Morgan Park

By Nafis Ahmed
Medill Reports - Chicago

Retired police officer Gerald McLaughlin was vacationing in Mexico with his wife when he realized he couldn't feel his face.

The 63-year-old Portage Park native was standing at a hotel bar the evening of March 12 when his beverage began to spill out of his mouth.

"I took a sip, and it felt like my lips were totally full of Novocain," McLaughlin said. "The liquid went in and just came right back out."

Check out this article in today's Chicago Tribune about Chicago Public Schools' inaugural college tour for its students. A local sophomore from Morgan Park High School was one of 450 students on the tour.

The Southwest Observer is commemorating its one-year anniversary, kicked off by the annual South Side Irish Parade.

West Beverly native and professional journalist Michael Fielding and Web designer Steve Delmont joined nearly 120 other entrants in the 30th annual South Side Irish Parade, marching proudly down Western Avenue before more than 250,000 onlookers March 9.

By Shawna Ohm
Medill Reports - Chicago

Mayor Daley and the Cook County Board of Review announced Wednesday a special property re-assessment period that could result in lower taxes for homeowners - good news for residents of Mount Greenwood, Beverly and Morgan Park whose assessments likely skyrocketed in the last year after the housing boom.

By Phil Taylor
Medill Reports - Chicago

Rows of trash dumpsters as long as city blocks line the alleys behind downtown restaurants, but recycling advocates and some restaurant owners say too much of the waste ends up in landfills.

Environmental advocates have long complained that restaurant owners are flouting laws requiring them to recycle most of their waste, and they blame the city for not enforcing them.

By Christina Zdanowicz
Medill Reports - Chicago

Transit riders and CTA employees breathed a joint sigh of relief Wednesday afternoon as the Chicago City Council approved a way to fund pensions and a retiree health care plan for CTA workers.

A reluctant City Council voted to increase the city's real estate transfer tax from $7.50 per $1,000 to $10.50, as authorized by the mass-transit bailout bill passed on Jan. 17.

If collection begins in April, the CTA is expected to generate $63 million from its share of the tax through the end of 2008.

By Emerald Morrow
Medill Reports - Chicago

Anti-war opponents attended a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday morning to denounce current military recruitment policy in the city's public high schools.

Before the meeting, the American Friends Service Committee organized a rally that drew more than a dozen protesters carrying signs and pamphlets in the lobby of the board's downtown headquarters. They were decrying military recruiters' virtually unlimited access to Chicago Public School students.

By Jonathan Katz
Medill Reports - Chicago

They might be too young to vote, but they're old enough to supervise the polling sites.

More than 1,800 Chicago high school juniors and seniors will be dispersed throughout the county to help preside over the polling stations Feb. 5, even though most are too young to cast a ballot.

Despite a lack of experience with the voting process, teenagers are quickest to grasp the new voting technology, according to Chicago Board of Elections spokesman Jim Allen.