who shot and killed 17-year-old Robert Washington in June 2000, which sets up an analysis of how thoroughly police shootings are investigated. Guess what?... more ›

Jaylnn Hall, 4, died early yesterday morning after her 15-year-old brother shot her in the chest, apparently accidentally. Her mother, whose name hasn't been released, is a Cook County corrections officer, and the 9mm handgun used in the shooting is her "duty weapon," which corrections officers are allowed to carry outside of jail. The mom was at work at the time of the shooting, and she's been "de-deputized," which is standard procedure according to... more ›

A second teenager has been arrested in the string of robberies in Hyde Park the night Amadou Cisse was killed, but 17-year-old Demetrius Warren has not been charged in the murder. Warren has been charged with three counts of armed robbery and one count of aggravated discharge of a weapon for firing a shot at an attempted-robbery victim who ran away. Yesterday, 16-year-old Eric Walker was charged in the murder. Walker has a juvenille record... more ›

Long-time Republican Congressman Henry Hyde died early this morning at Rush University Medical Center. He was 83. Hyde served 32 years in the House before retiring at the end of last session, and he was recently awarded a Medal of Freedom. He's best known for his role as the chairman of the judiciary committee during the Clinton impeachment proceedings and for the Hyde Amendment, which bans Medicaid from funding abortions except in cases of rape,... more ›

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and... more ›

An investigation is underway in death of 34-year-old Freddie "Latee" Wilson, whom police shot and killed Tuesday night. It's the newly-formed (well, newly named at least) Independent Police Review Authority's first case, so Ilana Rosenzweig and her agency are under a lot of pressure to handle this appropriately--and quickly. Should...be....easy? Wilson's family and friends say he was "getting his life together" after a few stints in prison and was now a role model and mentor... more ›

Skidoo sounds like something we made up at 3 AM while at some party: Groucho Marx (in his last movie) plays a gangster named God, Jackie Gleason trips on acid while in jail, Carol Channing plays the most sane character in the whole thing, there's a musical number known as the Garbage Can Ballet, and every credit to the movie is sung. It's an actual movie from 1968 and it was directed by Otto... more ›

We now join another one of our irregular weekend crime & punishment updates, already in progress. more ›

"She-kaa-go's gat it." More than 20 people were arrested at O'Hare today for having fraudulent security badges. Investigators discovered a suburban staffing agency told its employees, many of them illegal immigrants, that they needed ID to work at O'Hare, but that it didn't need to be legit. Mayor Daley's "bothered" by police officers Tasering an 82-year-old woman. A 10-year-old boy has an extremely rare form of anemia and will die unless a bone-marrow donor... more ›

About 40 local Red Cross volunteers are in California helping evacuees. more ›

Following Sunday's 19-16 win in Philadephia, Bears QB Brian Griese seemed to think that because there is an "I" in win, he would take the credit and claimed to have called the plays that resulted in the game winning 97-yard touchdown drive at the end of Sunday's game. He had no choice, he said, because the radio communication in his helmet stopped working just before the drive began. When the season's going as poorly it... more ›

As several commenters pointed out, Second City Cop has been on the CTA identity theft case for a few days--and the story there is that a reverend who's on the CTA board attempted to keep the arrest quiet. The only reverend on the CTA's board of directors is Charles E Robinson. Our call to the Board's main office was not immediately returned. Jeanette Sliwinski's psychiatrist testified today that she "didn't see any psychotic symptoms"... more ›