The Latest Breaking News from Cook County

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

After being subpoenaed by the feds about its land dealings, the Cook County Land Bank Authority, led by County Commissioner Bridger Gainer, decided it needed a lawyer. It hired one who lives with Gainer’s then-top aide Kara Highfill.

Cook County sheriff’s police told Illinois legislators Thursday that “manpower” issues are the main reason why the revoked cards are still in the hands of potentially dangerous people.

CHICAGO — Back in March, a high-ranking Cook County prosecutor sent an email that by her own admission was “desperate.”

Starting this fall, hundreds of residents across Cook County will receive a note in the mail bearing a simple message: Your medical debt is taken care of.

Arnelis Flores, from Jefferson Park, died Tuesday afternoon at Stroger Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

CHICAGO — Vacant and abandoned properties clustered on the Chicago’s South and West sides and southern suburbs have been a stubborn problem for decades. Every two years, the Cook County treasurer tries to return those properties to productive use during its biennial scavenger sale of delinquent taxes, often with little…

A study says that a nearly 80-year-old law intended to put distressed and tax-delinquent Chicago-area properties back to productive use has done little to improve or solve racial inequities in the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas would like the report to spark discussions about reforms to the county’s scavenger sales that occur every two years.

Lashaun Duprey, 28, was pronounced dead Monday at the University of Chicago Medical Center, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

The case against Patrick Doherty is tied to multiple individuals who have already been charged as a result of the feds’ aggressive public corruption investigations. Most have already pleaded guilty.