NBC 5 Investigates

NBC 5 Investigates’ Phil Rogers takes a look at the impact the closure of the state of Illinois’ casinos will have on their revenue, and tax revenue for the state as well.

It started as an innocent email inquiry in August for wedding services to CSP Worldwide from a “Jane” living in the United Kingdom. “We’re all going through COVID, and we’re all dealing with life as it is. All of a suddenly I got a request through one of my company contact pages,” said Carey Smolensky, owner of CSP Worldwide in...

It started as an innocent email inquiry in August for wedding services to CSP Worldwide from a “Jane” living in the United Kingdom and quickly turned into a cyber romance scheme with a high tech twist. NBC 5 Investigates’ Rob Stafford is hot on the conman’s trail.

While Illinois officials repeatedly beg people to steer clear of large gatherings, they’ve privately been keeping track of just those kinds of cases, which have caused tens of thousands of coronavirus infections throughout the pandemic, throughout the state. NBC 5 Investigates’ Phil Rogers reports

For the third time, NBC stations around America are tracking how quickly letters are sent to different areas of the country. NBC 5 Investigates’ Phil Rogers has more on what we found out as Election Day approaches.

The call came into DuPage County’s 911 center shortly before 1 pm on Aug. 8. “I’m filing a missing person report,” said the caller Kristine Cefolia, the ex-wife of United Airlines executive Jake Cefolia. “Nobody’s seen him since Thursday and he hasn’t reached out to any family members at all.” On the surface, Jake Cefolia seemed to have it...

The University of Illinois offers students a hybrid learning plan that keeps students on campus during the coronavirus pandemic. NBC 5’s Lauren Petty reports

Lawyers for Kyle Rittenhouse, the accused gunman in Kenosha, WI, say presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden shared a video on social media suggesting Rittenhouse is a white supremacist and plan to file a lawsuit. NBC Investigates’ Phil Rogers reports

Public health experts say one crucial key in lifting stay-at-home orders and re-opening the economy is to identify all coronavirus cases and to trace contacts of each identified case. The practice is called contact tracing, and it is tedious work. “It is a very time-consuming, time-intensive process,” said Palak Panchal, the lead epidemiologist in the surveillance, control and prevention of…

As an Illinois state representative takes Governor J.B. Pritzker to court, challenging the governor’s stay-at-home order, an analysis by NBC 5 Investigates suggests that the representative’s own district is not ready to reopen, according to guidelines set out by the federal government. Rep. John Cabello, of Machesney Park, which is near Rockford, filed suit this week, challenging the constitutionality...

Uptown resident Alicia Hawley says she can’t believe how quick postal thieves got in and out of her condo building. “Three minutes, from start to finish,” said Hawley, the president of her condo association. “One person was carrying U.S. postal bins. The other person had the key. It tells me it was a coordinated effort..that it was planned, and...

Uptown resident Alicia Hawley says she can’t believe how quick postal thieves got in and out of her condo building. The NBC 5 Investigates series continues, Rob Stafford reports.

In the wake of a midday stabbing Monday on Chicago’s 606 pedestrian trial, NBC 5 Investigates along with Telemundo Investiga,analyzed all crime data reported by the Chicago Police Department since 2016 – the first full year that the 606 trail was open. We found that in 2016 police reported 28 total criminal incidents on the trail – to date, an…

Two storefronts in downtown Waukegan have been battling over a secondhand smoke conflict for years. Julie Contreras operates a community center and church in a building that LULAC has owned since 1974 on Genesee Street. A few years ago, ‘A Cuban Experience’ moved in next door, and according to Contreras, they promised to install the proper ventilation for their smoking…

A community activist alleges that city and county officials are not doing enough to protect her from the secondhand smoke that has migrated into her building. NBC 5’s Hilda Gutierrez investigates.

A small business owner in Aurora is speaking out to warn potential job seekers about fraudulent job listings posted online. NBC 5’s Chris Coffey Investigates.

A small business owner in Aurora is speaking out to warn potential job seekers about fraudulent job listings posted online. Brian Murphy is a certified public accountant who said he was surprised to hear about a job listing for an administrative assistant for his company posted to the job search website ‘Indeed.’ “My next-door neighbor sent my wife a text…

NBC 5 Investigates NBC 5 looked at crimes reported on CTA platforms, stations, and rapid-transit stations. See the top five most dangerous CTA stations for violent crime and the ones with the least.

NBC 5 found that violent crime in Chicago Transit Authority rapid transit stations, platforms and trains has doubled over the past six years, while thefts have increased by nearly two-thirds over that same period.  At the same time, the rate of arrests in these crimes has dropped. In 2019, police made an arrest in only a quarter of the violent…

NBC 5 Investigates created this interactive map from Chicago Police Department crime data, which reports every incident of crime reported to CPD by type and location. NBC 5 looked at crimes reported on CTA platforms, stations, and rapid-transit stations. We did not look at crime on CTA buses. This map shows every station within Chicago’s city limits, with the number…