Welcome to datahq.net

A veering motorist on the Stevenson Expressway crashed into oncoming traffic causing serious injuries and traffic tie-ups, officials said.

The crash near Cicero Avenue temporarily closed lanes in both directions, but southbound lanes were reopening late Monday, while one northbound lane remained open, according to Illinois State police.

Early reports stated that a southbound motorist lost control of their vehicle and veered into northbound traffic, police said.

State police said the collision resulted in serious injuries, but couldn't offer any additional details as officers were still assessing the accident scene.

Check back for details.

--William Lee

Carolyn Gilbert, the Elgin High School teacher who lost an eye when she was stabbed by a student two years ago, has received a pink slip from Elgin School District U-46. (Stacey Wescott/Tribune)

Elgin-based School District U-46 "dug deep" Monday, outlining potential cuts of nearly 1,100 jobs -- 732 of them teaching positions -- and program reductions including middle school football and art and music lessons for kindergartners.

Facing a $44 million budget gap, officials in U-46, the state's second-largest school system, said they had little choice but to prepare for the cuts, given dwindling property tax revenues and the prospect of losing millions in state money.

More than 700 attended Monday's school board meeting, where parents, teachers and students cr...

Suspicions that a Mount Prospect school bus driver had been drinking on the job were brought to the attention of her supervisor the day before the driver was arrested last week, the school board president said he learned Monday.

It was the same supervisor who allowed the driver to continue on her route the next day after confronting her and then calling police. Authorities later said the driver's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when she dropped off her 50 students from Lions Park School.

The revelation came during a special meeting called Monday to discuss the handling of the incident, which President Joseph Leane called a "districtwide failure."

From left: mothers Sheryl Beedy, Laura Traviolia, Katherine Ehlert and Amy Olson listen Monday as members of the Mount Prospect Scho...

Cabdriver Salih Abdelsamie felt the steel blade pressed against his throat early one morning at the end of a ride on the city's North Side.

"He reached the knife around with his right hand and brought his left hand around the seat to hold my neck," the 13-year veteran of Chicagoland roads said of the mugging. "He told me, 'I want all your money.'"

Abdelsamie and other local cabbies discussed the hazards of their challenging work in light of recent high-profile attacks on other drivers. In the most dramatic incident, a driver was shot five times Saturday by a passenger in Zion. His wife said Monday that he had been driving a cab for just two months after getting laid off from his last job. He was in stable condition and expected to survive.

Industry experts say drivers are working longer hours to make ends meet -- an 80-hour workweek is common -- and that the threat of violence is never far from their minds.

In a recent survey conducted by a researcher with...

SPRINGFIELD -- Red-light camera tickets would be slightly harder to get and cheaper to appeal under a reform plan endorsed by Senate leaders today that fell far short of the sweeping overhaul demanded by critics of the automated devices.

The measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and hammered out in a closed-door meeting last week with other lawmakers and lobbyists for Redflex and Redspeed, vendors hired to operate camera systems for Chicago and many suburbs.

The Cullerton plan, sent by the Transportation Committee to the Senate floor on a 10-0 vote, would nibble at the edges of complaints that have arisen as cameras have proliferated across the region in recent years. It would ban the city and suburbs from tacking on an extra fee to the standard $100 fine if a ticket is appealed, a common practice which deters many motorists from fighting the charges.

The measure would also give drivers more wiggle room to creep up to the edge...

SPRINGFIELD -- With little debate, the Senate voted today to drop the ban on building nuclear power plants in Illinois. The measure was sent to the House on a bipartisan 40-1 vote, with two lawmakers voting present.

Read more in Clout Street on chicagotribune.com.

State child welfare officials are investigating the death of an 18-month-old girl as a possible child abuse case, officials said.

Breiara Johnson, of the 4300 block of South King Drive, was pronounced dead at 1:10 p.m. Monday at Comer Children's Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The girl became unresponsive after showing up for a doctor's appointment at a health clinic in the 800 block of East 55th Street, police said.

While police were conducting a death investigation and awaiting an autopsy scheduled for Tuesday, officials with the state Department Children and Family Services were investigating allegations of abuse against both of Breiara's parents following a call to the agency hotline, spokesman Kendall Marlowe said.

There hadn't been any open cases against the child's family, said Marlowe, who didn't know if her parents had any other children.

--William Lee

Source: Chicago Breaking News | Published: 15 Mar 2010, 9:47 pm