Local News
From staff reports Orland and Palos Heights firefighters responded to a structure fire early Saturday morning at a hookah lounge located in a corner surrounded by forest preserve land. At 5:06 a.m. on Oct. 21, companies of the Orland Fire Protection District and Palos Heights Fire District were dispatched in response to a possible structure…
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By Jeff Vorva Palos Park first responders are now a part of the Will, Cook and Grundy County Fire Investigation Task Force. Police Commissioner Dan Polk said at the Oct. 9 village council meeting that this will beef up resources for the community. “This provides collective strength under a unified command while allowing each agency…
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By Jeff Vorva The 40th National Night Out took place all across the country on Aug. 1 and two of the Regional’s three police departments hosted events that night while the third is doing a weeklong celebration. Palos Park is using early August to have residents learn about its Community Emergency Response Team, the Palos…
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By Isabella Schreck Many residents will be able to meet their local police officers and police canines, while enjoying food and fun activities at local National Night Out Against Crime events coming up on Tuesday, Aug. 1. The national event, which has occurred every year on the first Tuesday of August for the past four…
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The Orland Fire Protection District hosted its annual Open House last week, featuring an assortment of demonstrations of emergency response scenarios. The Open House was held at the OFPD Training Center, 10728 W. 163rd Place. This year’s Open House was held in the evening on Thursday, July 13, to allow residents who could not attend…
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By Kelly White Project Fire Buddies brings joy to kids struggling with serious illnesses. The program launched in 2016 when a group of Oak Forest Firefighters answered a 911 call. A young child who was battling cancer fell ill with a high fever. The department transported the child to the hospital for life-saving treatment, and…
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From staff reports A contractor working Wednesday afternoon in a home in Orland Park fell down a 20 to 30 foot well that was in the building’s basement area. He had to be rescued by firefighters with the Orland Fire Protection District. It took about one hour to carefully lift the victim out of the…
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The Orland Fire Protection District Board of Trustees voted at a special meeting April 28 to accept the resignation of longtime Trustee Jim Hickey and appoint in his place Dr. Beth Damas Kaspar. Hickey, who has been on the board since 2009, resigned for personal reasons. Kaspar will serve as a trustee until the next…
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By Bob Bong A lightning strike Sunday afternoon caused a small fire in the attic of an Orland Park home in the 13200 block of Harvest Crossing in the Silo Ridge subdivision. Officials of the Orland Fire Protection District said the fire started around 5 p.m. Sunday when a storm rolled through the area. The…
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A fire believed to have started in a backyard shed quickly spread to the adjacent home Monday night in Orland Park. Orland Fire Protection District firefighters responded to a 911 call at 10:41 p.m. Monday in the 9800 block of Avenida Del Este. Firefighters said when they arrived there was heavy smoke and fire coming…
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OLCHS Student Council Thanksgiving Food Drive aids needy
By Kelly White Donating to those in need during the holiday season are students at Oak Lawn Community High School. The Student Council at the high school, 9400 Southwest Hwy. in Oak Lawn, recently hosted its annual Thanksgiving Food Drive. “I like the Student Council Thanksgiving Food Drive because it’s an opportunity to give back…
Oak Lawn approves new parking lot, fieldhouse for OLCHS
By Joe Boyle An additional parking lot and an athletic fieldhouse has been approved for Oak Lawn Community High School. Joseph McCurdy, assistant superintendent for Oak Lawn Community High School District 229, gave a brief slide presentation detailing some of the plans for the parking lot and an athletic fieldhouse during the Oak Lawn Village Board meeting Tuesday morning. The Zoning…
Palos 118 students win at 2023 Young Inventor Challenge
Fourth-grade students from Palos School District 118 took home three awards at the 2023 Young Inventor Challenge. Students from Palos East and West Elementaries participated in the event on November 4 and 5 in Chicago. The program gives students ages 6 to18 an opportunity to develop and pitch their original inventions to toy and game companies and…
Off-duty Chicago police officer dies in Oak Lawn crash
By Bob Bong An off-duty Chicago police officer was killed Sunday morning when a vehicle crashed into a tree at 95th Street and Harlem Avenue in Oak Lawn. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the driver as Edwin Espinoza, 35, of the 5300 block of South Merrimac Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side. Chicago…
Palos Park police cadets holiday food drive underway
The Palos Park Police Cadet program annual Holiday Food Drive is underway. The cadets are looking for donations of non-perishable foods such as canned goods or boxed goods. The cadets will accept donations at the Palos Park Police Department located at 8999 W. 123rd Street. Donations are accepted through January 1. This is another way…
Midnight Terror serves up a different kind of spirits at Christmas Fear
By Bob Bong The Halloween fans at Midnight Terror in Oak Lawn have decided to extend the haunted house season into the holidays with their eighth annual Christmas Fear weekend in December. Savage Santas, eerie elves, and sinister snowmen will be running amok and showing off their own kind of Christmas spirit at the haunted…
Mount Carmel beats Downers Grove North for 15th state title
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Mount Carmel’s plan was to open and close the season in Normal. They wanted to open the 2023 campaign by beating then-nationally ranked East St. Louis in a neutral-site game at Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University, then return 13 weeks later and a win a state championship. Mission accomplished…
Cold Turkey Trotting | Young runners heat up Orland Park race held in freezing temps
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The temperature may have been freezing, but the winners were not complaining. The 35th Orland Park Turkey Trot, held per tradition on Thanksgiving, started in 30-degree weather. And the young champs embraced it. Jack Krusinski, 16, of Palos Heights, won the 2.5 mile event with a time of 14:01.04. The…
Area Sports Roundup | Cougars get revenge on Marian, earn date with top seed
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The Saint Xavier defense made sure to get some revenge for a couple of losses in recent years to Marian University. The Cougars racked up 10 sacks, 15 tackles for losses, three forced fumbles and two interceptions in a 31-21 victory over Marian in the second round of the NAIA…
Girls Hoops | St. Laurence stages huge comeback to win Beecher Tourney
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer This is not the way to start a championship game. But it’s a pretty good way to finish it. St. Laurence fell behind Rich Township, 19-0, in the Beecher Fall Classic final on Nov. 22. While it could have been easy for rookie coach Claire Austin and her troops to…
Illinois News
Capitol Cast: Filing Day for 2024 primary brings frigid temps and election themes to Springfield
Capitol News Illinois Broadcast Director Jennifer Fuller talks with Editor-in-Chief Jerry Nowicki about the 2023 petition filing deadline for Illinois’ 2024 primary election. Capitol News Illinois · Capitol Cast: Filing Day for 2024 primary brings frigid temps and election themes to Springfield
Supreme Court rules teen bicyclist is covered by father’s auto insurance policy
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that automobile insurance policies must cover people against uninsured motorists and hit-and-run accidents, even if the person covered by the policy is not in a vehicle at the time of the accident. The case involved a 14-year-old Chicago boy, Cristopher…
State high court finds medical personnel exemption to biometric information privacy law
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday ruled the state’s strongest-in-the-nation biometric information privacy law does have an exemption: health care workers who use fingerprints or similar scans to access things like medication, materials or patient health information. In a unanimous opinion, the justices ruled against a pair of…
Illinois Supreme Court: FOID records exempt from public disclosure
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday that people may obtain records about their own Firearm Owners Identification cards, but they may not use the state’s Freedom of Information Act to do so. In a 7-0 ruling, the court said the Illinois State Police acted properly when…
Temporary staffing agencies seek to block new state labor law
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – A group of temporary staffing agencies and their trade associations are asking a federal court to block enforcement of a new state law that governs how day laborers and temp workers are managed and paid. The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Chicago, challenges several changes…
Former GOP senator, third-party governor candidate to represent himself in corruption trial
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Monday was supposed to have been the first day in the weeklong federal corruption trial of former Republican state Sen. Sam McCann, who allegedly misused more than $200,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses. A pull-down projector screen in the Springfield courtroom of U.S. District Judge…
Candidates for 2024 primary brave cold for potential ballot advantage
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Monday marked the kickoff for the 2024 election cycle, with hundreds of candidates filing their petitions at the Illinois State Board of Elections. Those in line by 8 a.m. Monday at the ISBE building in Springfield will be entered into a lottery to be the first…
State high court to hear case against staffing agencies accused of suppressing wages
By HANNAH MEISEL & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments from three staffing agencies that say their industry is exempt from state antitrust laws in a case claiming the firms conspired to hold down wages for their workers. The Chicagoland-based companies have already lost twice in…
State high court skeptical municipal police and fire pension consolidation hurt retirees’ voting rights
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in a case alleging the state’s 2019 law that consolidated nearly 650 individual police and firefighter pension funds actually hurt retirees by diluting their voting power. The nearly three-dozen pensioners and 17 individual pension funds that sued over the law…
Pritzker designates additional $160M for migrant response as winter approaches
By HANNAH MEISEL & JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – As winter quickly approaches, Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday announced plans for the state to spend an additional $160 million to aid and house a sustained influx of migrants sent to Chicago from the nation’s southern border. The administration sold the plan as…