ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. â Illinois officially placed the James R. Thompson Center that houses state government offices in downtown Chicago up for sale, state officials said Monday.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Central Management Services took a step that has been in the works for years. Illinois officials have argued the 17-story building designed by celebrated architect Helmut Jahn is a drain on state finances because it s inefficient to operate and in need of hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs. Selling the property provides a unique opportunity to maximize taxpayer savings, create thousands of union jobs, generate millions of dollars in real estate taxes to benefit the City of Chicago and spur economic development, Pritzker said in a news release.
Stefanie Sanders
A Tuscola, Illinois, woman faces charges following an investigation into a March 1 fire that killed the woman s infant daughter and boyfriend.
Stefanie L. Sanders, 26, was arrested Monday in Charleston, Illinois, by Illinois State Police on a warrant obtained by the Edgar County State s Attorney s Office.
State police said Sanders was arrested on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, one count of aggravated arson and one count of residential arson,
Edgar County Coroner Scott Barrett ruled the deaths to be homicides.
An autopsy conducted at Terre Haute Regional Hospital on March 2 by forensic pathologist Dr. Dele Adeagbo revealed that the cause of death for 35-year-old Michael J. Phipps was a combination of thermal exposure, carbon monoxide inhalation, and smoke inhalation.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AURORA, Ill. â A suburban Chicago man and a juvenile have been charged in connection with a violent carjacking that left a mother of two paralyzed, Aurora authorities announced Thursday.
Kimberly Weibring was eating in her car parked outside a fast-food restaurant on Jan. 16 when at least two people attempted to carjack her SUV. The pair pulled Weibring out of her vehicle, shot her in the back and drove away in her vehicle. She was left lying in the parking lot with a shattered vertebra and a bullet lodged in her spinal cord, officials said.
âThis mother, who was minding her own business inside her car, represents all of us who move through the world each day without harming anyone and in a momentâs notice became a victim of a violent crime,â Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman.