2016-09-12



Here is the latest Local News from the Chicago Tribune.

On 9/11, Illinois Army National Guard unit mobilizes for Afghanistan deployment

The Trailways bus idled behind the armory, packed with canvas bags and gear. Someone yelled out the final call: It was time to go.

Staff Sgt. Michael Looze grabbed his bulky Army backpack from a patch of grass behind the bus, paused and turned toward his family. Then he ran to his young son, and…

Three injured in Orland Park crash

Three people were transported to a hospital about 12:35 a.m. Saturday after a head-on collision between two vehicles in Orland Park, a spokesman for the Orland Fire Protection District said.

One of the injured, a woman in her early 20s, had been pinned in her vehicle, but fire crews were able to…

Harrowing escape tale highlights Schererville 9/11 commemoration

Don Bacso’s pulse thumped as he descended down the stairwell of the World Trade Center five minutes after a hijacked airplane crashed into the Twin Towers 15 years ago.

“In the stairwell that muffled concussion had people on edge,” Bacso said referring to the second plane striking the World Trade…

‘It felt like a bomb’

Vendetta Vannister had just returned from a medical appointment to her home on Glen Flora in Waukegan when she went into her kitchen for a glass of water. That’s when a Lincoln SUV crashed through her living room wall last week.

“I was in the kitchen,” Vannister said. “And thank God I was getting…

Early rain doesn’t cloud Waukegan air show

The organizers of the Northern Illinois Airshow had their own kind of barrel roll to contend with Saturday as rain and wind threatened the event Saturday at Waukegan National Airport.

As winds blew over canvass tents and the rain poured down delaying some airplanes on their way to perform in the…

Moms who were pregnant during 9/11 share their stories

Maria Cullerton remembers the day as if it were yesterday.

The English teacher at Trinity High School in River Forest had just grabbed breakfast when the first plane hit the World Trade Center, on Sept. 11, 2001, and Cullerton, who was 24 weeks pregnant with her first baby, was shocked.

She sat…

Elgin firefighters recall their post-9/11 special delivery to NYC

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, crashes of two airliners hijacked by terrorists that ultimately pulverized the World Trade Center, Elgin firefighters John Fahy, Jim Mulvihill, John Tobin and Anthony Bialek drove east to deliver a needed ladder truck to the New York City Fire Department.



Elgin teacher has students reflect on remembrances of 9/11 attacks

Elgin High School teacher Kevin Gallery has been ecstatic to begin his unit on 9/11 as a segue way to introduce the idea of the American Dream.

He said having his students study the tragedy is a decision he couldn’t resist.

“These kids just don’t know,” Gallery said. “The world has changed incredibly…

Those born on 9/11 ‘a blessing on a sad day’

On what was one of the most tragic days in American history, my family had reason to celebrate.

That’s because on Sept. 11, 2001, the day the towers fell and the world as we knew changed forever, my brother and his wife gave birth to a baby girl they had been praying would arrive for many years.



Sept. 11 terror attacks propelled Aurora man into life of service

John Daniel was 35 on Sept. 11, 2001. He was a freelance photographer. He had a morning routine.

But, weeks after he watched on TV as a plane flew into the World Trade Center’s south tower, he was meeting with an Army National Guard recruiter.

“Right at that moment, for me, I wanted to be part…

Former Pentagon employee from Schererville reflects on 9/11

It was gong to be a normal day. Or so she thought.

Allison Barber, a Schererville native and chancellor of Western Governors University of Indiana, an online university, departed Reagan National Airport on a 6 a.m. flight Sept. 11, 2001. Barber, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense…

Sept. 11 is history, not memory, for Class of 2020

The first time Waukegan High School freshman Jorge Moreno remembers learning about Sept. 11 was when he was a fourth-grader at Lyon Magnet Elementary School.

His school — like a lot of schools in Waukegan and across the country — held a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks…

Lisle pilot’s life changed because of 9/11

Pilot Alec Blume left the gate at 9:02 a.m. Sept. 11, 2001, and was cleared for takeoff to Newark, N.J., on runway 19R at Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport when the flight crew was advised to stand by.

New York airspace no longer was accepting flights.

The reason, he was told, was…

Aurora air traffic controller remembers ‘wild scene’ after 9/11

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Carl Franco was on the golf course.

Then an air traffic controller at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora, Franco was on a golf trip to Wisconsin with eight other air traffic controllers.

“We looked up and saw…

Lesson from 9/11 survivor: ‘I tell people to trust their inner self’

Lt. Col. Ryan Yantis recalls a heated discussion on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, with one of his bosses regarding the location of a meeting as they walked through the outer ring of one of the corridors of the Pentagon. That discussion and the ensuing walk wound up saving his life, he told members…

Carjacking suspect dead after jump from overpass

A carjacking suspect died after jumping from the Harlem Avenue overpass onto the Eisenhower Expressway on Friday evening, state police said.

Four people stole a vehicle at gunpoint in suburban Hillside earlier in the day, according to preliminary information from state police. They fled onto the…

Landmark Hobart restaurant serves its last meals

George Fitusis yelled to an employee from a booth in the back of his restaurant.

“Please keep an eye on the register!” Fitusis said, his thick Greek accent seasoning every word.

Since his Bright Spot restaurant opened in downtown Hobart in 1980, he has yelled those words thousands of times. He…

We left Chicago, just in time

This is why we left Chicago.

This is why we call our move to the suburbs one of the smartest decisions we’ve made.

This is why we’re encouraging all of our friends to do the same.

This is why I can’t find any good reason to live in the city: Someone was shot dead Wednesday morning in my old neighborhood.



3 injured in head-on vehicle crash in Orland Park

Three people were injured early Saturday in a head-on crash in a construction zone in suburban Orland Park, officials said.

About 12:35 a.m., firefighters and paramedics responded to an accident in a construction zone involving an auto and a pickup in the 10400 block of 159th Street, said Ray Hanania,…

Police: Men used duct tape on store owner, secretary in Skokie robbery

The 86-year-old owner of a Skokie company that specializes in headstones was bound with tape inside his Gross Point Road business Friday afternoon by armed robbers who took his keys and ransacked his nearby home, police said.

Skokie police said three men armed with cutting instruments entered the…

Helping vets in honor of McHenry deputy who died after on-duty shooting

As the anniversary of the death of a beloved McHenry County sheriff’s deputy nears, a community and his widow are honoring him by helping others.

The 1st Annual Dwight “Maddog” Maness Veterans Assistance Fund Motorcycle Run was scheduled to set off Saturday morning from Woodstock Harley Davidson…

Four arrested after smash-and-grab goes bust

Orland Park Police said that four men from Detroit were arrested Thursday after an apparently foiled smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store in the village.

An off-duty Orland Park officer was working security at the LaGrange Road store just before 11 a.m. Thursday when he noticed a man walking…

Puppy stolen from Naperville pet store remains missing; police question suspects

The 12-week-old puppy named Bella stolen from a Naperville pet store remained missing Friday, but police said two suspects are in custody and cooperating with authorities.

The three- to four- pound, black and white Pomeranian puppy was taken Sunday afternoon from the Petland store in Naperville…

Bathroom ‘passport’ rule in some St. Charles classrooms met with mixed reactions from parents

A practice among some St. Charles teachers that limits the number of times a student can leave class to use the bathroom each quarter has been met with mixed reactions from parents.

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