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Chicago shootings: At least 71 shot, 11 fatally, in weekend gun violence across city, police say

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Chicago shootings: At least 71 shot, 11 fatally, in weekend gun violence across city, police say

CHICAGO (WLS) — Chicago shootings over the holiday weekend have left more than 71 shot, 11 fatally, police said.

The latest shootings attacked groups of teenagers.

Gunfire erupted in the West Garfield Park as three teens were standing on a front porch in the 3800-block of West Gladys Avenue when someone in a dark-colored car opened fire, police said.

A 17-year-old girl was rushed to the hospital in critical condition with a gunshot wound to the right eye. A 17-year-old girl was shot in the leg and buttocks and a 19-year-old man was shot in the arm and both were transported to hospitals in good condition.

Just a few hours earlier and less than two-miles away, police said a 14-year-old boy walking down the block in the 100-block of North Francisco Avenue when an unknown gunman opened fire on him. He was struck in the right arm and right leg and transported to a hospital in fair condition.

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On the South Side, 32-year old father of four Brian Ross, was gunned down along with another men during a large Father’s Day gathering at Smith Park in the Roseland community.

Relatives said he was not the intended target.

“They literally stopped where they were at, open fired on them, didn’t care about the kids being around or nothing. And, by the grace of God, no kids get hit,” Kandace Ross, the victim’s husband, said. “They didn’t care about nothing or nobody because there were kids out there. There were women out there, there were grandmas, anybody. They just came and just shot it up just so they can, I don’t know, brag about it.”

Police are looking into if social media played a role in the attack.

The shootings took place on the West Side, in Lincoln Park and on the South Side, where violence at a Father’s Day gathering in a park left two men dead.

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said on Monday that every loss of life is heartbreaking.

The weekend violence touched many other parts of the city. A shooting in Lincoln Park near the zoo left five people injured. On the West Side, two teens were shot, one of them killed near Garfield Park.

“Every time I read and hear about another life that is lost because of violence, my heart breaks,” Johnson said. “Fifteen-year-olds, 14-year-olds, you all know I’m raising children in Chicago. It hurts.”

There was another shooting on the CTA Red Line at a station in Chinatown. And, in River North, home security video showed a man being chased down and shot on Erie Street.

Johnson would not say if anything specific in the policing strategy needs to change to stem the violence, which he says is a problem he inherited.

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“We have a layered, multi-tiered approach. And so, yes, it requires some policing strategies that are more strategic and smart. But, everybody knows that if your only strategy is policing, that is the old way of doing things,” Johnson said.

Relatives of Brian said he was not the intended target, but police said they aren’t sure, and their investigation is ongoing.

Other holiday weekend shootings

Chicago police said one person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting and crash on the South Side Monday. Police said 4 males were driving in a car in the 3200-block of West 79th Street around 2:35 p.m. when people in another car that was driving in the opposite direction began shooting at them. The shooters’ car then fled the scene. The victims’ vehicle crashed into a semi-truck at the intersection of 79th and Columbus, police said. Police said a 20-year-old man was struck in the head by gunfire and pronounced dead at the scene. A 16-year-old boy was struck in the arm by gunfire and taken to University of Chicago Hospital in good condition. A 19-year-old man was struck in the leg by gunfire and taken to Holy Cross Hospital in good condition. A 21-year-old man was struck in the leg by gunfire and self-transported to Christ Hospital where he is in good condition. Police said four firearms were recovered from the scene. No one is currently in custody and an investigation is ongoing.

A man was shot to death Monday morning while driving in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. About 7:25 a.m., the man, 32, was driving in the 4400 block of West Gladys Avenue when he was shot multiple times throughout his body, Chicago police said. His vehicle then struck a parked car and he was transported to Stroger Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. The circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation.

Another man was shot and killed at the entrance of a fast food restaurant in West Pullman Sunday night, police said. Just after 11 p.m., the 32-year-old was fighting with another man in the vestibule of a fast food restaurant in the 11600 block of South Halsted Street when he opened fire, police said. The man was shot in the back and pronounced dead on the scene. No one is in custody and detectives are investigating.

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Over an hour earlier, a man was shot and killed on a sidewalk in Auburn Gresham. The 39-year-old was outside about 9:20 p.m. in the 8800 block of South Kerfoot Avenue when shots were fired, Chicago police said. He was shot in the chest and taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. No one was in custody. Area Two detectives are investigating.

Four men were shot, one fatally, in the Austin neighborhood early Sunday. Just before 3 a.m., five men were fighting inside a garage in the 5400-block of West Crystal Street when one of the men pulled out a gun and opened fire, according to Chicago police. One man, 31, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. Another man, whose age was unknown, was shot in the ankle and was taken to the same hospital, where he was listed in good condition, police said. The third man, 27, was struck in the leg and arm and drove to Stroger Hospital in fair condition, police said. A fourth man, whose age was unknown, also went to Stroger Hospital and was listed in critical condition with unknown injuries, police said. The gunman fled the scene, police said. No one was in custody.

A man was found shot to over an hour earlier in Woodlawn on the South Side. The man, 48, was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the 6600-block of South Evans Avenue around 1:30 a.m., Chicago police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. No arrests have been made.

Another man was fatally shot early Saturday in Auburn Gresham on the South Side. Police responded to a call of a person shot in the 1600 block of West 80th Street when they discovered a 58-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the chest shortly after midnight. Witnesses at the scene told police they heard shots fired and saw the man fall to the ground. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead, police said. No one was in custody.

Another man died after he was found Friday night lying on a sidewalk with a gunshot wound in Garfield Park. The 26-year-old was shot in the lower back at about 6:30 p.m. in the 3900-block of West Gladys Avenue, according to Chicago police. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. No one was in custody. No other information was available.

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In nonfatal shootings, two 15-year-old boys were shot and wounded Sunday night in West Pullman on the Far South Side. They were standing outside around 8:40 p.m. in the 12800-block of South Normal Avenue when someone fired shots, striking one boy in the groin and the other in the foot, Chicago police said. Both boys were taken to Roseland Hospital, where they were listed in fair condition, according to police. No arrests were reported.

Last weekend, at 31 people were shot, four fatally, in gun violence across Chicago, police said.

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The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.

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ICC issues arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

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ICC issues arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant “for crimes against humanity and war crimes”.

The move is a dramatic escalation of legal proceedings over Israel’s offensive in Gaza, and marks the first time that the court, which was set up in 2002, has issued a warrant for a western-backed leader.

It means that the ICC’s 124 member states — which include most European and Latin American countries and many in Africa and Asia — would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they entered their territory. But the court has no means of enforcing the warrants if they do not.

The warrants, however, will reinforce the sense that Israel has become increasingly isolated internationally over the conduct of its war against Hamas in the besieged Gaza strip.

Announcing the decision on Thursday, the court said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.

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It said there were reasonable grounds to believe the pair bear criminal responsibility “for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”, and had “intentionally and knowingly deprived” Gaza’s civilians of food, water, medical supplies, fuel and electricity.

The court said it had unanimously decided to reject Israel’s appeal against the ICC’s jurisdiction. Neither Israel nor its largest ally the US are members of the court.

The Israeli prime minister’s office branded the warrants “antisemitic” and said Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and charges against it”, calling the ICC “a biased and discriminatory political body”.

“No anti-Israel resolution will prevent the state of Israel from protecting its citizens,” it said. “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not give in to pressure, will not flinch and will not retreat until all the war goals set by Israel . . . are achieved.”

Palestinian officials welcomed the ICC’s announcement. Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, said the warrants were “not only a step towards accountability and justice in Palestine but also a step to restore the credibility of the rules-based international order”. Hamas called on the court to expand the warrants to other Israeli officials.

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Yoav Gallant at an observation post overseeing southern Lebanon last month © Ariel Hermoni/GPO/dpa
Mohammed Deif
The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, who Israel in August said it had killed © Israel Defense Forces

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for crimes against humanity and war crimes over the militant group’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. Israel said in August it had killed Deif in an air strike in Gaza a month earlier.

In the US, figures from both the Biden White House and incoming Republican administration condemned the warrants. The White House said it “fundamentally rejects” the ICC’s decision.

“We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision,” said the US National Security Council.

Mike Waltz, who will serve as national security adviser when Donald Trump’s administration takes office next year, said the ICC had “no credibility”. “You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January,” he wrote on X.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, called for fresh sanctions against the court. Trump’s previous administration imposed sanctions on top ICC officials, including then-prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, over its probe into allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan. The Biden administration later lifted them.

“The court is a dangerous joke. It is now time for the US Senate to act and sanction this irresponsible body,” Graham said.

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Republicans will control all three branches of government next year, raising the likelihood that the US will bring in new sanctions against the ICC.

However, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said the warrants were not political, and that the court’s decision should be respected and implemented.

The Dutch foreign minister, Caspar Veldkamp, said the Netherlands “will act on the arrest warrants”, but other European countries struck a more equivocal line.

A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “we respect the independence of the International Criminal Court” and added: “There is no moral equivalence between Israel, a democracy, and Hamas and Lebanese Hizbollah, which are terrorist organisations.”

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan originally sought the warrants in May for Netanyahu, Gallant, Deif and two other Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, both of whom Israel has since killed.

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The ICC’s move comes as Israel faces intense criticism over the toll of its offensive in Gaza.

The hostilities began when Hamas militants stormed into Israel in October 2023, rampaging through communities, killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and taking another 250 hostage.

In response, Israel launched a ferocious assault on Gaza, with Gallant announcing a “complete siege” of the strip. Israel’s offensive has killed almost 44,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, displaced 1.9mn of the enclave’s 2.3mn inhabitants and reduced most of it to rubble.

The UN and aid agencies have criticised Israel for restricting the delivery of aid, while warning of the threat of famine and disease.

The fighting has also triggered legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice, which deals with cases against countries.

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That court, the highest in the UN system, is hearing a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, which Israel has vehemently denied.

Additional reporting by Anna Gross

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This year's FAFSA is officially open. Early review says it's 'a piece of cake'

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This year's FAFSA is officially open. Early review says it's 'a piece of cake'

After weeks of testing the application, the U.S. Department of Education released this cycle’s FAFSA form on Thursday.

Seth Wenig/AP


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Seth Wenig/AP

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is now open to all students and families hoping to get help paying for college in the 2025-26 school year.

After weeks of testing the online form, the U.S. Department of Education released the official application at studentaid.gov on Thursday. The form may not look new, but it’s certainly improved compared to last year’s version.

“It’s a piece of cake, honestly,” says Christina Martinez, a financial aid advisor at California State University, Los Angeles. She has been helping students fill out the form during the testing period, and says, “It’s been going very smoothly.”

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That’s completely different from what students experienced during the last FAFSA cycle:

After a congressionally mandated overhaul intended to simplify the form, the FAFSA was significantly delayed and the rollout was plagued with problems. As a result, many students had to wait months longer than usual to learn what college would cost them and where they could afford to enroll, forcing many to delay their decisions. There’s concern some students decided to put off college altogether. A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that problems with the last FAFSA “contributed to about 9 percent fewer high school seniors and other first time applicants submitting a FAFSA, with the largest declines among lower-income students.”

MorraLee Keller, of the college access nonprofit National College Attainment Network (NCAN), says this year’s form looks almost identical to the one from last year, but the user experience is significantly improved.

“We really have to spread a very positive message that there’s been a lot of work put into this system for 2025-26 to make it a whole different experience than last year. So everyone needs to give the system a chance.”

What the Education Department is doing differently this time

Filling out the FAFSA is the only way college students can access financial aid from the federal government and be considered for grants, loans and some scholarships. Every year, more than 17 million students fill out the application.

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Typically, the form becomes available to all students on Oct. 1. But this year, that’s when the department began testing the form with a limited number of students and institutions. FAFSA Executive Advisor Jeremy Singer said in an August press release that the testing period was intended “to uncover and fix issues with the FAFSA form before the form is available to millions of students and their families.”

During the last FAFSA cycle, in addition to glitches in the form, students also struggled to reach FAFSA’s call center for help. According to the GAO, “nearly three quarters of all calls to the call center” went unanswered in the first five months of the rollout. This time around, the Department of Education has increased call center staffing – by nearly 80% since January – and plans to extend the center’s hours of operation.

“So far, the call center is doing very well,” U.S. Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal told NPR. “At the volume we’re at now, people are getting their calls answered very, very quickly.”

He warns there may be times when higher call volumes lead to wait times, but he’s confident it will be a smoother experience overall.

Beth Maglione, CEO and interim president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), says she has been keenly monitoring the department’s testing process, and is pleased with what she’s seen.

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“Federal leaders have sort of listened and taken to heart the lessons learned from last year’s troublesome rollout and have used those lessons to chart a more stable path forward.”

So far, a less painful process

Low-income students and students whose parent or spouse does not have a Social Security number (SSN) – which the GAO refers to as “mixed-status families” – suffered most from the previous FAFSA’s troubled rollout. One challenge for mixed-status families was a glitch that blocked anyone without an SSN from filling out the form.

Kvaal says, throughout the beta testing period, “We made a number of changes to make the process easier for parents and spouses who don’t have Social Security numbers. Those people are able to get through now, and that was not always possible six or eight months ago.”

At Cal State LA, where Christina Martinez works, the majority of students are low-income, and many come from mixed-status families. She says most of her students encountered problems with the form last year, but this year is a different story.

Martinez says the form has more instructive language that helps students avoid mistakes. On average, she says it’s taking students about 20 minutes to finish the form, although FAFSA’s website suggests allotting about an hour. (The website also includes a checklist for how to prepare for the application.)

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Keller, of NCAN, says while she’s thrilled about the improvements, she’s waiting to see how the new FAFSA system will respond to an increased volume of applications now that the form is officially out of beta testing and open to all families.

Keller has one piece of advice for students and families, which Martinez and Maglione echoed: Fill out your FAFSA as soon as possible.

“Let’s not wait. Jump in. Do your FAFSA as quickly as you can,” Keller says. “Hopefully students being able to start their FAFSA in mid-November is going to result in things like earlier award letters, more time to make decisions, better decisions.”

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Read the Verdict in the Civil Case Against Amber Guyger

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Read the Verdict in the Civil Case Against Amber Guyger

Case 3:18-cv-02862-M Document 256 Filed 11/20/24
Page 3 of 7 PageID 7099
3. Question 3: Compensatory Damages
What sum of money, if any, would compensate Plaintiffs for injuries they suffered as a result of
Defendant’s conduct?
Claims of Estate of Botham Jean
(a) Mental anguish experienced by Botham Jean
between the time he was shot and his death:
$
2,000,000
(b) Loss of net future earnings by Botham Jean:
$
5,500,000
(c) Loss of Botham Jean’s capacity to enjoy life:
2,750,000
Claims of Allison and Bertrum Jean
(a) The value of the loss of companionship and society
sustained from September 6, 2018, to today
to Allison Jean:
(b) The value of the loss of companionship and society
that, in reasonable probability, will be sustained from
today forward
to Allison Jean:
(c) The value of the mental anguish sustained from
September 6, 2018, to today
500,000
2,000,000
to Allison Jean:
(d) The value of the mental anguish that, in reasonable
probability, will be sustained from today forward
to Allison Jean:
3
$
6,000,000
5,700,000

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