WGN Radio 720 - Chicago's Very Own

U.S. Attorney John Lausch: 'What we need to be focused on is keeping people safe'

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 01:58 PM PDT

John Lausch, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, joins John Williams to talk about federal efforts to combat violent crime in Chicago.

8 year-old paralyzed after Highland Park parade shooting now critical

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 11:50 AM PDT

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (WGN-TV) — The family of Cooper Roberts, the 8-year-old wounded in the Highland Park parade shooting, said the boy is now in critical condition.

Cooper was alert and talking last week but a spokesperson for the family issued a statement Tuesday that said Cooper has a partially collapsed lung a fever due to a new infection.  

Cooper underwent a "esophagram procedure" Monday that revealed a tear in his esophagus has reopened.

"As a result, he is facing an urgent, complex, and lengthy surgery" Tuesday to repair the tear, the statement said.

The surgery will be his seventh and is a "particularly high risk given his age and current condition," the statement said.  

A GoFundMe has been set up for the family.

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Leaked Uvalde video shows gunman entering classroom, law enforcement response

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 08:17 PM PDT

UVALDE, Texas (KXAN) — Leaked video to the Austin American-Statesman showed what law enforcement officials did and did not do while an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers in a Uvalde elementary school classroom in May.

Members of the Texas House committee investigating the May 24 massacre planned to release the footage to the public Sunday. DA Christina Mitchell Busbee previously instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety not to release the video, according to a letter DPS sent to the committee chair, Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock). Burrows announced in a tweet Monday he would release the video to the Uvalde community and families with or without her permission.

The full 77-minute leaked video was released by the Austin American-Statesman Tuesday.

After the video was published, Burrows wrote on social media — "The committee is aware a portion of the hallway video has been made public. While I am glad that a small portion is now available for the public, I do believe watching the entire segment of law enforcement's response, or lack thereof, is also important."

Earlier on Tuesday, Burrows had said the committee planned to share its preliminary report and the full video, without audio, to the Uvalde community before sharing it with the public. He wrote on Twitter after the leak that he was "disappointed" that the families could not see the video first.

The hour-plus video from that camera provides the clearest account to date of what happened in the moments leading up to the gunman's rampage, showing local and state law enforcements' delayed response up until they eventually entered the classroom and killed the gunman. The release of the video comes seven weeks after the massacre, amid public outrage and confusion over different agencies' accounts of what happened that day.

What the video shows

The start of the leaked video from the Austin American-Statesman shows the 18-year-old gunman crash a truck into a ditch outside of the school. Two people can be seen walking toward a ditch area off the side of the road, and start running away.

Four minutes later, the gunman — dressed in black and armed with the AR-15 he purchased legally a week prior — was seen walking down a school hallway.

Unobstructed, he continues to walk down the hallway before reaching, presumably, Room 111 or 112. Gunfire erupts as he walks toward the room.

Three minutes after the gunman unleashed rounds of ammunition, a group of officers from the Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde school district moved from two ends of the hall to approach the classrooms where the gunman is.

"Not the full story"

State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, has been calling for transparency and the release of records from May 24 for weeks. On Twitter, he called the footage "horrific" and the nature of how it was released "appalling."

Nexstar's KXAN interviewed Gutierrez before the full video was leaked. He had already seen the first couple of minutes of the video prior, but not the full video. During the interview, the senator said the release of the 77-minute video would be a "good beginning step, but it's not the full story."

"It's not going to give us the body cam audio, it's not gonna give us the information as to what law enforcement agencies were on site and where they were situated. It's not going to give us the 911 calls, it's not going to give us any indication as to who really if anybody was in charge," Gutierrez said.  

The Democratic senator is also suing the Texas Department of Public Safety for denying him several open records related to the shooting, in violation of state law.

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Tuesdays with Tom Skilling: How long will 'perfect weather' last?

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 05:10 PM PDT

WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling joins Lisa Dent on Chicago's Afternoon News to give this week's weather forecast. Tom also previews a big warmup on tap for next week.

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Dr. Jeffrey Kopin: Are boosters effective against new COVID variant?

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 01:22 PM PDT

Dr. Jeffrey Kopin, Chief Medical Officer for Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, joins John Williams to tell us everything we need to know about the new BA.5 variant. Are boosters effective against this new variant? Is the new variant making us more vulnerable to the flu or other illnesses?

[audio https://serve.castfire.com/s:northwestern_medicine_KEiLn/audio/3985006/3985006_2022-07-12-203006.128.mp3

What does it take to be wealthy in America?

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 05:26 PM PDT

Marcus Lu, senior consultant at Visual Capitalist, joins Lisa Dent on Chicago's Afternoon News to discuss a study done by Charles Schwab that surveyed the average net worth Americans to find out what would it take to actually be considered wealthy.

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MICRO Act aims to provide incentives for microchip manufacturers in Illinois

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 04:57 PM PDT

IL State Rep. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island) joins Lisa Dent on Chicago's Afternoon News to explain how the MICRO Act will help attract microchip manufacturers to set up operations in Illinois and fulfill the need for more domestic microchip production amid a worldwide shortage.

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The John Williams NewsClick: Have you noticed an uptick of COVID in your circle of friends?

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 04:05 PM PDT

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Author A.J. Jacobs: 'Puzzles bring people together'

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 02:53 PM PDT

Post Roe, states like Illinois bear 'brunt of this new burden'

Posted: 12 Jul 2022 02:35 PM PDT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Abortion-rights advocates on Tuesday called on Congress to take action following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Midwest advocates say Illinois, which is now one of the last states in the heartland to allow abortions, is facing a surge of out-of-state patients.

Dr. Colleen McNicholas, the Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri chief medical officer, said the future without the protections of Roe v. Wade is grim.

"People will suffer unnecessary harm," she said during Tuesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "Doctors must now contemplate how sick is sick enough before providing lifesaving abortion care. "

Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri Chief Medical Officer Dr. Colleen McNicholas speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing to examine a post-Roe America, focusing on the legal consequences of the Dobbs decision, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Before the historic Supreme Court ruling, McNicholas split her time between the last abortion clinic in Missouri and another just across the Mississippi River in Illinois.

"Almost overnight our Illinois clinic has seen appointments triple," she said.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said her state is now a safe haven for women traveling from across the Midwest. She warned that despite her state's best efforts, the lives of countless women, especially Black or low-income women, are in danger. 

"We are not just an oasis of reproductive care but an island," Stratton said. "It's hard to overestimate just how devastating the outcome of this ruling is."

Both women called on Congress to help women and doctors now living in states with restrictive abortion laws. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Democrats want to protect access by "entering a federal statuary right to an abortion."

Republicans are vowing to fight back. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., say it should be up to the states to decide their own abortion laws.

Grassley said they are "protecting the rights of the unborn."

"It gives to voters the decision as to what laws should be pertaining to life and pertaining to abortion," Hawley said.

In the meantime, Durbin's office said they're working with the White House to find ways to help states like Illinois.

"We are working with the administration to see what can be done to provide support to states bearing the brunt of this new burden," a spokesperson from the senator's office said in a statement.

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