Alton L. Hayes III, 18, faces hate crime charges after he told police he beat up a white man because he was upset about the Trayvon Martin case. more ›

When filmmaker Usama Alshaibi moved to Fairfield, Iowa after 16 years in Chicago, he was still at work on American Arab, a film about racism and identity in America after 9/11. Proving his mother prescient in suggesting that maybe he should change his first name and becoming a living testament to the racial prejudices still aflame in his adopted homeland was surely not how he wanted to go about it. Iowa police are treating seriously filmmaker Alshaibi's allegation that the beating he received after wandering into a party early Sunday was a hate crime. According to his statement: more ›

24-year-old Polish immigrant Mariusz Wdziekonski of Norridge was sentenced to seven years in prison for spray-painting swastikas, ethnic slurs and Nazi slogans on 70 grave markers in Westlawn Cemetery in unincorporated Norridge Park Township. more ›

On the afternoon of May 9, 2008, John Conroy - former writer for the Chicago Reader - was the victim of an unprovoked attack on the West Side while riding his bike. He's now captured the incident, his experience, and an unflinching look at youth, violence, and race in a stunning piece of work for Chicago Magazine. Check it out here. [via WindyCitizen] more ›

Prosecutors are still trying to decide if three boys will face charges in last month's burning of 9-year-old Joshua Judkins. The boys, ages 15, 14, and 13, claimed it was a prank gone wrong, but Judkins' parents thought otherwise, calling for hate crime charges. Last week, an announcement was made no charges would be filed, but Lake County juvenile prosecutors spokeswoman Diane Poulton told WBBM AM that the announcement was a "miscommunication." The original police report considered the burning a felony, criminal recklessness causing serious bodily injury. Authorities are awaiting the results of a separate FBI investigation before moving forward with any charges. more ›

Three Lewis University students - Matthew McCormack, 21, and Daniel Rusch, 19, both of Schaumburg, and Michael Lisman, 20, of Kansas City - have been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct stemming from an incident last week in which the three were allegedly yelling racial slurs, making threats, and according to witnesses, lowered a noose out of a dorm window. The school issued a statement on the April 16th incident, saying: more ›

Yesterday, we shared reader photos of Friday's pro-Palestine rally downtown. Today, we have some photos to share from the pro-Israel rally held earlier Friday at the Federal Plaza, organized by the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago. One reader said of the pro-Israel rally:

The message of the rally, I thought, was that Israel was out of options and they couldn't just let rockets rain down on their citizens. They're doing everything they can to preserve life while Hamas is doing everything they can to destroy it ... Foreign Minister Livini and all the speakers also made a point of saying that their enemy is not the Palestinian people, but Hamas and that all they want is an end to the rocket fire.

Two men were charged with a hate crime after they beat a black man with garbage cans outside a Joliet gas station on Saturday night. Lucas M. Bailey and Jerry Bryant, both white, "are charged with aggravated battery, mob action, committing a hate crime and resisting a police officer." When police intervened in the beating, the pair swung the garbage cans at the responding officer. Real smart, guys. The victim sustained lacerations and bruises to the head, though his injuries were not life-threatening. To absolutely no one's surprise, both suspects have criminal records. more ›

Temple Sholom, a North Side synagogue (3480 N. Lake Shore Dr.), was hit early this morning with a Molotov cocktail and has investigators considering the incident as both arson and a hate crime. Police were notified of the incident around 2 a.m. and found the small fire on the wall of the temple in a fenced-in playground area. No injuries were reported and damage from the fire was minimal. more ›

Safia Jilani, 19, pleaded not guilty today to a disorderly conduct charge stemming from her allegedly false claim of an attack at Elmhurst College. Her attorney, Terry Ekl, said she, "is in treatment and I hope the public wouldn't judge her until all the facts are known." Jilani claimed that she had been attacked by a masked gunman on October 9 and made claims of anti-Muslim graffiti. Since the revelation that the attack was faked, she has been expelled from Elmhurst and is currently residing at her family's home while she awaits her December 22 court date, free on $10,000 bond. more ›

The Independent Police Review Authority is looking into accusations of police misconduct, including the pepper-spraying of children, against Obama supporters celebrating his election on Tuesday night. The incident has led to a federal lawsuit filed by the family, asking for.more than $150,000 in damages. According to the WBBM:

Christina Ballard and Cornelius Voss were driving their young niece home Tuesday night following Obama’s win when three unmarked police cars began driving alongside them, according to family attorney Gregory Kulis. more ›

Safia Z. Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook has been arrested for filing a false police report stemming from her claim last week that she was attacked by a masked gunman. Elmhurst Police Chief Steve Neubauer said, "The totality of all the evidence, and interviews with staff and students at the college ... concluded that this incident never happened." Some of our commenters brought up this possibility last week. We guess they owe us a "told-ya-so." more ›

"[The attacker] said, 'Now who is going to protect you?' " the victim's father said. " 'And she said that, 'God will protect me ... You can kill me, but you cannot take my soul.' She fought for her life, and that's how God saved her."

more ›

Felipe Rivera of Cicero has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, sexual assault, aggravated battery and a hate crime for allegedly beating, raping and sodomizing a man. Rivera and the victim met at a party on 1200 block of South 50th Avenue, and Rivera thought the victim winked at him. more ›

Three women are suing an off-duty police officer who they claim physically assaulted them and called them, as the Sun Times so eloquently puts it "d---- and b------." Covering an alleged hate crime, no biggie; printing the word "bitch," totally taboo. Harvey police officers neglected to do any police work. They had DNA evidence against a sex offender, but they "never sought charges against the man, who later raped a woman in Chicago." Hey, is... more ›

Before we turn the controls to this lean, mean rocket over to the Tims this weekend, here are some other items in the news. A new law aimed at helping teenagers become better drivers allows their parents to review their driving records online. Two 911 operators who royally screwed up a call for police help during a July brawl at Durkin Park on the Southwest Side have been suspended without pay. A new program... more ›

LL Cool McHottie Hot is going to be here for a book signing next week. An unnamed advocacy group is trying to get the word out among Latinos to vote. The Cubs signed Cotts. That "Gay House" shooting was not a hate crime. Some lady got hurt at "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and is suing (gotta get that Oprah money!).... more ›

Book burning, gay bashing, kicking a homeless woman out of a library for freeloading public resources? It sounds like the Holy Trinity of turn-ons in one of Rush Limbaugh's wet dreams, minus maybe a pharmacist handing out endless prescriptions to Oxycontin. But it turns out a fire at the John M. Merlo branch of the Chicago Public Library on 644 W. Belmont back in June was a little more pedestrian. Erica Graham, a 21-year-old homeless... more ›

Well, well, well, it turns out the book burning wasn’t a hate crime after all. Turns out the fire was set by a 21 year old homeless woman; not a butthead at all, but most likely a troubled woman who did something ridiculously stupid. We wanted to wait, to ask the right questions, to hold off on our judgments until we knew the answer. We wanted to refrain from jumping on the “hate crime” bandwagon... more ›

Okay, so remember the book burning from last week? The buttheads who burned some 70 Gay and Lesbian books (and 23 from the African American section) in the Merlo Library? About thirty people showed up at the library last night, to protest the lackadaisical attitude of the police and the press regarding the crime. And honestly? We’re torn. There are a couple of issues here. The fire was set with no accelerants, they left no... more ›

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, WHOA. Here we were, all ready to post something fascinating on a subject that had to do with loving books; then we hear some butthead(s) burned some books in the Gay and Lesbian section of the Merlo Library on Belmont. No one’s using the words “hate crime”, but they are using the word “arson”. And really? We’re still reeling from Leslie Pinney’s book banning proposal in Arlington Heights. We’re finding it... more ›