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'It's been hell': Northwest Indiana family remembers positive spirit of daughter killed in tailgating crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

CHICAGO — A Northwest Indiana family is devastated after losing their 19-year-old daughter in a Fourth of July crash due to a driver tailgating and a subsequent head-on collision.Jake Norris was getting ready to celebrate the Fourth when he got a call from one of his daughter's friends. His older daughter, Grace Norris, 19, of Demotte, was with her sister Emma, 13, on the way to pick up one of Emma's friends. He frantically began calling them."My girls always answer," Norris told WGN News. "I called both about four or five times then I checked Life360. They hadn't moved in 50 minutes."Life360 is an app that lets families track locations of loved ones.Norris jumped in his car and headed to the scene in the 7000 block of East 117th Avenue in Winfield. "Pulled up on the scene and saw all the lights," Norris said. "I saw the coroner's van and I knew it wasn't going to be good."Grace and JakeAuthorities believe a 44-year-old Crown Point woman was tailgating a Jeep when she attempted to p...

CPD officers under investigation for sexual relationship with migrants living at station

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department is reportedly investigating allegations against officers who engaged in sexual relations with migrants living at a West Side patrol district.According to a spokesman with the Chicago Police Department, an internal investigation was launched on Thursday into allegations that "officer or officers" engaged in sexual relationships with migrants who were living in a police station on the city's West Side.The "officer or officers" involved were assigned to the Ogden District, that covers Chicago's Little Village and Lawndale neighborhoods.Chicago Sun-Times reported that police are investigating whether cops had the sexual relations with the new immigrants, including a teenage girl who is pregnant. Glen Ellyn woman faces 132 counts of animal cruelty charges Since their arrival to the city, the Chicago Police Department has housed many migrants at stations across the city, along with several city-owned buildings as temporary housing.Some of the sexu...

Suburban man who drowned trying to help children had survived 9/11 attacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

WINNETKA, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man who drowned in Lake Michigan while trying to help children struggling in the lake was a survivor of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, his family said.Witnesses said Luke Laidley, 43, was boating Tuesday with others on the lakefront north of Chicago when he jumped into the lake to help at least one child who had fallen off a raft being pulled by the boat.The Winnetka man went underwater before being pulled from the lake by others on the boat. Laidley died later Tuesday at an Evanston hospital and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that his manner of death was drowning, said Natalia Derevyanny, an office spokeswoman. ‘It’s been hell’: Northwest Indiana family remembers positive spirit of daughter killed in tailgating crash An obituary prepared by his family states that Laidley “risked his life for the children who were struggling when their tube flipped on Lake Michigan.”The obituary adds t...

Hammond to consider closing gas stations overnight to curb crime

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

HAMMOND, Ind. — The City of Hammond Common Council will consider an ordinance that would close gas stations overnight in an effort to combat violent crime. Backed by Hammond Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr., the ordinance would mandate the closure of any gas station in city limits between midnight and 5 a.m. City officials referenced violent crimes — carjackings, robberies, batteries, shootings and homicide — that occurred late at night and in the early morning at gas stations.MORE NORTHWEST INDIANA NEWS: 17-year-old charged after ‘despicable vandalism’ found on Chesterton sign“We have seen over the last several years violent criminal acts, often involving firearms, occurring at gas stations late and night and in the early morning hours. My job as mayor is to ensure the public’s safety and this ordinance removes a place where, unfortunately, violent incidents continue to take place. I can’t sit back and see innocent people become victims of violent crime. I fully support the Cou...

Delta Air Lines launching two new nonstops from Austin in October

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for July 7, 2023AUSTIN (KXAN) — Delta Air Lines is adding two new nonstop flights from Austin to its schedule later this year.Beginning Oct. 9, the airline will fly direct from Austin-Bergstrom International to both Las Vegas and Orlando. Tickets for both new year-round routes go on sale on July 8. FULL LIST: All the new nonstop flights from AUS this year Daily flights to Harry Reid International in Las Vegas will leave AUS at 3 p.m. and land at 3:59 p.m. local time. Return flights leave Las Vegas at 4:59 p.m. and arrive in Austin at 9:41 p.m.Meanwhile, flights to Orlando International leave AUS at 7:20 a.m. and land at 10:57 a.m. Return flights leave Orlando a 12 p.m. and arrive in Austin at 2:03 p.m."These additions are reflective of our desire to continue monitoring demand trends and shaping our schedule to fit where our customers want to fly most," a Delta spokesperson told KXAN.While new for the airline, nei...

Texas begins installing buoy barrier to deter migrants on Rio Grande River

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Trucks hauling rows of large, orange-colored buoys arrived Friday at the U.S.-Mexico border, where the state of Texas is set to string them along a section of the Rio Grande River as a tactic to deter migrants from crossing illegally into the country. The Texas Department of Public Safety shared pictures on social media of the new buoy barrier, which showed equipment lifting some parts of it off a flatbed truck. The law enforcement agency noted in its tweet, "The buoys have arrived and the installation of the marine barrier on the Rio Grande begins today."The Texas Department of Public Safety shared photos on July 7, 2023 of the buoy barrier that will be installed along the Rio Grande River. (Photo Courtesy: Texas Department of Public Safety)The Texas Department of Public Safety shared photos on July 7, 2023 of the buoy barrier that will be installed along the Rio Grande River. (Photo Courtesy: Texas Department of Public Safety)The Texas Department of Public Safety s...

Rain chances dry up ahead of another heat wave

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Our chances for spotty showers continue to dwindle as very isolated showers continue to dry up. Still, it was another day below 100º, which we have to be grateful for.Tonight will be partly cloudy with widespread low clouds heading in to start our Saturday morning.Those clouds lift by mid-morning to reveal a mostly sunny sky that will push temperatures into the upper 90s tomorrow. We'll probably escape ONE MORE DAY without 100º heat on Saturday, before triple digits return Sunday.Rain chances on Saturday are less than 10%, with the best chance for a stray shower being in our eastern counties.The infamous "heat dome" currently sitting to our west will nudge a bit closer to the state this weekend into next week. This change in pattern will shut down our rain chances and allow temperatures to return to the low 100s.High pressure shuts down rain chances this weekend into next weekThat high will then shift it's center westward, but also strengthen at the same time. This ...

TDCJ moving to digital mail to try to reduce contraband entering jails

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

(KXAN) -- The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or TDCJ, will soon transition to a digital mail platform. The department said in an announcement Friday the goal of the transition is to reduce the number of contraband items coming into facilities throughout the state. Texas inmates ‘being cooked alive’ in heatwave with no air conditioning TDCJ will roll the program out in phases starting on July 17, according to the announcement. It will first launch at Polunsky, Coffield, Powledge, Plane, Garza West, Allred, Clements, Halbert, Robertson, and East Texas ISF units, with remaining sites to follow in the coming weeks.Mail sent to inmates at these units will need to be sent to the digital mail processing center where it will be sorted, scanned, and uploaded to the inmate's secure tablet, TDCJ said. The messages and photos will be scanned in color and can be saved to the tablets permanently. TDCJ correctional officers burning out in Texas heat All U.S. mail being sent to inmates...

Remains of 2nd missing woman found, also in storage unit; man charged in previous murder is person of interest

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

The remains of a missing woman have been found and a man charged with murder last week in the case of another missing woman is a person of interest, police said Friday.When Joseph Jorgenson was charged last week in the death of Manijeh “Mani” Starren, St. Paul police announced they’d received information about another missing woman who’d been connected to Jorgenson.Joseph Steven Jorgenson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)Fanta Xayavong, 33, had last been seen with Jorgenson in July 2021, possibly in Shoreview, police said last week. She hadn’t been reported missing, so police recently started a missing person investigation.The investigation into Xayavong’s disappearance led investigators this week to a storage unit in Coon Rapids, where they served a search warrant and found human remains. They were confirmed Friday to be Xayavong, of Lakeville, and police are investigating her death as a homicide.Starren also died by homicide and h...

Listen to a pair of new, previously unheard Prince songs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:29:50 GMT

The first previously unreleased Prince songs in two years hit streaming services today.Prince’s estate and NPG Records released “All A Share Together Now” and “7 (E Flat Version)” to digital service providers worldwide, although oddly enough not to Tidal, the streamer Prince personally endorsed. “All A Share Together Now” is a jazzy blues number that was recorded on Sept. 4, 2006. Here’s the audio track on YouTube:“7 (E Flat Version)” is a radically different take on Prince’s 1992 hit “7,” which reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. Here’s the new version on YouTube:It’s worth noting that 16 years ago today — July 7, 2007 — Prince famously played a trio of Minneapolis shows at Macy’s, Target Center and First Avenue.The two recordings were previewed last month at Paisley Park’s Celebration 2023, where attendees were given the tracks on a cassette-shaped USB.Prince was notorious for his vault filled with unheard music and t...