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At about 1:15 p.m. Saturday, Madison officers responded to a shots fired call and found the victim dead in the intersection of Washington and Wayne Lanter avenues in Madison.

The International Court of Justice ruling that climate harm violates international law is expected to shape current — and future — climate lawsuits as early as this week.

by Joaquin Sapien

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Last week, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction of Pedro Hernandez for the murder and kidnapping of Etan Patz, a 6-year-old New York boy who disappeared in 1979 in one of the most famous missing child cases in U.S. history.

The three-judge panel ruled that a trial court judge had given jurors “manifestly inaccurate” guidance regarding a confession Hernandez made before he had been advised of his Miranda rights. Jurors asked whether, if they decided the first confession was involuntary, that meant they should disregard two videotaped confessions that came afterward.

The trial judge said “the answer is no” and offered no further explanation.

The appellate judges, in their opinion, said that by doing so, “the state trial court contradicted clearly established federal law.” They threw out Hernandez’s conviction and ordered that he be released or retried. He is now 64 years old and has served 13 years of a 25-years-to-life sentence in a case that has haunted New York City for decades.

The body of the 51-page decision echoed stories published by ProPublica starting in 2013, before Hernandez was convicted, that raised questions about the veracity and legality of his confessions.

We reported that Hernandez met many of the criteria of a person prone to making false confessions, a growing phenomenon and leading cause of wrongful conviction. We also discovered that Hernandez’s statements to law enforcement and others over the years were inconsistent and did not match the known facts of the case.

On the morning of May 29, 1979, Patz was allowed to walk alone to his school bus stop two blocks away and then vanished. His disappearance ignited national concern around missing children, as he became one of the first “milk carton kids” and his image was plastered across New York City.

A massive search ensued, and law enforcement spent thousands of hours looking for him: Divers plunged into the East River searching for his remains following a tip from a psychic. Leads were chased as far as Israel. But no arrests were made. No charges brought.

In 2012, New York police and the FBI suddenly and very visibly took action on another lead, digging up the basement of a workshop near the Patz family home used by a carpenter who knew Etan and was briefly considered a suspect.

Nothing came of the dig, but the surge of media attention prompted one of Hernandez’s relatives to call police with a tip about rumors that he had a role in the disappearance of Patz.

New York police officers arrived at Hernandez’s home in New Jersey on the morning of May 23, 2012, and brought him to a local prosecutor’s office to question him. In the ensuing hours, Hernandez asked several times to go home, said the officers were trying to trick him, sobbed, clutched at his stomach, lay on the floor in a fetal position, had a fentanyl patch placed on his chest to treat his chronic pain, and mentioned his mental illness diagnoses. After more than six hours, he told officers that he “did it.”

He said he offered Patz a soda to lure him down into the basement of a bodega where he was working. He said he choked the boy, placed the body in a garbage bag, put the bag in a box and left it around the corner in broad daylight.

It wasn’t until after that confession that the officers read Hernandez his rights. They then had him repeat his statement in two video-recorded interviews over the next 24 hours. The stories he told contained several inconsistencies.

The federal court found that the trial court judge’s instruction to the jury about the confessions was “manifestly inaccurate,” that the jury should have been given more thorough instructions and that it could in fact disregard the recorded confessions.

The jury, which had asked about the un-Mirandized confession on the second of nine days of deliberations, was “clearly grappling with what weight, if any, to give to the confessions,” the appeals court wrote.

ProPublica covered the early phases of the case against Hernandez extensively, interviewing the people to whom he supposedly confessed over the years and speaking with a variety of legal and psychological experts about how police tactics can induce false confessions.

We found early on that Hernandez’s previous claims of having harmed a child not only conflicted with each other but bore little resemblance to the details of his confession to police. Once, for example, he said that he had killed a Black child. Patz was white.

We also learned that the bodega Hernandez was working out of had become a kind of police hub for the officers searching for Patz. Hernandez said in one of his confessions that he tossed the boy’s book bag behind a refrigerator there. It was never found.

Experts told us that a handful of factors are often at play in producing false confessions and that Hernandez’s situation contained many of them: He had low IQ, had a history of mental illness, and confessed to a high-profile crime where many of the details were widely known over the course of an intense, long interrogation.

The judges, in their decision, took note of many of these same characteristics, which, in their view, made it all the more important for the jury to have proper instructions to evaluate the confessions.

ProPublica also highlighted how the trial judge, Maxwell Wiley, held a hearing early in the proceedings to determine for himself whether Hernandez was properly informed of his rights and if he had the capacity to meaningfully waive them. He decided that the confession could be used. Later, Wiley, a former Manhattan prosecutor, limited the questions that could be asked about it and kept some subsequent hearings on the matter secret, drawing fire from several news organizations. Wiley, who is now retired, did not respond to calls for comment.

In an email, Cyrus Vance Jr., who handled the case against Hernandez as Manhattan district attorney, said it was “exceptionally challenging given the passage of time but also very strong.”

He said the recent decision came as a surprise, as other appellate courts had reviewed and sustained the confession and verdict.

“Clearly, the jury heard substantial expert testimony from both the prosecution and the defense, and considered both and the legal instructions by the court during deliberations and before the verdict,” he said, adding that he continues to believe Hernandez is guilty and that his “thoughts are with the Patz family and with Etan.”

Now Vance’s successor, Alvin Bragg, will have to decide whether to retry Hernandez for the third time. The first of his two trials ended in a hung jury.

In a statement from Bragg’s office, a spokesperson said only: “We are reviewing the decision.”

EAST ST. LOUIS – State Senator Christopher Belt is encouraging local community organizations and education institutions to apply for grants from the Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program to give more young people a path into the trades. “We have seen local success with the Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program,” said Belt (D-Swansea). “There is a pool of money out there for the entire state, so the more local organizations apply, the more we can get our share of it to help our community.” This latest round of funding provides $25 million to support pre-apprenticeship programs that aim to create pathways for underrepresented groups in the construction industry, including women, veterans and people of color. The program offers comprehensive, tuition-free training and certifications, along with supportive services to help individuals gain entry to apprenticeships and ultimately secure stable, well-paying careers. Since its inception in 2021, Illinois

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SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Police (ISP) continues to target vehicle theft, hijacking, and related violent crimes using grant funding from the Illinois Secretary of State Illinois Vehicle Hijacking and Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Council. ? ISP was awarded a $10 million grant for the first fiscal year, another $677,000 in June 2024, and $637,500 in July 2025. From April through June 2025, ISP missions resulted in the following: Vehicles recovered – stolen and/or hijacked: 225 Stolen vehicle arrests: 6 Hijacked vehicle arrests: 0 Firearms seized as a result of stolen/hijacked vehicle recovery: 15 Missions targeting stolen/hijacked vehicle recovery and related violent crime: 48 K9 used for stolen/hijacked vehicle recovery and related violence crime: 27 Air Operations targeting stolen/hijacked vehicle recovery and related violent crime: 48 Forensic laboratory assignments related to stolen/hijacked vehicle: 1,215 Highlights of IS

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Shootings took place early Sunday at a "non-sanctioned event" attended by more than 100 to 150 people, mayor says.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and their fellow Senate Democratic colleagues in pressing the Trump Administration for answers on the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). In the letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Senators called on the Administration to immediately cease funding for GHF and restore support for existing United Nations aid distribution mechanisms. The Senators’ letter comes as the people of Gaza face a looming famine due to lack of aid and hundreds have been reported killed while seeking food at GHF distribution sites. The Senators begin, “We write with grave concerns regarding the U.S. role in and financial support for the troubled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a private group supported by U.S. security contractors and connected to deadly violence against starving people seeking food in Gaza. Blurring the lines between

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Billy Joel recently announced that he was planning to release some archival rarities that were discovered during the making of his HBO documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, and…

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All aboard! The Riverboats at the Gateway Arch provide an unparalleled experience on the Mississippi River. The one-hour St. Louis Riverfront Cruise is narrated by a captain from the National […]

The post St. Louis Riverfront Cruise appeared first on Explore St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO. — Daniel Douglas, 19, of the 4200 block of Tupelo Drive in St. Louis, was identified as the victim in a fatal shooting that occurred Friday, July 25, 2025, in the 2200 block of Union Road, the St. Louis County Police Department confirmed Monday, July 28, 2025. Officers from the South County Precinct responded at approximately 7 p.m. on July 25 to reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, police found Douglas suffering from life-threatening gunshot wounds. He was transported to a nearby hospital but later died from his injuries. Detectives from the Bureau of Crimes Against Persons are actively investigating the homicide. No suspects have been taken into custody at this time. Authorities are urging anyone with information to contact the St. Louis County Police Department at 636-529-8210. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS (8477), with a possible reward offered. Further details will be released as the investigation

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Jemarco Edwards, 23, is being sought for a shooting that occurred on June 15, 2025 at a Downtown Taco Bell.

The post PHOTO: Suspect Wanted for June Shooting Outside Taco Bell appeared first on St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

A guide for Native communities and tribal leaders to stay informed, updated, and prepared for disasters.

Ringo Starr is making some more new music.The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just shared a July update with fans, revealing in a video that he’s back in…

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I wasn’t wrong when I wrote that Apple, Google, Akamai, and others faced tremendous liability risk if they continued to provide any of their hosting services to TikTok. Of course, not because it should be illegal – the operative law is incredibly unconstitutional, despite the trite reasoning by the Supreme Court finding it otherwise. But […]

“But wait!” you say. “Shouldn’t a cold front actually feel, you know, cold?” Or maybe you’re one of those types who think a cold front doesn’t count unless the temperature drops below a certain number or you need a windbreaker.

ALTON — The Melvin Price Lock and Dam in Alton is expected to be fully open by the end of Monday, July 28, 2025, according to lock officials. The move comes after some torrential rains around the Grafton and Calhoun areas and Alton region this past weekend, in anticipation of rising Mississippi River water levels. Lock and Dam officials reported that the lock has opened 150 feet over the past day and a half and is preparing to reach an open river status for the first time in a year and a half on Monday. This marks a significant change for the river, which has been constrained by the lock for an extended period. “We are most likely to have it completely open by the end of the day,” a lock official said. “All this depends on Mother Nature. We are hoping that if it goes completely open, it will settle, and river levels will drop back down.” The reopening is anticipated to improve river conditions and navigation along this stretch of the Mississippi River.

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BETHALTO — Madison County State's Attorney Tom Haine has modified the charges against Joshua J. Morrison after a vicious assault incident on July 19, 2025, at an apartment complex in Bethalto . Morrison was initially charged with aggravated arson, arson, aggravated battery, and now, as of Monday, July 28, 2025, is charged with a hate crime, authorities said. The State's Attorney now charges that Morrison faces a Class 4 felony hate crime charge for battering Winston Rulo because of his perceived sexual orientation after an investigation of the incident. This is the exact new charge filed by the Madison County State's Attorney's Office: COUNT IV: HATE CRIME (CLASS 4 FELONY): "in that said defendant, by reason of the perceived sexual orientation of Winston Rulo, knowingly battered the victim in violation of 720 ILCS 5/12-3(a) in that defendant repeatedly struck the victim about the face and head with his fists, in violation of 720 ILCS 5/12-7.1." Karen Alexander Mack,

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Today on TAP: His game is to intimidate, prevail in the headlines, and sacrifice details in the fine print.