It seems the raccoons are taking over. Not long after an "orangutan-sized" raccoon attacked one local household amid the expanding presence of Mother Nature's bandits, one Lake Villa family also came under attack in an incident that sounds like a recreation of a scene from . A raccoon apparently took up residence at the Gomez's family home in Lake Villa and on Sunday, the critter dropped through the ceiling and into the bed of 9-year-old Enrique Gomez, waking he and his younger brother Jonathon. The two boys escaped the raccoon's wrath while their father, Cutberto, called animal control. more ›

Illinois-wide roundup. Holla! Steve Skoklo faces up to three years in prison if he's convicted on charges of animal cruelty. He allegedly killed a kitten by slamming it against a door frame and throwing it to the floor. At a bar. In front of a bunch of people who were petting the stray. A Harvey woman who tried to sever her Rottweiler's tail with a meat cleaver — in her driveway — was charged with... more ›

Early Saturday morning, a 14-year-old boy from Lake Villa, near Illinois' Wisconsin border, died. And the seeming nonchalance with which the AP delivers the following indirect quote caught us a bit off guard, "Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said Carl Schultz Jr. had borrowed a relative's car for a late-night ride." You still have to be 16-years-old to drive a car without supervision right? And even on weekends shouldn't 14-year-olds be in bed before midnight?... more ›