Marchers welcome in St. Patrick’s Day parade
By Tim Hadac
Southwest Side organizations are welcome to march in the community’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade, set for Saturday, March 12.
It is anticipated that local schools, churches, Scout troops, youth athletic associations and others will have units in the parade. Units will have to register in advance with parade organizers. For details, contact Ed Maher at Archerparade@gmail.com.
Parade staging will be at Byrne School, 54th and Oak Park. Step-off is set for noon at Archer and Oak Park, with parade units heading east up Archer to Narragansett, where the parade will turn south and disband at the west parking lot of Kennedy High School.
The parade is an annual effort of the Clear-Ridge Men’s Social Athletic Club (SAC) and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150.
The parade on Archer is set to occur a day before the annual South Side Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade, in the Beverly and Morgan Park neighborhood on the Far Southwest Side.
Local News
Special needs hoops team from Chicago wins Unified Sports state title
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent If Tom White had his choice, getting doused with cold water on a 35-degree morning in mid-March in Champaign would likely not be high on his list of things to do. Considering the context of the soaking, however, White was more than happy with everything that took place. Coaching…
Pro Sports Report | Knee injury could keep Swanson out of women’s World Cup
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer This was supposed to be a huge year for Mallory Swanson. The Chicago Red Stars and U.S. Women’s National team forward opened 2023 with six goals for the national team in friendlies ahead of this summer’s World Cup. She also figured to be a key player for the…
College Notebook | Illinois State’s Salata named Pitcher of Week
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent Illinois State baseball player Derek Salata was chosen a National Pitcher of the Week by Collegiate Baseball News for the period ending March 27. In a 2-0 loss to Missouri Valley Conference foe Belmont on the road March 24, the fifth-year senior worked six innings, striking out 11 Bruins…
Area Sports Roundup | Marist runners get season underway after coach’s death
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff writer After one of the worst possible offseasons, Marist’s boys track team is trying to get down to business. In December, boys track and cross country coach Jon Gordon died, leaving the team in shock and sadness. The RedHawks were scheduled to open the outdoor season on April 1…
Papa Z, your goodness lives on
Spread the love. . By Joan Hadac Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge (708) 496-0265 • joan.hadac@gmail.com As a young couple in their 30s, Steve Zalesny and his wife, Julie, bought a home in the west end of Garfield Ridge, near 57th and Neenah. That was back in the 1980s. Garfield Ridge is where they…
Baseball | Justin Lang’s heroics lift Marist over H-F
Spread the loveBy Steve Millar Correspondent Marist had let a late lead slip away and was down to its final three outs, but senior shortstop Justin Lang was not too worried. “I feel like we just didn’t lose our energy,” Lang said. “That was a big part of it. In the middle of the game,…
‘Now they know’
Spread the love. Johnson pokes nay-sayers, calls triumph historic By Tim Hadac In his victory speech Tuesday night in a ballroom at the Marriott Marquis on the Near South Side, Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson at times sounded like a humble public servant and at others like a self-styled national crusader for social justice. “You know, they…
Ordering open for triangle bricks
Spread the love. Ongoing project honors military veterans By Tim Hadac Orders are now being taken for inscribed decorative bricks to honor local military veterans. The bricks will be added to those already installed at the triangle at 55th, Archer and Narragansett. The 4-by-8 inch bricks cost $30 each. For full details, visit bricksrus.com/donorsite/grcc. Sometimes…
Must boost railroad safety, García says
Spread the love. From staff reports With railroad safety still in the headlines, U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-4th) this month joined 15 other Members of Congress in writing a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg urging the Department to implement stronger rail safety standards, specifically mandating the use and maintenance of wayside…
Neighbors
Lawmakers pass on oversight vote for Pritzker’s prison closure, rebuild plan
By HANNAH MEISEL & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – For the last two decades, each time a governor has moved to close a large state-run facility like a prison or mental health center, a legislative oversight panel has voted on the plan. That changed on Friday – at least for now –…
‘We don’t really know what we’re voting on,’ top Dem says of Pritzker’s prison plan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com LINCOLN – On the eve of a scheduled vote to advise Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on plans to close and rebuild a pair of dilapidated state prisons, hundreds filed into a junior high school gymnasium Thursday evening clad in matching green T-shirts. Printed on the shirts was a…
Illinois child tax credit: who gets it, how much is it?
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com In the final hours of their spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers approved a tax credit of up to about $300 for families with young children. The credit is available to Illinoisans with children under age 12 who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. Although…
Members of House speaker’s staff sue over ongoing unionization conflict
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Members of a would-be union representing staffers in House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office filed suit against their boss on Friday, asking a Cook County judge to force recognition of the union. The Illinois Legislative Staff Association, which formed in the fall of 2022, claims Welch’s…
Elections board urged to dismiss complaint that Bailey illegally coordinated in 2022 campaign
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com A hearing officer is recommending the Illinois State Board of Elections dismiss a complaint that alleged conservative radio host and political operative Dan Proft illegally coordinated with former Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey during his 2022 campaign for governor. Proft, a one-time gubernatorial candidate himself, is behind an…
Communities, commission push Pritzker admin for more prison plan details
By DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com Jimmy Soto spent more than 42 years wrongfully imprisoned in Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. In 2020, he was moved to the “F-House” at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, a condemned unit, not because he was being punished, but because it was where the facility was housing individuals…
Judge blocks law that would have banned newly slated candidates from ballot
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com A Sangamon County judge on Wednesday blocked the Illinois State Board of Elections from enforcing a new law that would have prevented certain General Assembly candidates who didn’t run in the March primary from getting on the November ballot. The move doesn’t void the bill in its entirety,…
“No Schoolers”: How Illinois’ hands-off approach to homeschooling leaves children at risk
By BETH HUNDSDORFER & MOLLY PARKER CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS investigations@capitolnewsillinois.com This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with Capitol News Illinois. It was on L.J.’s 11th birthday, in December 2022, that child welfare workers finally took him away. They arrived at his central Illinois home to investigate an abuse allegation and decided…
Brushing off concerns of overspending, Pritzker signs $53.1 billion state budget
By ANDREW ADAMS JERRY NOWICKI & HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday signed the state’s $53.1 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, the largest in state history. The signing caps months of work – and tension – among top Democratic leaders in Springfield and within the…
Stalled bills: ‘Dignity in Pay Act,’ Prisoner Review Board changes fail to move
By ALEX ABBEDUTO, COLE LONGCOR & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com A bill eliminating the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities failed to pass the General Assembly ahead of its May adjournment, although sponsors say they hope to pass it when lawmakers return in the fall. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938…