SouthtownStar

Cook County Crime Stoppers has put up a $1,000 reward for information about thedeath of a 20-year-old Justice woman.Lacey Gaines was found dead at 7:10 p.m. Dec 7 in her apartment in thefirst block of Hickory Trace Drive, Justice Police Department said.She had been stabbed and strangled.Detectives continue investigating the case and said in a release Gaines mayhave known her attacker.To report ... Full Story »

Four people were injured, including a child, in a two-vehicle crash this morning on the South Side.The crash happened at 10:51 a.m. at 9501 S. Ashland Ave., according to police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak.Four people were injured in the crash, including a child who was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, Fire Media Affairs spokesman Quention Curtis said.Three adults ... Full Story »

Two men were injured in a shooting in the city's Chicago Lawn community Sunday night. Police responded to shots fired at Campbell Avenue and 68th Street about 8:30 p.m. and found two men in their 20s with gunshot wounds, police officer John Mirabelli said. One man was shot in his right arm and the other man suffered a gunshot wound to his chest. No information about the men's conditions was ... Full Story »

A man died five days after the car he was driving was struck by a motorist who crossed the centerline on a South Side street during a snowstorm Dec. 7 Dalton Mack, 57, was driving a 1984 Chevrolet Caprice eastbound on 95th Street when a westbound Lincoln Town Car crossed the centerline and struck the Caprice near Dorchester Avenue about 4:50 a.m. Dec. 7, police officer John Mirabelli said. It ... Full Story »

Off-duty firefighter Jason Durbin carried a woman down 28 flights of stairs, piggyback-style, after he saw fire blowing out from a top floor of a Gold Coast high-rise Sunday afternoon. He found the woman, in her 50s or 60s, conscious by lying on the floor five or six feet from the door of her unit in the Bryant House, 1451 N. Sandburg Terrace. "When I felt her, it was pull and go," Durbin said ... Full Story »

A Burbank man is accused of leading police on a chase that started in Chicago's Englewood community and ended in a crash and a police-involved shooting on the city's Far South Side late Friday. Mohammed Ramadan, 28, was charged with aggravated fleeing police, aggravated battery to police and criminal damage to government property, police said. All three charges are felonies. The incident began ... Full Story »

A Lansing man died Sunday after being injured in a crash Nov. 24 in Calumet City, the Cook County medical examiner's office reports. Bruce Graham, 47, was involved in a crash at Torrence Avenue and Ring Road in Calumet City, the medical examiner's office said. Information about the crash was not immediately available from Calumet City police. Graham was pronounced dead at 4:55 p.m. Sunday at ... Full Story »

Administrators and striking teachers in Prairie-Hills School District 144 negotiated Sunday after a 13-hour session Friday failed to end the stalemate. "I guess they are trying to get it done," teachers union spokeswoman Michele Gallagher said of working out a new contract. As of Sunday evening, Gallagher said the two sides still were talking. Even if a deal was reached late Sunday, teachers ... Full Story »

It might have been damp and chilly outside, but inside it was warm and cozy as a group of ladies opted to escape the holiday madness and wintry weather to savor a cup of tea. For eight days in December, the log cabin art center at The Center in Palos Park is transformed into a tea room where mothers, daughters, friends and co-workers can come from near and far to share some quiet holiday moments ... Full Story »

Construction of a water tower in Frankfort still could get under way this month, boosted by an interest-free loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. With funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 25 percent of the $2.68 million loan - or $671,600 - does not have to be paid back. "We are very happy to get this funding and move forward with this project," village ... Full Story »

By now, 24-year-old William Merchantz is used to all the attention. "When people find me, it's usually not because they want to talk to me," the Lincoln-Way East High School teacher said. "They usually need me for something. But it's fun; it's all good." The reason why the Mokena resident is so popular is because of his affinity for mechanics. Merchantz said he's a "very hands-on kind of guy ... Full Story »

A man resting at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn is the suspect in a bizarre weekend crime spree in which his father was shot and a Steger woman and Chicago woman were murdered before the man was apprehended in a strip club after being shot by a customer, authorities said. The suspect allegedly had attempted to rob a patron at gunpoint before another customer shot him, police said ... Full Story »

South suburban hospitals have united against a push to regulatethe amount of free care they provide to poor patients. A proposedordinance before the Cook County Board would require that hospitalsdevote a certain percentage of their operating expenses to charitycare. Hospitals that don't meet the required threshold would pay feesthat would go into a fund for the county's hospitals. Full Story »

Parking tickets and the cost to retrieve an impounded car have gone up in Evergreen Park. Village trustees last week increased parking ticket fines from $50 to $60. The fee doubles to $120 if the ticket is not paid by the hearing date. The cost to retrieve an impounded vehicle released was increased from $500 to $600. Additionally, trustees doubled the fine for possession of less than 2.5 grams ... Full Story »

Tashika Smith's cell phone rang Saturday, but no one answered. Just hours earlier - about 3 a.m. - the 38-year-old was strangled in her Steger home by a man police believe was her boyfriend, authorities said. That same man shot his father in Maywood some time after 11 p.m. Friday, Maywood police Lt. Donald Mobley said. The father survived, Mobley said, and Chicago police have the man in custody ... Full Story »

Do n't be surprised when you see a Santa, a dozen squad cars and fire engines roar through Tinley Park next weekend. They're not headed to an emergency. Instead, for the 13th year, they're on a mission to make wishes come true. It's all part of Tinley Wish, a charity organized by local police officers. The charity has raised about $300,000 in the last 13 years, Sgt. T.J. Grady said. This year ... Full Story »

When Oak Lawn officials decided to privatize the village's family services department this fall, the idea was to trim costs from the budget and boost efficiencies for a program that's considered a rarity in municipal governments. Since 1967, the department has served as an outpost for local families in need of counseling services as well as a guiding light for low-income residents in need of ... Full Story »

Midlothian officials have taken the first step toward redeveloping the property at the northwest corner of 147th Street and Cicero Avenue. Trustees hired the Buckley Companies and Nicolosi & Associates of Loves Park, to develop an economic viability study for the site, the former home of Sunrise Chevrolet. The village will pay $4,200 for the study, which will offer a variety of proposals on how ... Full Story »

LOCKPORTHomer Glen man killed in 143rd Street crash A Homer Glen motorist died Friday afternoon after a two-vehicle crash in Lockport. Kevin Benes, 19, of Homer Glen, was the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash on 143rd Street near Interstate 355 about 2 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 2:36 p.m. Friday at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet, according to the Will County coroner's office. A Dodge ... Full Story »

The addition of a new secretary at Oak Lawn Village Hall could mean the subtraction of duties for Mayor Dave Heilmann's handpicked secretary. Under a scenario proposed by Trustee Tom Phelan (6th) and endorsed by three other trustees, Oak Lawn would turn mayoral secretary Meg Gorman's job into a part-time gig without benefits. The village then would hire another part-time secretary, making for a ... Full Story »

Former Burbank School District 111 Supt. Thomas Long has asked a judge to overturn his firing. Long has filed a lawsuit in the Cook County Circuit Court's Chancery Division asking for a review of the District 111 board's decision to fire Long and the charges filed against him, Long's attorney, Edward Copeland, said Friday. School board members contacted deferred comment on Long to board ... Full Story »

In addition to dealing with the typical taxing issues of an assessor, Joe Kral may be faced with financial concerns as well when he takes over as Frankfort Township assessor Jan. 4: He may not have enough money to operate the office effectively. According to year-to-date budget figures, outgoing assessor Paul Ruff has spent 80 percent of the budget in the first eight months of the fiscal year ... Full Story »

Zero-hour classes and the building trades program are among the items Lincoln-Way High School District 210 plans to cut next year in an effort to scale back expenses by $3 million. A combination of late state payments, flat property tax revenues and increasing expenses are forcing the district to take a hard look at its bottom line, Supt. Lawrence Wyllie said. "We haven't received a dime from ... Full Story »

What is now an empty field in Country Club Hills will be home to a 100-unit apartment building for homeless people. Although the building probably won't be open until 2012, those involved are excited. PADS chief Michael Wasserberg calls the site ideal because it is close to a shopping center where residents might find work. Full Story »

A woman is filing a lawsuit against the Country Club Hills Police Department after she said she was mistakenly arrested at her home. According to the lawsuit, Shuntina McKee was at home in the 19000 block of Cypress Avenue in Country Club Hills when police arrived on an arrest warrant for "Marie Love" on Dec. 27, 2008. The lawsuit, filed Friday in Cook County Circuit Court, claims McKee told the ... Full Story »