Free Republic

After years of angst over whether to extend Route 53 north into Lake County, the Illinois tollway moved with dizzying speed last week approving a $25 million study of the project. But while the board's vote took seconds, there were hours of fraught testimony from environmentalists fearful of pollution, residents worried about losing their homes, commuters sick of sitting in traffic and construction industry representatives lobbying for jobs. Here are five take-aways from a momentous week: 1. Promising to pay for the extension could be a game-changer. Unlike his predecessors, Chairman Bob Schillerstrom pledged that if Route 53 is extended,...

Commercial structures in downtown Lower Lake and residences were in flames Sunday afternoon as the Clayton fire exploded, forcing thousands of people to flee homes and abandon businesses. By 5 p.m. flames had engulfed numerous commercial buildings in Lower Lake along Main Street, including the town’s post office, a tire store, a funeral home and restaurants, despite the combined efforts of firefighters, water tankers and helicopters. State Sen. Mike McGuire, who was on the fire lines Sunday with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, saw the blaze burn down into Lower Lake on Sunday afternoon. “Lower Lake may be completely lost,”...

Land-ice Bridge, New Research Suggests -- Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his students on the creation of Kankakee Sand Islands of Northwest Indiana is lending support to evidence that the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, a discovery that overturns decades of classroom lessons that nomadic tribes from Asia crossed a Bering Strait land-ice bridge. Valparaiso is a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Dr. Ron Janke began studying the origins of the Kankakee Sand Islands – a series of hundreds of small, moon-shaped dunes that stretch from the southern tips of Lake...

Research Casts New Light on History of North America Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his students lends support to evidence the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, rather than crossing a Bering Strait land-ice bridge. Valparaiso’s research shows the Kankakee Sand Islands – a series of hundreds of small dunes in the Kankakee River area of Northwest Indiana and northeastern Illinois – were created 14,500 to 15,000 years ago and that the region could not have been covered by ice as previously thought. Newswise — Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his...

E.C. councilman in jail facing murder charge wins second term 18 hours ago • Elvia Malagon elvia.malagon@nwi.com, (219) 662-5331 EAST CHICAGO | East Chicago 3rd District Councilman Robert "Coop" Battle spent Election Day in the Lake County Jail pending a murder charge. He's accused of shooting to death on Oct. 12 Reimundo Camarillo Jr., in the 4200 block of Euclid Avenue in East Chicago, according to court records. He also faces a federal drug charge stemming from a traffic stop in Porter County where police found 73.22 grams of marijuana and $100,700 in cash. Despite his pending legal battles that...

Overwhelmed by spot fires in bone-dry pine needles and leaf litter at their feet, a Cal Fire captain and three firefighters retreated to a patch of bare earth on a Cobb Mountain ridgetop during the first hour of the voracious Valley fire on Sept. 12. But they were not safe for long in the fenced goat pen where they took refuge. The wind picked up, the spot fires multiplied and one man saw the flames “sheeting and swirling” across a nearby driveway. Then, a brush-covered slope “torched into a wall of flame,” according to Cal Fire’s first published report on...

<p>Local twitter reports and Live/recent video showing many structures burnt or burning..</p>

(My text) Over 10,000 acres in less than six hours. Four firefighters burned. 50-100 homes lost. Unconfirmed 50 people cut off from evacuation. Lots at news site including live Twitter accounts and pics.

As the manhunt for three men suspected of killing Fox Lake police Lt Charles Joseph Gliniewicz moved into its third day, Lake County authorities announced Thursday that "significant" home security video has been turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. George Filenko, commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, said a resident provided police the raw video Wednesday night. Although local authorities have not been able to review the tape with the proper equipment, Filenko said the homeowner told investigators that three individuals matching police's limited description can be seen.

The police officer who was fatally shot this morning outside of Chicago has been identified as a longtime veteran of the local police force, the mayor said. Joseph Gliniewicz was named as the police officer that was killed in Fox Lake, Illinois. The manhunt for three suspects believed to be involved in the shooting is underway and involves state and local officials, Lake County Sheriff's Department Det. Chris Covelli said this afternoon. "Not only did Fox Lake lose a family member but I lost a very close friend," Fox Lake Mayor Donny Schmit said at a news conference. He said...

Razo was released after "border patrol" told deputies that there was no reason to detain him, Lake County Sheriff Daniel Dunlap said Tuesday at a press conference.

PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- Lake County sheriff's deputies learned that Juan Emmanual Razo was in the U.S. illegally from Mexico more than two weeks before his arrest in the death of a 60-year-old woman. Razo made his first court appearance Tuesday in the death of Margaret Kostelnick where a judge set a $10 million. He's also accused in the attempted rape of a 14-year-old girl and the shooting of another woman who survived. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted murder, but still faces possible murder and other charges in connection to the other incidents. Lake County Sheriff's Det....

CONCORD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — People living in the quiet neighborhood surrounding Helen Hazen Wyman Park were shocked to learn of Monday's killing of a 60-year-old woman by a man who is also accused of shooting another woman and the attempted rape of a 14-year-old girl. Residents who said they previously felt safe in the rural township streets surrounded by woodlands, a public park and a bike trail are now locking their doors at night. Juan Emmanuel Razo, 35, tried to rape a girl in the park Monday night and later shot a woman walking on a nearby bike trail in...

A horrific child sex ring was busted in Florida and one of those arrested is a CAIR official in Orlando who ran a Muslim Youth organization. Watch below:

Sex with Children as Young as 10 The two-week joint sting, known as “Operation L and P,” netted 101 arrests in both Lake and Polk counties. The investigation concluded late last week. (Photo: Dave D’Marko, News 13) The UK child sex trafficking gangs we have come to America CAIR leader Ahmad Saleem, a Muslim youth coordinator, was also one of the men arrested. Investigators said the men all went to a home in Clermont with the hopes of having sex with a child. The car Saleem traveled in had a license plate that said, “Invest in children,” according to...

Orlando community activist Ahmad Saleem drove to a Clermont-area house intending to meet a 12-year-old girl he had been chatting with online for sex in a vehicle with a specialty "Invest in Children" license plate, authorities said Tuesday. But when the door opened, there were no children in sight. Instead, detectives quickly brought Saleem to the ground and arrested him. Saleem, founder of the Saleem Academy, an organization dedicated to empowering Muslim youths globally, was one of the 101 people arrested in an undercover cybercrime prostitution and child-sex sting by the Lake and Polk county sheriff's offices. Lake County Sheriff...

A ride through northwest Indiana almost turned deadly for a Chicago man after some mutual road rage turned into gunshots being fired at him on I-80/94. What Indiana State Police called a “road rage incident turned ugly” started about 11 a.m. Tuesday when the 28-year-old Chicago man, driving a 2003 Acura, got involved in some unpleasantness in the eastbound lanes of the Borman Expy. in Lake County. Police said it started when the victim and another driver “became involved in road rage” — things like not letting the other car pass and flipping the driver off, a statement from ISP...

Scott and Robin Spivey had a sinking feeling that something was wrong with their home when cracks began snaking across their walls in March. The cracks soon turned into gaping fractures, and within two weeks their 600-square-foot garage broke from the house and the entire property—manicured lawn and all—dropped 10 feet below the street. It wasn’t long before the houses on both sides collapsed as the ground gave way in the Spivey’s neighborhood in Lake County, about 100 miles north of San Francisco. … Unlike sinkholes of Florida that can gobble homes in an instant, this collapse in hilly volcanic...

Forbes put Detroit Mayor Dave Bing on its cover in 2011 for a story with the optimistic headline: “City of Hope.” The premise was that the city had hit rock bottom and was poised for a turnaround. “Right now, it’s all about survival,” Bing told Forbes. Two years later, Detroit’s problems continue to multiply, sadly. It is still dealing with high levels of violent crime and unemployment. Home prices, already at historic lows, plummeted a further 35% during the past three years to a median of $40,000 as net migration out of the city continued. The latest blow was Tuesday’s...

Lake County School Board officials are considering attaching cameras to school cafeteria trash cans to study what students are tossing after officials found that most of the vegetables on the school menu end up in the trash can. New federal laws require students to take a healthy produce at lunchtime, but last year in Lake County, students tossed $75,000 worth of produce in the garbage. "It's a big issue, and it's very hard to get our hands around it," said School Board member Todd Howard, who suggested "trash-cams." "They have to take (the vegetable), and then it ends up in...