(CBS) – As the sun began to set on Halloween Tuesday, trick-or-treaters began their mission in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Oct. 31 may be a yearly tradition for many, but not everyone feels safe.

“A lot of kids don’t get to trick or treat,” Heather Wiedmann tells CBS 2’s Sandra Torres. “They stay home. Family members that have cars go to other areas, whether it be the suburbs or, say, Bucktown.”

Violence is the main concern.

“We’ve had shootings pretty regularly, some gang activity going on — so, a bunch of neighbors got together to talk,” another resident, Keli Campbell, says.

The talk involved a plan for Halloween night. In order to encourage trick-or-treating, some residents placed flyers in the front of their homes inviting children to come visit on Tuesday.

It was the first year, but neighbors hope it will make a difference.

“I hope next year that everyone has a flyer on their fence,” Weidmann says.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two teenagers face charges after they stole a minivan Monday from the Galewood neighborhood and later abandoned a toddler they found inside in Oak Park.

A 17-year-old boy was charged with a felony count of unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle and a misdemeanor count of causing a child to be endangered, according to Chicago Police.

A 16-year-old boy faces misdemeanor counts of causing a child to be endangered and criminal trespass to a vehicle, police said.

Their identities were not released because they are juveniles.

At 6:18 p.m. Monday, a woman left her 1999 Pontiac minivan running with the 2-year-old inside in the 6500 block of West North Avenue and the two boys got in and drove off, police said.

The toddler was found unharmed after being abandoned by the pair in west suburban Oak Park, according to police.

The two boys were taken into custody after crashing the minivan at Central Avenue and Jackson Boulevard in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, police said.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two people were killed and at least seven others wounded — including a man who accidentally shot himself — in shootings on Halloween across Chicago.

The most recent fatal shooting happened just after 9 a.m. in the South Shore neighborhood. Harold Stewart, 63, was shot in the head and upper body about 9:05 a.m. in the 7300 block of South Oglesby, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was found unresponsive at the scene by officers responding to a call of a person shot. Stewart was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:22 a.m. He lived in the same block as the shooting.

Less than an hour earlier, a man died after he was shot in the head and crashed his vehicle in the West Side Austin neighborhood. At 8:24 a.m., Apache White, 47, was inside a vehicle during a drug sale when someone walked up with a gun and shot him in the head in the first block of South Lockwood, authorities said. White drove off from the shooting, but collided with another vehicle about a block away, causing his vehicle to flip over near Monroe Street and Lockwood Avenue. He was taken to Loretto Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:35 a.m. He lived in the Galewood neighborhood.

A second person who was in the vehicle with White was not hurt, police said.

The most recent nonfatal shooting wounded a 17-year-old boy in the Montclare neighborhood on the Northwest Side. The boy was riding a bicycle at 8:56 p.m. in the 7000 block of West Grand when shots were fired by several males standing on the sidewalk, police said. The boy was struck in the right leg and taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was treated and released.

About an hour before in another Northwest Side shooting, a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg Albany Park’s 3900 block of West Montrose, police said. He was taken to Swedish Covenant Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

A 14-year-old boy was shot about 7:20 p.m. in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side. The boy was shot in his right thigh in the 1300 block of South Independence, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.

Less than 20 minutes earlier, a man was wounded in an East Chatham neighborhood shooting on the South Side. Someone walked up and shot the 22-year-old in the abdomen when he got out of a vehicle in the 8500 block of South Drexel. He was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition.

A 29-year-old man was wounded about 1:35 p.m. in a Morgan Park neighborhood shooting on the Far South Side. He was standing in the 11300 block of South Aberdeen when a vehicle pulled up and someone inside fired multiple shots, police said. He was shot in the left buttocks, left hip and right knee, and was taken to Christ Medical Center, where his condition stabilized.

Just before noon, another man was shot in the South Side Chatham neighborhood. The 21-year-old was shot in the left thigh and taken in good condition to Christ Medical Center, police said.

Halloween’s first shooting happened just after 6 a.m. in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side. A 19-year-old man robbed two people at gunpoint of their cellphones, wallets and cash at a business in the 700 block of West 116th Place, police said. As the man was running away, he shot himself in the penis. He was taken in serious condition to Christ Medical Center, where he was taken into custody. Charges are pending.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man has been charged with shooting someone and assaulting two others Sunday night during a robbery at a steakhouse where he used to work near the Magnificent Mile.

Marcus Norwood, 39, faces one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery with the use of a deadly weapon, three counts of robbery armed with a firearm and three counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, all felonies, according to Chicago Police. He was also charged with one misdemeanor count of obstructing identification.

Marcus Norwood (Source: Chicago Police)

About 11:45 p.m., Norwood entered Lawry’s The Prime Rib, 100 E. Ontario St., and found several employees in the locker room, where he restrained them, stole their cellphones and announced a robbery, police and Chicago Fire Department officials said at the time.

A police source said he was a disgruntled former employee who knew his way around the establishment.

During the robbery, one of the victims interrupted Norwood, who then opened fire, police said.

One employee, a 28-year-old man, suffered a gunshot wound to the right arm and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said. Fire officials said two other people were assaulted and also taken to Northwestern.

Two men could be seen being escorted from the restaurant by paramedics, one of whom had duct tape wrapped around his head and a bloody T-shirt and apron.

The suspect ran away after the shooting, but was apprehended without incident a short time later by 18th District officers, police said. A weapon was recovered.

Norwood, who lives in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side, was scheduled for a Wednesday bond hearing.

“This is really scary,” said Julio Ayala, 36, who was working security at the time at The James Chicago, a luxury boutique hotel across the street from Lawry’s.

He was one of dozens of people who exited businesses in the area and approached the crime scene, curious about the emergency response.

Ayala, who did not hear any gunshots, said he saw police tending to a man who was sitting on a ground, bleeding outside the restaurant before paramedics arrived.

“It’s normally a very safe area around here,” he said. “We see a lot of people walking around this area at night and I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Ayala said that he planned to tell hotel management what he saw, adding, “We need to make sure our guests and our workers are safe.”

CHICAGO (CBS) — An argument between a pedestrian and a driver escalated into a fight with a baseball bat on Tuesday night.

Now, a 56-year-old man is hospitalized and police are searching for a suspect.

CBS 2’s Suzanne Le Mignot reports.

The incident began around 10 p.m. at the intersection of Palmer and Pulaski in the Hermosa neighborhood. It escalated when a driver beat Ray Russell so severely in the head with a bat that he was in a medically induced coma Wednesday.

“Ray is not doing too well,” says James Hoskins, director of support services for St. Andrews Court, a housing and services center. “It’s very sad because, he doesn’t even look like Ray, from the happy-go-lucky guy I saw yesterday, passing out candy to the kids. My heart was just broken. I couldn’t even stay in the hospital room, no more than about 10 minutes.”

Police say Russell was crossing the street when he got into an argument with a driver. That’s when the driver got out and beat Russell in the head with a baseball bat.

“I couldn’t possibly understand what Ray could have done to invoke that kind of crime,” says Erwin Mayer, executive director of St. Leonard’s Ministries.

Russell had been living at St. Leonard’s House, a halfway house on the Near West Side, after serving time in prison.

“Ray took advantage of all of the programming, all of the services that we have available here,” Mayer says.

Russell, who is 56, recently moved into his first apartment, at St. Andrews Court and was being considered for a job as a maintenance worker.

“At a time that he is trying to get his life together, it could be ended,” St. Andrews Administrator David Rosa says. “We’re just praying that it doesn’t.”

Russell remains in critical condition. Meantime, Chicago police are looking at area surveillance video, with the hopes of developing leads in the case.

CHICAGO (CBS) — A man was found dead early Wednesday and appears to have been struck by vehicle that left the scene in the Avalon Park neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

The 40-year-old was found about 2:25 a.m. in the street in the 8300 block of South Stony Island, according to Chicago Police.

Police said he appears to have been struck by a vehicle, police said. Additional details were not immediately available and the Cook County medical examiner’s office did not provide information on the fatality.

The police Major Accidents Investigation Unit is investigating the incident.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — There will be no special prosecutor assigned to investigate the deadly shooting of Flint Farmer by former Chicago Police Officer Gildardo Sierra, Cook County’s chief criminal judge ruled Tuesday.

Former State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and her successor, Kim Foxx, as well as federal prosecutors all declined to bring criminal charges against Sierra in connection with the 2011 on-duty shooting that claimed Farmer’s life, Judge LeRoy Martin Jr. said at a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

A request from Farmer’s father to have a special prosecutor take yet another look hadn’t offered a compelling reason why the case deserved yet another look, Martin said.

“I’ve had three different prosecutorial authorities decide, for whatever their reasons were (not to prosecute Sierra),” Martin said.

Farmer’s father, Emmett, said he had high hopes that Sierra might yet face criminal charges when he filed the request, citing Foxx’s reform platform on the campaign trail that special prosecutors were necessary in cases where police were accused of misconduct.

Tuesday, he said he hoped to appeal Martin’s ruling, but was not clear on how the case might proceed.

The Independent Police Review Authority, the city’s police disciplinary agency that had been revamped in the fallout of the Laquan McDonald shooting, last year announced it had reviewed the original probe of the shooting— which had cleared Sierra of wrongdoing— and ruled that the shooting was unjustified.

The city in 2013 settled a lawsuit filed by Farmer’s family for $4.1 million.

Sierra admitted to downing several beers before starting his shift the night he shot Farmer, and had claimed he thought the unarmed Farmer’s cellphone was a gun.

Sierra fired 16 times at Farmer, including three shots that came as the 29-year-old lay unmoving on a parkway.

Farmer’s shooting in June of 2011 was the third time Sierra had opened fire on someone while on duty in a six-month span, having shot and killed Darius Pinex that January, and wounded a 19-year-old man that March.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2017. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (CBS) — Two people were killed when a car ran a red light and slammed into a taxi early Wednesday on the Near North Side.

Police said a Hyundai Sonata speeding south on Clark Street blew a red light at Oak Street around 3:15 a.m., smashing into the rear of a City Services taxi cab also headed south on Clark.

Both vehicles spun out and ended up on opposite sides of Clark Street, about 50 feet from the intersection. The drivers of both vehicles were rushed to hospitals, but were pronounced dead on arrival.

Near North Side resident Rick Cass said the sound of the violent collision woke him and his wife, Drenda.

“It was crazy,” Rick Cass said. “We thought at first it was gunfire, but it was just really loud.”

Emergency crews couldn’t tell at first whether there was a passenger in the cab, due to the severe damage from the crash. Police have since confirmed the drivers were the only people in the vehicles.

The cab driver has been identified as 52-year-old Mekonnen Kassa, of the Rogers Park neighborhood. The other driver was identified as 40-year-old Sungde Joof, of the Chatham neighborhood.

Mekonnen Kassa (Family Photo)

Kassa’s friends were too distraught to speak on camera, but said just moments before the crash, he had called a friend to say he was bringing him coffee. A lone coffee cup with its contents spilled out laid on Clark Street alongside the mangled taxi.

“It’s a terrible thing that happened. The person that was driving the car at a high rate of speed killed a cab driver that was doing a favor for a friend,” Drenda Cass said.

CHICAGO (CBS) — The richest person in Illinois has pledged to give the University of Chicago’s economics department a $125 million gift.

The university has announced that Citadel hedge fund founder Kenneth Griffin is giving the university what amounts to its second-biggest gift ever: $125 million for the economics department, which has spawned 29 Nobel Prize winners.

With the gift, the university said the department will now be known as the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics.

Griffin’s gift will go toward scholarships, stipends, and research, among other things.

According to Forbes, Griffin is the richest person in the state, and the 166th wealthiest in the world, with a net worth of about $8 billion.

The largest gift ever given to the university was a $300 million gift from financier David Booth to the business school.

CHICAGO (CBS) — One person was in custody, after a false report of a person with a gun prompted a lockdown at Joliet Central High School on Wednesday.

Joliet Township High School District 204 said Joliet Central was locked down after receiving a report of someone with a gun entering the building. The district later announced the report was false, and the person who made the claim was in police custody.

The lockdown was lifted shortly after 10 a.m.

“At no time were students or staff in any danger. The school day will resume as normal. Thank you very much for your patience and cooperation. The safety and security of our students and staff is always our first priority,” the district told parents in an alert.

CHICAGO (CBS) — A 62-foot Norway Spruce tree in Grayslake has been chosen as Chicago’s official Christmas tree for its annual holiday display at Millennium Park.

The city chose the Dorfler family’s tree from among 71 submissions for the annual Christmas tree contest.

The Dorfler family’s 62-foot Norway Spruce tree in Grayslake will be cut down and moved to Millennium Park to be Chicago’s official Christmas tree for 2017. (Credit: City of Chicago)

City crews will cut the tree down Thursday morning, and deliver it to Millennium Park on Friday night.

The tree will be lit two weeks later at the Millennium Park ice rink near The Bean.

CHICAGO (CBS) — For the eighth-straight month this year, Chicago saw a reduction in gun violence in October, the police department announced Wednesday.

There were 228 shooting incidents last month, compared to 353 shootings in the October 2016, according to Chicago Police statistics. That’s a decline of 34 percent.

The city has seen 2,445 shootings in total so far in 2017, down from 3,000 through the same date last year, according to police.

Eighteen of 22 police districts have seen reductions in shootings compared to last year, and seven have seen reductions compared to 2015, police said.

“The reductions in gun violence we have seen for the last eight months is a testament to the hard work of our officers as well as the investments we’ve made in intelligence-led pricing, better training, and more robust community engagement,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in an emailed statement.

“Across the city, from the south side to the north side, we have seen less shootings than 2016, and in some communities, even less than 2015. This is certainly not victory, but it is significant progress in the right direction,” Johnson said.

In October 2017, there were 53 murders, compared to 80 in the same month last year, a decline of more than 30 percent, according to the department.

All but three of the October homicides were shootings, according to records kept by the Chicago Sun-Times. Two were assaults and one involved a motor vehicle crash.

In total, the city has seen 580 homicides so far in 2017, including shootings, assaults and other types of incidents, according to Sun-Times records. Through the same date last year, the city had recorded 644 homicides.

Last year was one of the bloodiest in Chicago in two decades, with more than 4,300 shooting victims and nearly 800 homicides.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

(CNN) — Immunization shots are important for healthy newborns, but, of course, they can be painful.

Take a look as a dad gives an adorable pep talk to his baby, who’s about to get a series of shots.

The video has gone viral on Facebook!

Little Debias King Lee was due for his first shots and dad, Antwon, was there to help.

As the nurse delivered the shots, Antwon showed his support:

“We gonna get these shots?” dad tells Debias. “I want you to look at me, now.”

“You’re gonna be good. I know you’re gonna cry, but it’s OK to cry”

“It’s gonna be OK. It’s OK to cry.”

When is was over, Debias wasnt very happy, but dad gave him a hug and within moments Debias stopped crying.

Vaccinations can help prevent multiple diseases in newborns.

The video has been viewed more than 13 million times so far on Facebook.

CHICAGO (CBS) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the city is doing what it can to guard against, and prepare for, the kind of deadly terror attack that occurred in New York City Tuesday.

As the city has always done after attacks of terrorism around the world, Chicago Public Safety officials are studying not only the truck attack, but also the response to it.

Emanuel says while people should be vigilante, they should also continue with their normal activities.

“The terrorist act was an attempt to intimidate people from not going about their daily lives, and no terrorist is going to stop and intimidate not only New York people, but Americans, and their resilience,” Emanuel said.

He added that Chicago stands shoulder-to-shoulder with New York and their efforts to carry on.

RELATED: Chicago Beefs Up Security In Wake Of New York Truck Attack 

Tuesday afternoon, a motorist deliberately plowed into bicyclists and pedestrians, killing eight people and injuring at least 12 others.

29-year-old Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov drove a rented Home Depot truck onto a busy bicycle path near the World Trade Center memorial, hit several people and a school bus, and emerged from the vehicle screaming and brandishing “imitation firearms.”

Saipov, who came to the U.S. in 2010 from Uzbekistan,  yelled “Allahu Akbar” — God is great in Arabic — as he exited the truck, according to several witnesses. He was shot by police and subsequently taken into custody.

Mayor Emanuel issued a statement following the attack Tuesday evening:

“Chicago stands in solidarity with New York City in the wake of today’s horrific attack. The thoughts and prayers of every Chicagoan are with the victims, their families and all New Yorkers on this difficult day. The strength and resilience of the great people of New York will outshine the darkness and cowardice of this evil act of terror.”

CHICAGO (CBS) — It’s every mother’s dream — a quick birth. But for one Chicago woman, it was too fast.

She gave birth to not one, but two, babies on the floor of a Red Line station around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The mother – who asked CBS 2 not to disclose her name – talked with reporter Sandra Torres by phone.

Meet Ja’maiyla and Ju’niyla, the twins who will forever be known for coming into this world at the Roosevelt CTA station.

“I never thought I would have delivered them at a train station,” the mom says from the hospital. “All I kept saying on that train was, ‘Jesus, Jesus, please help me, please help me.”

Fraternal twin girls Ja’miyla, left; and Ju’niyla were born at a CTA Red Line station Wednesday morning. (image provided to CBS)

The 35-year-old says she relies on public transportation. So, when her water broke at 5:30 a.m., she took the bus and the train to try to get to Mercy Hospital.

“I was in labor on the bus, in labor on the train, and then the contractions got really intense, and everybody was looking at me crazy,” she says.

Once she arrived at the Roosevelt stop, the babies decided it was time. She got to a customer service booth, she says, and “felt the urge to push.”

“When the first baby came out they kind of laid me on the ground,” she says.

That’s when Chicago Fire Department paramedics arrived.

“Within about maybe six minutes or so, the second child came out,” Rosa Perez says.

Thanks to their help, mom and babies are OK.

Paramedics Rosa Perez and Maire Shields (WBBM/Steve Miller)

The woman thanks the paramedics and calls them “angels.” She was due around Thanksgiving but was scheduled to be induced in two weeks.

The babies are currently in a special unit but are doing fine.

The mother, by the way, has a 19-year-old child.

CHICAGO (CBS) — “Hamilton” creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda visited the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago on Wednesday, making a pitch for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.

“We want our leaders to congratulate themselves when the job is done, not when the job is in process, and we’ve been frustrated at the slow initial response, but I have to say you go to my Twitter feed, it’s like ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ over there,” he said. “By that, I mean kids breaking their piggy banks, employers matching employee donations, people having toy drives and lemonade stands and busking.”

Miranda, whose parents are from Puerto Rico, said despite what you might have heard from the president, there is a lot yet to be done on the island.

“Seventy-five percent of the island still has no power, 25 [percent] still has no running water. So we’re far from done here, and I’d much rather be telling you about some new musical I’m working on, but this is sort of the new full-time gig for now, until there’s a sense of normalcy on the island. This is family, this is our friends, this is who we are, this is where we’re from, so this is the gig for the foreseeable future,” he said.

His song “Almost Like Praying,” which is raising funds for the UNIDOS Disaster Relief Fund, debuted as the top song of the week among digital downloads last month.

“I made it my challenge, can we put all 78 towns into a song lyric, and still make you want to dance to it, and buy it?” Miranda said.

Miranda said his family in Puerto Rico still has no power and no running water.

He also discussed his criticism of President Donald Trump on Twitter in the days after Hurricane Maria hit, telling him “you’re going straight to hell.”

Miranda’s tweet came in response to a post by the president claiming Democrats had instructed the mayor of San Juan to be “nasty” to him. The president also criticized leaders in Puerto Rico, and appeared to blame victims of the storm, claiming, “they want everything to be done for them.”

Miranda estimated he’s posted four negative tweets in his life.

“I’ve just never seen a president do that. I’ve never seen a president do anything other than say we’re all Americans, we’re all working together. So when he said what he said, and began attacking the victims of a natural disaster, those were the only words I had left. They were the only words I had at my disposal in the face of such a thing,” he said.

You can donate to the Unidos hurricane relief effort in three ways:

To donate via text, compose a new text message for number 41444. Type UNIDOS (space) YOUR AMOUNT (space) and YOUR NAME. (For example: Unidos 100 John Doe) Then press “send” and click on the link to complete your donation.

To donate via website, visit hispanicfederation.org/donate and select “Hurricane Relief Effort” from the drop-down menu.

To donate in person, visit any Popular Community Bank branch.
Account name: Hurricane Relief Effort.
Checking account number 6810893500

CHICAGO (CBS) — He was the quintessential newsman – tough and straight-forward, but not afraid to let his emotions show.

For decades, CBS’ Walter Cronkite brought events that shaped the world to the living rooms of millions. That’s “the way it was.”

Now “the most trusted man in America” is the subject of a new documentary on the Decades TV Network. It’s called “Eyes on the World: The Rise of Walter Cronkite and the Evening News.”

A from one legend to another, Bill Kurtis knew Walter Cronkite.

Chicago newsman Bill Kurtis was a West Coast correspondent with CBS when Walter Cronkite was at the anchor desk.

“We need him now more than ever,” he laughed. “What a time it is now. We’re going to go back and look at an anchorman, what made an anchorman and why he was so influential and significant in the world of journalism.”

Kurtis said Cronkite was America’s great communicator, a link to the world in the 1960s and 70’s.

“He did it with the passion of a founder. He was really the founder. He took over the CBS Evening News in 1963,” Kurtis said.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy, The Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and Watergate, Cronkite was the messenger to millions.

“TV news was really in its birth in the 60’s. Nobody told us how to cover a civil rights movement, or a riot or a war you just put the camera on the shoulder and go out. Television people back then were writing the rules and Walter was the CEO,” he said.

In 1972, Walter Cronkite was widely declared “the most trusted man in America.”

“He was really the first to make sense of Watergate,” recalls Kurtis. “It was the first time anyone devoted, let’s say, ten minutes of the evening news to a single story. It became some what more understandable to people,” Kurtis said.

“Eyes On The World: The Rise of Walter Cronkite and the Evening News” also takes a look at what’s changed since his tenure and how the news has evolved.

“The question you might ask today is what would Walter do? What would he do and how would he handle it.”

The two-hour documentary will air on Friday, Nov. 3 and Monday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. on the Decades TV Network, Comcast 338 in Chicago.

CHICAGO (CBS) — The Illinois Tollway gathered with state, county and local officials Wednesday to mark the completion of the $780 million Illinois Route 390 Tollway Project.

Illinois Route 390, previously known as the Elgin–O’Hare Expressway, is 10 miles long and runs from Lake Street to Illinois Route 83. The completion paves the way for a new connection to O’Hare, which will allow for western access to the airport.

“This new Tollway will bring tremendous benefits to our regional transportation system, reducing congestion and improving the quality of life for people throughout the area,” Gov. Bruce Rauner said. “The coordination between state, county and local governments is an unparalleled investment in our roads and builds a foundation for business and job growth.”

Illinois Tollway Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom said, now, they are marching east towards O’Hare.

“We are committed to working with the City of Chicago and the Chicago Department of Aviation to continue moving forward to complete the full project and deliver western access for all.”

Officials cut the ribbon on the new I-390. (Bernie Tafoya/WBBM)

Schillerstrom adds that the new Tollway is expected to reduce travel time by more than seven minutes for the trip between the western side of O’Hare Airport and Lake Street — a savings of 25 percent.

DuPage County Board chairman Dan Cronin calls the latest road opening a “meaningful step,” but adds, “we aren’t really going to be able to celebrate until we realize the full potential of this project, and that is gaining access to O’Hare Airport.”

Officials believe that western access could result in 65,000 new permanent jobs from the expected growth.

Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) Comr. Ginger Evans says Chicago said she is committed to supporting a western access into O’Hare.

“As the City of Chicago takes major steps forward in modernizing O’Hare for the future, creating this additional point of access to O’Hare is absolutely critical to our goals of increasing efficiency as well as connectivity as the airport continues growth,” she said.

Furthermore, Evans downplayed talk that some airlines have concerns about the economic feasibility of building airline facilities, such as a new terminal, on the west side of O’Hare.

The Illinois Route 390 Tollway Project took four years to complete. These improvements are part of the $3.4 billion Elgin-O’Hare Western Access Project, which is included in the Illinois Tollway’s 15-year, $14 million capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future.

CHICAGO (CBS) — A sex offender was arrested after he entered a southwest suburban high school last week while experiencing a medical issue.

Jacob C. Sullivan, 42, approached a faculty member in the parking lot of Plainfield East High School at 12001 Naperville Rd. on Oct. 25 and asked for assistance, according to Plainfield police.

Jacob Sullivan (Credit: Plainfield police)

When the faculty member said he couldn’t help, Sullivan walked into the school, where he was met by other faculty members who called an ambulance, police said. He was taken to a hospital.

The school resource officer was notified of the incident, and learned Sullivan was a registered sex offender not allowed on school property, police said.

There were students in the building and on the property at the time, but Sullivan did not have any contact with them.

A warrant was issued for Sullivan’s arrest, and he was taken into custody Tuesday, police said.

Sullivan, a Plainfield resident, was charged with one felony count of presence within a school zone by a child sex offender, police said. His bond was set at $100,000.

He was previously convicted in Cook County of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 15-year-old victim, according to the Illinois Sex Offender registry. He was 26 at the time.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2016. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

CHICAGO (AP) — The Obama Foundation’s first major event, a two-day summit of 500 civic leaders, wrapped up Wednesday in Chicago’s South Loop.

Chicago’s former first lady Michelle Obama took the spotlight on Wednesday and CBS 2’s Derrick Blakely was there.

Michelle Obama told participants in the summit that their work in communities around the work gives her hope. And she said, her working-class, South Side upbringing is what kept her grounded, even after reaching the White House.

During an hour of free-wheeling talk, Michelle Obama touched on social issues, like women’s empowerment.

“We ask our women to speak up for equality, against sex harassment, etc. You have to teach them to speak up, that doesn’t happen by accident,” she said.

But the former first lady focused on the personal, like her refusal to coddle her two daughters.

“We could have spent eight years feeling sorry for them because they had to live in a bubble, driving around with men with guns, etc., but we didn’t apologize to them, go to school, deal with it,” Obama said.

And, she delivered this riff on the importance of gal pals:

“I love my husband. He is my rock, but my girlfriends are my sanity. When you live in the White House, you can’t open the windows or walk outside. When you live like that for eight years, you need girlfriends,” she said.

What’s more, she suggested men should follow the example set by women.

“Y’all should get you some friends. Y’all need to go talk to each other about your stuff because there’s so much of it,” Obama said.

And regarding the Obama Center, she said a major goal is to bring public art to the South Side.

“Not just Millennium Park, The Bean, we deserve those things just as much as the rest of the community,” she said.

Michelle Obama kept away from politics, but she did say words matter, particularly in an age where Twitter and other social media can be used like a weapon.

She said people shouldn’t “tweet every thought” because “first initial thoughts are not worthy of the light of day.”

The comments drew laughter from the crowd as Obama added she wasn’t “talking about anybody in particular.”

She said when people send a tweet, especially young people, they need to think it over, spell correctly and use good grammar.

“You don’t just say what’s on your mind and you don’t tweet everything,” she said.

Former President Barack Obama was scheduled to wrap up the two-day summit with closing remarks.

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