Results tagged “oakpark”

• Pvt. Francheska Velez, one of the two area soldiers killed in the Ft. Hood shooting rampage, was laid to rest today.
• The state's unemployment rate hit a new 26-year high in October at 11 percent.
• The RTA today gave the official thumbs up to the deal struck with Gov. Quinn that would avoid another CTA fare hike.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. and Bill Ayers paired up Sunday to lead community activists, clergy, and residents in Oak Park on an annual walk to rally for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two drew over 400 people to a forum before the walk held at the First United Church of Oak Park and urged a new perspective on the Mideast conflict more in line with the President’s. According to the Tribune, The Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine, the organizers of the event, said Ayers and Wright were invited for their work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not their political notoriety.

          

On Saturday, the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust held their annual Wright Plus home tour, all-day tour which included eight private residences in Oak Park as well as the Wright Home & Studio and the Unity Temple in Oak Park and Hyde Park's Robie House.

Anthony Hopkins has already played a butler, Picasso and a serial killer. And now he's set to play Ernest Hemingway.

• Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of two Illinois National Guardsmen who were killed in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb this weekend.
• The saga of Daniel Fore continues in Oak Park; Fore is a homeless man attempting to get his name on the ballot for village trustee.
• More bad job news, this time from the Tribune (again).

Chicagoist loves our city's architectural history, as well as the way we Chicagoans celebrate and preserve the great structures in our presence. One of the organizations that works to preserve and promote some of the most significant local abodes is looking to recruit some new volunteers. The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, which maintains the Robie House in Hyde Park and Wright's Home and Studion in Oak Park, begins their next volunteer training in a few weeks.

Regis, a 13-year-old mixed breed dog, is recovering from a fire that claimed the life of his owner. John Petrik, 68, died from a heart attack and smoke inhalation as a result of the fire after rescuers had to forcibly remove him from his home; Petrik refused to leave without his dog. Firefighters managed to rescue the 55-pound dog, who suffered burns to his tail and smoke inhalation. The Oak Park vet treating Regis said, "He's much better, but he's not 100 percent yet." As for Petrik, his brother Joe described his brother's dedication to the dog.

Petrik's brother, Joe, described him as a private man who never married. About 12 years ago, John Petrik rescued Regis at a Cicero intersection after watching the dog get thrown out of the car in front of him at a stop sign. He had cared for the dog ever since, rarely leaving the house because he didn't want to leave the dog alone, Joe Petrik said.

Puppy love will be in the Oak Park air this weekend as the town readies to break the world record for simultaneous dog marriages. At the "I Do, Doggone It!" mass canine wedding event going on this Saturday, pet owners hope to match more mutts than ever in holy matrimony. According to the almighty Guinness (book, not beer) the current record set in May 2007 in Littleton, Colorado stands at 178 canine weddings. In an effort to beat this number, a doggy "speed dating" event will take place first, which we imagine will include a lot of quick n' dirty butt sniffing among the dogs and plenty of giggly awkwardness among the owners. A wedding reception, photos ops and games and prizes will follow. Register here.

A disabled Oak Forest man was rescued from his burning home yesterday morning but later died due to injuries suffered during the blaze. James Wheeler, 77, was rescued by firefighters and taken, unconscious, to Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest where he was revived. Wheeler was later transported to Loyola University Medical Center where he passed away late yesterday afternoon. A male caregiver escaped from the fire with minor injuries and Wheeler's wife wasn't home at the time of the fire.

 

Once each year, the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust expands beyond their stewardship of the Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park and Hyde Park's Robie House to give architecture fans a bigger taste of Oak Park architecture with their Wright Plus Tour.

The Arthur Heurtley house -- just down the street from Wright's own home and studio in suburban Oak Park -- certainly fit the bill when it on the market last year, but the $2.5 million sale price was a slightly out of our budget, even if it was a relative bargain compared to the initial $5.75 million listing price.

If you’re lucky, your toddler will be asleep, blissfully unaware when the last minutes of 2007 tick by. An earlier bed time doesn’t mean that he or she has to miss out on the festivities, though; a handful of places in and around Chicago are hosting New Year’s Eve parties for the little ones, with dancing, snacks and party favors at an earlier countdown.

Everyone knows puberty is the #1 most awkward and mortifying stage of growing up, but what if it hit you before you were even 8 years old? According to today's Sun Times, kids as young as 4 are experiencing early-onset puberty. Precocious puberty, which is not as fun as it sounds, is more common than you'd think. According to the Oak Park-based Magic Foundation, between 1 in 5,000 and 1 in 10,000 kids become gangly...

One of Chicagoist’s few lingering memories of grade school was dental hygiene films. Those things scared the bejeezus out of us. Rotten teeth loomed large in darkened rooms, while Vincent Price’s voice double warned us of the horrors of plaque. Keep that shit up long enough, we were taught, and you get zero teeth. Oddly enough, that’s what a local dental practice’s patrons ended up with, as well as mountains of debt.

Middle school can be a rough time. Hormones rage, cliques form, and the general craziness of living a teenager's life in the double-naughts can close in. There are bullies to dodge, nerds to befriend, and that one goth-chick with red eyes who is never seen without her crusty duct-taped headphones on. And then one of your friends comes along, gives you a hug as you say hello, and suddenly the world is OK.

Although we're not usually huge supporters of ye olde credit card companies, American Express is doing well by us in its effort to help restore historical sites in a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. From 2006 to 2011, the Partners in Preservation program will be dishing out $5 million dollars to specially selected historical sites across the country. This year, preservation efforts are focused on Chicago and four surrounding counties, where 25...

As part of the old Brach's legacy was being blown up for Batman, intentionally causing a blaze, there have been several other fire related bits in the news as well. The police Bomb and Arson Section and Chicago Fire Department are conducting an ongoing investigation of a warehouse fire that started Thursday night in Bridgeport. Just before 10 p.m., a fire was reported at a building near Halsted and 36th Streets in the 3600 block...

- Say hello to Cuppy's. Another coffee chain opens its first Chicago location. - Taking parenting advice from Britney Spears, a 26-year-old woman left her kids in the car with the windows up and hot air blowing while she went to Cook County Criminal Court on the south side. - Oak Park/River Forest High School alumni Charles Simic was named poet laureate by the Library of Congress. - Keep drinking your beer, Cubs fans....

In the mid 90's we were television addicts. From soaps to sitcoms, we soaked up nearly everything the tube could offer. Our collection of VHS tapes at the time was chock full of good stuff. But in some cases it was the commercials that we loved most. One of our favorites featured Judy Tenuta drinking Diet Dr. Pepper while "working out" at the gym. The moment she proclaiming "You can't get a body like mine...

There's no love lost here between Chicagoist and Cook County government. In fact, not only has Todd Stroger (as well as the other comedians that pass for "Commissioners" on the county board) been a target for our anger, frustration, and disappointment, they've been fodder for our ridicule and a symbol of what's wrong with local government here. Looking back at the news from last week, we've been following the story of Sally Lemke, the nurse...

We're jetting off this weekend to see some family away from our dear Chicago, but if we were here, this is where you'd find us.

Faced with declining revenues, the Tribune plans on placing advertisements on the bottom of its front page. Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons isn't the only person charged with running a dog-fighting ring. So is 29-year-old South Holland resident Kevin Taylor. Like he needs the money: Oprah's throwing a fundraiser for Barack Obama at her California estate. Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan makes his case for money from Springfield. Oak Park supports same-sex...

Both Kraft and McDonald's have been busy recently with business moves. Tuesday Crain's reported that Kraft placed a $7.2 billion bid for French snack food giant Danone. Danone, makers of Dannon and Stonyfield yogurts, and Evian bottled water, is the world volume leader in bottled water, fresh dairy, and biscuit (cookies) and cereal products. If the deal goes through, it would give Kraft a foot in the door of emerging snack food markets in Russia and China.

Duplicate shootings in triplicate? At least three people are shot and wounded early today; one critically, during a party at a private motorcycle club, on Chicago's South Side. AND ... Three people are shot and wounded this morning near the Cabrini-Green public housing project on the Near North Side. Calm down, Chicagoistas, they're definitely NOT talking about Vince. (Christopher) Vaughn, the guy who went berserk and killed his family gave up on hanging out...

Just yesterday, we told you that the cicadas were terrorizing the suburbs. Funny that, because some people haven't seen a one. We're in that camp, and lord-a-mighty, we are so happy. We were talking about these babies way back in April, and they were actually making it sort of okay when the temperatures would dip back down into winter mode, because we thought it would delay the onslaught of the plague.

Here at Chicagoist, we're all about the science. Heck, we tend to use it every day. Of course, due to time restraints, we're usually unaware of which scientists brought what various inventions into our daily lives. That's okay, for the suburb of Franklin Park and PBS's "Nova" have refreshed our collective memory about one chemist whose achievements, in the field and in his life, would have otherwise been lost to history.

When we placed the call for new food and drink writers last month, we had an idea of what we were looking for. Then real life interceded. Some candidates dropped out of the running. Those that remained made their case, the quality of writing so good we felt bad having to cut someone. Then we envisioned some candidates in roles we didn't expect, and someone wrote us with an offer we couldn't refuse. When the...

Anyone expecting to get their usual dose of local music videos via JBTV was sorely disappointed, as the show was pre-empted on WJYS Channel 62 for one of the many ministries broadcast on the station (though it did air on its sister station WEDE Channel 34). Then today we saw this on JBTV’s MySpace blog:

Rickshaw(?) in Oak Park via Michael DaKidd.