Local News
By Steve Metsch It’s not often a service organization hits 100 years. But there are not many service organizations like the Lyons Mustangs Athletic Club. “We don’t know of any other organization anywhere around here, maybe in the city of Chicago, but maybe around here that has made it 100 years. It’s quite a feat.…
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By Steve Metsch The popular Music in the Park series will begin a six-week run on July 10 at Veterans Park in Lyons. Bands will perform from 6 to 9 p.m. each Wednesday through Aug. 14, said Ted Tale, director of parks and recreation for the village. Each night will “feature a vendor with food…
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Lyons boy, 10, heads to boxing nationals By Steve Metsch Dario Lemus Jr., has yet to knock out an opponent in the boxing ring. Give him time. After all, the 10-year-old Lyons boy has only been boxing for 18 months. “I’ve dropped two kids, but not like a knockout,” Dario said with a smile. Chances…
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By Steve Metsch Held under sunny and warm skies Sunday, the annual Father’s Day Car Show in Lyons was deemed a smashing success by participants and visitors. Not only were car lovers able to admire the four-wheeled beauties, some owners spent quality time with Dad or a spouse. Don Raschka, 80, of Central Stickney, was…
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By Steve Metsch If you have lived in or near Lyons the past 47 years and needed your car repaired, there’s a good chance you know Vern Woyner. Woyner, 70, has been repairing vehicles in Lyons since 1977. His longevity of expert service has earned him the highest award presented by the village. At the…
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By Steve Metsch Five-year-old Xander Young was justifiably proud of his first time running with the big kids at the annual Easter Egg Hunt sponsored Sunday by the village of Lyons. “I liked it because there were prizes inside,” he said of each plastic egg. A couple of dozen eggs were in the stroller occupied…
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By Steve Metsch Desmond Zuro has loved bowling since the first time he sent a ball toward the pins at Bowlero Lyons on 47th Street. Six years later, the Lyons resident is one of the best high school bowlers in the state. A sophomore at Morton West High School, Zuro placed 19th of 180 bowlers…
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By Steve Metsch A gas station will be the first business located on land that formerly was home to a quarry in Lyons. It will be will be built on seven acres the village has sold to a developer, Mayor Christopher Getty said after the Feb. 6 board meeting. The board unanimously approved a $2…
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By Carol McGowan To celebrate Three Kings Day and distribute toys and community resources, 16th District Cook County Commissioner Frank J. Aguilar held his annual Three Kings Celebration last week. It took place at his district office, at 7833 Ogden Avenue in Lyons, on Friday, January 5. This was the third year for the event,…
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By Steve Metsch Jazmin Lopez has been training for her new job the past three years. Lopez, 36, is the new executive director of the Lyons Township Mental Health Commission. She started on Dec. 12. Lopez replaces Ron Melka, who retired. She had been Melka’s administrative assistant the past three years. The Bridgeview resident is…
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Comings & Goings: Great Lakes Beer and Bourbon closes
Great Lakes Beer and Bourbon abruptly closed its doors earlier this month in Palos Park after being open since last summer. The pub at 12900 S. LaGrange Road in Palos Park closed September 3 with little warning. The business posted a farewell message on its Facebook page: “To all our loyal customers over the last…
Stagg High Welcomes 3,500 for Marching Band Competition
Marching bands came together last weekend to share their love of music. Stagg High School, 8015 W. 111th St., Palos Hills, welcomed more than 20 marching bands from around the area at its annual March Band Jamboree on September 7. The Jamboree began with the national anthem performed by area middle schoolers from Palos South…
McCook Fire Hydrants Get Date With Sandblaster, New Paint Job
McCook residents will soon see crews sandblasting and repainting fire hydrants around the village Mayor Terrance Carr, after the village board meeting on Tuesday night Sept. 3, confirmed that testing has been completed on the fire hydrants village-wide. “We’re in the final steps. The flow testing was done. Everything turned out good. The leak testing…
Football | Libertyville downs Richards for second year in row
Libertyville 48, Richards 15 Libertyville beat Richards in Week 2 for the second straight season, this time 48-15, to drop the Bulldogs to 1-1. Jaiden Henry scored on a 20-yard reception and Myles Mitchell tallied on a 2-yard TD run for Richards. The Bulldogs travel to Eisnehower this week for both teams’ South Suburban Red…
Football | Nazareth’s Logan Malachuk completes nine passes — six of them for TDs — in romp
Nazareth 42, Kenwood 15 Nazareth senior quarterback Logan Malachuk threw for 275 yards and six touchdown passes as the Roadrunners (2-0) trounced Kenwood, 42-15, in a non-conference matchup in LaGrange Park. Malachuk, who has been under center the past two seasons as nazareth won back-to-back state championships, did that damage despite completing only nine passes…
Football | Flutman and Boersma connect for four scores as Chicago Christian tops Elmwood Park
Caden Boersma returned a punt for a touchdown and caught four scoring passes from Christian Flutman as Chicago Christian defeated Elmwood Park, 49-16, on Sept. 6 in Palos Heights. Kenny Jager had a rushing TD for the Knights (2-0), who were up 49-0 at halftime. Chicago Christian plays at Wheaton Academy this week.
Football | Jake Ritter shines and Marist is great late in win over Brother Rice
It’s a new era at Marist under first-year head coach Mike Fitzgerald and his staff. But the more things change, the more they stay the same; at least when it comes to the recent history of the program’s annual neighborhood matchup with Brother Rice. RedHawks running back John McAuliffe’s second touchdown of the night proved…
Illinois News
In bribery trial, AT&T lobbyists detail contentious meeting with Madigan ally
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – On an afternoon in late April 2017, recently retired state Rep. Eddie Acevedo was called to a meeting in the state Capitol in Springfield. The 20-year veteran lawmaker had joined his sons’ lobbying firm and was looking for work. Meeting with a trio of lobbyists for…
A year after end of cash bail, early research shows impact less than many hoped or feared
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – One year after Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate the use of cash bail, the impact on the state’s criminal justice system appears to have been far less dramatic than people on either side of the debate had predicted. That, at least,…
ADM carbon sequestration project violated Safe Drinking Water Act, per EPA
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com DECATUR – Agribusiness giant ADM violated federal regulations, a federal permit and the Safe Drinking Water Act earlier this year when a monitoring well at their carbon sequestration site in Decatur leaked liquified carbon dioxide into “unauthorized zones,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In an August…
On witness stand, former AT&T lobbyist describes how Madigan ally got $22,500 contract
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – The day before Thanksgiving in 2016, then-AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza read some news that frustrated him. It seemed that energy giant Exelon, the parent company of Chicago-based electric utility Commonwealth Edison, was going to get a big assist from Springfield that would prevent it…
Coroner’s affidavit shows as many as 800 human remains could have been misidentified
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois bhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com As many as 800 families across the country who patronized a Carlinville funeral home may never know if the remains on their mantles belong to their loved ones, according to an affidavit signed by Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon. The affidavit was filed in a lawsuit pending against…
Calculated bribe or ‘kiss up’ to Madigan? Corruption trial kicks off for former AT&T boss
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – As the federal corruption trial of former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza formally kicked off on Wednesday, prosecutors and defense attorneys painted two very different pictures of a political hire the telecom giant made in 2017. La Schiazza is accused of bribing former Illinois House…
Supreme Court hears cases pertaining to detention under the SAFE-T Act
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a pair of cases that test the authority of local courts to hold criminal suspects behind bars while they await trial. The cases come almost one year to the day after the court allowed a new law abolishing…
Supreme Court hears cases pertaining to detention under the SAFE-T Act
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a pair of cases that test the authority of local courts to hold criminal suspects behind bars while they await trial. The cases come almost one year to the day after the court allowed a new law abolishing…
Jury selection begins in trial of former AT&T Illinois boss accused of bribing Madigan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in the trial of former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza, who federal prosecutors allege bribed once-powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation in Springfield. It’s the last in a series of related trials that…
East St. Louis forum to tackle persistent childhood poverty
By MOLLY PARKER Capitol News Illinois mparker@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois has the potential to eradicate childhood poverty, but it will require a concentrated, sustained effort in partnership with families and disadvantaged communities, says Tasha Green Cruzat, president of Children’s Advocates for Change, a Chicago-based nonprofit focused on childhood wellbeing. This hope drives the focus of the policy…
