Chicago Sun-Times

Boutique owners say smells from barbecue joint are smoking them out

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:18:08 -0600

The owners of the Urban Sole boutique in La Grange say they’re going to close up shop because they can’t take the smell anymore from the Q BBQ restaurant next door.

O’Hare Airport joining pre-check screening program

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:27:26 -0600

A new passenger-screening program to make check-in more convenient and quicker for pre-checked frequent fliers is being expanded to O’Hare Airport and other major U.S. airports. By the end of march, some frequent fliers on Delta Air Lines and American Airlines will be able to move through faster airport security lines at O’Hare, Reagan Washington National, New York’s JFK and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Wheeling man to be sentenced in erectile-pump case

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:00:01 -0600

A Wheeling man is set to learn his punishment Friday for shipping unwanted penis enlargers to diabetes patients as part of a scheme that bilked Medicare of more than $2.2 million. Gary Winner, 49, will be sentenced in federal court in Providence, R.I.

Construction worker falls into lake, pulled out by co-workers

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:06:23 -0600

A construction worker was pulled out of Lake Michigan by co-workers on the South Side Friday morning after falling into the water, police said. About 7:15 a.m., the female construction worker, who was working on a new harbor at 31st Street, fell into the lake, police News Affairs Officer Michael Sullivan said. The woman was pulled out by co-workers and though fire and police personnel responded to the scene, she refused medical treatment, Sullivan said. Crews have been working on a new $102 million harbor project 31st Street Beach, including 1,000 new boat slips and a nearby single-story building housing …

Woman charged in wrong-way Lake Shore Drive crash

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:08:37 -0600

A woman has been charged in Thursday morning’s wrong-way crash on Lake Shore Drive that injured her and two others. Carneris Wiggins, 29, of the 2000 block of West 111th Street, has been charged aggravated DUI resulting in an accident causing bodily harm. She was also cited with driving the wrong way on a one-way street, failure to reduce street, driving without insurance and driving without a driver’s license. Two people were critically injured early Thursday in a three-car South Loop crash that involved a wrong-way driver and temporarily shut down the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive. Emergency crews …

California memorial service for Cornelius next week

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:06:00 -0600

A memorial service — with tributes from Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson — will be held for “Soul Train” founder Don Cornelius Feb. 16 in Hollywood Hills, Calif. Cornelius, the former 75-year-old South Side native who died Feb. 1 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his California home, will be memorialized at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. His family is expecting around 1,000 friends and family members at the “semi-private” service. The Rev. Jesse Jackson will give the eulogy. Others expected to pay tribute are Lionel Richie, George Duke and Donnie McClurkin. On Thursday, Cornelius was cremated. Son Tony Cornelius said …

Three injured in shooting outside Near West Side restaurant

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:22:41 -0600

Three people are in critical condition after being shot Thursday night behind a Michelin-rated restaurant on the Near West Side. Police said the shooting happened about 8:15 p.m. in the 1400 block of West Cortez Street. Three people were shot and all were taken to area hospitals in serious to critical condition, according to Fire Media Affairs. One person was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital while two were taken to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County. Brian Carver, a longtime customer at the Frontier restaurant at 1072 N. Milwaukee Ave., said he arrived at the restaurant shortly after …

Conner on Obama playlist: From Jennifer Hudson to the Boss to Aretha to ELO to Ledisi

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:18:55 -0600

The chief digs his music, that much is clear. That was a credible Al Green impression President Barack Obama slipped into a speech during a Jan. 19 fund-raising event at the famed Apollo Theater. Not only did the YouTube clip of the singer-in-chief go viral, it became its own music-industry stimulus package: Downloads of Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” briefly jumped nearly 500 percent. So it’s no surprise to see that track on Obama’s official campaign playlist, unveiled on Thursday. These are the songs he’ll be blaring at campaign events, so perhaps we should be reading between the song titles for …

Jury awards $1.35 to family of man slain by police

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:05:52 -0600

A federal jury awarded $1.35 million to the family of a man shot to death by an off-duty Chicago Police officer after a confrontation at a Northwest Side bar, an attorney for the family said Thursday. Officer Edward Yerke fatally shot Kenneth Elrod and his friend Demetri Centera on April 7, 2006. Attorney Gregory Kulis represented the family of Elrod in a lawsuit against Yerke, the city and other officers. Kulis said a jury awarded Elrod’s family $1.25 million in the shooting and $100,000 in connection with an allegation that another officer used excessive force on Elrod in a bar …

U of I prof to governor: End Champaign’s ‘orgiastic defilement of Saint Patrick’

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:20:11 -0600

A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign law professor is asking Gov. Pat Quinn to stop the area’s “unofficial” St. Patrick’s Day celebration, calling the annual drunkfest an “orgiastic defilement of Saint Patrick.” Prof. Francis Boyle, who teaches international human rights law and has nominated former Gov. George Ryan for multiple Nobel Peace Prizes, wants Quinn to invoke emergency powers to suspend all Champaign liquor licenses on March 2, this year’s date for the party known simply as “Unofficial.” The governor’s “first name is Patrick and hopefully he would be concerned his patron saint is being defiled in this way by …

Eleven inmates released by county despite immigration detainers have reoffended

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:18:49 -0600

Rather than being turned over to immigration authorities, 346 Cook County jail inmates have walked out of jail without delay after posting bond, serving their sentence or having their case dropped in the nearly five months since county commissioners passed a controversial immigration ordinance. From that group, 11 were freed only to be arrested again on new charges for drunken driving, theft and drug possession. That’s according to Sheriff Tom Dart, boss at the 9,300-inmate jail, and among those testifying at a Thursday public hearing convened by the county board that OK’d the new policy. Now there’s a new push …

Prosecutors: Man stabbed Naperville teacher, sipped beer then walked away

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:19:47 -0600

After stabbing Naperville teacher Shaun Wild in the chest at a packed Naperville nightclub, Daniel Olaska casually took a sip of his beer before walking away, DuPage County authorities alleged Thursday.

Rahm Emanuel proposes $65 per-gun fee and registry

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:19:05 -0600

Illinois handgun owners would be required to register their weapons with the state — and pay a $65-per-gun registration fee — under a mayoral plan proposed Thursday to arm police with the information they need to solve crimes and reduce illegal firearm transfers. Even as he picked up the gun control mantle from former Mayor Richard M. Daley, Mayor Rahm Emanuel acknowledged that he’s facing an uphill battle. It comes at a time when the National Rifle Association and its allies among Downstate lawmakers are making a major push for concealed carry legislation. Illinois is the only state in the …

Federal Reserve makes contingency plans for summits

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:20:21 -0600

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said Thursday it has “extensive contingency plans” that would allow its employees to “work from home” or from an “off-site location” in the event that demonstrations turn ugly during the NATO and G-8 summits. The bank is located at 230 S. LaSalle in the heart of Chicago’s financial district. It is the first major business to raise the possibility of relocating its employees during the May 19-21 summit expected to draw President Barack Obama and other world leaders to McCormick Place. The Federal Reserve’s carefully-worded statement talked about the “threat of possible disruptions” without …

Man guilty of killing teen by wrongly thinking SUV had rivals

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:19:23 -0600

A Cook County jury Thursday found a purported Latin King guilty of murdering a teen and injuring her friends when he mistakenly identified them as rivals and rammed into their SUV after they got lost on the West Side in 2009.

Illinois to get $1B in mortgage deal

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:39:33 -0600

Illinois is expected to receive about $1 billion in a multi-state settlement with the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders, Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Thursday.