Pioneer Local

Oak Park activists to protest NATO

Wed, 16 May 2012 09:40:10 -0500

As the eyes of the world turn to Chicago next week for the NATO summit, a much smaller, humbler group is laying its own plans to be heard. Seven members of the Oak Park Coalition of Truth & Justice gathered in a reading room of the Oak Park Main Library on Thursday night for their monthly meeting. Besides the mundane details related to running any organization, Beverly Walter, Peg Strobel, Tom Broderick, Roger Beltrami, Karla Chew, Rich Podgorny and Terry Grace discussed the upcoming rallies and marches May 18-20. Those events have been planned to protest NATO and the policies …

District 207 disputes national ranking snubs of Maine East, South

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:50:02 -0500

Maine Township High School District 207 is questioning the accuracy of an annual ranking of American high schools by U.S. News & World Report after two of the district’s three schools were omitted from the list.

Unity Temple’s letters return — theft-proof

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:35:22 -0500

It was a crime that genuinely shocked people’s sensibilities. A crime most likely committed for no other reason than to provide valuable scrap metal to sell in order to pay for a few heroin fixes. Dozens of century-old bronze letters above the west entrance of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Unity Temple, placed there to praise God and the service of man, were unceremoniously torn off by some thief in late September 2010. Except for the outline of the missing 100-year-old letters, the wall above the west entrance has been bare since then. But not for much longer. Workers have been …

Family, strangers come to aid of Northbrook man

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:40:40 -0500

Larry Strom says it’s easy to become cynical in life. But that has changed for him since he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. “You’re cynical most of your life. I’m no longer cynical,” Strom said. What changed his outlook is the outpouring of help he has received from total strangers who have helped make his Northbrook house more accessible. They have done everything from removing a backyard swimming pool to installing ramps for his wheelchair to enlarging doorways. It started a few weeks ago when Strom, who was still then able to …

Suit: Let disabled athletes go to IHSA state meet

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:56:38 -0500

The Illinois High School Association girls state track and field meet will be held this weekend — and Fenwick’s Mary Kate Callahan won’t be taking part. But a lawsuit to be filed Wednesday by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in federal court aims to make it possible for student-athletes with disabilities, like Callahan who is paralyzed from the waist down, to compete in future IHSA state meets.