SouthtownStar

Construction is expected to begin next year on a 200-bed veterans home on Chicago's Northwest Side. The $65 million project is the first state veterans home in the city. The 10-acre site at 4200 N. Oak Park Ave. was picked because it will be close to the Hines Veterans Hospital and to public transportation. Gov. Pat Quinn, Secretary of State Jesse White and a group of state legislators ... Full Story »

Burials have resumed at Burr Oak Cemetery after it was closed for several months by a criminal investigation into alleged grave reselling. The court-appointed administrator of Burr Oak Cemetery tells Newsradio 780 that there have been more than 20 burials there in the past few weeks. That includes those who had died and had not been able to have been buried while the investigation swirled over ... Full Story »

Revenue increased 13% in tax increment finance districts in suburban Cook County and nearly two out of three TIFs countywide saw revenue increases, according to the 2008 TIF report from Cook County Clerk David Orr's office. The report says Chicago's TIF districts posted a first-ever decline of nearly 11% due to the closure of the Central Loop TIF, which alone collected $111 million in 2007. As ... Full Story »

The No. 2 man at Chicago's 911 emergency center has resigned his $149,832-a-year job to avoid being fired for alleged contract irregularities that cost taxpayers $2.25 million. Full Story »

A greater share of prized Chicago magnet school seats would go to the brothers and sisters of current magnet students -- as well as to neighborhood kids -- under a long-awaited magnet admission plan expected to be unveiled this week. Full Story »

An off-duty Chicago fire lieutenant was charged with having a sawed-off shotgun with an unlawful barrel length after he fired at a person breaking the windows of his minivan Monday morning on the South Side, police said. Timothy Hicks, 47, of the 8200 block of South Wentworth Avenue, was charged with possession of a shotgun with a barrel less than 16 inches long, police said. The felony charge ... Full Story »

The old Cook County Hospital building might be resuscitated after all. Vacated in 2002 and spared the wrecking ball in 2004, thanks to preservationists, the West Side hospital might be turned into administrative offices under a $108 million proposal outlined by county planners. The county's Office of Capital Planning and Policy is asking county commissioners to green light the renovation ... Full Story »

Chicago has 370,000 tons of salt "on the ground, covered and ready for the snow to hit" with a plan that employs lessons learned from last year's mistakes, a top mayoral aide said Monday. Last winter, an outcry from aldermen and their constituents forced Mayor Daley to do an about-face on a controversial cost-cutting policy that saw City Hall use less salt, plow side streets during normal ... Full Story »

Municipalities and veterans organizations throughout the Southland have planned ceremonies in observance of Veterans Day. Veterans Day is Wednesday, but some events are on other days. Alsip: The sixth annual Veterans Day Benefit will begin at 6 p.m. today at Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center, 5000 W. 127th St. The event will raise money to build an American Legion post on Chicago's South ... Full Story »

Oak Forest Mayor Hank Kuspa has tabbed Gregory Anderson, the acting police chief in the western suburb of Campton Hills, as the city's next police chief. Now the question is whether or not the city council will go along with it. Anderson's appointment, as well as his contract, will be up for council approval at tonight's meeting. Kuspa said Monday he doesn't think council approval is a sure ... Full Story »

A month after Chicago's Olympic team lost the race for the 2016 Summer Games, the tide has shifted as planners focus on Northerly Island's long-term place in the lakefront landscape. Before Chicago lost to Rio de Janeiro in the Olympic contest, the park district was eyeing how to develop the 91-acre man-made island east of Soldier Field - after it would be a temporary home for Olympic venues ... Full Story »

BY JOHN K. RYAN Homewood police were more than a little surprised to learn they soon may be having more visitors to their lock-up than usual. When Homewood Police Chief Larry Burnson read in Sunday's SouthtownStar that prisoners from Glenwood will be housed at the Homewood station, it was the first he heard of it. "It's obviously not a done deal because we haven't talked to them about it ... Full Story »

They were the best of the best, and because of it, they were chosen. Lincoln-Way North High School's John Fiocca along with Shepard High School's Rebecca Falls and Ted Anton were three students chosen from the Southland to participate in the 2010 U.S. Army All-American Marching Band. About 1,500 high school seniors throughout the nation submitted applications for the marching band, and only 97 ... Full Story »

All village employee groups in Orland Park will be impacted by the village's attempts to reduce a $1.3 million shortfall in its 2010 operating budget, village manager Paul Grimes said Monday night. "Everybody, unfortunately, has to share some of the pain," Grimes said after a village board meeting on the budget that takes effect Jan. 1. Village trustees have authorized Grimes to reduce the ... Full Story »

By Abdon M. Pallasch U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-7th) decided Monday to seek re-election to Congress, withdrawing from the Democratic primary election for Cook County Board president. "Do you think that I'm actually a damned fool?" Davis asked a reporter who questioned whether he was playing a "political game" by waiting until Monday's deadline to decide which office he would pursue. Davis ... Full Story »

Rising pension costs will force Mokena to cut back in other areas in this year's property tax levy. The village will see an $82,000 increase in its pension and retirement obligations this year, finance director Barb Damron told trustees Monday night. Because the total levy - the amount of money the village seeks to raise via the property tax - can't outpace the rate of inflation, Mokena plans ... Full Story »

No Cook County sheriff's officer will ever wear badge number 32 again. In a military-style ceremony fitting for a man who had careers in the military and law enforcement, the number was retired Monday in honor of Derwin Williams. Williams, 41, was killed July 6 when a roadside bomb exploded by his vehicle while he was serving in Afghanistan for the Illinois National Guard. Williams had put ... Full Story »

A pedestrian was killed Monday evening after she was struck by a car in Oak Lawn. Authorities said the woman was in her 60s but would not identify her as of late Monday night because her family had not yet been notified. The accident occurred about 6 p.m. at 95th Street and Kolmar Avenue, Fire Battalion Chief Mike Jensen said. The driver of the car was not injured. The woman was taken to ... Full Story »

Police issued a community alert today about three men who attempted to abduct a 14-year-old boy Friday in Chicago's Mount Greenwood community. The attempted kidnapping happened about 3:15 p.m. in the 10700 block of South Hamlin Avenue when three men in a dark brown minivan drove alongside the boy and parked their car, according to an alert from Calumet Area detectives. A backseat passenger got ... Full Story »

No Cook County sheriff's police officer will ever wear badge No. 32 again. It was retired today in honor of 1st Lt. Derwin Williams, of Glenwood, a drill instructor at the sheriff's police boot camp for nonviolent felons. Williams was killed July 6 while serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan. Full Story »

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) will get the top spot on the Feb. 2 Democratic primary ballot for Cook County Board president. A lottery today determined the ballot order for the primary.Next, in order: Terrence O'Brien, who's the president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago; and Dorothy Brown, the Cook County clerk of courts. Last on the ballot will be the incumbent ... Full Story »

The Chicago public schools will expand its Arabic-language program to three more high schools, thanks to a three-year, $888,000 federal grant announced this morning.Mayor Daley accepted the grant at Durkin Park Elementary School, 8445 S. Kolin, as he rejected suggestions that the Fort Hood, Texas, massacre could lead to an outbreak of anti-Muslim sentiment. "I don't think so," Daley said. "Every ... Full Story »

Sales of homes in Illinois marked the first positive year-over-year increase in more than three years in the third quarter, but the median price in Chicago dropped 20.7 percent, and sales in the city fell 4.8 percent.That's according to the latest report from the Illinois Association of Realtors. Statewide sales of single-family homes and condominiums edged up 0.3 percent to 32,460, while median ... Full Story »

A 10-year-old boy came to his mother's rescue this weekend, stabbing her boyfriend during a domestic dispute in their home in Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood. Daniel McCullough, 38, of the 11800 block of South Wallace Street, had climbed in through a back window and attacked the woman, a Calumet District police lieutenant said. The woman's son tried to intervene and when the man knocked ... Full Story »

U.S. Army Pvt. Najee Hull's first words to his mother after he was shot Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, were, "I'm sorry." "He thought he had disappointed me. He knew I worried about him (being in the Army)," Yvonne Hull said Sunday. As paramedics rushed Najee to the hospital, Yvonne sought to reassure him. "I said, 'I love you. You can never disappoint me; I'll be right there,' " she said. Full Story »