Free Republic

DETROIT, MI - The long-abandoned former Packard Automotive Plant, one of the largest empty buildings in the country, is reportedly close to being saved from the county foreclosure auction block. The Detroit News reports an Illinois developer is speaking with Wayne County officials about purchasing the 40-acre property for $974,000, the amount owed in unpaid taxes. From The News: “Bill Hults, of Evanston, Ill., told The Detroit News he’s leading a group of investors who want to rehabilitate the crumbling 3.5-million-square-foot plant and build housing nearby. To complete the transformation, Hults has retained the legendary architectural firm that built the...

SNIP Appearing on his weekly segment of the "Jay Cutler Show" on WMVP-AM 1000 on Monday, the Bears quarterback was asked by co-host Tom Waddle about his voting preference: Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. "That's a touchy subject," Cutler said initially. "Yeah, I have been following the debates and everything. I do live in Tennessee. I'm voting for Mitt (Romney) this election season." Cutler then quickly asked co-hosts Waddle and Marc Silverman their voting choice. "I'm voting for Mitt Romney, as well," Waddle said. As many in attendance at Tommy Nevin's in Evanston booed, Waddle added: "That's what this country...

Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington told residents at a 2nd Ward meeting Thursday night that a planned gun buyback program will offer "market price" for some high-end firearms. With $17,000 raised from donations to fund the program, Eddington said, it will be able to offer full price for guns like AK47s, "those guns that are exceptionally dangerous." Gun buyback programs in Chicago and elsewhere have been criticized for offering a flat $100 for any working weapon turned in, with critics saying that's not enough to get people to turn in guns that are actually likely to be used in crimes....

Evanston officials hope that a partnership announced today among five Great Lakes states and several federal agencies could clear the murky regulatory waters that have made efforts to develop offshore wind farms on the Great Lakes difficult. Evanston began looking at such a project two years ago. “I think it’s terrific news, because I was told when I first started exploring wind turbines in the lake that no one would put them in the lake because there were no rules governing how to do it,” Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl said. “So I’m delighted that five states made this pact and...

Wrestling with age-old questions of decency and morality, Evanston took up the question of appropriate community standards this week, turning down a liquor license for a racy sports bar that some residents said was more about selling sex than suds.

In the dead of night, an explosion ripped through Evanston's Fitzsimons Park, shaking houses and waking residents blocks away. Responding to calls of a possible blown transformer, police searched but found nothing. The mystery didn't begin to unravel until more than an hour later Tuesday, when resident Dale Wyatt made a grisly discovery. He was walking his dog when it started pulling its leash. Near a playground, he found a headless body.

Evanston police are investigating an early morning explosion that left one man dead Tuesday and led to the evacuation of residents and the closure of a middle school. Police secured the area around the Nichols Middle School and Fitzsimmons Park, where the decapitated body of an unidentified male and an explosive device were found shortly before 6 a.m. At Tuesday afternoon news conference, Evanston Police Commander Tom Guenther said authorities were taking the explosion “extremely seriously’’ but did not yet understand what the bomber’s intentions were. Police refused to identify the man who died and said they had not determined...

<p>Evanston police were called out to a field near a middle school after a man walking his dog this morning discovered a decapitated body there.</p> <p>Police have pushed the media back from the area after discovering what appears to be an explosive device near the body, WGN-Ch. 9 reported about 8:40 a.m. Some residents were being evacuated from their homes. The Cook County sheriff's bomb squad was on the scene.</p>

Evanston police are investigating the discovery of a headless body near an middle school there. Police won't confirm details until a 10 a.m. press conference. Evanston Police Commander Tom Guenther did say that headless body of a shirtless man was discovered near Nichols Middle School, 800 Greenleaf St. in Evanston after a loud explosion rocked the neighborhood. A man who was walking his dog discovered the body near the school tennis courts

Obama pick faces questions over bombers' clemencyBy PETE YOST Associated Press Writer Originally published Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 2:05 PM WASHINGTON — New York police detective Anthony S. Senft's life changed forever when a bomb set by Puerto Rican separatists exploded, blowing him 15 feet in the air and blinding him in one eye. Now, he's angry that Eric Holder, who played a key role in awarding clemency to the bombers, is in line to be attorney general. Holder, as President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, worked closely with the Justice Department's pardon attorney to raise the possibility of...

Questions from aldermen about proposed amendments to the City's weapons ordinance led to postponement of the vote to amend the ordinance, scheduled for the July 28 City Council meeting, until at least the Aug. 11 meeting. The Council directed the City's law department to draft an ordinance that would comply with the recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision Heller v. District of Columbia, which held that Washington, D.C.'s ban on the private possession of handguns was unconstitutional. Evanston's present weapons ordinance similarly bans the possession of handguns in the City by civilians, with certain exceptions, such as antique guns and starter...

My nine year-old daughter and I decided to attend Evanston's First Night New Year's Eve celebration. Evanston, IL is a very liberal town--it's the home of Northwestern University. Jan Schakowsky, one of the most liberal members of the House of Representatives, has lived in Evanston for many years. The Chicago suburb turns out huge Democratic majorities each election. Our first stop for First Night was the Evanston Public Library, where we bought our tickets to the fair. We encountered a table staffed with war protesters from Neighbors for Peace, there they are in the picture below. Visitors to the library...

A City Council committee on Monday weighed in on the war in Iraq, hearing emotional testimony on both sides of the issue before advancing a resolution calling for an "orderly and rapid" withdrawal of American troops. If the full council approves the measure, Chicago would be one of the first big cities in the country officially to urge the federal government to end the war, said Ald. Joseph Moore (49th), a lead sponsor of the resolution, already endorsed by 40 of the council's 50 aldermen. The council will consider the measure Wednesday. And what heft might Chicago's opinion have? "When...

EVANSTON (CBS 2) An Evanston school teacher, who is also a teacher’s union president, is arrested in a Lake County Sheriff's sting operation for allegedly attempting to solicit a child for sex. This investigation first started when a detective posing as a 15-year-old boy began chatting with the teacher over the Internet. Investigators say those chats eventually turned to talk of sex. Detectives are saying a lengthy investigation led to his arrest. Robert Carroll, 44, is charged with two counts solicitation of a child after a three-month investigation. Carroll was arrested Friday morning in a wooded area in Waukegan. He...

I go to public school in Evanston, a place that is about as "conservative" as SF. There is a big protest mentality there; around the beginning of the Iraq war, the administrators excused students from their classes for "walking out" and marching against the war. I started a newspaper this year to show underclassmen that the rightist viewpoint is rational and not evil. Tell me what you guys think. The Right StuffYah, the name is a horrible pun

I heard this on our local CBS news last night and spend time trying to track the article down. I was incensed that a place that has my favorite ribs in Evanston for about two decades, the owner made the news in a way that infuriates me! 'I am a mutt' Father, restaurateur Hecky Powell takes controversy's heat in stride Hecky Powell, District 65 school board member and restaurateur serves up food to all and anger to some at Hecky's Barbecue, 1902 Green Bay Road, which now features the "MUTT special." Photo by Esther Chou. By Malavika Jagannathan May 27,...