• A disturbing update to last week's NIU shooting.
• A Cook County judge rejected a motion by the Chicago Teachers Union to block the closing and consolidation of a pair of local schools.
• Tammy Duckworth has ever-so-politely withdrawn her name from consideration to run for Lt. Governor.

Through Wednesday, we're counting down the top 8 local stories that captivated us in 2008. more ›

• Turning bad to good, the parents of NIU shooting victim Daniel Parmenter planted an oak tree in his memory at the Elmhurst baseball park where he spent his youth. They’ve also created a scholarship to help children attend baseball or umpire training camps.
• Nine of the 17 Chicago victims of tomato-linked salmonella poisoning have been linked to one restaurant. 29 cases have been reported in Illinois, and there are now 23 states dealing with the epidemic. The Department of Public Health is not naming the restaurant at this time, but says the restaurant was shut down for 48 hours.
• In other infectious disease news, last weekend, we told you about the hotel hot tub that linked two people with Legionnaire’s disease. Well this weekend a third person has been linked to the same hot tub.
• Eight people have been killed in and around the city this weekend. The Trib has the tally.
• More rain came today. Flooding continues to rise in the north suburbs. And Iowans are now beginning to refer to their circumstance as “Our Katrina.”

Thanks to a comment by Scooter Libbby (what's with the extra "b", Scoots?), we were a little more observant when viewing images of the NIU shootings. The top image above is outside the Tinley Park murder scene, the bottom from NIU. It doesn't take a handwriting expert to see that the printing on the crosses was done by the same person. So who is the person responsible for these makeshift memorials? more ›