Browsing: Local Stories

Retired teacher and Local School Council candidate Joann Podkul outside Douglas Taylor Elementary School, in Chicago on April 14, 2022. Podkul is running to fill one of two community representative council positions at the Southeast Side school. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Though the hall closed to other events, the Crystal Lake Lions Club had its annual fundraiser at D’Andrea a week before the fire, providing steaks for more than 600 people to cook on grills outside. The event was safely run every year, with firefighters and police participating, and with the leftover charcoal safely stored overnight and disposed, Lions Club officer Randy Funk said. The fundraiser raised about $10,000 to help buy a dog that could detect low blood sugar for a local 13-year-old boy with diabetes.

In the crowded Democratic race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, Hyde Park businessman Jonathan Swain had more than $321,790 in cash on hand to start April. Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, reported $297,110 in available cash, and Rush-endorsed candidate Karin Norington-Reaves had $237,112 on hand, while civil rights activist Jonathan Jackson had $129,765.

Asked Monday about mask rules, the Chicago Department of Aviation, which oversees Midway and O’Hare International Airport, said the airports “will continue to follow, observe and enforce all current and future guidance by federal, state and local health and security authorities.” The agency did not provide additional clarification about whether mask use would be enforced.

Freddy Fagenholz, general manager of the legendary Cubs bar, Murphy’s Bleachers in Wrigleyville, had a similar sentiment, saying cooler weather had undoubtedly reduced the use of its large outdoor patio popular on warm game days. The season’s first night game at Wrigley Field was expected Monday night, with temperatures at 40 or just below.

Andy Aphour, 26, of the 100 block of Callan Avenue in Evanston, is charged with first degree murder in the Saturday night stabbing death of his sister, Karen Aphour, 30, of the same residence, police said in the release. Bond was set at $300,000 and Andy Aphour has been ordered to surrender his passport.

Students and staff leave Fremd High School on Feb. 7, 2022, in Palatine. Just weeks after educators threatened to strike this summer if their demands were not met, officials with Township High School District 211 said Monday they had forged a tentative contract with the teachers union. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Doctors at Methodist Hospitals Northlake campus in Gary told police the girl was abused “from head to toe,” with a bite mark on her abdomen, a three finger-shaped chest bruise, belt marks on her legs, thighs, buttocks, bloody lips, neck redness, bruises on her forehead and feet and armpit redness, court documents said.

“We have so many things to see all across the state, so people will be traveling, I think, both to Chicago and to the rest of the state. As for people who are coming to Chicago, Chicago is really a wonderful place to visit. The people of Chicago are good, decent, hardworking, honest, wonderful people, and nice,” Pritzker said.

“Federal prosecutors would need to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Van Dyke willfully deprived Mr. McDonald of a constitutional right,” the statement read. “To do that, prosecutors would have to prove not only that Mr. Van Dyke acted with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids, but also that his actions were not the result of mistake, fear, negligence, or bad judgment.”