A relatively peaceful Taste of Chicago was marred last night by violence and a power outage. Three teens were stabbed in two separate incidents as the Taste crowd let out for the night and there were reports of numerous fights. While the violence wasn't quite as bad as the shootout at the OK Corral that broke out two years ago, it was still an unwelcome interruption in what had been, to this point, a relatively peaceful Taste. more ›

• Roe Conn, of WLS 890 AM, will have a new partner starting April 12: Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper. The show will be called “The Roe Conn Show with Richard Roeper,” but Michael Damsky, president and general manager of WLS, told Robert Feder, “I anticipate that we’ll hear a lot of the shorthand ‘Roe and Roeper.’"
• Coming soon to all Chicago Police squad cars: tasers. Currently, there are 280 tasers in use by the CPD but only sergeants and field training officers are allowed to carry them; the expansion will add 380 more and every squad car assigned to a beat will receive one. CPD Supt. Jody Weis said, "It's a level of force that I want to authorize to use before the situation escalates. We want to use every other option before we use lethal force." Of course, as the Tribune points out, the announcement came shortly after a man died after being tasered by police in suburban Midlothian (though the official cause of death has not been determined).
• In happier news, Time Out Chicago has a great feature on Jeff Jenkins, lead local trainer of the Humane Society’s End Dogfighting campaign and the Pit Bull Training Team, and his battle to, well, end dogfighting.

• Cook County Regional Supt. Charles Flowers was arrested today on theft charges stemming from, among other things, alleged misuse of public money.
• James Lewis, the suspect in the 1982 Tylenol poisoning case, may want to distance himself from that novel of his.
• Life imitates The Hangover: A Kankakee police officer has been put on leave for an incident this week in which he allegedly tasered a junior high school student in an effort to show a few students how the taser worked.

One angry Joliet shopper took his frustrations too far this weekend. The shopper, Juan Varges, was asked to leave the Gonzales Supermarket at 652 Collins St. on Friday and returned later in the day brandishing a taser. Varges allegedly attacked the store's butcher but no injuries were reported. There was no report on whether or not the taser was discharged but Varges was charged with battery, criminal trespassing and unlawful use of a weapon. more ›

The man who died shortly after being tasered by Chicago Police on Saturday has been identified as 39-year-old Homer Taylor. The exact cause of death is still unknown pending autopsy results. Taylor had just been released from jail on October 10 after serving a two-year sentence on forgery and drug convictions. more ›

Reminiscent of an incident earlier this year, an unidentified man died after police used a Taser on him when he allegedly resisted arrest and lashed at them with "a sharp-edged object." A bike patrol on the West Side originally gave chase to the man when they witnessed him behaving "erratically" and drinking alcohol. Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond said the man appeared to also have swallowed an "unknown amount of narcotics," which, hello, probably doesn't help your heart when getting zapped with 50,000 volts. [Trib] more ›

Roberto Gonzales, 24, died last night after police Tasered him. An officer told the Trib that he was "Tasered on the West Side after resisting arrest, and becoming combative and violent while being taken into custody." Gonzales's autopsy is scheduled for today. [Trib] more ›