Chicago commuter headache as ‘L’ train line shut for five months
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chicago will shut down part of its “L” elevated rail system’s busiest line for five months starting on Sunday, forcing thousands of commuters to seek other routes and creating the biggest such U.S. transit disruption in two decades.
The nation’s second-largest public transit system after New York will rebuild 10 miles of the “Red Line” on the city’s South Side, which passes through some predominantly poor and African-American neighborhoods.
Domestic abuse cases never snared accused Cleveland abductor
(Reuters) – The mother of Ariel Castro’s children repeatedly went to authorities with accusations he was beating, abusing and threatening her. But her complaints never reached the point where Castro was imprisoned or triggered additional police investigations.
The late Grimilda Figueroa’s accusations against Castro began in 1989 and the last came in 2005, three years after he allegedly kidnapped the first of three women and held them in a run-down house in Cleveland.
Struggling Catholic schools strategize to draw new students
CHICAGO (Reuters) – For years, headlines about Catholic schools in the United States have told gloomy tales of falling enrollment and multiple closings.
Between 2000 and 2013, 2,090 U.S. Catholic schools closed or consolidated and enrollment fell 24.5 percent, according to the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). In places like Chicago’s Leo Catholic High School for boys, student numbers have plummeted from 1,200 students in the 1950s to 157 this year. In New York, the Catholic Archdiocese plans to close 24 schools.
Kentucky woman ordained as priest in defiance of Roman Catholic Church
(Ordaining Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan (C) presents Rosemarie Smead (R), a 70-year-old Kentucky woman, to the audience after she was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest during a Celebration of Ordination at St. Andrew’s United Church of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky April 27, 2013. Smead was ordained as part of a dissident group operating outside official Roman Catholic Church authority. REUTERS/John Sommers)
In an emotional ceremony filled with tears and applause, a 70-year-old Kentucky woman was ordained a priest on Saturday as part of a dissident group operating outside of official Roman Catholic Church authority.
Five people murdered in Illinois town, suspect dead – police
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Five people were slain early on Wednesday in Manchester, Illinois, and a suspect died after a shootout with police, Illinois State Police said.
State Police spokeswoman Monique Bond confirmed the killings and also said that a 6-year-old girl had been injured and taken to hospital. Initial reports were that the victims had been shot, but Bond could not confirm this.
Five people shot dead in Illinois town, mayor says
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Five people are dead and one injured as a result of a shooting in the tiny southern Illinois town of Manchester, the mayor confirmed in a television interview on Wednesday.
“We got five confirmed fatalities, one wounded and in the hospital, and the shooter’s been apprehended,” Mayor Ronald Drake said in an interview on the St. Louis Fox television station.
One Indiana man dies, one missing as flooding problems continue
CHICAGO (Reuters) – An Indiana man is missing and another is dead after their vehicles were overtaken by flood waters north of Indianapolis, police said Saturday, as high water caused by heavy rains continues to plague the Midwest.
Torrential rains over the last few days have led to flooding in parts of Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, resulting in blocked roads, closed schools and rescues by boat from homes surrounded by flood waters.
Torrential rains hit Indiana, a day after Chicago flooding
INDIANAPOLIS/CHICAGO (Reuters) – The torrential rain that has brought flooding to the Chicago area afflicted neighboring Indiana on Friday, closing schools and roads in the northern and central part of the state.
Storms dumped more than four inches in parts of Indiana on Friday, and the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for most of the state.
Heavy rains in Chicago area cause flooding, road closures
CHICAGO, April 18 (Reuters) – Heavy rains and flooding in
the Chicago area brought havoc to the morning commute on
Thursday, shutting major expressways, delaying commuter trains
for hours, cancelling flights and closing dozens of suburban
schools.
The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for
parts of 17 Illinois counties, including Chicago and its
suburbs, and two northwest Indiana counties. Between three and
nearly 7 inches of rain had fallen throughout the Chicago area
in the last 24 hours and more was expected later in the day,
according to the weather service.
Daughter of Obama’s former pastor charged with fraud
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The daughter of President Barack Obama’s controversial former pastor was indicted on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and lying to federal authorities, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.
Jeri L. Wright, 47, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, was accused of participating in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief’s husband that involved a $1.25 million state grant, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield.
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