McHenry County | featured news

Jurors on Wednesday saw a video-recorded police interview with an 11-year-old girl whom a McHenry man is accused of inappropriately touching in 2017.

James Barnard of the 1800 block of Kerry Lane, is charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse and domestic battery in connection with a Lake in the Hills police investigation allegations made by the girl. Officers arrested Barnard in January 2018 after receiving a report that Barnard had inappropriate contact with the girl.

A former Huntley High School baseball player must register as a sex offender for the next 10 years after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to grooming an underage girl to engage in sexual conduct.

Kyle J. Morgan, 20, accepted a plea offer from the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office and pleaded guilty to a felony grooming charge in exchange for a two-year probation sentence.

Seven Republicans looking to unseat Naperville Democrat Lauren Underwood in the 14th Congressional District used their first public debate Wednesday night to lay out their top priorities.

The ideas offered during the forum at McHenry County College ranged from social issues to political ideals and provided a contrast for GOP voters eyeing the March primary.

Two candidates, Jerry Evans of Warrenville and James Marter of Oswego, identified abortion as their top legislative priority if elected.

WASHINGTON – The four Democratic senators seeking the White House want to be out there campaigning, but they’re pulled off the presidential campaign trail and into the Senate to serve as jurors in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

That means forgoing raucous events and adoring crowds for hours of passively listening to a procedure designed to be solemn and rule-bound. The presidential hopefuls can’t freely ask questions or even talk to their colleagues or use their cellphones. It amounts to a political muzzle for Sens.

BEIJING – A Chinese city of more than 11 million people planned to shut down outbound flights and trains Thursday as the world's most populous country battled the spread of a new virus that has sickened hundreds of people and killed 17, state media reported.

Everyone in the city of Wuhan was to be restricted to some degree. The state-owned People's Daily newspaper said no one would be allowed to leave.

WASHINGTON – Americans are sharply divided along party lines about whether President Donald Trump should be removed from office, and they doubt the Senate impeachment trial will do anything to change their minds, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Overall, the public is slightly more likely to say the Senate should convict and remove Trump from office than to say it should not, 45% to 40%.

LONDON – Britain's Brexit bill passed its final hurdle in Parliament on Wednesday after the House of Lords abandoned attempts to amend it, leaving the U.K.

WASHINGTON – House Democrats launched into marathon arguments in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday, appealing to skeptical Republican senators to join them in voting to oust Trump from office to “protect our democracy.”

Trump’s lawyers sat by, waiting their turn, as the president blasted the proceedings from afar, threatening jokingly to face off with the Democrats by coming to “sit right in the front row and stare at their corrupt faces.”

The challenge before the House managers is clear.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is coming out Thursday with new visa restrictions aimed at restricting “birth tourism," in which women travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children can have a coveted U.S. passport.

Visa applicants deemed by consular officers to be coming to the U.S. primarily to give birth will now be treated like other foreigners coming to the U.S. for medical treatment, according to State Department guidance sent Wednesday and viewed by The Associated Press.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump set a presidential record for activity on his favorite social media platform Wednesday, tweeting and retweeting at length about the Senate impeachment trial, the Democrats who want to replace him and much, much more.

By 4:25 p.m.