Local News
College Sports Wrap | Morton women to play for Region IV title
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Area college basketball teams are rapidly getting eliminated from the postseason, but one team that usually can be counted on in making a deep postseason run is the Morton College women’s team. The Panthers waltzed through the Region IV quarterfinals with a 93-54 win over Elgin Community College on Feb. 29…
Girls Basketball Class 4A State Championship | Loyola finishes unbeaten, denies Nazareth a second straight state title
By Randy Whalen Correspondent Even through the disappointment of a close state championship game loss, Olivia Austin was nothing but grateful. Between basketball and volleyball, the Nazareth senior played in five state title game over the past three years. Unfortunately for her and the Roadrunners, the ending to the most recent of those wasn’t what…
Area Sports Roundup | Stagg grad Max Strus drains legendary buzzer-beater
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Registration for the Max Strus Basketball Camp in July goes live on March 28, and campers may want to talk to the former Stagg star about his heroics in a Cleveland Cavaliers’ victory last month. Strus, who is in his first season with Cleveland after three years with the Miami Heat,…
Abbey Murphy leading NCAA women’s hockey in goals
By Mike Walsh Correspondent The 2023-2024 college hockey season has been memorable thus far for Evergreen Park resident Abbey Murphy. Murphy, a Mother McAuley graduate who is a junior at Minnesota, was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s Forward of the Month for November and December. In November, Murphy tallied six goals and three assists…
Red Stars reportedly seeking Chicago stadium
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Signs are indicating the Chicago Red Stars will be moving out of SeatGeek Stadium. The Bridgeview-owned facility, formerly known as Toyota Park, has been the home of the NWSL franchise since 2016. The Red Stars’ lease with Bridgeview runs through December 2025. Where they play after that it’s anyone’s guess, but…
Fixing the storm’s damage
. Local man serves as homeowners’ advocate . By Tim Hadac Early March is usually considered too early in the season for roofers to be seen in Clearing and Garfield Ridge. But the sudden, severe storm that hit the area on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 27 changed that, at least for this year. “We’ve…
Boys Hoops Wrap | Curie, Rice and Marist among area regional champs
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent The original March Madness got underway last week across Illinois, and several area teams were crowned regional champions. Teams still alive in Class 4A are Marist and Curie, and in Class 3A are Brother Rice, De La Salle, Evergreen Park and Mount Carmel. CLASS 4A Marist (29-4) cruised to a…
College Football | Northwestern football may play at SeatGeek
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent It appears that Chicago’s Big Ten team will be Bridgeview’s Big Ten team for at least one day. Maybe more. Northwestern has released its 2024 football schedule, but where the Wildcats will play their seven home games is unknown. Their home stadium, Ryan Field in Evanston, is undergoing a major facelift…
Girls Basketball | Nazareth tops Homewood-Flossmoor, heads to Illinois Final Four for fifth time in past six seasons
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Nazareth head coach Ed Stritzel has built his Roadrunners into a powerhouse program with a defense-first philosophy that is carrying the reigning Class 3A state champions through another deep postseason run. Four nights after Nazareth held Kenwood to a season-low 37 points in the Class 4A Mother McAuley Sectional championship game,…
Neighbors
Comings & Goings
Illinois News
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
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…
Illinois Supreme Court considers expectation of privacy in hospitals
By DILPREET RAJU & ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – While Cortez Turner was in a hospital room being treated for a gunshot wound to his leg in 2016, police took his clothes. Now, the Illinois Supreme Court is weighing whether that action violated Turner’s expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. The…
Capitol Briefs: House OKs program for student teacher stipends – but not the funding for it
By PETER HANCOCK & ANDREW CAMPBELL Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House approved a bill Tuesday to allow student teachers to receive stipends while earning their education degree, even though the money needed to fund those stipends is unlikely to be included in next year’s budget. House Bill 4652, by Rep. Barbara…
As Medicaid redeterminations restart, about 73% of state’s recipients remain enrolled
By DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois draju@capitolnewsillinois.com About 73 percent of Illinois’ Medicaid recipients remain on the rolls after the first redetermination cycle following the COVID-19 pandemic, while approximately 660,000 recipients have been disenrolled. Speaking at a news conference in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker celebrated the fact that 2.6 million Illinoisans remained on the rolls…
Capitol Briefs: Republicans sue over law banning legislative candidate slating
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com One week after Gov. JB Pritzker signed an elections-related measure that his fellow Democrats quickly muscled through the General Assembly, Republicans sued over the new law, alleging the majority party is blocking ballot access to would-be legislative candidates. The law , passed early this month as the legislature’s…
For Many Illinoisans in Flood-Prone Areas, Buyouts Are the Only Way Out
By Laura Stewart, Illinois Answers Project April 23, 2024 DIETERICH, Ill. – Every day, Berdeena Leturno checks her email for an update on when the state of Illinois will finally pay her $80,000. It’s been over two months since she signed the paperwork to sell her flood-damaged home as part of a buyout program, and…
Capitol Briefs: Senate advances elections bill, measure targeting ‘predatory’ lending
By PETER HANCOCK & HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – A bill that would put more controls on certain kinds of high-cost loans to small businesses cleared the Illinois Senate Thursday. Senate Bill 2234, known as the Small Business Financial Transparency Act, targets a relatively new kind of nontraditional lender in the credit…
Stateville may close as early as September under Pritzker’s prison plan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Stateville Correctional Center could close as early as September under a plan laid out by Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on Friday. Top officials with the Illinois Department of Corrections testified in front of a key panel of state lawmakers. The 12 members on the General Assembly’s…
Labor-backed bill banning ‘captive audience’ meetings awaits House action
By ALEX ABBEDUTO Capitol News Illinois abbeduto@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – With two weeks left before the General Assembly’s spring session is set to adjourn, negotiations continue on a labor union-backed initiative that would allow Illinoisans to skip religious and political work meetings without reprimand. Dubbed the “Worker Freedom of Speech Act,” Senate Bill 3649 advanced out…