Chicago Sun-Times

Oldest male chimp in North America dies at Lincoln Park Zoo

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:14:27 -0500

If chimps could talk, they probably would have asked Keo how he lived so long. The chimp was 55 when staff at the Lincoln Park Zoo euthanized him Monday morning due to advanced cardiac disease. Keo was the oldest male chimp at any zoo in North America, according to Lincoln Park officials.

October begins feeling like summer

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:14:53 -0500

Don’t expect fall weather to go along with your pumpkin spiced coffee — the temperature is expected to climb into the 80s by Tuesday afternoon.

Man kills wife, himself after trying out for ‘Family Feud’: sources

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:57:55 -0500

Marcus T. Crosby and family members tried out for the popular game show on Sunday, but his wife, Kearra Hosey did not, a source said. Will County Sheriff’s police said officers responded to a report of shots fired at 12:08 a.m. Monday at a Joliet Township house, where officers found Hosey, 35, and Crosby, 36, with fatal gunshot wounds, police said.

Negotiations suspended for mayor’s plans for Port Authority District

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:25:08 -0500

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s grand plan to privatize the Illinois Port Authority District to create hundreds of jobs and capitalize on its vast untapped potential hit a political barge Monday. The Broe Group, the Colorado company that had pledged to invest $500 million in port facilities over the next decade, “amicably suspended” negotiations on a master lease after being unable to reach agreement with the Port District. “The Broe Group presented a proposal that had significant economic benefits. We made excellent progress on many details. However, we were unable to come to full agreement in our negotiations with the Port District …

Officials: Inmate escapee shouldn’t have been working at animal facility

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:24:57 -0500

A Cook County jail inmate who got away from Chicago’s Animal Care and Control facility had a violent history that should have disqualified him from that work detail, the sheriff’s office acknowledged Monday. Cara Smith, chief of policy and communications for the sheriff’s office, said an investigation is under way to determine who is responsible for waiving the rules to benefit Vincent Tervel. On Saturday, Tervel was one of 16 inmates assigned to clean dog kennels and feed and water dogs when he walked away from the city pound at 2741 S. Western shortly before noon. He was re-captured four …

No one at controls when Blue Line train crashed into occupied train

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 07:39:17 -0500

A Chicago Transit Authority video shows no one at the helm of an “out-of-service” CTA train as it rammed into an occupied train at the Harlem station during morning rush hour, CTA officials said a preliminary review indicated Monday.

Police shoot man in Auburn Gresham neighborhood

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 08:57:31 -0500

Chicago Police shot a man who they say pointed a gun at officers Monday night in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side. The shooting happened about 9:30 p.m. in the 1300 block of West 76th Street. When police approached the man, he ran to the middle of the block, up a driveway and pulled a gun from his waistband according to Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden. The man pointed the gun at officers and was shot in the elbow, he said.

Man questioned after missing woman’s body found in Glen Ellyn

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:38:01 -0500

The body of Linda Valez, 33, was found in a forested area of Panfish Park on Saturday. There was evidence that Valez had been stabbed, though her official cause of death has not yet been determined, Glen Ellyn police said. No charges had been filed as of late Monday afternoon.

Suburban County kids have higher obesity rates than national average

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:14:51 -0500

Schoolchildren in suburban Cook County have higher than average rates of obesity, and the rate for kindergartners is up to 40 percent higher than the national average, a study found. The study of kindergarteners, sixth- and ninth-graders in suburban Cook Count during the 2010-2012 school years, also found striking differences across the county — obesity rates in west suburbs are twice as high as rates for students in north suburbs.

Countdown over, Affordable Care Act takes off Tuesday

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:24:36 -0500

Listen up, uninsured: Tuesday is the first day you can see if you’ll qualify for new options for health insurance, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. It’s also the first day Illinoisans should finally be able to get a good sense of how much that new insurance price might cost.

Guilty plea in 2011 rape of suburban student near Congress Theater

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:16:04 -0500

One of three teenagers charged with beating, raping and robbing an 18-year-old north suburban student outside a New Year’s Eve concert on the Northwest Side in 2011 pleaded guilty on Monday.

As shutdown looms, federal employees in Chicago protest

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:24:15 -0500

Unionized federal workers bracing for a government shutdown angrily called on Congress to end its budgetary stalemate Monday, saying furloughs would hurt the economy and the delivery of important services.

Man shaving while driving — 1 of dozens stopped on Kennedy

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:15:51 -0500

Illinois State Police troopers stopped a man for shaving while driving on the Kennedy Expy. during a sting on distracted drivers Monday morning, officials said. The man was issued a warning, but about 135 other motorists were ticketed for distracted driving between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., officials said.

Cook Co.’s top prosecutor takes lead in trial of alleged cop killer

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:15:17 -0500

Four years ago, Chicago Police Officer Alejandro “Alex” Valadez became another “grim statistic,” Cook County’s top prosecutor told a jury Monday. Then Anita Alvarez pointed to Christopher Harris, 24, an alleged gunman seated quietly nearby wearing glasses and a dark cardigan sweater. “And this defendant?” Alvarez said. “Well, this defendant became a murderer.”

Retired CTA vice president is Preckwinkle pick for Metra board

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 02:15:01 -0500

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is nominating a Chicago Transit Authority vice president to the Metra board.

Government shutdown could affect thousands of fed workers in Chicago

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 02:13:04 -0500

Most of those thought of as federal employees will be expected to show up anyway, even if they are not being paid. That would include sworn personnel at Naval Station Great Lakes near North Chicago. Social Security checks will be issued, and Medicare and Medicaid business will be processed. Air-traffic controllers Transportation Security Administration workers will be at their posts. Veterans hospitals would remain open and the mail will be delivered.