In the News Today...

By Margaret Lyons in News on Dec 25, 2007 7:04PM

Get it while you can, all you professors of herbology: Illinois is about to ban salvia divinorum, a mild hallucinogenic. Starting Jan 1, possessing the leafy plant will be a class 1 felony. [Trib]

Congratulations to the 72 Chicago-area high school seniors were named Posse scholars last week. The Posse Foundation provides scholarships to low-income students in groups of around 10, which the organization says provides a built-in support system. [S-T, Posse Foundation.]

Donald Young, 47, was found shot to death in his South Side home this weekend. Young was a fourth-grade teacher and the choir director at Trinity United Church of Christ, aka Barack Obama's church. [AP]

Two suburban women were trapped in an elevator for nearly two days. Roma Borowski and her daughter, Beata, were leaving their jobs cleaning the offices of Athletico Physical Therapy on the Northside Saturday night, when the elevator crapped out. They were in the elevator until Monday morning, when the manager stopped by the office and heard them screaming. Both women are fine, but jaysus that's a long time to be in an elevator. [ABC 7]

A second man was arrested and charged in Ronald Heard's murder. Heard, the son, godson and nephew of Chicago police officers, was murdered in October when he tried to help a woman who was being assaulted at a White Castle. Darius L. Walton, 23, was charged with first degree murder. [CBS 2]

The Reindog parade is the gift that keeps on giving, Kristen.