Investigators have shut down an animal shelter in Tinley Park after a significant population of the animals within the shelter were found to be malnourished, sick, or dead. Authorities visited the shelter, Dazzle's Painted Pastures Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, this past Friday. What they found at the shelter was unpleasant and extremely disheartening:

Officers visited Dazzle's Painted Pastures on Friday with a search warrant. They found a dead miniature horse and a dead Himalayan cat. Officers seized 63 dogs, 31 cats and six rabbits. They also removed 30 horses, ponies, sheep, goats and llamas.

Irony isn't a black fly in your Chardonnay. Irony is more like, we dunno, an anti-violence motivational speaker getting charged with one misdemeanor count of domestic battery. more ›

After months of waiting, Heather Campbell's wildest dreams came true: she made the final cut of the Hooters 2011 calendar. Campbell, who is a waitress at the Hooters location in Orland Park, had no idea she would be featured in the calendar even after what we imagine to be a stressful (but fun!) photoshoot:

She sent in a photo in May and was told a short time later she had been chosen to be part of a professional shoot with eight other women who work at Chicago-area Hooters. They met in June at a mansion in downtown Chicago, where Campbell was photographed in a bikini and in the shot that made the calendar.

Lollapalooza was not the only big show in Chicago this weekend. The Jonas Brothers tore into town, creating a frenzied mile-long queue to get into the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre (you may know it as the Tweeter Center, or just Tinley Park) last night. Chances are, most Chicagoist readers do not fall into the Jonas Brothers’ fan demographic, but we thought it might be a good exercise to compare and contrast the two monster music event experiences. more ›

The Chicago Bulls' mascot, Benny the Bull, was attacked on Wednesday as he escorted a group of kids to the go-kart area at Odyssey Fun World, 19111 Oak Park Ave., in Tinley Park, police said to the Chicago Sun-Times. As the group walked, they were approached by a man and woman. The mascot began dancing in front of the couple and the man became annoyed and made threatening comments to Benny. According to the police report, the man then pushed Benny, which caused him to lose his balance and fall into a railing, and then the ground. more ›

Police in Tinley Park are going all out as they try to locate suspects from an early morning home invasion. Two suspects are already in custody but two more or on the loose. Several schools in the area have been put on soft lock-down and trains through the area are being searched as the hunt continues. Tinley Park PD Cmdr. Rick Bruno said, "We have the perimeter established. We've been using helicopters and K-9 teams. We consider these individuals armed and dangerous. So, we want to get them into custody as soon as possible. We have law enforcement presence at the local schools, nurseries and transportation centers in the area. That was a decision that the school district made for contingency purposes, and we do have officers there to try to reassure the people that they are protected." None of the family members involved in the invasion were seriously hurt; two were taken to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. more ›

Following up on their decision to name Mount Prospect the best place in the U.S. to raise children in 2008, BusinessWeek magazine has passed the title on to Tinley Park for 2009. Unlike their magazine rival, Forbes, who has voted Chicago the nation's most stressful city for the past two years, it seems like BusinessWeek may have a bit of a crush on the suburbs of Chicago. more ›

Charles Hamilton's cancellation at the upcoming Pitchfork Festival has fans disgruntled and calling foul on the now almost nonexistent hip-hop offerings. Even Lollapalooza, a festival that just last year toted the likes of Lupe and Kanye feels sparse on the hip-hop booking this summer. Last weekend, for the fourth consecutive year, Rock The Bells took over First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. For those willing to make the trek, a day full of both up-and-coming talent and The Greats delivered. more ›

After over a year of investigations, the Tinley Park Lane Bryant store - site of the horrific February 2008 robbery/shooting that left five women dead and a sixth injured - is no longer a crime scene according to police. The store had been shuttered since the shooting as police tried to collect any potential evidence and garner any new leads. According to police, all evidence has been removed and is being processed. The store will be turned over to Charming Shoppes Inc. Earlier this year, it was announced that all clothing not considered evidence would be donated to a pair of charities. [WBBM] more ›

As the one-year anniversary of the tragic Lane Bryant shootings recently passed, some wondered what would become of the Tinley Park Lane Bryant location where five women were shot in a robbery. The shop has been closed down since the shooting as it's still considered an active crime scene. But what of the inventory? It seems the chain is going to donate all clothing that's not considered evidence. The beneficiaries of the donations will be homeless charity Together We Cope and the Crisis Center for South Suburbia, which benefits women who are victims of domestic abuse. Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki said, "They were in the front part of the store. They were not in the back of the store. Any of the clothes that were involved in the crime, or near the crime, have been taken by the police and they're in the evidence center. And the clothes that Lane Bryant has so nicely donated are all 100 percent good. There's no problem. Many of them are still in original packaging." more ›

Today, February 2, marks the one-year anniversary of the Lane Bryant killings, when an unknown gunman walked into the Tinley Park location of the store and shot six women in a robbery, killing five. The lone survivor was able to give police a description of the killer, but in spite of several leads (most being proved false), the killer still remains at large. The victims were Rhoda McFarland, 42, of Joliet, Jennifer L. Bishop, 34, of South Bend, Ind.; Sarah Szafranski, 22, of Oak Forest; Connie Woolfolk, 37, of Flossmoor; and Carrie Hudek Chiuso, 33, of Frankfort. To mark the anniversary, family of friends of the victims gathered at the Tinley Park Convention Center to remember the victims and celebrate their lives. more ›

The survivor of a shooting that killed five women at a Lane Bryant in Tinley Park early this year was taken off of the store’s payroll for some unknown reason – but will be put back on payroll December 1. The unnamed woman was working at the store on February 2, when an armed man entered, robbed the store and ended up shooting her and five others. She was the only one to survive the shooting and had been on Lane Bryant’s payroll up until a few months ago, though her employment status is not certain.

It's not clear why or when Lane Bryant took the store employee off the payroll, but Tinley Park police Chief Michael O'Connell said she would be back on December 1. more ›

First it was West Nile, then Ebola, and now Legionnaire's Disease has hit the Chicago area. So far, five cases have been reported in Tinley Park and another in Orland Park. Between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaire's Disease each year. Tests are being conducted on produce from local grocery stores as well as water supplies to seek out a cause. At this rate, we expect to read a story about the plague hitting Bolingbrook* any day now. more ›

It's been six months since the Lane Bryant murders in Tinley Park, and the investigation continues. Apparently police are pursuing two different theories, at least according to stories in the news today. One theory is that the quintuple murder may be linked to the Chatham murders, in which five people were also killed—and police have made arrests. The other theory has sent police to Texas to investigate possible financial wrongdoings within a defunct church where store manager Rhoda McFarland had been an associate pastor. McFarland was one of the five victims. more ›

Many of you probably remember the famous Tinley Park UFO sightings from a few years back. Still skeptical about the sightings and the companion footage? Much of the footage will be presented at the UFO Symposium happening this Saturday in Tinley Park. Sam Maranto, director of the Illinois branch of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) is confident in the authenticity of the Tinley Park sightings. more ›

Could CPS open a handful of boarding schools? Arne Duncan is thinking about it. [Trib] more ›

A bike-rental program may be in the works....[S-T] more ›

The Tinley Park murderer is still on the loose; pastors today called for him to turn himself in. [Trib] more ›

Perhaps crime will slow down tomorrow, when all that water lying around freezes and turns Chicago streets into one giant ice rink. But for now, let's see what's been going on this weekend in the world of criminal justice: more ›

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 ›

The Trib and Sun-Times are reporting that police have arrested a suspect in the Tinley Park murders, but the Tinley Park PD says no arrests have been made. more ›

Tinley Park police released a sketch today of the gunman who killed five women in a botched clothing store robbery. The gunman is described in a statement from the Tinley Park Police: more ›

The City is running low on de-snowing dollars. We've already plowed through over $14 million of an $18 million budget. [S-T] more ›

An unrelated mystery has been solved as police investigate the Tinley Park murders. A con woman, evading police for years, was apprehended this weekend because police tracked down the owners of the cars parked near the Lane Bryant, where the fugitive Esther Reed had left her car, which was registered under an assumed identity. more ›

The only survivor of the Tinley Park murders from this weekend released a statement yesterday as the investigation continues. more ›

A 33-year-old woman who is the sole survivor of Saturday's Lane Bryant killings says the victims were all tied up and shot at close range in the back of the head; she survived because somehow the bullet went through her neck instead of her head. She placed the 911 call. more ›

More details are emerging about the Tinley Park murders from this weekend. In addition to the five women who died, one woman was shot but survived and gave police a description of the gunman, who is still at large. Lane Bryant is offering $50,000 reward for information that leads to the shooter's arrest. more ›

An unknown gunman went on a rampage inside a Lane Bryant store at Brookside Marketplace shopping center in south suburban Tinley Park earlier today, opening fire and killing five women. A police source is speculating that robbery was the motive, but the source had the same question we did -- why pick a clothing store to make your big score? more ›

Oak Forest officials just realized one unseemly result of the state-wide smoking ban set to take effect January 1: throngs of angry, drunk, cold smokers loitering outside bars. In order to avoid an uprising, or at least to steer clear of unsightly smokers’ tents popping up on their well-tended streets, the local council is taking up the issue. Aldermen are looking into setting rules for would-be structures that may pop up 15 feet away from... more ›

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. more ›