Mary Stanek

Mary Stanek

Time for fajitas, carnitas and Corona

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By Mary Stanek

Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon

3808 W. 57th Place •  (773) 284-7394

We celebrated Polish Constitution Day with some Polish food and beer early in the week. Now it’s time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with maybe some fajitas, carnitas, tortillas and Corona.

It might be more popular in the United States than in Mexico since it has become a celebration of Mexican-American culture. The day actually commemorates the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over the second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla. It is not be confused with Mexican Independence Day.

Twenty-third Ward Ald. Silvana Tabares’ West Lawn office will now have “working family hours” on Mondays. Starting in May, the office at 3954 W. 63rd St. will have hours from 5 to 7 p.m. each Monday, if you have questions, suggestions or any concerns. This office is on 63rd street, but please note there is a parking lot in the rear.

MaryStanek 1

Mary Stanek

Operation Lifesaver, Inc. is a non-profit organization and nationally recognized leader of rail safety education. Sts. Bruno and Richard School thanked Joseph Chacon from OLI for presenting to the students with the safety and dangers of rail crossings and railroad right-of-way.

I’ve visited OLI’s website and some safety basics listed are as follows. Never walk on tracks, it is illegal trespassing and highly dangerous. Trains have the right of way 100% of the time. Cross train tracks only at designated pedestrian or roadway crossings. A freight train traveling 55 mph or more takes more than a mile to stop. Trains can’t stop quickly enough to avoid collision.

A very important community forum will be held at Kennedy High School, 56th and Narragansett. The topic is the Chicago Police Department Superintendent Search. Share your ideas about effective policing and make the Southwest Side heard. The meeting will be on Wednesday, May 10. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the forum starts at 6. This forum is one of several taking place throughout Chicago.

The Southwest Neighbors Walking Club has been started in the community. At Strohacker Park on Tuesdays and Thursdays the club will meet at 6:30 p.m. outside the field house. Clubs also meet at Archer and Pasteur Park, by the field house. Achieve a healthier lifestyle while getting to know your neighbors. If you are on social media, you can join the Southwest Neighbors Walking Club for more information.

Here on 57th Place, we sort of have our own little walking club around 4:30. That’s when a variety of the dogs are out for their walks as well. We usually join Sparky and his mom Nancy as well as meeting up with Cheese and a plethora of other canines. It’s good that everyone is coming out of the woodwork after the dark winter.

Happy Birthday wishes go to Sandra Ramirez on the 6th.

Local News

Stagg graduate Tom Kazanecki, right, is guarded by St. Xavier University’s Joshua Evans during a recent game. Kazanecki changed his mind on playing an extra season for St. Ambrose after he was injured in a practice. Photo by Jeff Vorva

College Report: Former Stagg standout Kazanecki gives hoops one more year

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Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff writer The idea was for Tom Kazanecki to finish his basketball career at St. Ambrose in 2021. The former Stagg hoops standout was even toying with the idea of starting a military career, even though he had an extra year of athletics eligibility remaining, thanks to seasons getting snipped…

Marist is sending 11 wrestlers to the IHSA state meet Thursday. Photo by Marist High School

Area Sports Roundup: Marist leads way with 11 wrestlers heading to state

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Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff writer An army of area wrestlers is headed to the state tournament, with 49 set to hit the mat in Champaign. During sectional action on Feb. 12, area wrestlers feasted on opponents. Marist will send 11 to the tournament, which begins Thursday at State Farm Center on the University…

Peggy Zabicki

Paczki Day ahead, not behind

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Spread the loveBy Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place •  (773) 504-9327 If you read my column online last week, you might remember my reference to Paczki Day. I thought it took place on Feb. 9. I was shopping at a Jewel outside our neighborhood around that date, and I asked…

U.S. Rep. Marie Newman

Campaign 2020: 11 elected officials endorse Newman in primary 

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Spread the loveBy Bob Bong   Marie Newman’s bid to win the Democratic nomination in the new 6th Congressional District picked up steam Tuesday when 11 elected officials in Cook and DuPage counties announced they were endorsing her in the June primary over fellow incumbent Sean Casten. “Congresswoman Marie Newman has been a very strong and effective…

Among those at the Valentine Small Business Vender Pop-Up at the Monarca Event Room, 3300 W. 63rd St., were Brian and Alma Cabrales from Velia Bath Bombs, St. Nick’s Girl Scouts Lia Garcia and Layla Burns, Scout Mom Jennifer Burns, and Adriana Cardona from D Colores Accessories. --Greater Southwest News-Herald photo by Kathy Headley

Things were poppin’ at Valentine’s event

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Spread the loveBy Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 Last Saturday I stopped in at the Valentine Small Business Pop-Up at Monarca, on the northwest corner of 63rd and Spaulding. I really enjoy these events. I always walk out spending more than I planned, this…

Joan Hadac

The next correspondent could be you

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Spread the loveBy Joan Hadac GSWNH Columnist At-Large This week, it’s my privilege and pleasure to write the Greater Southwest News-Herald’s column for Greater Ashburn (the Wrightwood, Ashburn, Parkview and Scottsdale neighborhoods). Greater Ashburn has not had a correspondent in this newspaper since Carolina Franco stepped away from writing this column back in late 2019. Anyway,…

Kathy Headley

Bridget Ferriter, you will be missed

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Spread the loveBy Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 Last week I had the sad experience of attending the funeral of a good friend, Bridget Ferriter. We were neighbors for more than 30 years. We did things long-time neighbors do, like pop over for coffee…

Mary Stanek

To receive City services, you must ask

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Spread the loveBy Mary Stanek Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon 3808 W. 57th Place •  (773) 284-7394 The CHI311 website is the way to go, or a simple 311 phone call can help keep our neighborhoods clean and safe! To quote from an article written by Mike Kovac in the Archer Heights…

Peggy Zabicki

Winter Olympics bring back fun memories

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Spread the loveBy Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place •  (773) 504-9327 Have you been watching the Winter Olympics? My favorite sport is figure skating. It is beautiful and athletic. The athletes are so inspiring. I love to watch all the sports. I remember my family gathering around the TV, watching the Olympics in the early…

GSWNH_KeithThornton_021122

Mayor ‘out of control,’ hero says

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Spread the lovePolice ranks ‘thousands’ short, dispatcher tells Scottsdale  By Tim Hadac It’s not every day that a City worker has the courage to attend a public meeting and call a mayor “out of control.” But Keith A. Thornton Jr. did exactly that earlier this week on the Southwest Side. A 911 dispatcher hailed as…

Neighbors

State highway shootings decline as critics sue over ‘dragnet surveillance’

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Just weeks before Republican National Convention, Illinois GOP chair announces resignation

Just weeks before Republican National Convention, Illinois GOP chair announces resignation

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As Illinois session ends, lawmakers’ attempt to reinstate wetland protections fails

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

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Illinois’ ban on ‘bump stocks’ remains in place despite U.S. Supreme Court decision

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Lawmakers pass on oversight vote for Pritzker’s prison closure, rebuild plan

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‘We don’t really know what we’re voting on,’ top Dem says of Pritzker’s prison plan

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Illinois child tax credit: who gets it, how much is it?

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

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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

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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…