metro
A child’s view of CPS’s historic school closings: ‘I just don’t get it, I don’t get it at all’
Folded and handwritten on a piece of lined notebook paper, it looked to Veronica Vasquez like a typical note a kid writes to a classmate. But the sheet of paper proved to be the first indication to Vasquez just how much it upset her 12-year-old daughter, Paula, that King Elementary School would soon close. The emotional note would describe how one child felt to be swept up in one of the nation’s largest mass school closings, starting Wednesday with King and 27 other Chicago Public Schools. Fighting tears, she, like many other children Wednesday, called her school a second home.
Homicide Watch
Boy, 13, seriously hurt in Aurora hit-and-run
Aurora police are searching for a driver who fled after hitting and seriously injuring 13-year-old boy as he tried to cross the street Wednesday evening in the western suburb. The boy was trying to cross Talma Street at 5th Avenue about 5 p.m. when the …
RTA officials: Aging population means an increase public transit ridership
The Chicago area’s population of 60 to 64 year-olds has jumped 19 percent in recent years, boding a “silver tsunami” of opportunity to increase public transit ridership, RTA officials said Wednesday. But the jump in Chicago area seniors between 2007 and 2011 also represents a …
Crowds wait in line for Chick-fil-A fill
They really must want their fill of Chick-fil-A.
Roughly 80 people gathered outside the popular fast food chain’s new restaurant at State and Lake Wednesday hoping to win a free combo meal every week for a year as part of the company’s promotional grand opening …
Wife of former CeaseFire director files for divorce
In the wake of accusing him of domestic battery, the wife of the former director of CeaseFire Illinois filed for divorce this week, citing irreconcilable differences.
Alison Hardiman filed her petition Tuesday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, nearly three weeks after her husband, …
Illinois Legislature votes for conference committee to solve pension fiasco
SPRINGFIELD-In a rare special session move, the Illinois Legislature voted Wednesday to form a conference committee of lawmakers to solve the state’s $97 billion pension fiasco over concerns that a July 9 deadline imposed by Gov. Pat Quinn would not be enough time.
After years …
Nine students suffer minor injuries in pepper spray mishap
Nine students at a Near North Side bilingual public elementary school were hospitalized for minor injuries Wednesday afternoon after a student accidentally discharged pepper spray in the building. A student was apparently playing with a can of pepper spray when it went off about 3:20 …
Museum of Science and Industry celebrates 80th birthday with 80 artifacts
As a five-year-old boy, a wide-eyed Bert Benade stepped into the Museum of Science and Industry in 1933 to see its very first exhibit.
“The only thing they had was the coal mine,” said, Benade, 86, a longtime volunteer. “The wings were empty. No three …
Families occupy closed school in protest
Nidalis Burgos learned how to play the violin at Lafayette Elementary School. It’s what brought the 15-year-old from “dim to light,” she said.
When the Humboldt Park school’s bell rang for the last time Wednesday, Burgos couldn’t bear the thought of other kids not having …
Northlake dad gets 30-month prison sentence in Kansas child-binding case
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Northlake man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for binding and blindfolding two of his children in a Wal-Mart parking lot in eastern Kansas.
Cook Co. board cuts tax on out-of-county purchases
The Cook County Board voted Wednesday to cut a tax that mostly applies to business purchases made outside of the county.
USGS: Asian carp eggs can incubate in more areas
Two species of invasive Asian carp may be able to spawn in more Great Lakes tributaries than previously thought, according to a new report from the U.S. Geological Survey.
Bike cops nab suspect in State St. robbery of woman on crutches
The thief picked an easy mark. A woman leaning on crutches and glancing at her cellphone as she tried to hail a taxi in the Loop Tuesday evening.
Body found in lake identified as missing U. of C. student
The body of a man found in the waters off the 39th Street beach Wednesday morning has been identified as a University of Chicago student missing since last week.
Lisa Madigan’s major campaign issue? Her dad, rival’s poll finds
There’s no question that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is personally popular statewide. However, while more than half of voters have a good opinion of her, her powerful father, Speaker Michael Madigan, could definitely be a campaign issue. Support for Lisa Madigan’s potential run for governor tumbles considerably when her father enters the picture, according to a campaign poll released to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Report: Busiest ‘structurally deficient’ bridge in area is Kennedy Expy. over Ashland
Drive the bridge on the Kennedy Expressway over Ashland Avenue, and you will be traveling the busiest “structurally deficient’’ bridge in the six-county area. The bridge is one of 73 in Chicago and 326 in the six-county area identified as being “structurally deficient,’’ based on a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of 2012 federal bridge data. The nation is littered with such bridges –– structures in need of “significant maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement,’’ according to a recent Transportation for America study that urges dedicated federal money for bridge repair.
