The DuPage County Board approved by a 13-5 vote to allow a Muslim group to build a community center in unincorporated Willowbrook. It's not just a mosque, although the 600-person prayer room planned for the community center seems to be driving the headline writers. There are also plans for a school and a recreational center on the grounds of an abandoned house on 91st Street in Willowbrook. more ›

Rene Ortega, 33, and Leonel Torres-Torres, 43, of the 100 block of North West Road, both face drug charges after a search of their home on Wednesday night uncovered 38 kilograms--about 84 pounds--of cocaine, officials said via the Chicago Tribune. Each man faces a charge of one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, a sentence that usually carries between 15 and 60 years in prison, according to the DuPage County state's attorney's office. Both Ortega and Torres-Torres appeared before DuPage County Judge Liam Brennan on Friday morning, and both their bails were set at $1 million each. They will appear before Judge Daniel Guerin on January 10, 2011. more ›

Longtime DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett announced yesterday that he accepted a position on the 2nd District Appellate Court. Birkett will replace retiring Judge Jack O'Malley, who withdrew his request to be retained in Tuesday's general election in August. This appointment rubs us wrong due to Brikett's involvement in the long imprisonment of Rolondo Cruz, Alejandro Hernandez and Stephen Buckley for the 1983 murder of Jeanine Nicarico. more ›

Randy J. Caudill, 34, a Downers Grove police officer, who was charged with official misconduct, also allegedly schemed with another man of a way to improperly run license plate numbers to identify suspected drug dealers, and then steal money from them, DuPage County authorities said on Friday. Caudill was charged on Thursday for the crimes and is currently in jail on a $200,000 bail. more ›

According to new report, about 1,500 DuPage County residents were reported as homeless last year, including 368 under the age of 18 and 169 under the age of 5. Carol Simler, of the DuPage County Homeless Continuum of Care, told the County Board that the figures likely are too low, as the numbers only included those who had spent time in a shelter and didn't reflect people who had doubled up with other families or found other accommodations. more ›

A DuPage County judge ruled on Friday that the city can go ahead and proceed with condemnation proceedings to acquire St. Johannes Cemetery, which currently stands in the way of the completion of a new runway. The cemetery was the last obstacle preventing the city's O'Hare expansion. more ›

"No longer is the boogeyman a fairy tale," said Thomas Nicarico to the jury gathered at the DuPage County courtroom on Friday. more ›

14-year-old Michelle Fahle who attended Naperville North High School and died yesterday had H1N1, otherwise known as swine flu, according to the DuPage County Health Department. However, she apparently also had an undisclosed "underlying condition" that could have also contributed to her death. No precautionary measures have been taken at the high school yet, as it was closed today for parent-teacher conferences and will be closed Monday for Columbus Day. If Fahle's death is attributed to swine flu it will be the first H1N1 death in DuPage county and the 20th in Illinois. [CBN] more ›

A DuPage County jury took little time today to decide that Brian Dugan, convicted for kidnapping, raping and murdering 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico, qualifies for the death penalty. more ›

In an Illinois first, DuPage County has become the first county in Illinois to ban video poker machines. The ban only affects unincorporated areas and goes into effect immediately. County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom said, "I applaud the County Board for approving this ordinance and for protecting our residents from the negative effects of video gambling." [WBBM] more ›

A DuPage County woman has been accused of attempting to defraud her employer of $25,000 by claiming her daughter and husband had died, the Daily Herald reports. more ›

Around 5,000 pounds of "high-powered, commercial-grade fireworks" have gone missing in DuPage County and now authorities are worried whoever stole them may not be ready for the oomph of the explosives which are more powerful than the bottle rockets and low-grade shells that most people buy from stands and shoot off on Independence Day. Sgt. Jim Ruff, commander of the department's Hazardous Device Unit, put it succinctly when talking to the Sun-Times: "If one of these things goes off in your hand, you're probably going to die." more ›

If you don't want to spend time in a courthouse for jury duty, here's a little tip: Don't make a bomb threat instead. That's a pretty much guaranteed way to spend yet more time intimately involved with the criminal justice system. But no one told Addison resident Toby Owhoka, who placed a call to the Jury Commission in DuPage County yesterday, complaining that she didn't want to sit on a jury. more ›

While John McCain spent Super Bowl Sunday in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney made his pitch to the most reliably conservative county in Illinois. At a packed rally of several hundred people at the College of DuPage yesterday, he tried to convince voters here that he is the true conservative standard bearer. Romney vowed that as president he would "stand up for the principles of the Republican Party and to live in the house that Ronald Reagan built." more ›

Artur Shehu is still on the lam, but he was charged yesterday with two counts of first-degree murder for killing his parents. Syrja Shehu, 66, and his wife Safo, 67, were each shot once in the head, and were found dead in their Villa Park home early Monday morning, after Artur placed a call to the police. He was gone by the time police arrived. more ›

Digging through the Encyclopedia of Chicago History, we came across these gorgeous posters and have become obsessed with them. Enjoy. more ›

Sure, Al Gore got a Nobel Prize today, but the environment? Well, it's still pretty fucked. Nearly half of Illinois's waterways are unsafe for swimming or fishing. more ›

It never ceases to amaze Chicagoist how grown men can so quickly revert to childish behavior when Bears tickets are involved. A few months back, we wrote about the dispute between two DuPage County lawyers who were taking their disagreement over season ticket seat licenses to court as their longtime friendship disintegrated. Even family ties can't keep grown men from taking disputes over permanent seat licenses to court. Lawrence Cohen is suing his nephew Norman... more ›

The Plain White T’s have quietly been playing around since 1997, but ten years in they are experiencing something called “success” with their first major label album, Every Second Counts. The band earned its first Billboard Hot 100 No.1 with their single “Hey There Delilah” unseating Rihanna’s “Umbrella” which spent seven weeks at the top. more ›

Jane Radostits, the DuPage County prosecutor who was killed when her state-issued car swerved into oncoming traffic may have had as many as eight drinks before driving on May 11, according to a lawsuit filled yesterday on behalf of Michele Lubinski, 36, of West Chicago. Lubinski, whose left arm and leg were broken in the crash, is seeking damages from Oak Brook's Kona Grill after lab tests revealed Radostits' blood alcohol level to be .25... more ›

When other people go out for a walk in a wooded area, they do it for excercise and the calming peace of a cloudless sky. When we go out for in a wooded area, we know our subconscious is kind of hoping to happen upon human bones. The construction crew that discovered skeletal remains in the DuPage County Forest Preserve may have been digging a sewer, but they really hit the jackpot for creep-outs everywhere:... more ›

Sorry, Chicago, no Troutman news on this weekend's blotter. But there's always next week, right? An 84-year-old man was charged with killing his 89-year-old wife early Saturday morning in Englewood. The couple were engaged in a domestic dispute shortly after midnight when Betty Smith, who had Alzheimer's disease, threw a picture frame at her husband, Charles. He then allegedly shot in her in face. Police say the two had been arguing more lately due to... more ›

Warrenville resident Therese Davis and her husband Gary are set to protest the recently opened Happiness Is Pets puppy store in their suburban town on Dec. 23 and 24. When asked by the Sun-Times about their beef with the animal boutique, Therese replied, "I'm not against the store, but I'd rather see the adoption of dogs." more ›

Farewell to another weekend, and all the newsworthy mayhem that goes with it: more ›

In a story that gets more ridiculous the longer it goes on, the two suburban families embroiled in a dispute over a missing iPod will settle their differences in small claims court and not in front of a judge who takes breaks for commercials. more ›

Now we’re not a betting blog, but we are pretty certain that nearly every person in this country has seen a cartoon. We watched it all: Disney movies, WB cartoons—heck, we even read some in the paper. During all this cartoon consumption, we saw pretty much every violent way you could maim someone. Anvils, cliffs, electric eels, or even with sticks of dynamite, (of course). And, remarkably, never once did we think we could smite a petty enemy by pounding his head with a mallet. more ›

It appears that one porn-viewin’ jerk ruined the Internet for the whole bunch this week; Dupage County announced that county employees will no longer be able to idly surf the Internet. more ›

There once was a man who really didn't like geese. They annoyed him, forced him to scoop up their feces from his once poop-free lawn, and even sent him into his front yard waving his arms around like a maniac. more ›

Don't forget that starting today through March 16, you can vote early for the March 21 primary election. more ›

It looks like Judy Baar Topinka, the Republican party’s frontrunner for the governor, has found herself a running mate. Topinka has tapped DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett to be her lieutenant governor. Birkett, who had considered running for governor himself, lost the 2002 general election for attorney general to Lisa Madigan. Birkett has not officially agreed to run with Topinka quite yet, but all signs point to him doing so. Most recently Birkett... more ›