The idea seemed simple though bold: Call reputed gang leaders to a meeting with top police and federal prosecutors and deliver an ultimatum to end killings in the nation’s third largest city.

But Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding a so-called “gang summit” last month, even though several police departments across the country have relied on that approach for decades to help reduce crime.

Manufacturing activity in the Chicago region expanded at a less rapid pace in August, according to media reports of the purchasing managers’ index for the Chicago region released on Tuesday. The Chicago purchasing managers index fell to 56.7% from 62.3% in July. The drop was in line with forecasts. Readings over 50% indicate overall business expansion. The Chicago PMI is the last of a series of regional indicators that give clues to the national Institute for Supply Management manufacturers’ survey for August to be released on Wednesday. Based on other regional readings, economists expect the August ISM manufacturing composite to slow a bit more to 53.2 from a July reading of 55.5%. This would be the fourth straight monthly decline after the index hit 60.4 in April.

Chicago police have launched an initiative to curb gang-related deaths by delivering a strong message in person to reputed top gang members.

At an unpublicized meeting this month, Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis and federal prosecutors put pressure on reputed leaders from the city’s West Side to end killing and violence.

A three-day targeted federal investigation led to the arrests of 370 fugitives, including 347 illegal immigrants with criminal records, with 35 of the arrests in Chicago.

The illegal immigrants arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers included nine gang members and 16 convicted sex offenders, the release said.

The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank said on Thursday its Midwest manufacturing index rose in July, driven by gains in the auto, steel and machinery sectors.

The index rose 2.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted 81.4 after falling 0.2 percent in June to 79.6.

Compared with a year earlier, Midwest output increased 13.1 percent, more than the 8.1-percent national increase during that same period.

Scottie Pippen is getting a statue at Chicago’s United Center.

The Chicago Bulls said Wednesday that a bronze statue of the Hall of Fame player would be displayed permanently inside the arena by the end of the upcoming season. Pippen’s likeness will join a sculpture of Michael Jordan that has been outside the arena since 1994.

The Bulls say the same artists who created Jordan’s statue also will make the Pippen statue.

Kenya’s Boston marathon champion Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot will skip the Commonwealth Games in India in October to compete in the Chicago marathon, Athletics Kenya (AK) said on Tuesday.

Cheruiyot, who clocked 2:05.52 in winning the Boston race in April had been named in a marathon provisional team of 12 runners, along with John Kelai, the 2006 Mumbai champion and Patrick Makau Musyoki, the 2010 Rotterdam winner.

Waterways leading into the Great Lakes are acting like a “carp highway.”

The comparison from Michigan’s assistant attorney general came in federal court Monday, as a judge heard the first round of arguments in a lawsuit calling for tougher steps to prevent asian carp from entering Lake Michigan.

With a string of high-profile prosecutions under his belt, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald exuded confidence when he first presented corruption charges against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in late 2008.

The prosecutor, once described as “Eliot Ness with a Harvard law degree and a sense of humor,” raised eyebrows when he appeared to go beyond the normally dry recitation of facts by accusing Blagojevich of a “political corruption crime spree” that would make “Lincoln roll over in his grave.”

Middle East investors have expressed an interest in financing a high speed rail link between O’Hare International Airport, the US’s fourth largest airport, and downtown Chicago, it was announced on Wednesday.

Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago, told reporters at a press conference in the city on Wednesday that he had set up a special committee to study the viability of building an express train between O’Hare International Airport and central Chicago.