Midwest
Chicago train attack suspect ordered by judge to remain in custody ahead of trial
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The suspect who was federally charged after allegedly lighting a young woman on fire this week on a Chicago Blue Line train was ordered by a judge to remain detained ahead of his trial.
Lawrence Reed, 50, is charged with committing a terrorist attack or violence against a mass transportation system. Federal prosecutors said Reed intentionally used gasoline and a lighter to set the woman on fire at about 9:30 p.m. Monday.
“He is simply too dangerous for pre-trial release,” federal prosecutors wrote in a court filing obtained by Fox News ahead of Reed’s detention hearing on Friday.
“Defendant’s actions and criminal history, as shown below, demonstrate that he is a serious danger to everyone in the community,” the filing added. “The state court system has been unable to contain defendant’s violent crimes, and federal intervention is now needed.
“BLUE CITY SUSPECT WITH NUMEROUS PRIOR ARRESTS FEDERALLY CHARGED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SETTING WOMAN ABLAZE ON TRAIN
Lawrence Reed, 50, is charged with one count of committing a terrorist attack or other violence against a mass transportation system, the Northern District of Illinois U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement. (Chicago Police Department; U.S. District Court)
Judge Laura McNally ultimately ordered Reed detained pre-trial, citing his criminal history, the seriousness of the allegations, and the danger he poses to the community.
During Friday’s hearing, Reed — appearing in a jail jumpsuit and handcuffs — told the judge, “I’m going to represent myself.”
Lawrence Reed is pictured in a courtroom sketch of his detention hearing on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (L.D. Chukman)
Prosecutors described the alleged conduct as “horrific and depraved,” saying Victim A was simply “minding her own business” when Reed ignited her. As surveillance images were displayed in court, Reed shook his head, smirked and at one point winked toward apparent family members in the gallery.
CHICAGO PERSON OF INTEREST IN TRAIN FIRE ATTACK HAS 22 PRIOR ARRESTS, WAS FREED BY JUDGE: REPORT
Train footage shows Reed allegedly coming up behind the woman and pouring the liquid on her head and body. (U.S. District Court documents)
Federal prosecutors said Reed, according to Chicago Police Department records, has been arrested at least 72 times over the last 30 years.
“At least 15 of those arrests were since 2016, with the most recent occurring in August 2025. He has approximately 15 convictions, eight of which were for felony offenses including arson, criminal damage to government supported property valued over $500, drug trafficking, drug possession, and a felony traffic offense,” the filing said.
During Monday’s alleged attack, Reed “was facing charges in the Circuit Court of Cook County for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm after he allegedly struck a person about the head or face area with an open palm while at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Illinois,” according to the filing.
“Defendant presents a clear danger and persistent threat of terror to the community. Defendant has been leniently treated in state court, including receiving probationary sentences for violent offenses and pre-trial release for a victim-involved crime. In exchange for such lenient treatment, defendant has consistently re-offended and delved further into criminality,” it also said. “Just three months ago, defendant physically attacked someone at MacNeil Hospital, but a judge ordered him released from custody pending trial. Undeterred, defendant, on Monday, set Victim A on fire.”
Lawrence Reed was allegedly wearing the same clothing as the suspect seen on surveillance footage lighting a 26-year-old woman on fire when authorities confronted him one day later, according to federal prosecutors. (U.S. District Court)
When given the chance to speak on Friday, Reed said he agreed with the government’s request for detention, telling the judge repeatedly: “It’s for my safety. I don’t feel safe out there. . . . I don’t feel safe to society. . . . I’m a target from society.”
Judge McNally ordered him detained, citing his history, the strength of the evidence and community risk. She also ordered a mental evaluation after Reed told the court he had not taken his medication.
As the hearing concluded, Reed told the judge: “Just make sure I eat. . . . If you want to trial me, you have to feed me.”
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The judge did not state an explicit next court date during the hearing.
Fox News’ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
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MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Expect a sunny Saturday with heat expected to build up this weekend before an even hotter work week.
Saturday forecast
Local perspective:
Winds stay light out of the south with plenty of sunshine today.
There are hints of an extremely isolated thundershower, but the chance of that happening over any given area is extremely small.
Expect highs to peak in the upper 80s with dew points in the mid to upper 60s this afternoon.
Extended forecast
What’s next:
This forecast is hot.
Highs will peak in the 90s every day this upcoming week for the Twin Cities and a large portion of the area as well.
Dew points really don’t look to surge into the 70s but mainly stay in the lower to upper 60s depending on the day of the week.
Little to no precipitation forecast this upcoming week. Expect dry and sunny days.
The Source: This story uses information from the FOX 9 weather forecast.
Driving through the winding roads of Callaway County, often visible in the distance is a massive, 553-foot-tall concrete structure emitting what looks like white clouds.
“A lot of people think that’s smoke coming out of the top; it is not. That is water vapor,” said Travis Hart, manager of the Callaway nuclear power plant that produces 15% of Missouri’s electricity.
“The next structure that you see, this big rounded dome … that is the reactor building itself,” Hart said.
The single nuclear reactor near Fulton was built in the late 1970s and began generating electricity in 1984. Initially, the site was designed with two reactors in mind. But Hart said plans for a second unit came to a halt in the early ’80s due to decreasing electricity demand and rising costs.
Now, more than 40 years later, energy demand is growing due to increased manufacturing, adoption of electric vehicles and the development of AI data centers.
In a scramble for more power, tech companies and utilities are restarting formerly shuttered nuclear power plants, such as Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. In states like Missouri, politicians are eager to find ways to build new ones and expand existing plants like the one in Callaway County.
Debates about how to pay for the multibillion dollar projects resurfaced in the Missouri legislature this spring. While cost is the first hurdle to creating a new fleet of nuclear power plants in America, the actual construction of the facilities is the second.
Early this year, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe signed an executive order that creates the Advanced Nuclear Energy Task Force to “evaluate and guide” the state’s “strategic approach to nuclear energy development.”
Lost skills
The majority of the nuclear power plants in America were built between the 1960s and 1980s. Construction slowed in response to energy demand leveling out, increased safety regulations and public perception of nuclear power souring after the Three Mile Island accident.
Speaking at the University of Missouri in May, Director-General of the federal Nuclear Energy Agency William Magwood said building nuclear power plants is a skill, and America has gotten rusty.
“We used to be really good at building plants back in the ’60s and ’70s. How do we reconstruct that? That’s going to be a real challenge,” Magwood said.
The only new nuclear power facilities built in America in recent decades are the third and fourth reactors at the Vogtle electric plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. While the reactors came online in 2023 and 2024 and produce more than 1,000 megawatts of power each, the project was billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
Magwood said a lot of what boggled the Vogtle construction was the lack of institutional knowledge about building nuclear power plants.
“We just didn’t know what we were doing,” he said. “We hadn’t built a nuclear plant in a generation. We didn’t have people who knew how to do it. We didn’t have the infrastructure. We didn’t have the supply chain. The regulator didn’t know what the hell they were doing. I was there, so I know.”
In South Carolina, efforts to construct a new nuclear power plant were abandoned after billions were spent and the company behind the project went bankrupt.
Kurt Schaefer is tasked with ensuring Missouri can avoid similar blunders.
The longtime politician and public servant has been dubbed “the leader of Missouri’s nuclear power renaissance” by UM System President Mun Choi, who has been enthusiastic about advancing nuclear power by hosting national energy leaders on campus in recent years.
In May, Kehoe appointed Schaefer as head of the state’s new nuclear power task force, a group of representatives from utility companies, higher education institutions, politicians, state utility regulators and trades workers all charged with finding a way to make new nuclear power a reality.
Schaefer said the first step to establishing more nuclear power in the state is finding the cash.
“It’s all about money,” he said. “It is expensive up front to build a plant and unless the federal government steps up, I just don’t see it happening.”
In June, the federal Department of Energy announced $17.5 billion in loans for utilities and energy companies to build 10 large-scale commercial nuclear reactors.
Schaefer wants one of those reactors to be in Missouri, ideally near the existing nuclear plant in Callaway County.
“We are really behind the eight ball here in the United States on nuclear power, but you’re seeing a big effort, particularly from the federal government, to move us in that direction,” he said.
As electricity demand continues to climb, Schaefer believes nuclear power is the best way for Missouri to meet that demand. The zero-carbon plants can generate energy around the clock, unlike solar and wind power that need the right conditions to produce power.
Plus, given the longevity of nuclear power facilities, Schafer sees them as a good investment. To him, a robust power supply means a booming economy.
“This is our future, this is what we have to do to keep Missouri economically viable and that’s what we’re gonna do,” Schaefer said.
Who goes first?
The ballooning costs of nuclear power plants isn’t a new issue.
“Any project that big takes years to complete and things may change in the meantime,” said Victor McFarland, University of Missouri energy historian. “The costs of your supplies might go up, the cost of labor might go up.”
Decades ago, when many of America’s atomic energy centers were built, inflation was high and budgets stretched beyond initial figures.
“So the original estimates for the construction of these plants that were true, say, in 1970, they weren’t true anymore in 1975 or 1980,” McFarland said. “There were big cost overruns.”
Now, as the world turns away from fossil fuels, Magwood said nuclear capacity needs to triple to meet the net zero by 2050 goals. Currently, the nuclear power industry does not benefit from economies of scale. Because new nuclear projects are rare, costs are high and supply chains aren’t fully developed, adding to the overall risk of the endeavor.
“One of the big problems is nobody wants to be first … everybody wants to go fourth,” Magwood said. “Believe it or not, that doesn’t work very well. Somebody has to bite the bullet. Somebody has to take the risk. And what I think the industry would really like would be if the government somehow put a safety net under the first projects.”
Ameren Missouri has been clear about its goals to develop additional nuclear power. The company is planning to add 1,500 megawatts of atomic energy to its portfolio by 2045.
Callaway nuclear plant manager Travis Hart is an electrician by trade and first set foot at the facility 25 years ago when he was hired to work on the refueling crew. He said that’s when he fell in love with the place.
“When I walked in here and saw the equipment, how it fits together, how it works, how the design was, it was just extremely interesting to me,” Hart said.
There are a number of reasons the Callaway site is suited for expansion, Hart said. The location has access to the power grid, water from the nearby Missouri River, and a largely supportive local community that fills the plant’s roughly 750 permanent jobs while the company pays $9.8 million in annual property taxes to Callaway County.
The Callaway Energy Center’s current operating license extends through 2044, and Hart is confident the company will receive approval to operate beyond that date.
“I tell my people here all the time, … ‘this is important, so we got to get it right, and we got to do a good job of it, and it’s okay to be proud of it, because it makes a difference,’” Hart said.
In the coming years, the state’s new nuclear power task force will assess Missouri’s readiness to provide the workforce, policies and supply chain needed to create the “nuclear power renaissance.”
This story was originally published by KBIA and shared through the Missouri News Network.
A pair of Nebraska basketball players were honored by the Big Ten Conference on Thursday. Rienk Mast and Callin Hake were chosen as Nebraska’s Outstanding Sportsmanship winners.
The Big Ten honored 36 players with the Outstanding Sportsmanship Award for the 2025-26 year. One member of each varsity sports team is nominated, and two winners are selected from each institution.
Mast averaged 13.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game in 2025-26 and helped Nebraska to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. He is working out with the Indiana Pacers during the NBA Summer League.
Hake averaged 7.2 points, 3.6 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while drawing a single-season school-record 33 charges. She is also the first Husker to be a two-time Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winner across all sports after earning her first award in 2024-25.
Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes and opinions.
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