"And we must do it together", Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. The city of Chicago saw 765 murders in 2016, up from 468 in 2015, and 411 in 2014-while the city undoubtedly has a serious gun violence problem, this could have been a particularly bad year.

Hays County did not report crimes to the program in 2015, but lists 193 violent crimes for 2016.

The Brennan Center for Justice released a report this month predicting that, if current preliminary numbers hold steady, 2017 will indeed see a decrease in both overall and violent crime.

These small bumps aside, the number of violent crime in the United States remains well below the level of 1.42 million reported a decade ago, when the rate was 471 violent crimes for every 100,000 people in the country. Violent crime fell 8% in Hartford and 4% in Springfield.

Beyond a narrative told by national statistics, violent crime continues to be concentrated in a handful of large cities and experts caution that local nuance is critical to understanding the overall increase. The largest increase in the state was aggravated assaults, a 15.5 percent increase, from about 26,600 to almost 31,000.

Overall violent crime rose 4.1 percent previous year, while property crime fell 1.3 percent compared to 2015.

Famed soul singer Charles Bradley dies at 68
Bradley was diagnosed with stomach cancer previous year and beat the cancer, but it came back recently and spread to his liver. Upon moving back to Brooklyn in 1996, Bradley began moonlighting as a James Brown impersonator under the name Black Velvet.

Confidence 'High' That Hurricane Maria Won't Affect South Carolina
Forecasters said Hurricane Maria was weakening as it progressed on a northward track at about 9 miles per hour . Some of the United States coast may be under a tropical storm or hurricane watch later Sunday, the center said.

ME election system not targeted by Russian hackers
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it had notified the 21 states but declined to identify them Friday. He says Russian President Vladimir Putin "vehemently denied" the conclusions of American intelligence agencies.

"We vigorously refute the FBI's numbers", Craig said from outside a barricaded gunman scene in southwest Detroit Monday afternoon.

Sgt. Shaun Hampton, a Sacramento sheriff's spokesman, said the declines may be due to new data-driven strategies the department has implemented in recent months that use crime reports and 911 calls to identify where deputies should patrol.

Property crimes also grew by 10% in Stamford and 5% in Hartford, the Federal Bureau of Investigation data shows.

There was no national pattern in violence in 2016: New York City saw historic or close to historic lows in shootings and murders, as murders in Chicago spiked. "Crime is incredibly geographically conscience - not just Chicago verses other cities, but even within Chicago".

Chicago alone was responsible for more than 20 percent of that homicide jump, and about half of the incidents took place in just five neighborhoods.

Pfaff warned against assuming that traditional tough-on-crime responses are the answer, nothing that while New York state has the longest sustained period of de-emphasizing incarceration, homicides in New York City were down five percent.