Investigations

Over the past two weeks, NBC 5 Investigates reached out to more than 100 election officials across Illinois, southern Wisconsin and parts of northwest Indiana to ask local election officials about the upcoming election, their preparedness and their concerns.

When John heard the news on a recent Friday, it hit him hard: Elliott Nott, a former Chicago public schoolteacher and John’s former colleague, had been arrested and charged with three counts of child exploitation, after allegedly exposing himself to three girls – ages 10, 9, and 7.

After two years and half a billion dollars spent, the city of Chicago’s migrant shelter system will close as we know it.

Chicago police arrested a 49-year-old man on Wednesday on charges that he exposed himself to three girls, aged 7, 9, and 10, on two separate days in late September.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters this week that “everything is on table,” including the potential layoff of city workers, which Johnson said he hopes to avoid, as the city grapples with how to address a nearly billion-dollar budget shortfall.

Facing a nearly $1 billion budget deficit, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson side-stepped questions Thursday about a $100 million pay increase for Kansas-based company – Favorite Healthcare Staffing – which has staffed the city’s migrant shelters.

A day after Mayor Brandon Johnson indicated he would veto a council effort aimed at keeping ShotSpotter – the controversial gunshot detection technology – the device’s parent company, SoundThinking, said it would begin the process of removing some 2,000 sensors from across Chicago beginning on Monday.

In the hours after a young boy was seriously hurt and airlifted after being thrown from an amusement ride at a summer festival last year, state inspectors almost immediately identified problems with the ride, according to reports obtained by NBC 5 Investigates.

The mother of the suspected shooter charged with killing four passengers Monday aboard a CTA Blue Line train said she believes her son suffered a mental breakdown.

New details emerge about suspect and shooting on CTA train that killed 4 people

As far back as January, a D.C. lobbyist for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson estimated the city would need as much $76 million to help pay for Chicago Police overtime, salaries and equipment to provide security for the Democrat National Convention, according to emails obtained by NBC 5 Investigates.

Many protesters cited or arrested so far during the DNC in Chicago are facing misdemeanor charges, but what unfolded Tuesday night prompted a different tone from demonstrators and officers, whose behavior CPD Supt. Snelling previously praised. NBC 5 Investigates’ Bennett Haeberle reports.

Additional security fencing, locks and cameras were added to the perimeter fencing outside the Democratic National Convention after a group of demonstrators removed a section of fence late Monday afternoon and breached a section of the northern security perimeter just two blocks north of the United Center.