Metering is ON

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Field Museum exhibit puts Genghis Khan’s modern-day progeny in the millions

Genghis Khan was a lover and a fighter. The 13th century Mongolian warlord made his reputation on the battlefield. But with more than 16 million men throughout Asia currently carrying a Y-chromosome believed to descend from him, he apparently also had quite the reputation with …

Fewer restaurants interested in shorter Taste of Chicago

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Chicago restaurants are not exactly chomping at the bit to participate in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to shrink and revamp the Taste of Chicago. Only 40 restaurants applied to participate for the five-day festival, prompting the city to extend Tuesday’s deadline until Friday.

Lawyer: Man rammed ex-wife’s car, shot her six times in self defense

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Jerry L. Hudson of Bolingbrook is on trial in DuPage County on charges he murdered his ex-wife, Melissa Bridgewater, outside an Oak Brook hotel on Jan. 1, 2010.

Man charged with shooting cop in hand held without bail

A South Side man was ordered held without bail Wednesday for shooting and injuring a Chicago Police officer over the weekend. Cortez Ross, 21, of the 4300 block of South Champlain, is facing attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery charges. Prosecutors said at 4 p.m. …

Gov. Pat Quinn on pension mess: ‘Everything is on the table’

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Gov. Pat Quinn took his case for a budgetary crash diet directly to state lawmakers Wednesday, pushing a grim assortment of prison closures and spending cuts in a spending plan that he said was built around “hard realities.”

Judge: Park Ridge man’s widow can sue over fatal bear mauling

A federal judge in Cheyenne, Wyo., has rejected the federal government’s claim that it can’t be sued over the fatal bear mauling of a Park Ridge man near Yellowstone National Park.Erwin F. Evert — a 70-year-old botanist who had lived with his wife in a …

Daley pal lands new city contract

A clout-heavy contractor who made millions from former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s affinity for wrought-iron fences has been awarded a $2.7 million airport contract by Mayor Rahm Emanuel for which the company was the lone bidder.

The latest in a gravy train of city contracts …

Car hits building after rowdy passenger grabs wheel

A vehicle plowed into a building in the Northwest Side Logan Square neighborhood early Wednesday after an intoxicated passenger apparently grabbed the wheel. The crash happened about 2 a.m. in the 2400 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said, citing …

Woman charged with DUI after wrong-way crash on Kennedy

Two people were hurt in an apparent wrong-way crash Wednesday morning on the outbound Kennedy Expressway.

Substitute teacher teacher fired in duct-taping incident

A veteran Indian Prairie School District 204 substitute teacher was fired after the instructor allegedly ordered a student at Graham Elementary School in Naperville to bind his own wrists together with duct tape. The incident happened Thursday and involved a 10-year-old boy enrolled at the …

How Girl Scouts helped her ‘become person I am’

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On Mar. 12, 1912, widowed socialite Juliette Gordon Low founded the American Girl Guides — later the Girl Scouts — with 18 girls in Savannah, Ga. Its mission: Building self-reliance and citizenship.

In 1917, the first African-American troop was started. The Girl Scouts stayed segregated …

Study disputes turnaround stats for failing Chicago schools

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One day before Chicago School Board members vote on whether to “turn around” a record number of flagging schools, a new study emerged Tuesday that dumped on the results of the city’s major turnaround vendor. About 33 neighborhood schools with at least 95 percent low-income students outscored equally poor schools “turned around’’ by the Academy for Urban School Leadership.

Facing discipline, morgue worker allegedly threatens to get a gun

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A Cook County morgue employee facing discipline threatened to go get a gun and bring it back to the West Side facility Tuesday, authorities said. Joel L. Neason, 58, a $51,398-a-year autopsy technician, made the threat after management informed him he could be fired, Cook County sheriff’s spokesman Frank Bilecki said. The disciplinary action against Neason arose from multiple investigations of bodies piling up and unhealthy working conditions at the facility, sources said.

Oak Park residents get electric bill for nearly $108,000

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An Oak Park couple was surprised to open their February electric bill and find it had gone up from the previous month’s bill — by more than $107,000.

State’s attorney: Releasing Koschman transcripts would ‘undermine’ case

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez is fighting an effort by the family of David Koschman to make public transcripts of witness interviews related to Koschman’s homicide case.

“The wholesale disclosure of the information that the petitioners request would disrupt the ongoing criminal investigation and …

South Side gang ‘wannabe’ gets 75 years for murder of 10-year-old girl caught in crossfire

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A South Side man was sentenced to 75 years in prison Tuesday for the murder of a 10-year-old girl caught in gang crossfire.

Raymond Jones, 22, was described by Cook County prosecutors as the gang banger “wannabe” who stored the .380 semiautomatic used in the …