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Pro Soccer Report | Fire will return to Bridgeview for Leagues Cup match
By Jeff Vorva Staff writer The Chicago Fire will play again this season at SeatGeek Stadium after all. After playing three games in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Cup at its former home in Bridgeview, it appeared the rest of the team’s home games would be played at Soldier Field. But the Fire worked its way…
College Notebook | Howie Hatton sets Crown College batting average, OBP records
By Mike Walsh Correspondent Howie Hatton, a Riverside-Brookfield graduate now attending and playing baseball at Crown College (Minnesota), was named the 2023 Player of the Year by the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference. The senior right fielder also was also chosen to the All-UMAC First Team, the 2023 Division3.com First Team All-Region, and 2023 American Baseball…
‘Every year just keeps getting better’: Max Strus holds annual youth camp at Stagg
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Things have changed a lot since Max Strus held his inaugural basketball camp last summer. During that camp, he was a starting guard for the Miami Heat, which had just come off an Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Boston Celtics. This summer’s camp ran July 17-20 at Stagg —…
Area Sports Roundup | Kaylen Evans’ jersey is headed to the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Kaylen Evans is not in any halls of fame, but her jersey will be. Evans, a Nazareth graduate who attended Loyola Chicago before transferring to Morton College, will have her Panthers jersey displayed in the Ring of Honor at the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee, in recognition…
Area Sports Roundup | Palos youths face older competition in World Wiffle Ball Championship
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The Palos Elite team played last weekend in the World Wiffle Ball Championship. The tournament, which was held July 15-16 at Memorial Park in Midlothian, is composed of teams consisting primarily of adults; but Jack Burke, 14, was Elite’s senior citizen. Some teams have a mix of adults and youths,…
Pro Soccer Report | U.S. women coming to Soldier Field
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The Chicago Red Stars have no games scheduled at Soldier Field this season. But one player – goalie Alyssa Maeher – could be on that historic field in September. The four-time FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion United States will take on South Africa there at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 24. The…
Chicago Christian grad Adam Brouwer named top freshman in Great Lakes Valley
By Mike Walsh Correspondent Illinois-Springfield pitcher Adam Brouwer was chosen the 2023 Freshman of the Year in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Brouwer, a Chicago Christian graduate, is the first Prairie Star to achieve the accolade. Brouwer was also named to the All-Great Lakes Valley Second Team. Brouwer was 7-3 with a 3.94 ERA last…
Storylines are Normal for 2023 high school football
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer This year, the road to a state football championship ends at Hancock Stadium in Normal. For Class 7A defending champion Mount Carmel and Class 6A champ East St. Louis, it begins there, too. The two titans kick off the opening weekend of 2023 against each other at 7 p.m. on…
Illinois News
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…