Pumpkin Jamboree Parade coming
The only thing more interesting than the units in the Midway Chamber of Commerce’s annual Pumpkin Jamboree Parade are the children in Halloween costumes, lining the curbs. This year’s festive event is schedule to start at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 at Archer and Nordica, heading east to Merrimac and then south to Kennedy High School. Immediately after the parade, the Halloween fun will continue in Kennedy’s parking lot, where there will be a costume contest, a fall craft fair and a limited amount of complimentary snacks. – File photo
Local News
Offer tuition help at SW Side Catholic schools
Spread the loveBy Kathy Headley The Southwest Organizing Project, in partnership with the Big Shoulders Fund, is offering scholarships to newly eligible students at six participating schools in the area. For students who qualify, annual tuition per child is $1,500 for a two-year term, with an option for renewal. A limited number of scholarships are…
City is anti-business, grocer’s son says
Spread the loveColumnist John Kass addresses UBAM members By Steve Metsch John Kass, whose father and relatives built a grocery business with hard work, knows about the pressures facing business owners in Chicago. The city is not doing enough to help small businesses, the former Chicago Tribune reporter and columnist recently told a gathering of…
Chill forced cancellation at park
Spread the loveBy Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 Well unfortunately, the beautiful weather and thawing of the ice on the lagoon at Marquette Park did not extend into last weekend. Saturday was the day the first Go Run Marquette Park was scheduled. With the…
Wearing the green year round
Spread the loveBy Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place • (773) 504-9327 Greetings to all! I hope everyone had a nice St. Patrick’s Day. I always wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. One year I forgot to wear green; but since my eyes are green, I technically am always wearing green. Wishing you…
Charge 2 in ‘Christmas lights’ slaying
Spread the loveClaim men went on 4-hour crime spree By Tim Hadac Two men have been charged in the December beating death of a 49-year-old man hanging Christmas lights outside his Gage Park home. Moises Barrios, 23, of the 3100 block of South 54th Avenue, Cicero; and Pedro Mendiola, 21, of the 5000 block of West…
Greetings from your new columnist
Spread the loveBy Laura Ortega Your correspondent in Greater Ashburn 4214 W. 82nd Place • (773) 627-6679 I’m excited to become the new correspondent for Greater Ashburn (covering the Wrightwood, Ashburn, Parkview and Scottsdale neighborhoods). Please allow me to introduce myself to you. I work full-time as a finance professional, specializing in state and local…
Seven reasons this spring sports season could be special
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff writer Things are a little quiet right now, but it’s the calm before the storm. Get ready for a monster sports spring in the area. The IHSA offers 13 spring sports and activities, including bass fishing. Area colleges will be busy, especially with baseball and softball. The Chicago Red…
Area Sports Roundup: Top pick Ava Cook scores Red Stars’ lone goal in winless trip to Portland
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff writer Mixing a blend of veterans and newcomers, the Chicago Red Stars lost two games and tied one while scoring just one goal during a three-game preseason series in Portland. New coach Chris Petrucelli watched his team open with a 0-0 deadlock with the U23 U.S. Women’s National Team…
College Report: Rice grad Rothstein enjoying coaching at Fontbonne
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer After hitting the floor time after time after time as a libero at Brother Rice and Fontbonne University, Zach Rothstein’s body is glad he is now a graduate assistant with the latter. The Evergreen Park native admits there is a time or two where he wouldn’t mind diving…
Neighbors
Just weeks before Republican National Convention, Illinois GOP chair announces resignation
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Halfway through the 2024 election cycle and just a few weeks away from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy on Wednesday announced his resignation as head of the state Republican Party. Tracy, who’d held the job since February 2021, explained his resignation in…
Pritzker signs bill creating new Department of Early Childhood
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Tuesday creating a new cabinet-level state agency dedicated to early childhood education and development. The new Department of Early Childhood, which will become operational in July 2026, will take over programs currently housed across three state agencies, including funding for preschool…
Speaker Welch rebuffs lawsuit from would-be staff union as ‘forum shopping’
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is urging a Cook County judge to dismiss a lawsuit members of his staff filed against him last month seeking to force recognition of their union. In a new filing Monday, attorneys for Welch argued the Illinois Legislative Staff Association has no…
Advocates say SCOTUS ruling paves way for law ensuring abusers have guns confiscated
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com After the U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld a federal law that bars those under domestic violence-related restraining orders from owning guns, victim advocates say Illinois lawmakers should pass a measure to ensure firearms are actually confiscated in those situations. The legislation has been stalled for more than…
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…
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…
State highway shootings decline as critics sue over ‘dragnet surveillance’
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois State Police say an automated license plate reader program has helped the agency identify witnesses or suspects in 82 percent of highway shooting cases this year, including all eight that resulted in a death. But as the state looks to further expand its network of more than…
Just weeks before Republican National Convention, Illinois GOP chair announces resignation
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Halfway through the 2024 election cycle and just a few weeks away from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy on Wednesday announced his resignation as head of the state Republican Party. Tracy, who’d held the job since February 2021, explained his resignation in…
As Illinois session ends, lawmakers’ attempt to reinstate wetland protections fails
by JENNIFER BAMBERG Investigate Midwest jennifer.bamberg@investigatemidwest.org In 2006, 19-year-old Jessica Whinston inherited 20 acres of land that her grandparents once farmed in Quincy, Illinois. The land had sat dormant since the 1980s and was overgrown, but Whinston and her husband Bradley worked to turn it into a productive farm. The couple were eventually able to…
Elections board dismisses illegal campaign coordination complaint, declines to clarify law
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – State elections officials on Tuesday indicated they were unlikely to step in to clarify what constitutes illegal campaign coordination after voting to dismiss a complaint alleging such coordination in the 2022 campaign for governor. At their monthly meeting in Chicago, Illinois State Board of Elections members…