Paula Stark stood on a neighbor's stoop Wednesday and smoked a cigarette as she watched photographers and reporters staking out her home down the street. She and her husband, Len Wawczak, were the next big thing in the Drew Peterson story, and she was feeling overwhelmed.
• Chat arts with Hedy Weiss at 3:30 p.m.Memorial to students finds 'perfect place'
Once headed for the trash heap, they now will be exhibited at the Field Museum of Natural History. Nicholson Elementary's "Memorial Chair Project" -- two dozen-plus empty chairs representing Chicago Public Schools children murdered last school year -- did find a home, in quite prominent real estate. Bearing victims' names, schools, photos and inscriptions, the chairs will be on exhibit at the Field Museum during August.
• Drew's wired pals lie low
• Feds: Cop got up to $800 a week in tow truck bribes
• County doc's private deals
• Attorney's mother receives threatening note
• Feared mobster Frank 'The German' Schweihs dead
• Home sales in Chicago area drop sharply
• First charged in quintuple homicide pleads not guilty
• Third woman charged in June attack on pregnant woman
• No property tax increase for schools this year
• Five left in bid for the Cubs
• Two planes nearly collide over O'Hare, NTSB says
• Plan to use private cameras to help city surveillance
• Sports auction for heavy hitters only
• The list: County campaign cash
• Nurse's aide gets 3 1/2 years in prison
• Does Bartman want to make a quick $25,000?
• Trial set for cop in bar beating
• Shh! Cubs have surprise for boy hurt by foul ball
• Street-sweeper cameras OKd
• City to make weekend high-rise inspections
• CTA worker injured after touching third rail
• Suit claims paralyzed man beaten by Chicago cops
• Chicago Ridge man hit by car near Bridgeview courthouse
• SUV crashes into playground at Bartlett school
• Hate crime charge upheld against trio
• Tinley back-up computer tape lost, personal info for thousands is lost
• U. of I. to pay $13 mil. in malpractice lawsuits
• Metro briefs
• Lenders not required to take part in Housing Rescue bill
• New Lenox toddler drowns after riding trike into pool
South Texas gets first look at Dolly's damage
Hurricane Dolly slammed ashore and then loitered over deep south Texas as a tropical storm, dumping as much as a foot of rain in places and ripping roofs off buildings with 100 mph winds. Emergency managers waited for Dolly to move on late into the night Wednesday and hoped to begin assessing the storm's damage Thursday even as they began to rescue people from flooded or damaged homes.
• Okla. crane fall kills man watching construction • U.S. Olympic swimmer fails drug test
• Woman robbed of $22,000 she kept in sock
• Police see communication key to convention peace
• Schwarzenegger threatens minimum wage for workers
• Feds to release report on Utah mine disaster
• Sony opens up e-book Reader to other booksellers
• Vast oil, natural gas reserves estimated in Arctic
• Amazon shrugs off high gas prices, weak economy
• Facebook to help some programmers, punish others
• Ford posts $8.7B 2Q loss on asset write-downs
• XM, Sirius would pay $19 million fine
• GOP kills effort to release oil from US stockpile
• Existing home sales fall 2.6 percent in June
• Mom gives up lawsuit to get money from girl who jilted her son
• Woman saves herself from bear
• Homeowner kills herself hours before foreclosure
Obama to Berlin: 'This is our time'
BERLIN — Before an enormous crowd, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama on Thursday summoned Europeans and Americans together to ‘‘defeat terror and dry up the well of extremism that supports it’’ as surely as they conquered communism a generation ago.
• Racing chief wins S&M orgy case
• Gunmen kill 3 US-allied fighters in Sunni area
• Female suicide bomber kills 8 in Iraq
• Rice defends US-India nuclear deal
• Young dinosaur recovered by Japanese, Mongolian scientists
• Helicopter rescues 2 Italian climbers
• Obama to Jerusalem Post: I'll do all I can to foil Iranian nuke race
• China clamps down on issuing business visas
• Iran ends cooperation with UN nuclear arms probe
• Obama in high-stakes talks with leaders
• Serbia seeks key to Karadzic's false identity
• IOC says no Iraq team will go to Beijing
• Racing boss Mosley wins lawsuit against tabloid
• Israel to build new settlement in West Bank
• Libya halts oil shipments to Switzerland to protest arrest of Gadhafi's son
• Report: Aftershock leaves at least 5 injured in China
• Dwarf comedy stunt shocks Swedish airport staff; police called to investigate
Hester runs from Bears ... And who can blame him?
Jay Mariotti: He didn’t posture and break off talks, as Tommie Harris did. He didn’t hiss and moan like a child and threaten to blow off training camp, as Brian Urlacher did. Even on the spring day when Robbie Gould — a terrific kicker but, still, a kicker — cashed in for a cool $15.5 million, Devin Hester didn’t whine publicly about the farcical injustice that his own contract had become.
• Hester plays hardball
• Reed all about hit
• SPORTS WIRE: James puts guarantee on gold medal for U.S.
• U.S. Olympic swimmer fails drug test
• Sports auction for heavy hitters only
• Five left in bid for the Cubs
• Hot Fan Contest is heating up!
• IOC says no Iraq team will go to Beijing
Five left in bid for the Cubs
David Roeder: The Chicago Cubs have culled the number of bids for the team to five, all at $1 billion or more, and tossed out an offer from a group regarded as the favorite of Major League Baseball, sources said Wednesday. Making the cut as the Cubs winnowed the list of bids from an original 10 respondents was Mark Cuban, owner of basketball’s Dallas Mavericks, said a source familiar with the process. The identity of the other finalists couldn’t be learned.
• Lenders not required to take part in Housing Rescue bill
• Don & Roma in no hurry to leave WLS
• Kiddie porn from Levi's?
• Home sales in Chicago area drop sharply
• Oil bounces back after dropping a day earlier
• Stocks pull back ahead of existing home sales data
• National City loses $1.8 billion
• Live blog: A die-hard Packer fan's trek to Green Bay
• New layoff filings jump as companies retrench
• U. of I. to pay $13 mil. in malpractice lawsuits
• Ford posts $8.7B 2Q loss on asset write-downs
• Existing home sales fall 2.6 percent in June
• Grand jury investigating subprime lenders
• GOP kills effort to release oil from US stockpile
• Vast oil, natural gas reserves estimated in Arctic
• Feds to release report on Utah mine disaster
• XM, Sirius would pay $19 million fine
• Cold reception for those seeking the new iPhone
• Business brief
• Mortgage crisis hits home for one Matteson trustee
• 'Call to action' meeting on EJ&E sale draws 1,500
Ebert on time with Siskel: The balcony is closed
Roger Ebert: I was surprised how depressed I felt all day Monday, when Richard and I
announced we were leaving the “Ebert & Roeper” program. Somehow I thought the show that Gene Siskel and I began would roll on forever. How many other TV formats had survived so long?
• Canasta deals a winning hand in orchestral pop• Fleetwood Mac to tour, record — but without Sheryl Crow
• O.A.R. stays afloat with free show
• No Roeper? No Ebert? 'Feels like the end of an era'
• Chat arts with Hedy Weiss at 3:30 p.m.
• John Mellencamp still rocks, but ages gracefully
• Scurrilous: Chicago's No. 1 couch potato
Where has size 12 gone?
The size 12 woman loves her Gap, H&M and Ann Taylor. We can always find and fit into some affordable khakis -- and have our choice of colors and leg lengths. But what if we don't want to look like the woman sitting two seats away from us on the bus? What if we're in the mood to throw some hard-earned cash at some pricey designer clothes from a cute little boutique?
• Shh! Cubs have surprise for boy hurt by foul ball
• Obamas' family rules: No whining, make bed
• 'Call to action' meeting on EJ&E sale draws 1,500
• Update: Missing cat found, safe and sound
TODAY'S COMMENTARY
• Letters to the Editor
• Editorials
• Jim DeRogatis : Blog headlines
Canasta deals a winning hand in orchestral pop
• Ask Ellie : Hubby gets high and she flies off handle about it
• Robert Feder : Don & Roma in no hurry to leave WLS
• Sandra Guy : Lenders not required to take part in Housing Rescue bill
• Dave Hoekstra : John Mellencamp still rocks, but ages gracefully
• Horoscopes : Holiday Mathis horoscopes for July 24
Georgia Nicols horoscopes for July 24
Astrological questions
• Lewis Lazare : Kiddie porn from Levi's?
• Letters to the Editor : Forget road-building, invest in mass transit
• Jay Mariotti : Hester runs from Bears ... And who can blame him?
• Mary Mitchell : Blog headlines
Ebony covers the real meaning of 'black cool'
• Mike Mulligan : Hester's risky business
• Robert Novak : GI suffrage gets few votes in Congress
• QT : Obama's foreign policy surprise
• Richard Roeper : If he cashes in, Bartman could get big payday
• Lynn Sweet : Blog headlines
Obama in high-stakes talks with leaders
Obama helps mom's campaign to get 4 kids back
• The Watchdogs : County doc's private deals
The list: County campaign cash
• Hedy Weiss : Fall theater seasons announced
Giordanao, Kirov plan inspired dance programming
Chat arts with Hedy Weiss at 3:30 p.m.
• Bill Zwecker : Finding Bale's dark side
Headline links will remain live for 30 days. To subscribe to the Chicago Sun-Times print edition, please call 1-888-848-4637.