• Eight people were hospitalized when a city worker crashed their pick-up truck into a wedding photo shoot on the Near North Side.
• A 15-month-old toddler in Aurora died after his uncle backed over him with an SUV then fled the scene on Saturday.
• The car belonging to missing model Irma Sabanovic was found in the river near Goose Island.

A new study led by a UIC researcher - performed in conjunction with the University of Michigan - shows that "racial residential segregation in the Chicago area may be perpetuated by a lack of knowledge of communities across racial lines." In 2005, researchers surveyed more than 700 adults 21 years of age and older living in Cook County, Illinois to examine how whites, blacks and Latinos differ in awareness of neighborhoods in Chicago and surrounding areas. Respondents in the study were asked to look at a map which highlighted 41 communities located in and around the city and mark any area they didn’t know anything about. The researchers called these areas community blind spots. The 41 areas represented a variety of communities in and outside the city - from communities with expensive housing to those with moderately priced housing, and from communities that are racially segregated to those that are integrated. Regardless of the variety and types of communities represented, the blind spot communities were very different along racial lines. more ›

Randy Salerno’s childhood friend has been charged in his death. Scott Hirschey, 44 and also of Crystal Lake, was charged yesterday with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle; he was allegedly drunk, driving the snowmobile with Salerno on the back. Hirschey was also injured in the accident and was released from the hospital yesterday. Salerno’s family says they don’t want to see Hirschey prosecuted. God, what a nightmare. more ›

CBS 2 morning news anchor Randy Salerno died yesterday in a snowmobiling accident in Wisconsin. He was 45. more ›

Angel Llavano is one cranky customer. He didn't like a sermon at his church, St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal Lake, so he left a voice message for the priest saying, "I attended mass on Sunday and I have seen poor homilies, but yesterday broke all records." When the priest played that recording as part of the following week's sermon (snap!), Llavano decided to sue for defamation. Great, just when homilies were going multimedia, somebody has to ruin it for everyone. That's St. Thomas' pictured at the right, by the way; can you feel the aura of public humiliation? We cannot. more ›

A few of us have some pretty refined tastes here at Chicagoist. Among things we've probably overpaid for are dinners, movie screenings, concerts, sporting events, and computer equipment. But $600 for a makeup job? We don't even think the girliest girl on the staff would spend that much. Yet that's what Governor Blagojevich did as recently as March, when he went to Crystal Lake-based makeup artist Deborah Lee for a touch-up prior to giving his... more ›

Unfortunately this isn't one of those fun stories where we anthropomorphize the animals and let them make a statement. Actually, it's more about people acting like animals: abandoning their young, fear-biting, forcible sodomy, and pouring boiling water on your enemies. OK, those last two are things that only humans do, which leaves us to wonder who the animals really are. more ›

Only one more week to go, Bears fans. Someday, someone will tell us what good it does to make the Super Bowl two weeks after the championships. All it does now is give the papers an extra week to stretch the limits of journalism and fill their pages with anything tangentially relating to the Bears. One story did catch our eye, though: The plight of one Bryan Lange. Lange is a host on a cable... more ›

In an effort to be your one-stop McDonald's shop, Chicagoist has the following sad news to report: A unique, historic Crystal Lake branch of the mighty empire is shutting down. Granted, that's not as tragic as the overall fast food gentrification trend, but there's something special about this particular Mickey D's: it's housed in a piece of Chicago. Four years after the very first McDonald's opened in Des Plaines, Crystal Lake became home to the... more ›

After debuting to controversy and yawns at the Toronto International Film Festival, the pseudo-documentary Death of a President, featuring the faked assassination of President Bush, is rapidly turning into a marketing agency’s wet dream. Newmarket Films is striking while the iron is hot and attempting to get the film into theaters while people are still talking about how CONTROVERSIAL it is, in hopes that those voices will scream louder than the ones who say it’s... more ›

Chicagoist can always count on the distant suburbs to solve the most pressing problems of the day. Crystal Lake has pounced on the scourge of massive recreational vehicles indefinitely parked on the street by issuing a ban on parking vehicles longer than 25 feet and taller than 11 feet in residential neighborhoods for more than 10 days. However, proud Winnebago owners can apply for permits to park their RVs in the driveway indefinitely. more ›

Police in the suburbs are being called to stop the most ruthless of criminals: teenagers who steal beer. The Tribune reported homeowners from Vernon Hills to Mokena have been victimized by “garage hopping” teenagers. “We call them the beer bandits,” Crystal Lake resident Tanya Benham told the paper. Teenagers have been breaking into garages to raid the fridge of its beer. Apparently in Vernon Hills, there’s been a spike in the complaints, and police have... more ›

As more than 8,000 athletes prepare to head to Chicago to participate in this summer’s Gay Games 2006, a new book touts Chicago as a “thriving gay capital.” "The Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago" (Lake Claremont Press) by Kathie Bergquist and Robert McDonald, says the city is often overlooked by gay-friendly travel guides, and those that mention it usually focus on the bar scene. McDonald argues that authors of other guides have only... more ›

Chicagoist once read a study that said Illinois had more independent taxing government bodies than any other state -- over 9,000. Which was amazing, considering the next state, California, twice its size in people and population, had only 7,000 or so. And in that context, it all begins to make sense that two important state policy-making bodies you've never heard of, the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board (IHFPB) and the Illinois Gaming Board are operated like minor fiefdoms and seem to be on courses of self-destruction. more ›

McWhat? Yes, McHenry County! It's that county just northwest of Cook County, home to film director John Hughes and Woodstock, Illinois, the film location of Groundhog Day. But really, what we'd like to point out is the inordinate amount of bad things that have been happening to the good people of McHenry County. more ›