Chicago Fire Department reminds Thanksgiving cooks to remember one crucial ingredient: Safety

Using a pulley and standing a safe distance back, a Chicago firefighter dropped a frozen bird into a turkey fryer with too much hot oil, splashing the viscous liquid everywhere. The oil swiftly ignited, and despite a quick reaction from another firefighter wielding a hose, bright orange flames as tall and wide as a CTA bus engulfed the fryer. “Thanksgiving is one of the year’s busiest days for fire departments, with cooking-related fires leading the charge,” said Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt Wednesday morning at the turkey-fry-gone-wrong demonstration.  As families gear up for Thanksgiving gatherings stuffed with gratitude and […]

Venezuelan refugees reunited with their cat, thanks to rescue group; ‘We couldn’t leave her as if she was a toy’

They say love comes suddenly and unexpectedly, sometimes during the most tumultuous times in life, said Carlos Salazar, a native of Venezuela who now lives in Rogers Park. He met his partner Efren Monsalve in Peru after they escaped the turmoil and economic crisis ravaging their home country. They found a home in each other, they said, now sitting on a couch in their apartment, seemingly a million miles away from friends and family. But their family wasn’t complete. They’d been missing their cat, Katzel, after they had to make the hard decision to leave her in Peru when they […]