Skokie Plan Commission to mull $13.3 million addition to Old Orchard Junior High for preschool

Skokie School District 68 will present its proposal for a one-story building addition to Old Orchard Junior High to the Skokie Plan Commission on Thursday. According to District 68 documents, the addition is anticipated to cost the district $13.3 million. Per the district’s application to the village, the building addition will house the district’s Early Learning Center, a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics/Make-it lab, administrative and teacher service spaces and a central student commons area for collaborative learning. Per the district’s application, the district determined that student enrollment at its current Early Learning Center within Old Orchard has increased beyond […]

South Shore man charged in fatal shooting at Navy Pier

A South Shore man has been charged in a fatal shooting that happened near the loading docks earlier this week at Navy Pier, Chicago police said. Raylon East, 36, of the South Shore neighborhood was charged with two counts of murder and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, police said. East was arrested Thursday in the 7000 block of South Cottage Grove after police issued images of him on public transportation. East, thought to be a recently terminated ex-employee, is believed to have fatally wounded two workers at about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday at a loading dock and nearby […]

66-year-old man dies after getting punched in fight on Near West Side

A 66-year-old man who was involved in a fight on the Lower West Side overnight fell to the ground and later died, Chicago police said. Shortly before 11:15 p.m., the victim was fighting with a 34-year-old man inside a residence in the 1300 block of West 13th Street. At some point, the younger man struck the older man with a closed fist to the face causing the older man to fall to the ground and become unresponsive, police said. Fire department paramedics arrived at the scene and took the older man to the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center […]

Wrong-way driver spurs fatal accident on DuSable Lake Shore Drive on South Side

A wrong-way driver spurred a fatal crash overnight that killed herself and injured several others on Lake Shore Drive in the Hyde Park neighborhood, Chicago police said. About 3:10 a.m. Saturday, a 20-year-old woman driving a gray sedan with two passengers was driving northbound in the southbound lane in the 5200 block of DuSable Lake Shore Drive in the Hyde Park neighborhood. The sedan struck a white sedan with three occupants traveling south. The white sedan continued forward and struck a second white sedan with one occupant, police said. The driver of the gray sedan suffered multiple injuries and was […]

68-year-old man discovered fatally wounded overnight on South Side

A woman who heard gunshots outside her residence overnight discovered a 68-year-old man lying unresponsive on the ground, Chicago police said. Shortly before 3:30 a.m. Saturday. the woman heard gunfire outside her residence in the 8400 block of South May Street in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood. Once checking outside she found a man lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to the body, police said. The man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he was pronounced dead. No one was in custody and detectives were investigating.  

Column: Ryan Poles needs to overhaul the Chicago Bears offensive line in the offseason. He has done it before.

Ryan Poles didn’t need to watch from his seat in the State Farm Stadium press box with the Chicago Bears – missing starting offensive tackles Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright – completely collapse offensively in the fourth quarter of a 20-point loss to the Arizona Cardinals to know there is heavy lifting to do in the trenches in the offseason ahead. It’s been a central question for some time: Why hasn’t a team run by a general manager that is a former offensive lineman poured more resources into the position? It’s a fair question even if some of the noise […]