The July Fourth holiday is a busy one for law enforcement. Nearly 40 percent of fatal traffic crashes around Independence Day involves alcohol. That’s why it’s so common to see checkpoints pop up across the state. Here’s what every driver needs to keep in mind: Not all states conduct them. Thirteen states, including Alaska, Idaho,…
Turn your social media profiles to private Prosecutors are becoming far more tech savvy, and are increasingly scouring social media pages for evidence to use against people. So it’s a good practice to be very careful about information and photos you make public. That goes double if you’re arrested. If you’re not comfortable eliminating your…
April 20 is the official holiday of marijuana users, with mass celebrations in major cities, including Vancouver, Denver and San Francisco, kicking off at 4:20 p.m. With 20 percent of Americans now living in states where recreational marijuana is legal (check out an interactive map here), there is growing concern about the consequences of high…
The Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists gathers information on DUIs each year and releases the data in an annual survey. Based on the most recent data available, we compiled a list of DUI arrests for the larger municipalities in Kankakee and Iroquois counties. For comparison, we included the figures — particularly arrest rate-per-officer — for the…
Court supervision is a DUI defendant’s one get-out-of-jail-free card. You get one, and one only, in your lifetime. It doesn’t mean you get off scot-free. It means you have a year or two to prove to a judge that you can stay out of trouble and, if and when you can do that, the DUI…
We know that people are likelier to drink on holidays (yes, the Super Bowl is an unsanctioned national holiday), and that usually means an increase in alcohol-related traffic crashes. But what’s surprising is just which drivers are potentially at a higher risk on the road after the big game. According to physicians at the University…
When can police ask a hospital to forcibly draw blood and urine samples from a suspect accused of drunk driving? It’s a legal question that’s been simmering for the last five years and now a state appeals court in Illinois is weighing in. Late last month, the Appellate Court ruled that a section of the…
Thanksgiving is around the corner and that means “Blackout Wednesday” is, too. That’s when new college students get together with friends back home and, well, drink excessively. Considering that around 40 percent of all fatal crashes in Illinois are alcohol-related, that nearly 40,000 people statewide are arrested for driving under the influence each year, and…
