Midwest
The values I lean on in the face Chicago's miserable murder numbers
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A New Year is upon us. It is a time of reflection for most of us. I often use this time to reflect on my deeds in the past year. What did I do that served the people in the right way? Were my intentions, however good they may be, the right ones? Or did they hurt? What can I do to improve myself and those around me? How can I continue to strengthen my relationship with my Lord?
But this time of reflection always comes with a slap to the face if you’re a Chicagoan and work to serve the people like I do: the release of the murder statistics for the past year. These tragic numbers make national news to our shame and remind us of our shortcomings as humans and neighbors. Every one of the murdered were not abstractions but individual souls worth saving and could have been saved. But we didn’t.
In this past year, until December 18, 564 Chicagoans lost their lives to murder. This is 43 fewer victims when compared with 2023 and it is significantly less than in 2021 when 797 lost their lives. There are those like Mayor Brandon Johnson who might try to sell this as progress, but how is going from 797 murders to 564 progress? Especially when most of it was self-inflicted?
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When I first began my work in Chicago in the early 2000s, the murder rate was tracking in the 600s. After me and others began serious outreach efforts to youths and gang members, we got the murder rates to track mostly in the 400s for a good run of several years.
Then we had the rise of Black Lives Matter in the 2010s and the years after the death of Michael Brown saw a tremendous rise in the murder rate. It jumped from 425 murders in 2014 to 778 murders by 2016 — largely to the police pulling back due to the anti-police sentiment of activists and politicians.
Then came the death of George Floyd and the Defund the Police movement. In 2019, before the world had even heard of Floyd’s name there were 498 murders. Then 772 in 2020, the year he died, and 779 in 2021. We lost hundreds of Black lives to the Defund the Police movement that was formed in the name of saving Black lives but, in reality, only put more power into the hands of self-serving politicians. The tragedy here is that not one politician or activist will face justice for their recklessness with Black lives.
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Previous Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot supported this movement. Current Mayor Johnson supported this movement. Both claim to know the interests and lives of Blacks and they claim to believe that Black lives matter. If that is true, then why did none of the Blacks, who lost their lives as the lawlessness increased during the George Floyd aftermath, matter?
Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks during a science initiative event at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. July 23, 2020. (REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski/File Photo)
It matters to me and so many people in my community on the South Side and also the West Side, where most of the 564 murders took place. It matters because so many of those murdered were young and in the prime of their lives. Ninety-one of the deceased were between the ages of 0 and 19. One hundred and seventy-seven were between the ages of 20 and 29. One hundred forty-five were between ages 30 and 39. Four hundred and twenty of them were Black and 110 were Latinos. Four hundred ninety-four were males. Five hundred and five of them died by gunfire.
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The one good thing about George Floyd was that it exposed the immorality of politicians and activists who exploit Black lives for cheap power. Though we were foolish enough as Chicagoans to elect the worst mayor of my life, Johnson, into office, there are many of us from community leaders to concerned citizens that realize it’s all-hands-on-the-deck time now.
We know that Black Lives Matter is a lie. We know that our politicians will not fix our failing schools — after all, what do you expect from a Mayor who refuses to return a $150,000 donation given to him by a rapper facing murder chargers? We know that the harm from Defund the Police movement still lingers. We know that our youth grow up believing more in the U.S. government than Jesus.
Aside from that, we are battling the disastrous effects caused by 60 years of liberalism. We are fighting the culture of dependency that has been ingrained into so many families generation after generation. We are fighting a culture of hopelessness.
We are fighting on so many fronts in this war, but we are making progress. We are saving lives. What we’re doing here is not magic. We use old-fashioned American principles: responsibility, accountability, merit, etc. We preach belief in Jesus and, if they are of another belief, we still encourage them. Most of all, we stress that one must have belief in themselves.
These are the values that I always return to every year after I hear the demoralizing final tally of murders for the past year. I say my prayer for all those victims’ families and I say a prayer for the strength that we will need for the coming New Year to continue our work to reverse the political, cultural, and educational negatives in our culture and bring that murder rate down to zero.
Call me a fool if you want, and if you do, answer me this: who deserves to lose their lives to senseless violence that is preventable?
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Tourists bemused as Louvre closes early due to heat
France’s heat closed the Louvre in Paris early on June 24, 2026.
Reuters
Get ready to sweat, Michigan.
The summer’s first big heatwave is expected to start on Monday, bringing a four-day stretch of potential 90-plus-degree temperatures to much of the state, across the Midwest and parts of the East Coast.
The National Weather Service is advising Michiganians to limit time outdoors and stay hydrated in the leadup to Independence Day.
The heatwave is projected to peak on Tuesday, the final day of June, when virtually the entirety of Lower Michigan and surrounding states will be considered at major risk of heat-related effects, according to NWS.
Anyone without access to cooling or hydration or who must engage in prolonged outdoor activity or strenuous labor will face a significantly elevated risk of heat-related illness, including heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
The NWS office in Marquette said above-normal humidity is expected to accompany the high temperatures, elevating the risk.
About 16 people a year die from heat and heat-related illnesses in Michigan, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Relief will be minimal, experts advised. Thunderstorms are unlikely during the heatwave, AccuWeather reported, and overnight lows are expected to drop only into the mid-70s, according to NWS.
‘Heat dome’ bringing near-record temperatures
AccuWeather attributes the warmup to a “heat dome,” which is a high-pressure system that traps hot air and prevents cooling. The weather system will bring above-normal temperatures throughout the central and eastern states. St. Louis could log eight straight days of at least 90 degrees.
Lower Michigan is expected to see this summer’s first consecutive 90-plus-degree days. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all currently expected to climb past that mark.
Currently, the hottest day on record this year in Detroit was May 18, when the mercury climbed to 90 degrees, according to NWS data.
High temperatures are likely to approach daily records during next week’s heatwave. Detroit’s record highs for June 29 through July 2 are 96, 96, 98 and 99, respectively. The weather service currently projects highs of 91, 97 and 95 for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A high for Thursday is not yet available.
On average, temperatures during this time of year top out around 81 or 82, NWS data shows.
The high temperatures approach the United States as Western Europe swelters under a record-setting heatwave that is expected to persist through the end of the week. On Wednesday, Britain and France both logged the hottest June days on record, Reuters reported.
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (WCCO News) – Vance Boelter, the man who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, is set to be sentenced on federal charges later this summer.
According to court documents, the sentencing date is set for July 23 at 10 a.m. at the Minneapolis federal courthouse.
Earlier this month, Boelter, 58, changed his plea to guilty on six counts against him in the June 14, 2025 lawmaker shootings as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors.
Under the terms of the plea deal, Boelter’s recommended sentence will be two consecutive life terms followed by 40 years. The judge approved the plea deal and ordered an expedited sentencing.
The U.S. Department of Justice said it would not seek the death penalty against Boelter, which, according to a letter from U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, was part of the proposed plea agreement.
In his guilty plea, Boelter admitted to fatally shooting the Hortmans, wounding state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and attempting to shoot their daughter, Hope. The shootings prompted a massive manhunt that lasted 43 hours.
Following the guilty plea, theHoffman family released a statementthat said, “there is no justice when our family and our state will never truly heal.”
Boelter also faces state charges, including two counts of first-degree premeditated murder, four counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count each of felony cruelty to an animal and impersonating an officer. A guilty verdict for one of the first-degree murder charges carries a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office confirmed its case against him will move forward.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
JACKSON COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) – Four years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Missouri became the first state to ban abortion, Planned Parenthood is once again offering abortions.
Medication abortions are returning, too, after a Jackson County Circuit Court ruling. However, the state’s legal battle continues with court cases and a new ballot measure.
The past four years
Four years ago, Missouri politicians used a 2019 trigger law to ban abortion within 20 minutes of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the limited federal abortion protections of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Abortion was put on the ballot in 2024 by an initiative petition that collected more than 380,000 signatures. Missouri became the first state to end an abortion ban by a vote of the people in 2024 and established the Right to Reproductive Freedom in the state constitution.
Another vote this year
This year will mark the second time Missourians vote on abortion. In November, Missourians will once again vote on abortion on the new Amendment Three. A “yes” vote is to ban abortions.
The new ballot measure has limited exceptions for rape, incest and medical emergencies, only if performed before the 12-week gestational period. It’s set to be on the statewide ballot for the November 2026 midterm election.
Bonnie Lee with 40 Days for Life said she hopes Missourians vote in favor of new restrictions in November.
“Missouri is waking up, and we will make a difference in November,” Lee said.
Missourians will see this question on their ballot:
“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:
Repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability;
Allow abortions for rape and incest (under twelve-weeks’ gestation), emergencies, and fetal anomalies;
Allow legislation regulating abortion;
Ensure parental consent for minors’ abortions;
Prohibit gender transition procedures for minors?”
A “yes” vote would essentially repeal the Amendment Three passed in November 2024. But this language may not be final. If lawyers appeal again, it can go to the Missouri Supreme Court.”
“I think voters are now seeing they didn’t know what they were voting on [in 2024]. There was a lot of misinformation, a lot of hidden information, a lot of legalese,” Lee said.
Maggie Olivia with Abortion Action Missouri said she wants the opposite outcome at the ballot box.
“I feel all the more invigorated having seen the consequences of abortion bans to do whatever it takes to stop this new abortion ban,” Olivia said.
Olivia called the new Amendment Three an overreach by Missouri politicians.
“There are some politicians in Jefferson City who don’t like the decision we just made in 2024, so they think they can muddy the waters, change the rules,” Olivia said.
Ongoing lawsuit
This month, a Jackson County Circuit Court judge issued a permanent injunction striking down several state abortion restrictions.
Planned Parenthood said the decision also clears the way for medication abortion to be available in Missouri for the first time since 2018 and allows Planned Parenthood to resume providing it.
“For too long, politicians forced patients to leave the state for an evidence-based and trusted form of abortion care. Now that care is coming home,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway criticized the ruling and said she plans to appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.
“This radical decision gives abortion providers a free pass to police themselves,” Hanaway said in a statement. “My office will expeditiously appeal this dangerous decision to the Missouri Supreme Court.”
Copyright 2026 KFVS. All rights reserved.
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