Porter County, Ind., Councilman Jim Polarek said Wednesday he will not apologize for a remark he made at Tuesday’s council meeting that some of his colleagues have interpreted to be a slur against gays and lesbians.
Posted 12 minutes 40 seconds ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Drew Peterson’s lawyers are adding a little snark to some otherwise dry pre-trial motions. They filed a few last week as the former Bolingbrook cop learned he’d go on trial in July for the 2004 drowning death of his third wife, Kathleen Savio.
Posted 52 minutes 40 seconds ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Will County Forest Preserve commissioners suspended executive director Marcy DeMauro for one day without pay Wednesday because she forgot to post public notice of a board planning workshop last week.
Posted 2 hours 3 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Erik S. Paxton, 24, of Aurora, who works with children at a YMCA and two schools, is jailed for a series of “Peeping Tom” incidents in which he peered into the windows of young girls, then broke into homes to steal their clothing, police aid.
Posted 2 hours 3 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

Prosecutors said Hanin Goma, 23, of Skokie admitted smoking pot hours before causing a chain-reaction crash that killed an 8-year-old Skokie boy.
Posted 2 hours 44 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

The deep freeze from City Hall apparently continues for Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts because of family patriarch Joe Ricketts’ involvement in a conservative super PAC considering a $10 million plan to attack President Barack Obama by resurrecting the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy. Mayor Rahm Emanuel laughed and then walked out of a news conference on Wednesday when asked why he has not returned an apologetic phone call from Tom Ricketts. The mayor also refused to say whether he believes the political controversy would sabotage the Cubs’ appeal for a $150 million taxpayer subsidy to help renovate Wrigley Field. Dennis Culloton, …
Posted 2 hours 44 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

A man was fatally shot in the head and the chest Tuesday night as he drove his pickup truck in the West Side Austin neighborhood, police said. The 51-year-old man was found unresponsive around 10:30 p.m. in the 200 block of North Lorel, police said. It is unclear whether the man was targeted in the shooting or wounded by stray bullets, officials said. Sun-Times Media …
Posted 13 hours 31 minutes ago - 05/23/12 - Full Story

SPRINGFIELD — A push to make Illinois schools adopt more detailed policies to prevent bullying fell short Tuesday in the state Senate amid concerns that its real purpose was to lecture students on embracing homosexuality. The measure fell one vote short of passage, although it could get another chance in the remaining days of the legislative session. The bill would have required anti-bullying policies to include a definition of bullying and a statement saying it was against the law. The policies would have spelled out how allegations could be submitted anonymously and how they would be investigated. Policies also would …
Posted 19 hours 4 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Three out-of-state anti-NATO protesters accused of making Molotov cocktails and planning a violent attack during the international leaders’ summit have been kept in isolation in the Cook County Jail, a lawyer for one of the men Tuesday.
Posted 19 hours 4 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

City Clerk Susana Mendoza is hoping the lure of free restaurant meals, baseball tickets and other prizes will convince Chicago motorists to purchase their city vehicle stickers online to save her office time and money.
Posted 19 hours 4 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Occupy Chicago activists on Tuesday disseminated over the Internet photos of a man and woman — nicknamed “Mo” and “Gloves” — who they believe are the officers or informants whose undercover work led to the arrests of NATO Summit protesters on bomb charges.
Posted 19 hours 4 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Mitt Romney swept the Kentucky and Arkansas Republican presidential primaries Tuesday, inching closer to the GOP nomination he is certain to win.
Posted 19 hours 9 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

One person is dead and 12 are injured after an explosion in a large warehouse in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, authorities said. Firefighters responded about 8:30 a.m. to Aren’s facility in the 3600 block of North Kennicott Avenue to initial reports of an explosion.
Posted 19 hours 27 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Chicago ranks fifth among the 50 most bike-friendly cities in the country and has jumped five rungs from its last ranking, according to Bicycling magazine’s 2012 list.
Posted 22 hours 30 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Illinois workers would be protected from businesses that want access to their Facebook accounts and other social media under legislation sent to the governor’s desk. The bill says employers cannot require workers or job applicants to grant access to social media.
Posted 22 hours 42 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Marine Lance Cpl. Mark Scott of Naperville won an online contest to be the prom date for LPGA golfer Lexi Thompson.
Posted 23 hours 5 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Marine Lance Cpl. Mark Scott of Naperville won an online contest to be the prom date for LPGA golfer Lexi Thompson.
Posted 23 hours 10 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn Tuesday called indicted state Rep. Derrick Smith’s decision to award nearly $185,000 worth of tuition waivers last week “very disappointing” and reiterated plans to sign legislation to abolish what he has called a “political scholarship” program. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday that Smith, a Democrat from the West Side, handed out his full allotment of legislative tuition waivers last Friday despite facing a federal bribery charge and the possibility of being booted out of the Illinois House. “This is just one more blot on the current program that will be quickly abolished,” Quinn said, when …
Posted 1 day 25 minutes ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

One person is dead and 10 are injured, following an explosion in a large warehouse in northwest suburban Arlington Heights, authorities said. Firefighters responded about 8:30 a.m. to a building in the 3600 block of North Kennicott Avenue to initial reports of a chemical explosion.
Posted 1 day 5 hours ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

One person is missing and believed dead following an explosion in a factory building in northwest suburban Arlington Heights. Firefighters responded about 8:30 a.m. to a building in the 3600 block of North Kennicott Avenue for initial reports of a chemical explosion.
Posted 1 day 5 hours ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

One person is missing and believed dead following an explosion in a factory building in northwest suburban Arlington Heights.
Posted 1 day 6 hours ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

A boy was killed while riding a bicycle during a three-car crash Monday afternoon in Skokie. The crash happened at 4:24 p.m. when a vehicle traveling south on Saint Louis Avenue tried to turn left on Main Street and hit an eastbound vehicle, Skokie police said. The driver lost control after the crash and hit the pre-teen child, who was near the northeast corner of Main Street and Saint Louis Avenue. The same car hit another vehicle in the northwest corner of the intersection, police said. Sun-Times Media …
Posted 1 day 13 hours ago - 05/22/12 - Full Story

Illinois moved closer to drastic Medicaid cuts Monday with proposed legislation that could excise nearly $1.4 billion from the state’s program by shrinking benefits, such as regular adult dental care, and cutting payments to most hospitals and nursing homes. The measure, backed by Gov. Pat Quinn, falls short of the $2.7 billion in cuts that Quinn originally said would be needed to prevent the health care program for the poor and disabled from collapsing. Legislative sponsors said revenues, including Quinn’s proposed $1 cigarette tax increase, will be dealt with separately, and are needed to make the plan work. “I honestly …
Posted 1 day 17 hours ago - 05/21/12 - Full Story

Chicago school officials said Monday they’ll save $750,000 after negotiating a contract extension with a politically connected milk vendor that will cut the cost of its $20 million-a-year deal by a penny a carton. The move comes two months after an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and Better Government Association found that the city’s schools pay more for milk than many smaller suburban districts.
Posted 1 day 17 hours ago - 05/21/12 - Full Story

Members of Congress can be wordy. But just how smart are their speeches? An analysis released Monday shows that Rep. Danny K. Davis has the most intricate speeches of Illinois members of Congress, with an average grade level nearly that of a college sophomore. Tea Party favorite Joe Walsh is at the bottom of the delegation with an average speech level about equal to that of an incoming high school freshman. The analysis was done by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Washington D.C. that specializes in government transparency projects. The group has been around since 2006, but …
Posted 1 day 18 hours ago - 05/21/12 - Full Story