Timothy M. Phelps –

President Obama is commuting the sentences of 95 people and pardoning two others.

President Obama commutes sentences of 95 inmates, pardons 2

June 25, 2019 at 1:27 a.m.

President Obama on Friday commuted the sentences of 95 prisoners, including many who were expecting to spend the rest of their lives behind bars. Obama has now commuted 184 sentences,...

Emanuel: Chicago needs Justice Department help with Police Department

March 28, 2019 at 10:37 p.m.

The U.S. Justice Department announced a civil rights investigation Monday into the use of deadly force by Chicago cops, prompting Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make what just days ago would...

Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was ousted from his post Dec. 1, 2015, after uproar over the video showing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald being shot by police.

Feds to conduct civil rights probe of Chicago police

March 30, 2019 at 5:07 a.m.

The U.S. Department of Justice will open a wide-ranging civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department after the release of video of a patrolman's fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald...

Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard released from U.S. prison after 30 years

June 21, 2019 at 8:48 a.m.

Jonathan Pollard, whose spying for Israel led to a serious rift between the Israeli and U.S. governments and between U.S. and Israeli Jews, was released from prison Friday after serving...

The prisoners will be released from federal custody on Friday and Monday as a result of a U.S. Sentencing Commission decision last year to cut sentences of drug offenders by an average of two years.

6,000 drug offenders to be released from federal prison starting Friday

June 23, 2019 at 2:57 p.m.

About 6,000 drug offenders will be released from federal custody over the next few days, but some legal experts warn that the government has done too little to help many...

House Speaker Dennis Hastert speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 18, 2005.

Hastert indictment casts spotlight on days as teacher, claims of sex abuse

March 27, 2019 at 9:05 p.m.

Indicted former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert was paying off a man to conceal sexual abuse from decades earlier, when Hastert taught and coached at a high school in Chicago's...

U.S. won’t stop Native Americans from growing, selling pot on their lands

June 21, 2019 at 9:57 a.m.

Opening the door for what could be a lucrative and controversial new industry on some Native American reservations, the Justice Department on Thursday will tell U.S. attorneys to not prevent...

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder speaks to reporters at a press conference on December 4, 2014 oin Cleveland, Ohio.

Attorney General to announce broader profiling ban

June 22, 2019 at 8:55 p.m.

The Justice Department on Monday will unveil its new policy expanding a ban on federal law enforcement officers' use of profiling in investigations. The revised guidelines will broaden a 2003...

Holder distances federal probe from local investigation in Ferguson

May 17, 2019 at 10:57 a.m.

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., in a statement released late Monday, appeared to try to distance the ongoing federal investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., shooting death of Michael Brown...

Deputy Attorney General James Cole speaks during a news conference on human smuggling along the southwest border July 22, 2014 in Washington, DC.

Ex-Glencoe man stepping down as No. 2 at Justice Department

June 18, 2018 at 7:51 a.m.

Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole, who grew up in Chicago's North Shore, said in an interview Thursday that, like his boss, he will soon leave the Justice Department. The...

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