News

Chicago could be one of the first cities in the nation to give double duty to its fleet of street sweepers now that the mayor has proposed an ordinance that would approve the use of cameras to identify parking scofflaws.

The city is considering a three-year contract worth $7.2 million that would allow Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), one of the nation's largest parking enforcement services, to conduct image verification of potential violators. The city would issue $50 tickets to violators.

By Rob Heidrick
Medill News Service

Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis defended his officers' performance in the midst of a rise in the city's murder rate - one that has affected Mount Greenwood, Beverly and Morgan Park twice in the last week. But he acknowledged a need to beef up some policing tactics while improving communications with city aldermen, including Ginger Rugai.

A 26-year-old Beverly man was shot dead July 10 after he and another man were the targets of a gunman who approached them while they were sitting in their car in the 9600 block of South Charles Street.

Chicaco folklorist and ghosthunter Richard Crowe returns to the Ridge Historical Society this summer and fall for more fun-time programs on the supernatural right here in Beverly, Mount Greenwood and Morgan Park. This year's programs will include:

State Representatives Kevin Joyce (D-35th) and Jim Brosnahan (D-36th), along with state Sen. Ed Maloney (D-18th), have co-sponsored legislation in the Illinois House that would provide incentives to Illinois nursing educators.

The bill would allocate $2 million for scholarships to nurses through the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The legislation highlights a “critical shortage of nursing faculty” in nursing education, said Kay Thurn, interim dean at Saint Xavier University's School of Nursing.

By Maude Standish
Medill Reports-Chicago

Chicago residents overwhelmingly felt frustrated by Rev. Jesse Jackson's statements that presidential candidate Barack Obama was "talking down to black people." Jackson's remarks came after Obama gave a speech calling for more parental responsibility in the black community. Jackson, unaware that the camera was rolling in a television studio, also whispered "I want to cut his nuts out."

A 26-year-old Beverly man is dead after he and another man were shot while sitting in their car in the 9600 block of South Charles Street last night.

Police say a lone gunman approached the vehicle just after 10 p.m. and fired several rounds into the vehicle.

The other man, age 25, was treated for multiple bullet wounds at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he is listed in critical condition.

Robert White, 26, who was shot in the chest and the shoulder, was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Eighteen-year-old Morgan Park High School student Deonte Collins says he now has a much better idea of what it takes to pursue the same career as his father - a Chicago firefighter - since he graduated from the Chicago Police and Firefighters Training Academy program.

He tells the Daily Southtown that a job in public sagety is anything but fun and games.

The nine-year-old program mentors about 125 students and is open to sophomores from both public and private high schools who live in Chicago.

To learn more about the program click here.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Edward Schafer visited students and toured the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences June 28 - in addition to a stop at the Taste of Chicago.

Although he had been invited to speak at graduation earlier in June, he was unable to attend but promised to visit during his next trip to Chicago.

Check out the Daily Southtown's coverage of Schafer's visit.

Beverly's Patti Ahern tells a great story about My Sister's Knits owner Carol Oprondek in the Daily Southtown.

Turns out that Oprondek teaches knitting to female inmates at Cook County Jail - something that really has had an impact on the Beverly business owner. Check out the full story here, and if you like it, let Ahern know at pattirma@aol.com.

You've only got a few days before the deadline to purchase vehicle stickers in Chicago. Current city stickers expire on June 30, but the new ones are easy to come by.

Residents may purchase them online, at the clerk's office in Room 107 of City Hall and satellite clerk offices as well as at some local banks, and currency exchanges (although those locations typically add surcharge fees).

Fees are $75 for small passenger vehicles that weigh less than 4,500 pounds and $120 for passenger vehicles 4,500 pounds or more.