Why you may not read details of case of bomb-making materials in Batavia (again)
The Daily Herald told you Dec. 16 what exactly police found when they searched the home and computer of a Batavia 15-year-old accused of possessing extensive bomb-making materials in a case where authorities feared the suspect might have been targeting Batavia High School.
We won't be telling you about it again, at least not if a Kane County judge gets her way.
Judge Kathryn Karayannis on Wednesday ordered the Daily Herald not to republish the information Legal Affairs Writer Harry Hitzeman dug up last month while poring over search warrant documents that at the time were public.
Those documents, Karayannis said, should not have been available to our reporter or anyone else.
The boy's attorney, Gary Johnson, raised the matter before Karayannis, saying the Kane County circuit court clerk's office should have known the search-warrant documents were confidential.
Johnson said there were "consequences" as a result of the information being public, including death threats to the teen's family and his sibling being harassed at school.
The boy remains in custody at the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center, pending the results of a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. His next court date is Jan. 30.
Follow the leader
The Mundelein Police Department's innovative approach to fighting the opioid crisis is now a role model for law enforcement agencies across the country.
The department has been chosen as a mentor site for the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities' Center for Health and Justice's Law Enforcement/First Responder Diversion and Referral Mentoring Initiative.
What's that mean? Mundelein police will assist other first-responder agencies around the U.S. on dealing with those struggling with opioid abuse and its impact on their communities.
Among other efforts, Mundelein police were among the first in the suburbs to take part in the "A Way Out" program, through which they help get substance-abuse treatment for those who seek it.
As part of the mentor program, Mundelein will host visits from other agencies wanting to learn about its work.
Other departments chosen were Cabell County (West Virginia) Emergency Management Services, Colerain Township (Ohio) Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Lucas County (Ohio) Sheriff's Office, City of Philadelphia, East Bridgewater (Massachusetts) Police Department, Seattle-King County (Washington) Public Defender Association, and Tucson (Arizona) Police Department.
Blagojevich update
A decision on the fate of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's law license will have to wait another month.
A hearing on the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission's petition to disbar the imprisoned ex-governor that had been set for this week has been postponed to Feb. 25. Blagojevich, who's locked up at a federal prison in Colorado, won't appear in person but could testify via videoconference, an commission official told us this week.
The commission - the state agency that oversees the licensing and discipline of lawyers - began the process of disbarring Blagojevich in August. The complaint against him states the obvious: He's committed criminal acts that "reflect adversely on his honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer."
In the meantime, Blagojevich continues to hold out hope that his former reality show co-star, President Donald Trump, will commute what's left of his 14-year prison sentence. Blagojevich likely didn't hurt his case when he penned an op-ed for the website Newsmax arguing that today's Democratic leaders in Congress might also have impeached Abraham Lincoln.
'Drive Sober' numbers
The DuPage County sheriff's office participated in the statewide "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaign Dec. 16-Jan. 2. The results? Deputies arrested one person for impaired driving and handed out four citations for distracted driving, four for speeding, two for not wearing a seat belt and five other unspecified citations, and they made one arrest on a traffic charge.
The campaign placed extra emphasis on late-night hours, because that's when national statistics show most unbuckled and impaired-driving fatalities occur, according to Justin Kmitch, the sheriff's communications director.
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