Riverside Police

Erin James, who was arrested Friday for driving under the influence, told police she had been drinking to celebrate the fact that she was getting her driver's license back after a previous DUI arrest, police said.

An Illinois woman who was arrested early Friday morning for driving under the influence told police she had been drinking to celebrate the fact that she was getting her driver’s license back after a previous DUI arrest, police said.

A police officer in the Chicago suburb of Riverside observed the driver, Erin James, speeding around 2:10 a.m. Friday, a press release from Riverside Police said. After stopping James, the officer suspected she might be under the influence of alcohol.

The 58-year-old driver, a resident of Brookfield, failed multiple field sobriety tests and was taken into custody, police said.

At the Riverside Police Department, James provided a breath sample, which showed an alcohol content of 0.155, nearly double the legal limit of .08, police said.

While being processed on the DUI charge, James told the officer the reason she was drinking was to celebrate the fact that was would be getting her license back from a DUI arrest in 2012, according to police.

"Ms. James purposely drove a car that she did not own to avoid the ignition lock device and was driving back from a Forest Park bar where she was celebrating that fact that she would finally have her driving privileges back after her 2012 conviction for DUI," Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said in a statement.

"Ms. James is exactly the type of motorist I want kept off the road permanently under a new habitual DUI law that I will be proposing in the very near future."

A 10-year-old boy was shot Wednesday in Chicago toward the end of a day that saw at least three people slain and 20 others wounded, police and local media said.

The boy was standing on North Waller Avenue just before 8 p.m. when a group of men on a nearby street corner began fighting, said Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.

During the melee, one of the men pulled out a handgun and opened fire, Alfaro said.

“I’m assuming he was shooting at the other individuals,” he added. “He wasn’t shooting at the child.”

The boy was wounded in the right buttock and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, Alfaro said. No information about his condition was available early Thursday, though Alfaro said he believed the child was “stable.”

Chicago detectives were continuing their investigation Thursday, and no arrests had been made, Alfaro said.

The city’s first 80-degree day in seven months brought a wave of violence, with an average of one per hour at one point, NBCChicago.com reported.

Three cases were fatal, according to NBCChicago.com:

A man in his 30s was found dead in an alley in the 1900 block of South Drake overnight. After midnight, the first murder of May happened in the South Shore neighborhood where a 27-year-old man was shot in the chest near his home at 68th and Cornell. Neighbors said the man was a father of three.

Another shooting happened in front of the University of Illinois-Chicago police station, where three men were struck around 10:40 p.m. A 19- year-old died. Police said he was a known gang member.

The violence came less than a month after the police department announced that crime in the city had fallen 8 percent in the year’s first quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, and 15 percent from 2011.

Murders fell by 42 percent in the quarter and shootings by 27 percent, the department said in a news release.

The Austin neighborhood, where the boy was shot, however, saw a rise last year in the numbers of murders and shootings, according to police statistics.

The district, one of 77 in the city of 2.7 million, had 26 murders in 2012, up from 19 the year before, and 116 shootings, up from 98.

A Chicago shop owner who'd been robbed in the past grabbed a baseball bat and fought back when a pair of men came in intent on robbing the place.

Store surveillance cameras captured the bold brawl at Quizhpe's Gifts & Sports, in the Logan Square neighborhood, at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The robbers, one of them with a gun, apparently had no idea what they were in for when they walked into the shop.

"One of the guys, he said, 'Give me the money or you are dead,' and after that I was close to him and I tried to hit him with the bat, and the other guy he started shooting," said Luis Aucaquizhpi.

Aucaquizhpi's brother-in-law, 62-year-old Luis Quizphe, fended off the gunman with a baseball bat for a moment before the shooter tried to run away. Little did the robber know, however, that customers need to be buzzed in and out of the store. Seeing that they couldn't get out, one of the attackers returned to the counter and continued shooting.

Aucaquizhpi is seen in the video tossing a stool at the gunman and later chasing him with a fire extinguisher after the two robbers buzzed themselves out of the shop.

Quizphe was shot in the leg during the ordeal and was listed in good condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital on Wednesday evening. The man with the gun appears to also have shot his accomplice. Police said they found 10 shell casings on the floor.

Quizphe's son credited God for being on his dad's side.

"I thank God that nothing worse happened to him, that he's alive. I'm grateful for that," said Juan Quizphe.

Police said no arrests had been made in the case as of Wednesday afternoon. After getting away, the men, whom Aucaquizhpi described only as being black men, ran north on Western Avenue and then west on Belden Avenue before getting into a gray car.

Robin Kelly will head to Washington, D.C. this week to become the next congresswoman from Illinois.

With 76 percent of precincts reporting as of 8:30 p.m., Kelly, a Democrat, had earned 74 percent of the vote, trumping ballots cast for her closest challenger, Republican Paul McKinley.

The 56-year-old congresswoman-elect, who replaces convicted former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., said she'll head to Congress with a priority list.

"Legislatively, gun safety and gun control, of course. Immigration reform. I'm stepping into all of it, it seems, like at the right time," she said earlier in the day.

Kelly will have big shoes to fill: Jackson was a 17-year incumbent who served on the powerful House Appropriations Committee and brought home nearly $1 billion to the district. He also had strong relationships with mayors, activists and voters across the district that includes city neighborhoods, suburbs and some rural areas.

Jackson resigned in November. He pleaded guilty in February in federal court to lavishly misspending $750,000 in campaign funds.

Kelly received big name endorsements including from President Barack Obama and received a huge boost from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC, which supported her gun control stance. Also, the district is solidly Democratic and has been for about six decades. McKinley is an ex-con-turned-community activist who barely won his primary.

Early estimates showed low voter turnout in parts of the district, especially the city. Tuesday's special election coincided with municipal contests in other parts of the state; Chicago held its municipal contests in 2011.

Only 8 percent of city voters showed up at the polls, according to early estimates, with an expected turnout of roughly 12 percent by day's end. In the suburbs, the number was higher.

Independents Elizabeth Pahlke, Marcus Lewis and Curtis Bay, as well as Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones, were also on Tuesday's ballot.

With the Associated Press

CHICAGO -- A derailment on an Amtrak train from Chicago caused by a mudslide forced passengers to take buses for the last leg of their trip Sunday morning.

No injuries were reported for the train's 86 passengers and 11 crew members on board, however, travelers were forced to finish the last 30 miles of their trip via buses, according to Amtrak officials.

A mudslide, repotedly involving 30 feet of earth, trees and rocks, derailed the last three cars on the Empire Builder near Everett, Wash., around 10:30 a.m. Sunday, officials said.

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The train, uncoupled from the three derailed cars, continued to Mukilteo, Wash., where passengers were transferred to Charter buses.

Crews were working to clear the debris and repair the track, which was expected to reopen Tuesday, and BNSF Railway was investigating the incident.

CHICAGO -- Wendy and Randall Casey don't talk much over breakfast these days. Or lunch. Or even dinner.

Truth be known, even though the mother and son share a home in Dixmoor, Illinois, they usually just pass each other in the night. After all, one doesn't want to reveal too much campaign strategy to your opponent.

"Our relationship hasn't been as strong as it normally was," Wendy Casey conceded, in a room festooned with family photos of Randall at a much younger age. "We just interact, saying, 'Good morning,' and, 'Good evening,' when he comes in from work."

The two Caseys are running against each other for village president in Dixmoor. Although Randall said he prefers to put it this way: "I'm not running against my mom. I'm running for the people of Dixmoor."

By all counts, the poor south suburban community could use some help. Abandoned buildings stand like rotting trees citywide. The elder Casey says a fire engine was recently repossessed. The community famously missed payroll for city employees not once, but twice.

Against that backdrop, mother and son say they both want the job. And they both want to win.

"I feel, in my honest opinion, that he is not mature mentally to take on the responsibility of running a community," she says. "If I win, I think he will be very supportive."

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Randall prefers not to talk about the contest against his mother, saying he doesn't want what some might perceive as a humorous sideshow to detract from the genuine problems Dixmoor faces.

"I don't want to embarrass the people of Dixmoor," he said. "The people of Dixmoor have had enough embarrassment."

Indeed, Dixmoor seems almost comically at odds with itself. Incumbent mayor Keevan Grimmett was thrown off the ballot earlier this year after he was accused of being effectively homeless and living in his city hall office.

"He has no gas, no electricity, and no running water," the elder Casey said.

'The town is split'
Grimmett denies that, and after an appeal managed to get reinstated to the ballot.

"I have all the amenities that anyone would have," he said. "And I guess the biggest thing I have is a lot of electricity for the village of Dixmoor."

The town could use more than electricity. Stories of unpaid bills are legendary. A would-be community center, started with a federal grant, sits half finished and open to the elements, seemingly abandoned. Per capita income for the town's 3,500 residents is just under $13,000. Warring factions have led to walkouts by trustees during village board meetings.

"The town is split," agrees write-in candidate David McWilliams, a local merchant. "I'm here to pull both sides together."

At times, it's difficult to tell the players without a scorecard. Trustee Dorothy Armstrong is also seeking the post. Michael Smith, a former trustee, is running for his old job on the village council. He lost it after he was accused of stealing gasoline, and it was Smith who initiated the investigation of the mayor's residency.

Even Randall Casey brings a complicated linage. His father, Donald Luster, is a former mayor who was forced to step down after he was convicted of fraud. Luster has endorsed his son.

Wendy Casey says if her son wins, she will be respectful.

"I will hold him accountable," she says.

For now, that accountability includes collecting rent from her son, once a month.

"Of course," she says. "I can't let him live here rent-free. I wouldn't be a good mother if I did that."

CHICAGO -- Three men wearing women's clothes hit an upscale store in Chicago's fashionable Oak Street shopping district on Tuesday, and the store manager says it's not the first time.

In fact, nearly a half dozen Oak Street merchants, including Jimmy Choo, Moncler and Barneys, have been hit, mostly in broad daylight.

In Tuesday's heist, an employee of Furla says she knew something was up almost immediately after the trio of cross-dressers walked into the store.

"The first time they came they were casing the store for a long time," Deborah Himmel explained.

Then two weeks ago the bandits in drag were back -- briefly -- and made off with a bunch of purses.

"They were not even in here 10 seconds," said Himmel. "It happens so fast you don't have time to react."

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Police said the burglaries are connected by the a similar M.O. and suspect description: two to three black men all wearing female clothing. One of the men is stocky. Only one does the talking, police said, while the others remain silent, casing the store before they hit and escape toward Michigan Avenue with their loot.

Himmel said the bandits use a bag from Forever 21 to carry their goods. She said the "leader" stands about 5 feet, 7 inches tall and is very thin and has long, straight hair.

"Today it was in a headband. Last time in a little ski cap," she said.

But Himmel said the men don't wear high heels.

"You can't run in heels," she said.

Furla store managers say they haven't had a problem in their roughly six years of business. A surveillance system ordered prior to the string of robberies is scheduled to be installed Wednesday.

The body of an elderly woman missing since Saturday was found Monday at the bottom of a trash chute of the Chicago high-rise building in which she lived.

Florence Banta, 80, lived on the 17th floor of the Astor Condominiums, in the 1500 block of North Astor Street.

Her body was found on the ground floor of the trash chute by a building engineer, a Cook County Medical Examiner's Office spokeswoman said.

The building is the same in which a 16-year-old fell to his death in a trash chute a little more than a year ago.

A spokesman at Chicago's Department of Buildings explained at that time that the city code -- written with fire safety in mind -- required a minimum of 18-inch clearance so trash could fall safely but said nothing about maximum size or safety concerns for people or animals.

Banta had previously been reported missing and had last been seen Saturday, said police spokeswoman Antoinette Ursitti.

Read more from NBCChicago.com

Authorites were not releasing further information about Banta's death on Monday evening.

An autopsy to determine manner and cause was scheduled for Tuesday.

NBCChicago.com

Related:

Teen falls 46 stories to death down high-rise garbage chute

Jessie Rodriguez was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Gina Presley.

A 42-year-old Illinois man was given a $10 million bail Sunday after he was charged in the death of a 3-year-old girl in Oak Forest, according to police.

Jessie Rodriguez was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Gina Presley, Oak Forest police said Saturday.

Police escorted a man out of the hearing after he began screaming that Rodriguez did not deserve bail.

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Rodriguez, the boyfriend of Gina’s aunt and guardian, without justification killed the 3-year-old girl with blunt for trauma to the head, police said.

Another “person of interest” originally taken into custody was released and is cooperating with the investigation, officials said.

Rodriguez has been in custody since Thursday, but did not appear in bond court today despite police indications.

An adult in Gina’s home in the 15300 block of Walnut Road in Oak Forest reportedly called 911 to report the young girl was choking. She was later pronounced dead at Palos Community Hospital.

The Illinois Department for Children and Family services said Gina was never in their custody, despite reports from Oak Forest police that said she was.

“This is not consolation for the family or the community and only begins to provide a response to such a horrific act,” Chief of Police Gregory Anderson said in a statement.