Mary Stanek

Mary Stanek

Time for fajitas, carnitas and Corona

Spread the love

.

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

In a screenshot from a video showing drifting in a Southwest Side parking lot, Smoke billows from both a muscle car's wheels and the asphalt below. --Supplied photo

Dread over car drifters on streets

Spread the love

Spread the love. Reckless drivers take over SW Side intersections  . By Tim Hadac At the April meeting of the Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch, a police officer admitted that the drag racing/drifting phenomenon seen and heard in the Midway area in recent years “probably will increase, but we hope not.” The admission was triggered by…

U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" García (D-4th)

Don’t raise pilots’ retirement age, García says

Spread the love

Spread the love. From staff reports U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-4th), senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently led a letter joined by 121 Members of Congress urging House Democratic leadership to reject any changes to the pilot retirement age in a final version of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill.…

CTAlogo

CTA launches ‘chat’ feature on website

Spread the love

Spread the love. From staff reports Artificial Intelligence has made another step forward at the Chicago Transit Authority. CTA officials recently launched the “Chat with CTA” chatbot, a new virtual automated service featured on transitchicago.com. The communication tool allows riders to report issues, provide feedback and receive answers in real-time. Additionally, it provides the CTA with customer…

ChicagoCitySeal

New effort to aid kids with disabilities

Spread the love

Spread the love. From staff reports A new grant program aimed at providing financial assistance to families of children with disabilities was launched recently by Mayor Brandon Johnson, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities and Ada S. McKinley Community Services. Children with disabilities is a population disproportionately affected by the pandemic,…

Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart

Dart warns of Sheriff’s Office imposters

Spread the love

Spread the love. From staff reports Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart recently alerted the public of an uptick in telephone and email phishing scams in which scammers identify themselves as a Sheriff’s Office employee in an attempt to defraud victims. Scammers are using the actual names and respective titles of Sheriff’s Office employees to…

Peggy Zabicki

It’s ‘Batter up!’ time in West Lawn

Spread the love

Spread the love. Peggy Zabicki Your correspondent in West Lawn 3633 W. 60th Place •  (773) 504-9327 . It must be May because baseball season is here. I recently reported on the West Lawn Little League, whose 2024 season is now underway. Another West Lawn youth athletic association is Midway Baseball Softball Association. Their teams…

Mary Stanek

Cinco de Mayo, here we come

Spread the love

Spread the love. By Mary Stanek Your correspondent in Archer Heights and West Elsdon 3808 W. 57th Place •  (773) 517-7796 . It’s time to bring out the Corona, Tecate, Modelo or Dos Equis, along with a few limes. Heck, maybe even bring out the Patrón! It is Cinco de Mayo this Sunday, translated to…

Chicago Christian’s Holland Winthrop eyes a high fastball during an at-bat last week. Photo by Xavier Sanchez

Softball | Jocelyn Hovanec scores two runs, Ks 12 in Chicago Christian win

Spread the love

Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Chicago Christian  is working to find its footing in the inaugural season of the Chicagoland Christian Conference. The Knights entered this week 6-8 overall and 4-6 in the CCC, putting them in fifth place with just two conference games to play among their final seven regular-season contests. The Knights…

Chicago Christian players celebrate after a point during a match agsint St. Edward. Photo by Xavier Sanchez

Boys Volleyball | Chicago Christian finishes April strong, takes second at Ridgewood Invitational

Spread the love

Spread the loveBy Xavier Sanchez Correspondent A busy and largely successful final seven days of April saw Chicago Christian briefly climb back to the .500 mark after a tough first month of the season. The Knights (11-12, 4-4 Chicagoland Christian Conference) have won seven of their past 10 matches, all of which were played over…

MP Roof Repair 2 (1)

Work moving forward at Marquette Park

Spread the love

Spread the love. Kathy Headley Your correspondent in Chicago Lawn and Marquette Manor 6610 S. Francisco • (773) 776-7778 . In the March 29 edition of the Greater Southwest News-Herald, I wrote a story about a town hall meeting at Marquette Park, we learned of some of the upcoming plans the Park District has for…

Neighbors

Nursing home industry unlikely to see much help from Springfield in tough budget year

Nursing home industry unlikely to see much help from Springfield in tough budget year

By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com It’s been four years since some of the worst scenes of COVID-19 played out in locked-down nursing homes during the early months of the pandemic.  But while most of the world has moved on, the nursing home industry is still reeling from COVID, which exacerbated pre-existing challenges in…

Lawmakers consider tax break for news publishers, state-sponsored journalism scholarships

Lawmakers consider tax break for news publishers, state-sponsored journalism scholarships

By ALEX ABBEDUTO & ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com  SPRINGFIELD – A new measure being debated in the Illinois General Assembly would create a tax credit for certain news publishers based on the number of reporters they employ.  The proposal from Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, is part of a package of policies that he…

House GOP advances 2 human trafficking victim protection bills as others remain in limbo

House GOP advances 2 human trafficking victim protection bills as others remain in limbo

By COLE LONGCOR Capitol News Illinois clongcor@capitolnewsillinois.com After Illinois received another failing grade from a national advocacy group, state House Republicans have introduced legislation aimed at further protecting victims and prosecuting perpetrators of human trafficking. Shared Hope International, an advocacy organization that works to prevent sex trafficking, said in its 2023 Illinois report card that…

Hundreds of bills pass, including changes to state’s biometric data privacy law

Hundreds of bills pass, including changes to state’s biometric data privacy law

By HANNAH MEISEL COLE LONGCOR & ALEX ABEDDUTO Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers passed more than 200 bills this week ahead of their scheduled May 24 adjournment.  Many of the measures will soon head to Gov. JB Pritzker, including a bill that changes how damages accrue under Illinois’ first-in-the-nation biometric data privacy law.…

Pritzker pledges to expand access to mental health care in Illinois

Pritzker pledges to expand access to mental health care in Illinois

By DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois draju@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – In the middle of Mental Health Awareness Month, Gov. JB Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton hosted a panel in Springfield this week at which he pledged to expand the state’s behavioral health services. With several dozen services providers from around the state in attendance, Pritzker…

With 1 week left in session, Pritzker admin says all revenue options remain on the table

With 1 week left in session, Pritzker admin says all revenue options remain on the table

By JERRY NOWICKI  Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com While the governor’s office instructed its agency directors to prepare for $800 million in potential budget cuts last week, all facets of his plan to raise $1.1 billion in revenue to avoid those cuts remain under consideration.  Read more: ANALYSIS: ‘Significant enough’ opposition to Pritzker’s revenue plan leads to…

Illinois launches summer food assistance program

Illinois launches summer food assistance program

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The state is launching a new program to provide food assistance during the summer for families with children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals at school. Gov. JB Pritzker joined other state officials and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Thursday to announce that Illinois will…

Lawmakers consider tax break for news publishers, state-sponsored journalism scholarships

Lawmakers consider tax break for news publishers, state-sponsored journalism scholarships

By ALEX ABBEDUTO & ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com  SPRINGFIELD – A new measure being debated in the Illinois General Assembly would create a tax credit for certain news publishers based on the number of reporters they employ.  The proposal from Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, is part of a package of policies that he…

House gives OK to new state agency focused on early childhood programs

House gives OK to new state agency focused on early childhood programs

By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House gave final passage Thursday to a bill establishing a new cabinet-level state agency whose mission will be to provide a kind of one-stop shop for services focusing on early childhood development and education. By the time it’s fully operational in 2026, the new…

As vacated Centralia funeral home prepares for new tenant, owner makes a startling find

As vacated Centralia funeral home prepares for new tenant, owner makes a startling find

By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois bhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com In the basement of a Centralia funeral home in a dark hallway off the embalming room, tucked inside a nook behind two steel plates and a door, a visitor found three disembodied, neatly wrapped human legs, two of them marked with names and dated to the 1960s.  The…