
Spartans can’t be beat
Members of St. Mary Star of the Sea School’s junior varsity volleyball team pose for a photo after they recently won the Hale Park junior varsity league championship (played this year at Wentworth Park, as Hale’s fieldhouse is undergoing renovations). The Spartans capped off an undefeated regular season (11-0) by defeating St. Symphorosa in the championship game. Members of the triumphant Blue and White team are Elisa Hernandez, Gisela Gonzalez, Isabella Ruiz, Natalia Contreras, Emma Lagunas, Isabella Garrido, Evelyn Nunez and Emma Resendiz. The Spartans are coached by Lourdes Castro. – Supplied photo
Local News

Churches will conduct pet blessings
Spread the love. By Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 . During the first week in October, Christian churches around the world celebrate the feast day (Oct. 4) of St. Francis of Assisi by holding the Blessing of the Animals. This dates back 900 years.…

Why not pumpkin spice year-round?
Spread the love. By Mary Stanek Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon 3808 W. 57th Place • (773) 284-7394 . Well, it is October. I started buying the Halloween candy, which I hid in the depths of my closet until Oct. 31. Next up: Christmas trees. One thing I always ponder is, if…

Football Wrap | Brother Rice rolls St. Viator in home opener
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent From Maine South and Loyola in the northern suburbs to St. Ignatius just west of Chicago’s Loop to Marist five or so minutes south on Pulaski Road, Brother Rice has spent a lot of travel time in 2023. After opening the season with four consecutive road games due to…

Pro Soccer Report | Red Stars seeking max points in quest for playoffs
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer With three games to go and in last place, the Chicago Red Stars are in a position to be spoilers. But in this unpredictable NWSL season in which teams are bunched up in the standings, the Red Stars are in a position where they can play more than…

Area Sports Roundup | Hoops powers invited to December showcases
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The invitations are in. As basketball coaches and athletic directors put the finishing touches on the 2023-24 schedules, some of the teams in the Southwest Regional Publishing coverage area have picked up invitations to a pair of prestigious hoops tournaments in December. The Chicago Elite Classic takes place…

Indiana Wesleyan scrapes by Saint Xavier after missed 2-pt conversion
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent Life is about choices. Sometimes, the result is to our benefit; sometimes it is not. In Saint Xavier’s loss to visiting Indiana Wesleyan on Sept. 16 at George R. Deaton Field in Mount Greenwood, head coach Mike Feminis was presented with an important decision to make with his team…

High School Football Wrap: Week 4 | St. Laurence has Ball in win over Providence
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent Providence has won 10 state championships and finished runner-up four times, including last season in Class 4A. So how did St. Laurence’s student body celebrate the Vikings’ second-ever victory over the Celtics, 31-24, last Friday night in Burbank? With an old-fashioned field-storming. St. Laurence senior Aaron Ball scored the…

Veggies, flowers in abundance this harvest season
Spread the love. By Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place • (773) 504-9327 Have you been harvesting your tomatoes or enjoying the gift of home-grown tomatoes from a neighbor or friend? The hot and dry beginning of summer and the intermittent rains made for an abundance of a variety of veggies…
Neighbors

Welch introduces bill to allow legislative staff to unionize
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, has filed legislation that would, for the first time in Illinois, authorize legislative staff to form a union and engage in collective bargaining. House Bill 4148, creating the Legislative Employee Labor Relations Act, comes in response to a monthslong effort…

In joint effort, election authorities try to tamp down misinformation
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Six months before the next presidential primary elections in Illinois, county clerks and other local election authorities are asking for the public’s help in stopping misinformation campaigns before they get started. Officials from 25 counties scheduled a series of news conferences Tuesday in Tazewell, McLean and…

As state Supreme Court weighs another BIPA lawsuit, lawmakers mull child data privacy framework
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois [email protected] In Springfield on Thursday, the medical industry went to court. The Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a pair of class action suits brought by two suburban nurses, Lucille Mosby and Yana Mazya, who allege their employers violated the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, a landmark 2008…

State’s high court opens new interactive learning center
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – In 1946, the Illinois Supreme Court heard a case that would eventually become a landmark in American legal history. The public school district in Champaign, like many other districts in Illinois at the time, allowed a group of local religious leaders to use their schools to…

Biden administration responds to calls from Pritzker, other leaders, for help in migrant crisis
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – The Department of Homeland Security will speed up the processing of work authorizations for asylum seekers and extend Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelan migrants, actions that could help thousands of migrants who have arrived in Illinois in recent months. Those moves were announced by the Biden…

Former Illinois State Police trooper who pleaded guilty in relation to deadly crash postpones hearing
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] Matt Mitchell, the former Illinois State Police trooper who caused a high-speed, distracted-driving crash that killed sisters Kelli and Jessica Uhl, has asked to delay his Sept. 20 hearing for the reinstatement of his driver’s license. Henry Haupt, a spokesperson for Illinois Secretary of State Alex Giannoulias, said…

As SAFE-T Act goes live, murder suspects previously eligible to post bond are held in jail
By BETH HUNDSDORFER & HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois [email protected] In courtrooms around the state early this week, judges conducted the first hearings under a new system that determines whether a defendant will be jailed while awaiting trial based on dangerousness and risk of fleeing prosecution, rather than their ability to post bail. The abolition…

New State Police rules for assault weapons permits will take effect Oct. 1
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Illinoisans who own weapons that can no longer be purchased or sold in the state under its new assault weapons ban will soon be able to register those weapons so they can legally keep them. The law, officially known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, bans…

Ahead of cash bail’s end, state’s replacement pretrial justice system takes shape
By JERRY NOWICKI & HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois [email protected] Beginning Monday, state courts in Illinois will be prohibited from jailing individuals who are accused – but not convicted – of crimes simply because they cannot afford to post bail while they await trial. Monetary bond will be abolished in favor of a system that…

Disparately resourced public defenders prepare for the end of cash bail in Illinois
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois [email protected] Illinois on Monday will become the first state to fully abolish cash bail through an act of the legislature — a major criminal justice overhaul spurred by the advocacy of a progressive faction of the Democratic Party that’s grown increasingly powerful in recent years. The reform goes into…