Afternoon News Update: March 19

A blown stop sign has led to a two-car crash involving a UPS truck. It happened this morning on Rockford’s southwest side at Meridian and Montague. The driver of the other vehicle didn’t see the stop sign and ended up fishtailing head-on into the UPS truck. No injuries were reported.
The Rockford Narcotics Unit has nailed another arrest. According to officials, Andre Richardson was taken into custody Tuesday in the 3,000 block of West Riverside. He’s been charged with two counts of delivering cocaine and one count of delivery within 1,000 feet of a church. Richardson is currently at the Winnebago County Jail with no bond.
Drinking at a Beloit crime scene has led to a burglary suspect. Officials say 34-year-old Jason Ecklund’s DNA was found on a discarded beer bottle and can left behind at the spot of two burglaries. He was on probation when the thefts occurred last summer. Ecklund is due in court next week.
Police in suburban Chicago say a teenage boy and his father have been found shot to death in their apartment. Officials say when police entered the unit in Palatine they found the 15-year-old boy and his 38-year-old father on the floor. Both died from their injuries at the hospital. Their names haven’t been released yet and no arrests have been made.
Governor Pat Quinn is making the Illinois minimum wage the first issue in his campaign against Republican nominee Bruce Rauner. Quinn says he wants to increase it to at least $10 an hour. Rauner later said that he’d be in favor of raising the minimum under certain circumstances.
Bruce Rauner says he’s ready to challenge Governor Pat Quinn. The Republican nominee for Illinois governor is anticipating a very tough general election. It’s expected to be one of the hardest fought and most expensive in the nation. Rauner won Tuesday’s race for the GOP nomination.
Chicago police say gang-related shootings are on the decline. Officials say there have been nearly 190 ‘shooting incidents’ in the city though March 14^th this year with 48 percent being gang-related. In 2013 at this time, there were almost 270 such incidents with 61 percent involving gangs. Police are currently doing “gang audits” on the city’s 600 gang factions and their members.
Federal aviation officials say Boeing's design and manufacture of its cutting-edge 787 jetliner is safe. A report issued jointly by FAA and Boeing on Wednesday says the plane was soundly designed. The government also had effective processes in place to identify and correct issues that emerged before and after certification. The report makes seven recommendations for further improvements by Boeing and FAA.
The Wisconsin Assembly is set to take up a bill that would outlaw using GPS to secretly track someone. Under the measure, anyone who secretly places a GPS device on another person's vehicle or obtains information about a person's movement using a GPS device would be guilty of a misdemeanor. Republican leaders have placed the bill on the Assembly's agenda for Thursday.

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