Latest news with #RaymondLopez
Fox News
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Car drives through anti-ICE protesters as Chicago joins nationwide anti-ICE unrest amid Trump crackdown
A car drove through a crowd of demonstrators Tuesday night as hundreds of anti-ICE protesters gathered in Downtown Chicago. The protests in Chicago come as Los Angeles has faced days of unrest. Protests in LA started on June 7, with rioters burning cars, throwing objects and fireworks at police, smashing the windows of the LAPD's headquarters and looting stores. Tuesday's footage from FOX 32 Chicago shows what appeared to be a woman driving through the Chicago demonstrators walking with signs and biking on Wabash and Monroe. A police officer attempted to hit the window of the moving vehicle in an apparent attempt to get the driver to stop, but it kept moving, FOX 32 reported. It is unclear if anyone was injured during the incident. The Chicago Police Department told Fox News Digital on Tuesday evening that they were waiting to hear from responding officers when asked if the car's driver would face charges for driving through protesters. While most Chicago protesters were peaceful on Tuesday, some demonstrators clashed and vandalized police vehicles, and public transportation was temporarily suspended downtown, FOX 32 reported. Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez noted on X that multiple police cars had been vandalized. "I guess we haven't learned," he wrote in one Tuesday evening post. "I'm so sick of anarchy apologists and their 'It's not violent, just property damage bro' bull----," he said in another. An earlier protest Tuesday was part of a campaign called "From LA to Chicago: ICE Out!" according to FOX 32. "I just think it's not right what's going on right now … people are being snatched off the street, so you just gotta do something about it," Benjamin Rose, one of the protesters, told the outlet. Demonstrations have been popping up across the country, from Asheville, North Carolina, to Chicago to Los Angeles, where unrest broke out over the weekend following a raid. The Department of Homeland Security said ICE raids in LA over the weekend resulted in "hundreds of illegal aliens [being] arrested by ICE officers and agents," including "many with a criminal history and criminal convictions." DHS listed more information about 19 suspects that ICE Los Angeles arrested on June 7 who are accused of crimes ranging from robbery to second-degree murder to rape. "America's brave ICE officers are removing the worst of the worst from LA's streets, while LA's leaders are working tirelessly against them," DHS said in a Sunday statement as riots continued through the weekend.
CBS News
28-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Chicago alderwoman threatens legal action against colleague amid war of words over Israeli embassy shooting
Chicago Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd) is threatening legal action against fellow Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), amid a war of words tied to last week's deadly shooting of two Israeli Embassy workers in Washington, D.C. Lopez is standing behind comments and social media posts related to the shooting, but Rodriguez Sanchez has said they are inaccurate, dangerous, and violate the public trust. Her attorney has sent Lopez a cease and desist order, and has threatened legal action if he doesn't comply. In the hours after it was revealed the accused gunman in last week's deadly shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C. is from Chicago, some Chicago leaders began to weigh in. Among them was Lopez, who shared a post on his aldermanic X account, writing "birds of a feather" and circling faces in a group shot of United Working Families, a group that helps promote Black and Brown political candidates. Those faces included Rodriguez Sanchez, Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Mayor Brandon Johnson, and U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez. The photo had lines drawn on it pointing to an individual in the middle, who was later proven not to be the D.C. shooting suspect. Instead it was a former aide to Rodriguez Sanchez, Chris Poulos. "It was really nerve-wracking to see Chris in that picture, his face circled, and the sort of insinuation that this person was a murderer," Rodriguez Sanchez said. United Working Families asked Lopez to take that post down, but he has refused. Instead, the next day he posed, "Happy Friday Chicago - let's make it a great one, unless you stand with radicalized terrorists and the politicians that enable, uplift & defend them." On Tuesday, in a cease and desist letter, lawyers for Rodriguez Sanchez said his comments and decision to not remove them have "caused direct harm, including endangering her and her staff's safety. It also constitutes defamation in violation of Illinois law." And about the gunman, her attorney said: "He has no known connection to the Alderwoman and has never been a member or volunteer of 33d Ward Working Families." Rodriguez Sanchez's attorney has demanded Lopez immediately take down any social media posts falsely linking the alderwoman to the accused gunman, "and immediately cease making similar false statements." "You have shamefully and carelessly continued to put a private citizen in harms way by misidentifying him as an alleged murderer. You have recklessly exploited the tragic murders of Ms. Millgram and Mr. Lischinsky by using them as a platform to repeat falsehoods about Ald. Rodriguez Sanchez, endangering her and her staff," attorney Caryn Lederer wrote. "As a public servant, your deliberate spread of misinformation is a violation of public trust and the responsibilities of your office. It also constitutes defamation under Illinois law." But Lopez insists he has nothing to apologize for. He said, while others made the leap that the photo connected politicians to the shooter, he insisted he never did. "I simply said that those individuals were birds of a feather. If you and I are part of a same group and we take a picture, we are birds of a feather. It is not my fault people don't understand what the meaning of that is," Lopez said. In the hours after the shooting, Lopez also went on AM 560 and said, "There's some back and forth as to whether or not the individual was actually the terrorist, or if that was just Rossana's former campaign chairman/chief of staff taking one for the team to say that it's not him and that they're not sitting with the terrorist." Lopez said he has consulted with his lawyers, and he feels he has no reason to take down any of his social media posts. To be clear, the person in the photo Lopez shared on X is not the accused D.C. shooter, and there is no evidence that suspect has any ties to Rodriguez Sanchez.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tension runs high in City Council over cost of settlements
CHICAGO (WGN) — With the city already having blown through the $82 million budgeted to cover settlements and judgements, tensions ran high at City Hall on Wednesday as alders approved seven additional payments. While some alders argued the settlements OK'd Wednesday are needed to make people whole, other members called for reform, saying they're suspicious why the city's law department keeps signing off on massive settlements. 'We have to stop setting precedent, which is settling every single time in this room,' Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) told his colleagues. Ald. Nick Sposato (38th Ward) agreed: 'This has to stop, people. This has to stop. It's a two-way street. This can't be a one-way street. Only we can lose and you can win? That ain't right!' More than $62 million approved Wednesday was to settle four lawsuits that alleged misconduct by Chicago police officers. A combined $48 million goes to three men who spent decades in prison on a wrongful conviction. They were released in 2022. Another $8.25 million goes to another man who spent 17 years in prison before his conviction was overturned. A woman who became a double leg amputee to frostbite after allegedly being ignored by police during frigid temperatures in 2021 will receive $5 million. Another $1.2 million goes to a man who alleged former Sgt. Ronald Watts planted drugs on him. In a non-police misconduct case, alders OK'd more than $15 million to settle a suit brought by Chicago Parking Meters LLC related, in part, to a disagreement about meter enforcement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chicago fur ban set to face City Council vote
Aldermen are set to vote Wednesday on an ordinance that would ban the sale of new fur products in Chicago. The ordinance is an effort to fight animal cruelty, sponsor Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, said. But opponents say it will close historic family-owned businesses and is a government overreach. Several speakers during public testimony at the beginning of the council meeting urged aldermen to pass the ban, saying animals are tortured in order to collect furs. The measure breezed through a first vote in the License and Consumer Protection Committee, but could face tougher scrutiny Wednesday as the City Council's Black Caucus ramped up a fight to strike it down. Ald. Matt O'Shea, 19th, joined Black Caucus chair Stephanie Coleman and a group of Black pastors at a news conference before the Wednesday meeting to argue the vote is 'about personal choice.' 'Are we going to ban leather next? Are we going to ban beef? Are we going to put Ronald McDonald out of a job?' O'Shea said. 'I can't believe we're here today, that this is actually going to come to a vote at this time in our city. We need to be focused on public safety, on public health, on our schools, on attracting business, on supporting business.' Michael K. Harris Jr., government manager for the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, predicted the ordinance would ban the sale of shearling and sheepskin products, including the popular Ugg boots. Lopez told the Tribune he does not believe the ordinance would ban such products and is not intended to. The ordinance, set to go into effect one year after passage, allows the sale of used fur products and makes clear exceptions for leather, cowhide and deerskin products. It also makes exceptions to allow the sale of secondhand fur products, as well as new fur products used in religious and cultural practices. Mayor Brandon Johnson appears to have stayed out of the debate over fur products, even as many Black aldermen rally around Beverly furrier Island Furs. The store is one of three Black-owned furriers in the country, O'Shea said. Gerard Brown, who has owned Island Furs for three decades, said the ban would put his store out of business. 'I can understand if people don't want to wear my product. That's okay, that's what makes my country, freedom of speech, so freedom of choice,' Brown said. 'My creativity will stop because they've dictated to me how I should create my fashion.' Other issues in the city deserve more attention, argued Walter Turner, pastor of South Shore's New Spiritual Light Missionary Baptist Church. Turner painted the ordinance as an overstep harming Black Chicago. 'We have a whole lot of other serious issues going on in our communities. Our babies are being shot every day. We need to deal with our school system,' he said. 'This is about shutting down businesses that have been a staple.'
Chicago Tribune
12-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago fur ban set to face City Council vote
Aldermen are set to vote Wednesday on an ordinance that would ban the sale of new fur products in Chicago. The ordinance is an effort to fight animal cruelty, sponsor Ald. Raymond Lopez, 15th, said. But opponents say it will close historic family-owned businesses and is a government overreach. Several speakers during public testimony at the beginning of the council meeting urged aldermen to pass the ban, saying animals are tortured in order to collect furs. The measure breezed through a first vote in the License and Consumer Protection Committee, but could face tougher scrutiny Wednesday as the City Council's Black Caucus ramped up a fight to strike it down. Ald. Matt O'Shea, 19th, joined Black Caucus chair Stephanie Coleman and a group of Black pastors at a news conference before the Wednesday meeting to argue the vote is 'about personal choice.' 'Are we going to ban leather next? Are we going to ban beef? Are we going to put Ronald McDonald out of a job?' O'Shea said. 'I can't believe we're here today, that this is actually going to come to a vote at this time in our city. We need to be focused on public safety, on public health, on our schools, on attracting business, on supporting business.' Michael K. Harris Jr., government manager for the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, predicted the ordinance would ban the sale of shearling and sheepskin products, including the popular Ugg boots. Lopez told the Tribune he does not believe the ordinance would ban such products and is not intended to. The ordinance, set to go into effect one year after passage, allows the sale of used fur products and makes clear exceptions for leather, cowhide and deerskin products. It also makes exceptions to allow the sale of secondhand fur products, as well as new fur products used in religious and cultural practices. Mayor Brandon Johnson appears to have stayed out of the debate over fur products, even as many Black aldermen rally around Beverly furrier Island Furs. The store is one of three Black-owned furriers in the country, O'Shea said. Gerard Brown, who has owned Island Furs for three decades, said the ban would put his store out of business. 'I can understand if people don't want to wear my product. That's okay, that's what makes my country, freedom of speech, so freedom of choice,' Brown said. 'My creativity will stop because they've dictated to me how I should create my fashion.' Other issues in the city deserve more attention, argued Walter Turner, pastor of South Shore's New Spiritual Light Missionary Baptist Church. Turner painted the ordinance as an overstep harming Black Chicago. 'We have a whole lot of other serious issues going on in our communities. Our babies are being shot every day. We need to deal with our school system,' he said. 'This is about shutting down businesses that have been a staple.'
