Local News
College Sports | Sidney Lovitsch is officially women’s hoops coach at SXU
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Sidney Lovitsch was named interim women’s basketball coach at Saint Xavier shortly before the 2023-24 season opened and got a trial year to work with. The trial was successful, as the school announced the interim tag has been dropped and Lovitsch is officially the Cougars’ head coach. SXU finished this season……
Area natives Kendall Coyne Schofield, Abbey Murphy representing at Women’s World Championship
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Local hockey legends Kendall Coyne Schofield and Abbey Murphy are back with the U.S. women’s hockey team at the 2024 Women’s World Championship. Schofield, a Palos Heights native and Sandburg graduate, is playing in the Worlds for the 10th time. Murphy, an Evergreen Park native and Mother McAuley graduate, is in……
Hockey gold-medalist Abbey Murphy among college athletes to strike NIL deal with White Sox
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Four college athletes who attended area high schools have been named CHISOX Athletes for 2024, an NIL initiative created by the Chicago White Sox. Notre Dame offensive lineman Pat Coogan (Marist), Minnesota hockey forward Abbey Murphy (Mother McAuley) and Illinois soccer player Yulexi Diaz (Solorio) are among the athletes who will……
Swallow Cliff Chapter NSDAR awards students
At its February meeting, Swallow Cliff Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, held its annual Youth Awards program to honor the DAR Good Citizens Award winners. Seven local high schools nominated outstanding seniors to be candidates for the DAR Good Citizens Award. To be eligible for this award, students had to demonstrate the……
Shepard welcomes alum as new band director
By Kelly White Shepard High School welcomed on one of its own to fill the shoes of former band director, Christopher Pitlik. Kenneth George, a 2001 Shepard High School graduate, has been named the new Director of Bands at the high school, 13049 S. Ridgeland Ave., Palos Heights, upon the retirement of longtime director, Pitlik……
Palos Heights considers TIF district for business corridor
By Dermot Connolly The Palos Heights City Council is considering creating a tax-increment financing district to generate funding to update the Harlem Avenue business district. Mayor Bob Straz discussed that during a wide-ranging State of the City address to the Palos Area Chamber of Commerce on March 26 in the Palos Heights Recreation Center. Palos……
Green Team of Palos Heights plans Clean Up Day
By Kelly White The Green Team of Palos Heights does just what its name implies and works hard to keep the city green and beautiful. “The mission of the Green Team is basically to raise awareness and educate the community about environmental efforts that protect and restore the environment in our community, recognizing that sharing……
Girls Soccer | Stagg, Reavis looking for more
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent The final match of March for both Reavis and Stagg ended in a 0-0 draw on March 28 in Burbank. The Rams (2-4-1 entering this week) are led by third-year head coach Konrad Dziedzic. This season’s team captains include seniors Alaina Hernandez and Olivia Smcyz. “The captains play a huge leadership……
Sports Bits | Aaliyah Flores named St. Laurence hoops MVP
• Shepard alum John Economos was named to the National Hellenistic Hall of Fame. Economos was a Regional News-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year in 1995. • Marist boys basketball coach Brian Hynes was named District 3 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Coach of the Year. • St. Laurence freshman Aaliyah Flores was named the……
College Baseball | Saint Xavier and St. Francis combine for 68 hits, 11 HRs
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent In a showdown between two of the top teams in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, St. Francis (Illinois) won a strange and windy doubleheader over Saint Xavier, 21-4 and 30-14, on March 26 in Chicago. Yes, those were baseball scores. The teams combined for 68 hits and 11 home runs over……
Brother Rice baseball field to get major upgrade
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Brother Rice is getting an upgrade to its baseball field. The project has been in the planning stages for years, but the Covid-19 pandemic and projects around the school have put it to the back burner. But the school announced last week that the project will commence this summer. The completely……
Baseball | St. Laurence coach Pete Lotus gets 500th career win
From Staff Reports St. Laurence defeated Naperville North on March 30 to give longtime Vikings coach Pete Lotus his 500th career victory. The Vikings beat the Huskies, 3-0, in Burbank. Two days earlier, Joe Olsen and Enrique Villanueva combined to allow just one run on four hits over five innings, and senior Matthew Carrano hit……
Pro Soccer Brief | Fire II draw with Philly
The Chicago Fire II played its first home MLS NEXT Pro game of the season and tied the Philadelphia Union, 1-1, on March 27 at SeatGeek Stadium. Harold Osorio scored his first goal of the season and goalie Patrick Los was busy making eight saves. To view this page you will need to log in…
Red Stars’ Swanson and Naeher heading to SheBelieves Cup
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Two Chicago Red Stars are heading to the SheBelieves Cup with the U.S. women’s team. Forward Malloey Swanson and goalie Alyssa Naeher will be among the players representing the U.S. in a game against Japan on April 6 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Stars’ Nadia Gomes will be playing for……
Swanson scores in Red Stars’ draw with Pride
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent After missing most of the 2023 NWSL season due to surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon, Chicago Red Stars forward Mallory Swanson knew she would have to ease into things in 2024. First-year coach Lorne Donaldson was expecting Swanson would return to form five or six games in. Whether she……
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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
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
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……