SouthtownStar

Students in Prairie-Hills School District 144 were happy to have Thursday off, thanks to a teachers strike. But some know the fun can't last forever, and they fear losing valuable summer vacation days if the strike lasts a long time. Meanwhile, village and park officials said they didn't notice a significant influx of kids looking for something to do on the first day of the strike. Full Story »

Police Supt. Jody Weis stopped short of declaring Scott's death a suicide - despite the Cook County medical examiner's conclusion it was. Full Story »

Throughout a 7 1/2-year battle that has defied the odds against metastatic breast cancer, Maggie Daley has been a tower of strength and an inspiration to women facing similar struggles.Her always emotional husband, Mayor Daley, is not quite so strong. And as Chicagoans well know, he wears his heart on his sleeve. Today, the mayor talked about his wife's latest setback: radiation treatments for a ... Full Story »

Mary Kay Rosado is the first to admit she's had a great life.She has two sons, a loving husband and a challenging job at the lawfirm where the Obamas met. Yet she is haunted by one nagging detail. She longs to meet her birth mother. Full Story »

Teachers in Prairie-Hills School District 144 are on strike today after a late-night bargaining session failed to achieve a new contract. Representatives of the teachers' union and the district said talks broke down about 10 p.m. Wednesday and that teachers would begin picketing in front of their respective schools about 7:30 a.m. today. Teachers union spokeswoman Michele Gallagher declined to ... Full Story »

The way it's drawn up now, Oak Lawn's 2010 budget includes an expansion of its senior center bus service, the creation of an economic development fund, the completion of a backup 911 center and the continuation of the village's street repaving program. That's the good news. The bad news for village departments is that overtime is getting slashed and future wage and benefit cuts, and possibly ... Full Story »

When Oak Lawn officials began delving into budget talks earlier this fall, their idea was to host a series of small workshops instead of knockdown, drag-out meetings that can last for hours on end. But political gamesmanship has derailed those best-laid plans and deepened the divide between Mayor Dave Heilmann and most of his former allies in the Unity Party. Hanging in the balance is how ... Full Story »

Only two months after some officials said it might have to be canceled because of a lack of volunteers, the annual Country Christmas event returns this weekend to Crete. The 18th annual fest sponsored by the Crete MainStreet Association will feature a chili cook-off, an evening parade, trolley rides, a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, music, a reindeer contest and a lot of family fun, local ... Full Story »

An elderly Chicago Heights man died Wednesday, four days after he was struck by a vehicle in the city, authorities said. Vincent Kuceski, 89, of the 200 block of West Elmwood Drive, was hit by a southbound car while crossing Chicago Road at 15th Street about 5 :10 p.m. Saturday. He was pronounced dead at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn at 2:26 p.m. Wednesday, the Cook County medical examiner's ... Full Story »

Tinley Park residents can expect to pay more for water next year, but they only will be charged for the amount they use. Village trustees Tuesday tentatively approved an 18 percent increase in the water rate. An average family will pay an additional $8 a month next year as a result of the water and sewer rate increases, officials said. The increase will take effect Jan. 1. The revenue will pay ... Full Story »

Ebe nezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim will all make appearances in St. John Lutheran Church's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol, the Musical," but the music that accompanies the production will not be as familiar as the characters in Charles Dickens' holiday classic. Ron Selle, longtime musical director at the Country Club Hills church, has written the 18 songs that will be featured in the ... Full Story »

Parking rates increase for Tinley Metra riders Tinley Park commuters will pay more to use the village's two Metra station parking lots. The village board Tuesday increased by 50 percent the fees for the commuter lots at Oak Park and 80th avenues. The $1 a day rate will increase to $1.50 beginning Jan. 1. The monthly rate will jump to $30. Quarterly and yearly passes will go up by the same ... Full Story »

Executives at Blue Island's MetroSouth Medical Center are pinning their hopes on a break in their property tax bill this year to continue their goal of turning around the facility and making a profit. The for-profit hospital is facing a roughly $2 million bill - its first since taking over the not-for-profit St. Francis Hospital that nearly shuttered its doors in 2008 before MetroSouth investors ... Full Story »

Employers announced 50,349 job cuts in November, the lowest level in nearly two years and down 72 percent from 181,671 announced a year earlier, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said in its monthly report today.The November total was 9.6 percent lower than the 55,679 announced in October and marked the fourth straight decline in monthly layoffs.In Illinois, job cut ... Full Story »

A windfall from the sale of Chicago parking meters that was supposed to last for 75 years would be nearly exhausted in just one year to stave off tax increases and provide token property tax relief, thanks to a $6.1 billion 2010 budget approved today.By a vote of 38 to 12, the City Council approved Mayor Daley's plan to drain reserves generated by city asset sales to solve Chicago's worst budget ... Full Story »

A South Side man has been charged with stabbing a woman and the infant son the couple had together. McKerry Coleman, 19, of the 7700 block of South Marshfield Avenue, was charged with murder and one count of attempted murder, police said. Coleman is expected to be in court later Wednesday. The stabbings happened about 6:15 p.m. Monday in the 6700 block of South Evans Avenue, police officer John ... Full Story »

A Southwest Side man died Tuesday after he fell through an opening in the floor of a house in Oak Park. Rafael Torres was working at a house in the 300 block of Wisconsin Avenue in Oak Park when he fell through an opening in the floor on the porch, hitting his head, Oak Park Fire Battalion Chief Patrick Biswurm said. Torres, 55, of the 5200 block of South Troy Street, was pronounced dead at 2:29 ... Full Story »

A man was shot multiple times outside a South Side Metra stop this morning. About 5:30 a.m. a man in this 30s was shot multiple times, including in his arm and lower back at 2944 E. 79th St, Chicago police officer Hector Alfaro said. The Cheltenham (79th St) Metra Electric District station is nearby at East 79th Street and South Exchange Avenue. The victim was taken to Northwestern Memorial ... Full Story »

A $4.3 million judgment was upheld Tuesday for the family of a man who died of meningitis while in Cook County Jail for less than a week. On April 29, 2004, Norman Smith, 32, died while he was detained at the Cook County Jail. Although his death certificate lists the cause of death as meningitis, multiple witnesses at a trial testified that while Smith was dying, he was ignored by Cook County ... Full Story »

Southlanders, we always thought you had a thing for us, but the proof from Google Inc. has us darn near blushing. The SouthtownStar newspaper is among the 10 most popular searches among folks who live in the Chicago area in the search giant's first-ever local Zeitgeist 2009 survey. Zeitgeist is a German word that loosely translates to "spirit of the times." "The zeitgeist is really about the ... Full Story »

The message was clear: Save Orland Park's Dial-A-Ride bus program. And the response from Orland Park officials was clear: The program's cost must be reduced and other avenues of cutting next year's village budget must be found. About 50 seniors and people with disabilities came to Monday's budget hearing to lobby for the program that was to be cut from next year's operating budget to help plug a ... Full Story »

It has been said there are only two things certain in life: death and taxes. On Tuesday, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger equated the two in arguing that cutting the county's sales tax increase, imposed 17 months ago, would jeopardize people's lives because less money would be available for health care for the poor and uninsured. "Some people will die needlessly for lack of access to the ... Full Story »

That a Kirby School District 140 public hearing is to take place Thursday to discuss outsourcing custodial services to a private company doesn't mean the district already has decided to make the switch, according to Supt. Michael Byrne. The custodial staff's contract expires June 30. The district has seven schools that serve about 4,000 students from Tinley Park, Orland Park and Orland Hills ... Full Story »

It's exactly two months before the primary election and a little more than a month before early voting begins - and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley has made no public endorsement in the Cook County Board president's race. Neither has House Speaker Mike Madigan nor such powerful Democratic ward committeemen as Edward Burke, Dick Mell or John Daley. Tricky racial politics may be at play here. Terry O ... Full Story »

Although she's never held public office before, the newest member of the Prairie State College board is no stranger to government or education. Brunetta Hill-Corley, of Olympia Fields, was sworn in as an interim PSC trustee last week. It is her first role in the public office. She takes the seat of former Trustee John Marks, who resigned in October. Marks was elected to the board in 2003 and re ... Full Story »