Blog Posts by CBS Chicago

Vince Gerasole, CBS Chicago

It's been six years since Chicago cab drivers have had a fare increase and cabbies say it's about time they had another one.

A group of 1,500 cab drivers have signed off on a proposal to raise fares by 22 percent, charge credit card users a $1.50 convenience fee and a $75 fee for drunken passengers who vomit in their vehicles.

The cabbies also want to impose a $50 fee for the use of a fraudulent credit card and a $1 fee for each additional passenger. Currently, there is a $1 fee for the first additional passenger and a 50 cent fee for every other extra passenger.

In a bumpy economy, taxi drivers say they need a fare hike now, of at least 22 percent.

Cabbies said they need a significant fare hike because most drivers have to work significant overtime just to make a profit.

"Many drivers claim that they're putting in 14, 16 hours a day," cabbie George Kasp said. "I don't doubt it. I've done a little bit of that myself years ago, but … the end is going



BEAVERTON, Ore. (CBS) — Another man who had been believed to be a victim of serial killer John Wayne Gacy has been found alive, announced Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart on Wednesday.

Theodore "Ted" Szal had been missing since 1977, but was found alive and living in Beaverton, Ore., Dart said in a news release.

Szal, 59, left the Chicago area and the state of Illinois in March 1977 when he was 24, Dart said.

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Szal's sister, Marcia Carlson, contacted the sheriff's office on Oct. 18, after Dart said he was working to identify the remaining unidentified Gacy victims. On Nov. 4, Carlson told a sheriff's detective that when her brother disappeared, he was living with his wife in Glen Ellyn and was going through a divorce.

Szal was never reported missing, because he had previously stopped talking to his family and turned up again, Dart said.

Another sister, Judy Morrison of New York, told the detective that Szal's car was found abandoned at O'Hare International

CHICAGO (CBS) — Work to replace an aging water main in the Pilsen neighborhood was almost done Wednesday morning, but the cleanup may take a long time.

As WBBM Newsradio's Nancy Harty reports, surging waters from the 36-inch main poured into a number of basements near Benito Juarez Community Academy, 2150 S. Laflin St., where the pipe broke.(CBS Chicago)

The thoroughfare of Ashland Avenue was also left flooded between 18th Street and Cermak Road.

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The Pilsen Neighbors Community Council is located at 2026 S. Blue Island Ave., across the street from Juarez high school.

Communications coordinator Alma Campos said the council lost sentimental items, such as posters from over the years promoting the groups' annual festival.

"We have some from like the '70s, '80s, so just a lot of valuable and sentimental items," Campos said.

Ald. Danny Solis (25th) says those trying to get compensation from the city should make sure to document their claims with pictures.

"Take pictures of

CBS Chicago

Police in northwest suburban Des Plaines have charged a 19-year-old man in two incidents in which stolen cars were abandoned on railroad tracks and then struck by Metra North Central Line trains.

Kenneth Cooper, of the 8900 block of North Washington Street in Niles, has been charged with two counts of possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Des Plaines police said Cooper was arrested on Dec. 7 in a stolen car. Detectives said a stolen GPS that Cooper had with him was traced back to a stolen vehicle that had been destroyed by a Metra train.

Police said Cooper later implicated himself in two incidents in which stolen cars were left on the Metra North Central Line tracks and then destroyed by Metra trains.

Deputy Police Chief Mike Kozak said Cooper confessed to leaving the cars on the Metra tracks.

Asked if Cooper said why he did it, Kozak said, "He's a thrill-seeker."

Both incidents happened in the early morning hours. Each time, train No. 100 hit an abandoned car

CHICAGO (CBS) — The Chicago Bulls reportedly have agreed to a five-year $94 million contract extension with star point guard Derrick Rose.

The Chicago Tribune's K.C. Johnson reported Tuesday evening that the Bulls plan an official announcement either later Tuesday or on Wednesday.

The extension would pay Rose about $10-11 million more than he could have received under the NBA's previous collective bargaining agreement. A new rule, dubbed the "Derrick Rose rule" rewards young players who outperform their rookie contracts.

The extension would begin next season with an approximate $16 million salary in the first year.

Photo caption: Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls (Getty Images)

CHICAGO (CBS) — For the first time since the Rev. Daniel Mallette was brutally beaten by two robbers, the 80-year-old priest is appearing in public and giving out gifts to children at his parish school.

As CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, Mallette was attacked around 12:30 a.m., Dec. 6 as he slept soundly in the rectory at St. Margaret of Scotland Church, 9849 S. Throop St. The robbers left him with broken ribs and facial lacerations, and made off with $600.(CBS Chicago)

On Tuesday, Mallette at last felt well enough to co-celebrate a morning mass and sing "Silent Night."

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The Rev. George Clements, a seminary classmate of Mallette's and who has known him since age 14, handled most of the duties during the mass. Students from the parish school were the primary attendees.

After the mass, Mallette took great joy in handing out Christmas presents and toys to the schoolchildren. It is an annual holiday tradition for him, and one he says he greatly enjoys.

"Just the looks

Lisa Fielding, CBS Chicago

Can the Bears shut out the Green Bay Packers this weekend at Lambeau Field?

As WBBM Newsradio's Lisa Fielding tells us, a Rochelle car dealer thinks they can, and is willing to put free cars on it.

As a lifelong Bears fan, Sawicki Motor Company General Sales Manager Ron Matula needed a bright spot in this so far, dismal season.

"I'm a huge Bears fan and the business manager is not," Matula said. "He said, 'I bet Chicago is going get shut out,' and I said, 'It's not going to happen,' and he was going to lay a maintenance contract on it. And I said, 'You know what? I'll one-up that. Any car that's purchased before, that I'll give away for free,'" said Matula.

So from now until Friday, anyone who buys a car from Sawicki Motor Company in Rochelle gets it free if the Bears shut out the Packers in Green Bay — a weeklong deal or $1 million worth of vehicles, whatever comes first.

"The motivation is if you're in the market and you're going to buy, there's not

CHICAGO (CBS) — Another week, another embarrassing detail concerning the city's parking meter monopoly; Chicago Parking Meters LLC has sent City Hall another bill for lost revenue from the city's parking meters.

As CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports, the company is billing the city $2.2 million for lost parking revenue due to various street closures.(CBS Chicago)

According to the company, everything from broken water mains to film shoots blocked off streets where drivers would normally park at meters.

Chicago officials who spoke to CBS 2 about the latest bill from Chicago Parking Meters LLC (CPM) were livid and some were even calling for the mayor to break the parking meter contract.

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The six corners intersection of Damen, North and Milwaukee avenues was shut down six times last year for movie shoots and free street festivals.

"Anytime that the city has to do something to the street — let's say, a water main break goes down, or they have to repave, or there's a street