Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: Illinois

Illinois stories: 288 news summaries

1 - 20 of 288 Stories | 1 2 3 4 5 ... 15 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

 Chicago Suburb Tops 
 Best Family Towns 


Best spots to raise kids boast good schools, low crime

21 hours, 19 minutes ago
(Newser) - BusinessWeek has combed the US for the best places to raise a family and has come up with a Chicago suburb to top the rankings again. The rest of the list, based on factors that include education, crime rate, cultural vitality, and air quality, is broken down by state.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
education • Microsoft • parenting • Chicago • Boston • list • Illinois • small towns • Portland, Maine • affordable • Tinley Park, Ill. • Arcadia, Calif. • Great Falls, Mont. • Redmond, Wash. • Malmstrom AFB • Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden

LYNN SWEET

 Dems May 
 Lose Obama's 
 Old Senate Seat 

Illinois field isn't scaring GOP frontrunner Mark Kirk

Nov 16, 09 10:00 AM CST
(Newser) - The Democratic field for President Obama’s old Illinois Senate seat is anemic enough to make a GOP win a real possibility, Lynn Sweet writes. The candidates—only one of whom has run for office, ever—haven’t phased the Republican frontrunner, Rep. Mark Kirk. The statewide Dem establishment... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Illinois • Lisa Madigan • Alexi Giannoulias • President Obama • Election 2010 • Roland Burris • Senate seat • Mark Kirk • midterm elections

Ill. Dems Rally Around Plan
to Take Gitmo Prisoners 

Quinn, Durbin say detainees at empty prison would create 3,000 jobs

Nov 16, 09 9:14 AM CST
(AP) - Illinois' governor and senior senator spent yesterday feverishly trying to regain momentum on their plan to use a nearly empty maximum-security prison 150 miles from Chicago to house Gitmo detainees. With federal officials visiting Thomson Correctional Center today, local GOP lawmakers had gone on the offense Saturday, calling it a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Guantanamo Bay • Illinois • federal prison • Dick Durbin • governor • suspected terrorists • detainees • Pat Quinn

 Prison in Illinois 
 May Replace Gitmo 

Thompson site is top contender, but local congressmen are opposed

Nov 14, 09 2:04 PM CST
(Newser) - The leading contender to take Guantanamo Bay's prisoners when it shuts down is a federal prison in Illinois, sources tell the Chicago Tribune . The near-empty facility in the small town of Thompson, about 150 miles west of Chicago, would take an unspecified but "limited" number of Gitmo's remaining 215... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Guantanamo Bay • Illinois • federal prison • Guantanamo prisoners • Gitmo

9 Other States Have Calif.-Sized Fiscal Messes

Ariz., Fla., Ill., Mich., and NJ among others facing crises

Nov 11, 09 8:14 PM CST
(Newser) - California has by no means cornered the market on enormous financial problems at the state level, with a report out today saying Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin are also at tremendous risk. The Pew Center sees widespread unemployment, huge budget deficits, and the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Florida • California • Wisconsin • Arizona • New Jersey • Michigan • foreclosure • recession • Oregon • unemployment • Illinois • Nevada • Rhode Island • budget deficit • financial crisis

Student Journos in Court Over Murder Investigation

Northwestern's acclaimed Innocence Project under fire

Nov 11, 09 10:40 AM CST
(Newser) - A group of Illinois journalism students found themselves in court yesterday, accused of flirting with and paying off sources during a 2003-2006 investigation for the Medill Innocence Project. The Northwestern students claim to have uncovered evidence exonerating Anthony McKinney, convicted in 1982 of murdering a security guard. Both sides went... More »

MORE ABOUT:
murder • journalism • Illinois • wrongful conviction • journalist • Innocence Project • Northwestern University • Anthony McKinney

bottoms up

 Town Fights 
 Public Boozing 
 With Warm Beer 

Hope is drinkers won't crack a can on the street if it's not frosty

Oct 23, 09 11:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Arlington Heights, Ill., is tackling its public drinking problem with a novel weapon: beer. Warm beer. Starting in January, stores won't sell single-serving bottles or cans of beer cold. You can still buy that tallboy, but the town is betting problem drinkers will be less likely to crack open... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Chicago • alcoholism • beer • drinking • homeless • Illinois • public drinking • alcoholic • Arlington Heights

 Cabbies Ask for Vomit Penalty 

Chicago drivers want messy drunks to pay $50

Sep 24, 09 3:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - Chicago cab drivers want drunk passengers who vomit in their cars to pay a $50 fine. Drivers today asked the city for the penalty along with an overall rate increase of 22%. Chicago cabbies are among the lowest paid in the country, with wages averaging $4.38 an hour over... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Chicago • alcohol • taxi • Illinois • transportation • vomiting

 Chicago Day-Care Home  
 Used for Dogfights 

Cops make arrests after raids in Maywood, Ill

Sep 24, 09 2:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - Chicago police raided an Illinois day-care center that apparently doubled as a brutal dogfighting operation. Ten children were being watched at the private home at the time of the raid. A swing set used by the kids was only 10 feet from a bloody garage where a “vicious” pit... More »

MORE ABOUT:
police • children • felony • dogfighting • Illinois • daycare

OPINION

 Blago Memoir: 
 'I Didn't Do 
 Anything 
 Wrong' 

And he might move to New York, where no one has told him to 'F off' yet

Sep 21, 09 11:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - When it comes to political memoirs, Rod Blagojevich’s The Governor: Finally, the Truth Behind the Political Scandal That Continues to Rock the Nation “is surely unsurpassed” in the areas of “febrile self-defensiveness and look-over-there deflections and deceptions,” writes David Remnick for the New Yorker.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
corruption • Illinois • memoir • governor • Rod Blagojevich • political scandal • Senate seat

Ferris Bueller House
Could Be Torn Down

It's on list of endangered landmarks

Sep 17, 09 11:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - The suburban Chicago house where Cameron killed his dad's Ferrari in Ferris Bueller's Day Off is on a list of endangered Illinois landmarks, the Chicago Tribune reports. The Highland Park home is on the market for $2.3 million and is at risk of being torn down. The preservation group... More »

MORE ABOUT:
architecture • Illinois • Frank Lloyd Wright • historic preservation • Ferris Bueller's Day Off • Landmarks Illinois

(Newser) - A fight on a school bus in Illinois is generating lots of attention across the country. A videotape of the incident shows black teens beating a white classmate while some onlookers cheer, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Police are investigating but have backed off an initial statement that the attack... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Matt Drudge • Illinois • racial tension • taped beating • videotaped beating • school bus

Ex-Blago Aide Dead From 'Overdose'

Christopher Kelly says he spurned feds in Blagojevich case

Sep 12, 09 7:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - An important figure in the federal corruption case against Rod Blagojevich died today, the Chicago Tribune reports. Christopher Kelly, a former fundraiser and confidante to Blagojevich, died from salicylate intoxication, a county medical examiner's office said. Salicylates are found in pain relief and anti-inflammatory medications. One law enforcement source called... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Illinois • governor • Rod Blagojevich • Christopher Kelly

 Talk Show Host Grills Blago 

Bonnie Hunt tells former governor to take responsibility

Sep 11, 09 4:20 PM CDT
(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich got unexpectedly tough treatment from Bonnie Hunt on her talk show today, the Chicago Tribune reports. In what was probably supposed to be a routine stop on the former governor’s book tour, Hunt, an Illinois native, instead pressed Blago on why he doesn’t take responsibility for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
corruption • Illinois • memoir • daytime talk show • governor • Rod Blagojevich • talk-show host • daytime television • Bonnie Hunt

 Prez May Skip 
 Trip to Pitch 
 Chicago Olympics 

IOC chief says there's no clear favorite ahead of next month's vote on 2016

Sep 11, 09 1:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama is keeping the team behind Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics guessing on whether he'll head to Copenhagen to personally address the International Olympic Committee before members make their choice next month, the Chicago Tribune reports. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says he isn't aware of any... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Illinois • Jacques Rogge • Olympic Games • 2016 Olympics • Chicago Olympics • International Olympic Committee • Olympics • President Obama

Missing Ill. Boy Found Hidden Behind Wall at Grandma's

Mother charged in connection with 6-year-old's disappearance

Sep 6, 09 9:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Authorities in Illinois have found a boy who’d been missing for nearly 2 years hidden behind a wall in his grandmother’s house, and arrested his mother and grandmother in connection with his disappearance, the Chicago Tribune reports. “It was a good day today,” one official said,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
kidnapping • Illinois • child custody • child abduction


 Chicagoans 
 Cool Off on 
 Olympic Bid 

Financial concerns drive lukewarm public support

Sep 3, 09 10:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - Local support for Chicago's bid to play host to the 2016 Olympics has fallen sharply, with public opinion evenly split, the Chicago Tribune reports. Just 47% of Chicagoans in a new poll support the mayor’s initiative—a 14-point slide—while 45% oppose it. The main issue is expense: 84%... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Chicago • Richard Daley • poll • Illinois • 2016 Olympics • Chicago Olympics • budget shortfall • Olympics • Summer Olympics

 Blago Book: 
 Senate Deal 
 'Routine' 
 Politics 

Former Illinois gov admits only 'routine' backroom dealing

Sep 1, 09 12:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich’s memoir makes the case for his innocence with a lot of help from Shakespeare, the Chicago Tribune reports. While blaming his woes specifically on five enemies, he likens his plight to that of Othello and Lear. “You might as well throw in a little Richard... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Patrick Fitzgerald • corruption • Illinois • memoir • governor • Tony Rezko • Rod Blagojevich • political scandal • Lisa Madigan • Michael Madigan • Richard Mell

(Newser) - Make sure you've had a good night's sleep before going to court in Illinois. Clifton Williams, 33, went to support his cousin during a hearing on a felony drugs charge, but during the sentencing he stretched his arms and let out a loud, distracting yawn. His cousin got just two... More »

MORE ABOUT:
court • judge • Illinois • yawning • contempt of court • yawn

 Blago Bereft? Hit 
 GovernorRod.com 

Former guv launches his site, finally

Aug 10, 09 8:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - Looking to book Rod Blagojevich for a speaking gig, but just weren’t sure how to get a hold of him? Now you can reach him with the click of a mouse, thanks to his new website, which the ousted governor named—of course—GovernorRod.com, the Chicago Sun-Times... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Illinois • website • governor • Rod Blagojevich • politician

1 - 20 of 288 Stories | 1 2 3 4 5 ... 15 Next >>


from our news partners