http://www.suntimes.com/news/index.html http://www.suntimes.com/images/cst_logo_300.gif http://www.suntimes.com/news/index.html Copyright 2008 Digital Chicago News en-us Former Gov. Jim Thompson said Friday he can’t understand why the Cubs are still touting the idea of renovating Wrigley Field with sales and amusement tax growth when a plan to finance the $400 million overhaul without raising taxes is sitting on Tribune Co. CEO Sam Zell’s desk.

]]> FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter ]]> ]]> STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter spatterson@suntimes.com ]]> GUY TRIDGELL Staff writer]]> Wheel of Fortune, helping them win more than $100,000 in cash and prizes. Close to 100 of their friends and family gathered Thursday night to watch the Oswego brothers take their shot at prime-time glory.

]]> Bob Rakow Correspondent]]> STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter spatterson@suntimes.com ]]> Chicago Police are investigating an alleged sexual assault at a South Side elementary school this week.

]]> LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporter ldonovan@suntimes.com ]]>
]]> FRANK ABDERHOLDEN fabderholden@scn1.com]]> Cook County Board President Todd Stroger will move to fire Public Defender Ed Burnette in just 11 days.

]]> STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter spatterson@suntimes.com ]]> LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporter ldonovan@suntimes.com ]]> KARA SPAK Staff Reporter/kspak@suntimes.com ]]> When Henry Webster joined the Chicago Fire Department in 1950, there were only 66 African-American firefighters.

]]> FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com ]]> FRANCINE KNOWLES fknowles@suntimes.com ]]> ]]> Arthritis affects more than half of adults diagnosed with diabetes, and having the painful joint condition may keep many diabetics from exercising, according to a government report released Thursday.

]]> MONIFA THOMAS Health Reporter/mjthomas@suntimes.com ]]> SPRINGFIELD -- Legislation to combat ''pay to play'' politics in Illinois advanced to the Senate floor Thursday, where its future is uncertain because of what the Senate president calls a ''gaping loophole.''

]]> A tip that a Lake Forest investment broker might have ties to a militia group led to a Thursday morning raid on his sprawling home, netting dozens of guns -- including three .50-caliber weapons known for their massive firepower, authorities said.

]]> ANNIE SWEENEY AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters ]]> When Lauren Thorbjornsen was to earn her degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois last year, there was one problem: her father, Chuck, an Army reservist, was stationed in Kuwait and couldn't attend the ceremony.

]]> DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporter/dnewbart@suntimes.com ]]> ]]> MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter/mihejirika@suntimes.com ]]> SPRINGFIELD -- Saying he's tired of the House "pimping" the Senate, Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) said he'll try to change a bill so lawmakers who vote against raises won't get the extra cash.

]]> For five turbulent years, the regular midnight basketball game in south suburban Markham provided R. Kelly's shelter from the stresses of the world.

]]> The judge in Grammy-winning artist R. Kelly’s child pornography case this morning denied a defense motion to delay the trial and ruled that jury selection can begin.

]]> Sun-Times Exclusive: An aide to R. Kelly allegedly paid off a woman to get her to return an incriminating sex videotape featuring the R&B singer, a judge was told in closed-door hearings last month. It is not clear how much Kelly's aide allegedly paid the woman.]]> ERIC HERMAN AND NATASHA KORECKI Staff Reporters ]]> Northern Illinois University's head has a $7.7 million plan to remodel the lecture hall where a gunman killed five people before killing himself on Feb. 14. NIU President John Peters said Thursday that Cole Hall's facade will be updated and the auditorium that was the site of the killings will no longer be a classroom.

]]> ]]> DETROIT---- General Motors Corp. said Thursday that the shaky real estate market convinced the automaker that it was a good time to buy its previously leased headquarters in downtown Detroit's towering Renaissance Center for $626 million.

]]> NEWARK, N.J. -- A rare international alert seeking a man shown in dozens of raw child porn images quickly led to the arrest of a small-time actor, who painted faces at children's parties and performed as ''the best Santa Claus anyone has ever seen.''

]]> WASHINGTON -- Seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong is calling on Congress to renew the nation's war on cancer.

]]> SPRINGFIELD -- Saying he's tired of the House "pimping" the Senate, Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) said he'll try to change a bill so lawmakers who vote against raises won't get the extra cash.

]]> KARA SPAK Staff Reporter/kspak@suntimes.com ]]> SPRINGFIELD -- Legislation to combat ''pay to play'' politics in Illinois advanced to the Senate floor Thursday, where its future is uncertain because of what the Senate president calls a ''gaping loophole.''

]]> CHARLESTON, W. Va. -- Her voice raspy, her tone determined, Hillary Clinton urged supporters Thursday to ignore the political pundits who have declared her toast.

]]> CRAWFORD, Texas -- President Bush stuck out his right elbow Thursday, jokingly demonstrating how he'll escort his daughter down the aisle at her wedding this weekend.

]]> WASHINGTON -- The House voted for cheaper change Thursday, the kind that would make pennies and nickels worth more than they cost to make and save the country $100 million a year.

]]> ISTANBUL, Turkey -- A land mine explosion blamed on Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey killed four people and injured four others Friday, officials said.

]]> BAGHDAD -- The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, an Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

]]> JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denied fresh accusations that he illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a U.S. citizen but said Thursday night that he will step down if he is indicted.

]]> WARSAW, Poland -- A train exhibition honoring Jewish children sent to death camps by the Nazis opened Thursday at a station near the former Auschwitz death camp in Poland.

]]> YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar's military regime allowed in the first major international aid shipment Thursday, but it snubbed a U.S. offer to help cyclone victims struggling to recover from a tragedy of unimaginable scale.

]]> North Korea hands over nuclear reactor data]]> KARA SPAK Staff Reporter/kspak@suntimes.com ]]> When Lauren Thorbjornsen was to earn her degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Illinois last year, there was one problem: her father, Chuck, an Army reservist, was stationed in Kuwait and couldn't attend the ceremony.

]]> DAVE NEWBART Staff Reporter/dnewbart@suntimes.com ]]> Chicago Police are investigating an alleged sexual assault at a South Side elementary school this week.

]]> LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporter ldonovan@suntimes.com ]]> ]]> MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter/mihejirika@suntimes.com ]]>