Local News
Richards opens doors to teens barred from new Oak Lawn music festival
On Saturday, September 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. Richards High School, 10601 S. Central Avenue, will open its gymnasiums for Oak Lawn teenagers who would like a place to hang out and have some fun. Please enter through Door S8 on the south side of campus along 107th Street. Admission is free. This event,…
Palos Heights council delays vote on new parking lot
By Jeff Vorva More than 40 people crammed the City Hall chambers at Tuesday’s Palos Heights City Council meeting and many of them were hoping for a “no” vote in regard to a zoning change. Up for a vote was a zoning change from residential to business for purposes of constructing a special use municipal…
Football: Stagg batters Oak Lawn for first win streak since 2018
By Jason Maholy Sports Editor Stagg coach Colt Nero and his Chargers came into this season expecting to win. Some might consider that a lofty expectation considering the program had entering 2022 lost 23 consecutive games and had not been victorious in Nero’s time at the helm, which began with the truncated 2021 spring season.…
Pigskin Wrap: St. Rita trips up Rice
Mt. Carmel, Argo, Evergreen Park and Lyons improve to 2-0 By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Longtime rivals St. Rita and Brother Rice had not played each other since the Chicago Catholic League merged with the East Suburban Catholic Conference. Brother Rice is in the league’s Blue Division while St. Rita is in the Green, and…
Pro Soccer Report: Road to final playoff spot tough for Red Stars
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer With five games left in the season, the Chicago Red Stars are hanging on to the NWSL’s sixth and final playoff spot. The Red Stars (7-5-5, 26 points) can make a lot of headway if they get hot, but that is not going to be an easy task. They visit…
Area Sports Roundup: Sandburg sports flying high; 14 area teams to play in soccer showcase
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Even by Sandburg’s standards, this was a big sports weekend for the Orland Park school. Eagles freshman cross country phenom Lindsey Gerhardstein took first place at the Mike Kuharic Invitational at Lyons and is emerging as a star in the making. Aimee Crnich and Elysa Corcoran finished first and second…
Girls Volleyball: Marist rebounds from back-to-back tourney losses, tops St. Francis in two sets
By Randy Whalen Correspondent A fourth-place finish in the most prestigious early-season tournament in the state wouldn’t prompt most teams to do some soul searching. Marist isn’t just any team. Between 2017-19, the RedHawks lost a total of seven matches while winning back-to-back Class 4A state titles in 2017 and 2018, then placing third in…
Boys Soccer: Shepard’s run to Windy City Ram title game ends with loss to Lockport
By Steve Millar Correspondent Shepard’s run at the championship of the Windy City Ram Classic fell just short, but senior forward Zach Soltysiak knows there is plenty for the Astros to take away from the experience. The Astros won their first four games in the 32-team tournament to reach the title match before falling 4-1…
Football: Chris Lofgren runs for 146 yards, 4TDs as Marist rolls over Richards
By Steve Millar Correspondent For the second week in a row, Marist’s players looked at the scoreboard and saw the score was 21-0 less than five minutes into the game. This time, though, it was in the RedHawks’ favor. After Marist’s rally from a big early deficit fell just short against Glenbard West in Week…
2 GOP candidates out of the running in November
By Bob Bong Two of the late Republican candidates who filed to fill vacancies on the November 8 ballot are no longer in the running as the fall campaign season gets ready to start up after Labor Day. At the end of July, Cook County Republicans, led by Palos Park’s Sean Morrison, filed a host…
Palos Park author gets assist from her kids
By Kelly White Living in Palos Park, Lisa Herpy decided to take her parenting to paper with the help of her three young children. Together, Herpy and her children, Jonathan, Jr., 7; Diana, 6; and Mia, 4, wrote and published, Brother and Sister: Summer Adventures, a book about two siblings enjoying all their favorite activities…
Police urge safe driving for Labor Day
With Americans celebrating during the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants to remind everyone about the dangers of drinking and driving. This Labor Day weekend, local police departments and Illinois State Police are spreading the word about impaired driving dangers and will be taking part…
Oak Lawn man charged in son’s shooting
By Bob Bong An Oak Lawn man has been charged with shooting his 19-year-old son during a fight last Friday morning inside their home. Mark Pillette, 57, of the 9500 block of Kenneth Avenue, was charged with one count of aggravated battery with a firearm. Police said they responded to a call of a person…
Stagg, Sandburg students honored for powerlifting
By Jeff Vorva Stagg and Sandburg students made powerful statements at the first Consolidated High School District 230 meeting of the new school year. Board members honored the two schools’ powerlifting teams at the Aug. 25 meeting at Stagg High School in Palos Hills. Powerlifting is not an Illinois High School Association-sanctioned sport but the…
High School Football: Xavier Rogers has first and last words as Shepard tops T.F. South
By Jason Maholy Sports Editor Shepard coach John Rone said he challenged Xavier Rogers to get stronger, faster and better during the offseason. If Week 1 of the 2022 season was any indication, the senior running back/linebacker fully embraced that challenge on all fronts. Rogers scored two touchdowns and was a key cog in a…
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Jury deadlocks, mistrial declared in case of ex-AT&T boss accused of bribing Madigan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – A federal judge on Thursday declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked in their deliberations over whether former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza bribed longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan via a no-work contract for the speaker’s political ally. After nearly 15 hours of deliberation…
High court: Smell of burnt cannabis is not cause for warrantless vehicle search
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Law enforcement officers in Illinois cannot rely on the smell of burnt cannabis alone to justify searching a vehicle without a warrant, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. The decision was unanimous, though Justice Lisa Holder White did not take part in it. Writing for the court,…
State wraps up case in challenge to assault weapons ban
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com EAST ST. LOUIS – A federal judge invoked images from the 1917 race riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, on Thursday at the end of a trial in a case challenging the constitutionality of the state’s ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines. Judge Steven McGlynn, who has…
Gun expert says assault weapons ban ‘describes the most popular firearms I’m involved with’
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com EAST ST. LOUIS – A firearms expert testified Wednesday that the weapons restricted under Illinois’ assault weapons ban include many of the most common firearms that American consumers use for self-defense. Steven Randall Watt, a combat veteran and retired law enforcement officer who now owns a private firearms…
Case of former AT&T boss accused of bribing Madigan heads to jury
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – On Valentine’s Day in 2017, then-AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza got some good news: After years of trying to push for legislation in Springfield that would save the company hundreds of millions of dollars annually, powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan had agreed to a…
State Supreme Court hears arguments in Jussie Smollett’s effort to overturn conviction
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in actor Jussie Smollett’s appeal to overturn his conviction on disorderly conduct charges for falsifying a hate crime. Smollett, who was an actor on the TV show “Empire,” was improperly charged with the same crime twice, his legal team…
Testimony continues in 2nd Amendment challenge to Illinois’ assault weapons ban
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com EAST ST. LOUIS – An engineer who spent decades designing weapons for one of the world’s leading gun manufacturers testified Tuesday that the assault-style weapons now banned in Illinois are intended only for civilian use and cannot be easily converted into military-grade firearms. James Ronkainen, a former engineer…
Contractor’s unsecured databases exposed sensitive voter data in over a dozen Illinois counties
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com Around 4.6 million records associated with Illinoisans in over a dozen counties – including voting records, registrations and death certificates – were temporarily available on the open internet, according to a security researcher who identified the vulnerability in July. The documents were available through an unsecured cloud storage…
Prosecutors rest case against former AT&T Illinois boss accused of bribing Madigan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – After years of pushing in Springfield, AT&T Illinois’ executive team was thrilled when the Illinois General Assembly in 2017 passed legislation that would get the company out from under expensive obligations to maintain its aging copper landline wires in Illinois. “Game over. We win,” AT&T Illinois…
Trial begins in challenge to assault weapons ban
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com EAST ST. LOUIS – The owner of a gun store testified Monday that Illinois’ ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and large capacity magazines has had a significant impact on his business and prevented his customers from buying items they would normally use for self-defense, hunting, target…
