Author: CNN

WBBM

By Noel Brennan

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    OAK BROOK, Illinois (WBBM) — At a fashion show in Oak Brook, Illinois, the models don’t need designer looks to show off their style. For them, fashion is about feeling.

“Intrinsically, I have the knack for fashion and I did not lose that when I lost my sight,” said Monty Rogers.

Rogers and Takela Allen are already model students at the Illinois Center for Rehabilitation and Education, but Sunday they walked their first runway. They’re among 10 models, all blind or visually impaired, who paired up with a stylist at a nearby Nordstrom to find the perfect fit based on feeling.

The opportunity was made possible by jewelry store CD Peacock, the nonprofit Beautiful Lives Project, and a gem of an idea.

Aria Holtzman, 16, teamed up with Bryce Weiler from the Beautiful Lives Project, which creates events for people with disabilities, to create this fashion show.

“Starting a fashion show was always something that I wanted to do,” Weiler said.

After weeks of planning, it was showtime and the models didn’t need to see their clothes to know they looked as good as they felt.

CD Peacock covered the cost of the outfits for the models, and each of them went home with brand-new clothes from Nordstrom.

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WBBM

By Sara Tenenbaum, Jermont Terry

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A brazen crew was caught running out of the Nordstrom right off the Magnificent Mile with designer goods.

The crew is accused of stealing more than $100,000 in high-end purses from the Nordstrom store.

Police said they were called to the store at 55 E. Grand Ave. at about 6:55 p.m. Sunday. When they arrived, witnesses told them a group of about 10 people had gotten out of three cars and forced their way into the store.

At the time, people were clearly on the sidewalk. Yet that didn’t stop the theft crew, who were caught on camera jumping into vehicles right outside the Nordstrom store.

In a viral video, people looked on recording the brazen act as the burglary crew rushed out of the store after ripping off dozens of designer purses.

By the time Chicago police responded, the thieves were long gone — but the impact of their actions is long-lasting.

Investigators said organized retail theft is big money unto itself — a $1 billion industry. Last month, CBS News Chicago reported on how the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office was at the helm of a nationwide crackdown, which netted 500,000 arrests — all of people stealing from stores and selling the goods at a much cheaper cost.

“These are professional thieves,” Assistant State’s Attorney David Williams of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Regional Organized Crime Task Force said in July. “These are people who do pre-surveillance on stores, know store policies.”

The thieves also know what workers can and cannot do. In the Nordstrom theft, the crew encountered security — but was still able to get away.

When Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke was sworn into office, she made retail theft a felony for anything $300 or more. This was a rollback of former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s policy, in which retail theft was not a felony unless it was $1,000 or more.

Earlier this month, the Cook County Sheriff’s office arrested a trio accused of stealing $10,000 worth of merchandise from Lululemon stores in the city and suburbs.

Examining Chicago police numbers in the Near North (18th) District, which encompasses the Mag Mile, there have so far been 1,107 felony thefts — down just 3% compared with the same time period last year when there were 1,146.

Citywide, felony theft is down 16%.

As for the crew that hit up the Nordstrom store, they remained on the run Monday night.

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