Local News
By Steve Metsch It doesn’t happen often, but voters in the newly drawn 6th Congressional District have an unusual choice in the Democratic primary. Because of redistricting, two sitting members of Congress are going toe-to-toe for the nomination in the June 28 primary. The district covers the Midway Airport area, Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood and the…
Read MoreFrom staff reports North Palos School District 117 announces that Stephanie Johnson will be the new principal at Oak Ridge School in Palos Hills beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. Johnson assumes the role of principal after spending the last two years as assistant principal at Glen Oaks School in Hickory Hills. She has been…
Read MoreFrom staff reports Road closures with detours are scheduled for this week on Roberts Road and 87th Street to accommodate bridge beam removal for the Central Tri-State Tollway (I-294) Project. In addition to overnight closures, this work will require a weekend-long closure of both local roads at their intersection under I-294. Delays are expected. On Roberts Road under I-294, up to two…
Read MoreBy Jeff Vorva Oak Lawn and Stagg took seconds in the first. The inaugural Illinois High School Association eSports State Tournament took place Saturday at Bloomington High School and area gamers had a chance to play in the historic event. Oak Lawn and Stagg both had second-place finishers in the tournament and Stagg added a…
Read MoreFrom staff reports The Illinois State Police issued 30 tickets ranging from seat-belt violations to drunken driving during a roadside safety check held at the 95th Street toll plaza in Oak Lawn April 15-16. The detail was conducted on the Tri-State Tollway northbound at the 95th Street Toll Plaza in Oak Lawn by District 15…
Read MoreFrom staff reports Temporary, overnight lane closures are scheduled next week on Wolf Road at the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to accommodate bridge beam removal for the reconstruction of the I-294 bridge over Wolf Road in Indian Head Park. This work is part improvements in the I-55 Interchange area to accommodate reconstruction and widening of the…
Read MoreBy Bob Bong A Hickory Hills man has been charged with drunken driving after hitting a state trooper with his pickup truck while the officer was conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 55 at Lemont Road. Porfirio Alverez Jr., 34, was arrested after he struck a State Police cruiser last Friday. Police said the State…
Read MoreBy Kelly White Known as being a kind, caring and compassionate man, David Steadman has always dedicated his life towards helping others. Steadman, 61, who grew up the oldest of four children, took his role very seriously, according to his sister, Laurie Asztalos. “I cannot say enough good things about David,” Asztalos, of St. John,…
Read MoreFrom staff reports Chicago businessman Willie Wilson created massive traffic jams last week when he gave away $200,000 in free gasoline. So, he’s doing it again this week including at stations in Hickory Hills, Oak Lawn and Stickney. Wilson upped the ante from last week and announced he will be giving away $1 million in…
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2 incumbents seek Dem nomination in newly drawn 6th District
By Steve Metsch It doesn’t happen often, but voters in the newly drawn 6th Congressional District have an unusual choice in the Democratic primary. Because of redistricting, two sitting members of Congress are going toe-to-toe for the nomination in the June 28 primary. The district covers the Midway Airport area, Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood and the…

Pro Soccer Report: Kowalksi, Pugh score for Red Stars in draw at KC
Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The Chicago Red Stars suffered a big blow on defense when defender Kayla Sharples was ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Sharples’ replacement in the starting lineup on June 18 was Amanda Kowalski. The Arlington Heights native decided to add some offense to her game,…

Area Sports Roundup: Troy Grevengoed leaving Richards to coach volleyball at Chicago Christian
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer As the girls volleyball coach at Richards, Troy Grevengoed coached against Chicago Christian when two of his daughters played there. He has also watched his daughters from the stands as a fan. Now, he enters a third phase. Grevengoed is the new girls volleyball coach at the Palos Heights private…

Walder promoted, Pollack named new Shepard High principal
From staff reports The District 218 Board of Education has unanimously approved Dr. Jennifer Pollack as the new principal of Shepard High School in Palos Heights. Pollack is no stranger to the Shepard family having served as associate principal for the past six years. She will succeed Dr. Greg Walder who was promoted. The school…

Club America, Pumas match at SeatGeek officially sold out
PRIMETIME Sports announced Friday that the Pretemporada MX 2022 Clásico match between Club América and Pumas to be played on Sunday, June 19, at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview is officially sold out and Saturday’s Clásico Tapatío match is working towards a sellout. The two-day event hosts Liga MX’s two biggest derbies at SeatGeek Stadium. The…

Baseball Class 4A State Finals: Brother Rice takes third with romp over McHenry
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Some view state third-place games as a waste of time. It’s usually the game nobody wants to be involved in after having their dreams of winning a state championship crushed by a loss in the semifinals. But the third-place game in the IIHSA Class 4A baseball state tournament produced a…

Pro Soccer Report: Red Stars blank Orland to finish brutal stretch unscathed
By Jeff Vorva Staff writer The Chicago Red Stars finished the busiest stretch of their season unbeaten. The five-games-in-16-days logjam ended with a 1-0 victory over Orlando on June 11 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. Mallory Pugh drilled her fifth goal of the season in the 10th minute for the Stars (4-1-3), who entered this…

Softball 4A State Championship: Marist falls short in bid for repeat
By Randy Whalen Correspondent If someone would have told Emily Bojan that she would come up in the bottom of the seventh with an opportunity to tie or win the state championship game in her final high school at-bat, she’d love to be in that situation every time. But unfortunately, the Marist senior catcher hit…

Young Roadrunners win first baseball title to cap a huge sports season at Naz
By Jeff Vorva Staff writer Nazareth’s athletic class of 2024 could go down as the best in school history. The Roadrunners’ girls volleyball team finished first in the state in the fall. Two sophomores were among the eight players who were on the court during the Class 3A state championship game. The girls basketball team…
Illinois News

CAPITOL RECAP: State Supreme Court again declines to rule on FOID Act
By CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS SPRINGFIELD – In a 4-3 decision with a blistering dissent from the Republican minority, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to rule on a question of whether Illinois Firearm Owners Identification Act is unconstitutional. It was the second time the case of the People v. Vivian Brown came before the court and…

State audit finds billions in unemployment fraud
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A state audit released Thursday found nearly $2 billion in federal money intended to help unemployed Illinoisans during the pandemic was lost to fraudulent claims in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Employment Security blamed “insufficient and flawed federal guidance” and a lack of controls on a…

Death certificates of 5 men killed in East St. Louis riots found in state archives
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] It was a tale told by older generations to the younger generations, of men shot and killed and their bodies tossed into a creek during one of the fiercest race riots in the country. That tale was carried across the Mississippi River by those trying to escape the…

State Supreme Court declines to rule on FOID Act for second time
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – In a 4-3 decision with a blistering dissent from the Republican minority, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to rule on a question of whether Illinois Firearm Owners Identification Act is unconstitutional. It was the second time the case of the People v. Vivian Brown came before…

Pritzker signs bills protecting sexual assault victims
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker signed two bills into law Thursday aimed at protecting the victims of sexual assault. One of those new laws allows victims to press charges, even if they were voluntarily intoxicated at the time of the attack. Another expands where survivors can access treatment…

UPDATED: State reports COVID-19 outbreak at Manteno Veterans’ Home
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – At least 16 residents and six staff at the state-run veterans home in Manteno have tested positive for COVID-19 and one COVID-positive resident who was in hospice died Wednesday morning, according to the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The number of residents reached 17 Thursday after…

State reports COVID-19 outbreak at Manteno Veterans’ Home
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – At least 16 residents and six staff at the state-run veterans home in Manteno have tested positive for COVID-19 and one COVID-positive resident who was in hospice died Wednesday morning, according to the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs. All of the positive residents had received at…

Pritzker expands state child care subsidy, increases reimbursement rates
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Thousands more families in Illinois will soon be eligible for subsidized child care and child care providers will see a pay raise under a series of initiatives that Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday. Starting July 1, the state will invest more than $175 million in additional…

Pritzker signs bills targeting wage theft, expanding HIV care options
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker has signed 401 bills sent to him this calendar year, leaving just 10 of those passed by lawmakers this year awaiting his action as of Monday. His most recent crop of signed bills from Friday, June 10, included a measure taking aim at…

ANALYSIS: Pritzker, Mendoza see record ‘rainy day fund’ balance as proof of fiscal achievement
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois [email protected] The state’s “rainy day” fund – spent down to essentially nothing during the 2015-2017 budget impasse – now has its highest-ever balance of $750 million after a $320 million deposit this week. While statutory fund transfers don’t usually make for headline fodder, the fact that the state is…