Gov. Pat Quinn and three less well-known candidates for governor traded jabs tonight during a forum on Chicago radio station WVAZ-FM, known as V-103.
Republican Bill Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, skipped the event, which might have been a good call based on how some of the questioning went.
Read more in Clout Street.
The Reader is heavy on the politics this week, from Steve Bogira's cover story on Pat Quinn to my column about rapper Che "Rhymefest" Smith and his quest to become alderman of the 20th Ward. (I don't know if you've heard, but there's this election coming right up.)… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/this-week-in-reader-music">Read more</a> ]</p>
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Three people, including a teen-aged girl, were shot late this afternoon in the North Side's Uptown community.
The girl, 13, was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Children's Memorial Hospital, officials said.
One of the other victims was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, while the third victim was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. They, too, were taken in serious-to-critical condition to those hospitals.
The shooting happened about 5 p.m. in the 4400 block of North Magnolia Avenue.
Further details weren't immediately available this evening.
-- Staff report
After watching so many Broadway stars sport great costumes onstage, Broadway.com staffers couldn't resist the urge to play dress-up ourselves. Luckily, we had the perfect excuse: Halloween!
Inspired by our reader costume contest, we decided to stage an office competition of our own. Employees didn't have to stick to the Broadway theme, but it's only fitting that a stage-centric costume took home the top prize. It's nothin' but a good time for Broadway.com's Aaron Feldstein as he dressed as current Rock of Ages star Dee Snider. "I always do a rock star theme, and I'm a big Twisted Sister fan," Feldstein said. "With Dee Snider now on Broadway, it only seemed fitting I do him this year. I just got tickets to Rock of Ages, and I'm so excited to go!"
Feldstein took a week to put his costume together. As for having to recreate Snider's signature 80s giant wig and elaborate makeup? "This is just a typical Saturday night for me," he joked. "I've done theater, so I'm used to wearing a lot of makeup." Rock on, Aaron, and congratulations! And a very Happy Halloween to everyone ...
Source: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/154111/broadwaycom-staffers-wish-readers-a-happy-halloween/
Music
Show: Chromeo "On their new Business Casual Chromeo once again scuff together a tidy pile of vintage house, funk, and pop R&B and hit it with a massive dose of unabashed lasciviousness, but their formula is so much more focused this time that the songs make their earlier efforts sound like trial runs," writes Miles Raymer. "Expect to hear 'I'm Contagious' at dance clubs for the next gajillion years."… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/30/dinner-and-a-show-saturday-1030">Read more</a> ]</p>
From 5:30-7 PM, all three Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine locations will be offering free local handmade sweets.
Each Pastoral store will offer a different confection: the Lakeview Pastoral (2945 N. Broadway) will be serving Sweet Margy's Toffee, the Loop location (53 E. Lake) will be serving Rich's Truffles & Das Caramelini French salted caramels, and Chicago's French Market (131 N. Clinton) will be serving Whimsical's La-Dee-Dahs, a swirl of vanilla nougat and salted caramel dipped in dark chocolate.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/29/1029-free-sweets-from-pastoral-artisan-cheese-bread-and-wine">Read more</a> ]</p>
Reader contributor Ignatiy Vishnevetsky weighs in on the latest Saw movie: "Strange, dumb, and sometimes even fun, the seventh and last installment in Lionsgate’s torture-porn franchise would have been just as dull and pretentious as its six predecessors if it had been competent, but its deficiencies make it the series’ most enjoyable entry. A self-help phony, a cop-turned-serial-killer, an internal affairs officer, and the wife of a different serial killer all figure in the convoluted plot, but the movie has so little sense of space, time, pacing, or characterization that they might as well be anonymous people; in its Grand Guignol gauntlet of flashbacks and 3D dismemberments, who’s doing what to whom, or why, doesn’t really matter.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/29/now-playing-saw-3d">Read more</a> ]</p>
* Randolph Street’s Avec, shuttered since an August fire that took the life of a firefighter, reopens tomorrow, October 29, at 3:30 PM.
* May Street Market, chef Alex Cheswick's West Town restaurant—which celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this month—has announced via Twitter that it will close Saturday, October 30.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/openings-and-closings">Read more</a> ]</p>
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Churches for sale! Turns out the one on Cortez, which I've admired from afar, is actually a pretty spectacular house (h/t @harper).
She’s still got it! On October 28 ‘60s songstress Lesley Gore, the voice behind hits like "It's My Party," “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” and “You Don’t Own Me,” joined the cast of Broadway’s Million Dollar Quartet for a special post-show performance. With Carl Perkins (Robert Britton Lyons), Johnny Cash (Lance Guest), Jerry Lee Lewis (Levi Kreis) and Elvis Presley (Eddie Clendening) by her side, the songstress treated that night's lucky audience to a jam session on stage at the Nederlander Theatre. Gore has been busy since her ‘60s heyday, writing songs like Academy Award-nominated “Out Here on My Own” from the film Fame, and releasing her most recent album, Ever Since, in 2005. Click through for photos of this one-night-only concert.
RedEye contributor Matt Kuttan heard the craziest thing on the el the other day: two adults wearing business attire, talking about what they were going to be for Halloween. Can you believe it?… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/breaking-adults-celebrate-halloween-now">Read more</a> ]</p>
Jonny Lee Miller will have not one but two starring roles in an upcoming production of Frankenstein at London’s National Theatre, according to The Daily Mail. Miller will star as both Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, and will alternate the roles each night with co-star Benedict Cumberbatch. As previously announced, Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) will direct.
Miller, who recently appeared on Broadway opposite Sienna Miller in After Miss Julie, counts Festen, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me and Democracy among his London stage credits. He starred as “Sick Boy” in Boyle’s 1996 breakout film, Trainspotting; other film credits include Hackers, The Flying Scotsman, Mansfield Park and Love, Honor and Obey; his television credits include the title role in series Eli Stone and the recent BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.
Cumberbatch was recently seen at the National Theatre in a production of Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance directed by Thea Sharrock. Among his screen credits are the films Atonement, Amazing Grace and The Other Boleyn Girl, and he stars as Sherlock Holmes in the modern BBC adaptation series Sherlock.
This production of the classic Mary Shelley novel, adapted by Nick Dear, will be told ...
The hell with Conrad Black, and his good name, such as it is.
Today, Mark Kipnis stands in the eyes of the law guilty of nothing.
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Source: http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/29/mark-kipnis-out-from-under
* Randolph Street’s Avec, shuttered since an August fire that took the life of a firefighter, reopens tomorrow, October 29, at 3:30 PM.
* May Street Market, chef Alex Cheswick's West Town restaurant—which celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this month—has announced via Twitter that it will close Saturday, October 30.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/openings-and-closings">Read more</a> ]</p>
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Two stage legends and a co-star who’s won four Tonys: We’re talking, of course, about James Earl Jones, Vanessa Redgrave and Boyd Gaines, the trio of theatrical titans who are currently headlining the hit Broadway production of Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy. Our resident artist Justin ‘Squigs’ Robertson headed to the Golden Theatre to see the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, and his latest portrait captures all the charm—and in Redgrave’s case, the feistiness—of the driver (Jones as Hoke), the driven (Redgrave as Miss Daisy) and the man who tries to manage them both (Gaines as the title character's loving son, Boolie).
About the Artist: With a desire to celebrate the magic of live theater and those who create it, and with a deep reverence for such touchstones as the work of Al Hirschfeld and the wall at Sardi’s, Squigs is happy and grateful to be among those carrying on the traditions where theater and caricature meet. He was born and raised in Oregon, lived in Los Angeles for quite a long time and now calls New York City his home. Photo by Matthew Murphy
Reader contributor Ignatiy Vishnevetsky weighs in on the latest Saw movie: "Strange, dumb, and sometimes even fun, the seventh and last installment in Lionsgate’s torture-porn franchise would have been just as dull and pretentious as its six predecessors if it had been competent, but its deficiencies make it the series’ most enjoyable entry. A self-help phony, a cop-turned-serial-killer, an internal affairs officer, and the wife of a different serial killer all figure in the convoluted plot, but the movie has so little sense of space, time, pacing, or characterization that they might as well be anonymous people; in its Grand Guignol gauntlet of flashbacks and 3D dismemberments, who’s doing what to whom, or why, doesn’t really matter.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/29/now-playing-saw-3d">Read more</a> ]</p>
After watching so many Broadway stars sport great costumes onstage, Broadway.com staffers couldn't resist the urge to play dress-up ourselves. Luckily, we had the perfect excuse: Halloween!
Inspired by our reader costume contest, we decided to stage an office competition of our own. Employees didn't have to stick to the Broadway theme, but it's only fitting that a stage-centric costume took home the top prize. It's nothin' but a good time for Broadway.com's Aaron Feldstein as he dressed as current Rock of Ages star Dee Snider. "I always do a rock star theme, and I'm a big Twisted Sister fan," Feldstein said. "With Dee Snider now on Broadway, it only seemed fitting I do him this year. I just got tickets to Rock of Ages, and I'm so excited to go!"
Feldstein took a week to put his costume together. As for having to recreate Snider's signature 80s giant wig and elaborate makeup? "This is just a typical Saturday night for me," he joked. "I've done theater, so I'm used to wearing a lot of makeup." Rock on, Aaron, and congratulations! And a very Happy Halloween to everyone ...
Source: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/154111/broadwaycom-staffers-wish-readers-a-happy-halloween/
The popular 1985 movie The Goonies may be headed to the Broadway stage. At an event celebrating the film's 25th anniversary, director Richard Donner revealed to Empireonline.com that a musical adaptation of the film is in the works.
"There's a great writer/producer called Tim Long who does musicals on The Simpsons which are classic," said Donner. "He just delivered a treatment of The Goonies as a musical, and it's friggin' great!"
The Steven Spielberg-penned classic stars Broadway veterans Martha Plimpton and Josh Brolin, as well as Corey Feldman and Sean Astin, as a group of teenage treasure hunters.
Should the musical make its way to the Great White Way, we know a famous face who may be happy to help out. Back in 2002, when Glee star Matthew Morrison took on his first Broadway leading role in Hairspray, the actor revealed to Broadway.com he hoped to someday adapt the film for the stage. "I've had the idea for a long time, and I want to start really putting it to work: The Goonies," Morrison said. "Wouldn't it be awesome onstage? I could play the older brother." Maybe you'll get your wish ...
Source: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/154117/hey-you-guys-the-goonies-may-truffle-shuffle-onto-broadway/
From 5:30-7 PM, all three Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine locations will be offering free local handmade sweets.
Each Pastoral store will offer a different confection: the Lakeview Pastoral (2945 N. Broadway) will be serving Sweet Margy's Toffee, the Loop location (53 E. Lake) will be serving Rich's Truffles & Das Caramelini French salted caramels, and Chicago's French Market (131 N. Clinton) will be serving Whimsical's La-Dee-Dahs, a swirl of vanilla nougat and salted caramel dipped in dark chocolate.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/29/1029-free-sweets-from-pastoral-artisan-cheese-bread-and-wine">Read more</a> ]</p>
About 12:30 a.m., firefighters responded to a three-story apartment building at 32 N. Mason Ave., according to Fire Media spokesman Quention Curtis.
The fire was elevated to a 2-11 alarm at 12:50 a.m. which calls for at least eight engines, four trucks and two tower ladders, he said.
Two people were transported to West Suburban Medical Center for minor smoke inhalation and at least 12 people were displaced by the fire, Curtis said.
Firefighters responded to a fire less than two miles away earlier in the evening. Officials said the two fires were not related.
Between the two fires, 34 people--including 10 children--were provided food and shelter by the American Red Cross, according to a release from the Red Cross.
Music
Show: The Vaselines reunion started quietly in 2008—almost two decades after the band broke up—and went full-time last year, when Sub Pop gave the deluxe treatment to their scant complete recordings on Enter the Vaselines. Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee sing much better on the new Sex With an X than they did on their 80s recordings, but by and large their simple, succinct, and dangerously catchy indie pop doesn’t sound too different.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/dinner-and-a-show-thursday-1028">Read more</a> ]</p>
A Joliet man was sentenced to natural life in prison today in a 2001 murder for which he was convicted twice.
Will County Associate Judge Robert Livas sentenced 34-year-old Paul Quintero on Friday. The Joliet man was convicted earlier this year in the shooting death of 24-year-old Darnell Washington.
Authorities say Washington's body was found on the side of a road in November 2001. He had been shot in the face, and his car was set on fire.
Quintero was first convicted in Washington's death in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.
An appellate court overturned that conviction, and Quintero was retried.
Quintero is already serving a 38-year sentence at Menard Correctional Center for the 2000 shooting death of Michael Ceja in Joliet.
--The Associated Press
Twelve hours of Horton Foote. Two Shakespeare plays, performed in rep in Central Park. Seven hours of Angels in America. How on earth is Bill Heck still standing, after the artistic marathons he’s run in the past year? “The variety and quality of the material I’ve been blessed to be a part of is a little overwhelming,” Heck says in his charmingly old-fashioned way of speaking. To review: The 32-year-old actor charmed critics and audiences as leading man Horace Robedaux in Foote’s mammoth Orphans’ Home Cycle, then jumped to The Merchant of Venice (as Lorenzo) and The Winter’s Tale (as a Lord) before tackling the emotionally wrenching role of closeted Mormon husband Joe Pitt in both parts of Tony Kushner’s masterpiece at Signature Theatre Company. Heck is of the “do it, don’t talk about it” school of acting, but we managed to pry a few details about what 2010 has been like for him, including a (brief!) acknowledgment that he’s dating his Orphans co-star, the lovely and talented Maggie Lacey.
Can anyone fathom what you’ve been through this past year, jumping from Orphans to a pair of Shakespeares to the two Angels ...
The Messenger has arrived! We’re talking, of course, about the heavenly visitor—and the all-too-human characters she meets down below—in Tony Kushner’s masterwork Angels in America. The seven-hour epic is back where it belongs, onstage at New York’s Signature Theatre, and the company celebrated opening night on October 29 at a (very!) late-night party at Pio Pio. Take a look at the first-rate cast (including rising movie star Zachary Quinto) that’s making Angels soar anew, plus Kushner and an appreciative guest list.
A 34-year-old DeKalb man has been charged with first-degree murder, criminal sexual assault and arson in the death of Northern Illinois University freshman Antinette "Toni" Keller, DeKalb County authorities said Friday.
William P. Curl, of the 500 block of East Taylor Street, allegedly "caused the death of the victim during the course of committing a criminal sexual assault and during the course of an arson," said State's Attorney John Farrell at a news conference Friday night.
Authorities would not get more specific than that about how Keller died.
Investigators knew of no prior relationship between the victim and the accused, DeKalb police Chief Bill Feithen said.
"This was a gruesome murder, and we believe it was a crime of opportunity," Feithen said. "There is no reason for us to believe there are other victims."
Authorities said that Curl, who was unemployed, frequented the park and so police wanted to talk to him about the crime.
The chief would not comment on Friday's Tribune report that the suspect came to authorities' attention by reporting a fire in the park.
Keller, an 18-year-old art student from Plainfield, told friends on Oct. 14 that she was going to Prairie Park to do some sketching. The friends reported her missing on Oct. 15.
Police later revealed they found badly burned human remains in the park on Oct. 16, near some of Keller's belongings. The remains have not been positively identified.
Police talked to Curl once, Feithen said, but he failed to appear for a second scheduled interview, so authorities began tracking him through credit card use and police databases. He was considered a witness with material information in the case when he left Illinois last Saturday.
Authorities tracked Curl into Mexico, but he recrossed the border and was taken into custody by federal marshals at a motel in Covington, La., where he was looking for work as a day laborer.
Curl was held on charges of obstruction of justice and unlawful possession of a motor vehicle. He is accused of fleeing in a car he stole from his mother.
Curl's preliminary bail was set at $5 million, and he is to appear before a judge Saturday morning.
Keller's family expressed relief but sadness at the arrest.
"It's helpful to know someone's in custody, but it puts deeper layers of reality into it, which is not comforting," Keller's cousin Mary Tarling told the Tribune shortly before the 8 p.m. news conference.
NIU President John Peters offered his condolences in a written statement Friday.
"Toni Keller will forever be in our hearts and will always be a Huskie," he wrote. "May God grant peace and strength to the Keller family, Toni's friends and the NIU/DeKalb community."
Students and parents had criticized police for not releasing much information on the investigation, but Feithen defended that practice.
"It's very difficult for investigators, if the public knows everything, to go out and interview people and identify people who have real information as opposed to individuals who have heard it in the public domain and for whatever reason are just repeating what they have heard," he said.
Curl's neighbor Tierra Bradshaw, 26, said she was surprised to hear that authorities were accusing him of killing Keller.
"It was really shocking," said Bradshaw, who lived down the hall from Curl for about three years at Golden Years Plaza in DeKalb.
"He was a really sweet guy," she said. "Anytime we needed anything, he would help out."
DeKalb County State's Attorney John Farrell (foreground) and DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen (white shirt) hold a press conference at City Hall in DeKalb Friday to announce that William P. Curl, (seen at rear on video monitor) has been charged with murder in the Antinette Keller investigation. (Tribune / Terrence Antonio James)
Remember Me?, by Mitch O’Connell, part of It’s Your Funeral, a group show opening Fri 10/29, 6-11 PM, at Tattoo Factory Gallery, 4443 N. Broadway, 773-989-4077.
With Wicked celebrating its seventh Broadway anniversary on October 30, we started to think about the many talented performers who have turned green and tried defying gravity as the musical's passionate, powerful and emerald-hued Elphaba. Over the course of the show's incredibly successful run, 11 different actresses have wowed audiences with their take on the Wicked witch. Sure all of them are "popular," but we want to know which Elphaba soars highest in your heart. From the show's orginal Tony-winning star Idina Menzel to current Elphaba Mandy Gonzalez, we've listed all the ladies who have claimed "I'm Not that Girl" on stage. Vote for your favorite below! (P.S. Happy Halloween!)
On Fri 10/29, all Chicago IHOPs will serve free buttermilk pancakes to kids under 12 from 7 AM to 10 PM. In honor of Halloween, the pancakes are named "Count Spatula" and come with a whipped cream mouth, strawberry nose, and Oreo cookies and candy corn for eyes.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/1029free-pancakes-for-kids-at-ihop">Read more</a> ]</p>
Comedian Colin Quinn is bringing the funny to Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre with his one-man show, Long Story Short. Directed by pal Jerry Seinfeld, Long Story Short charts the rise and fall of history’s great empires as Quinn takes on the attitudes, appetites and bad habits that toppled the world’s most powerful nations—all in only 75 minutes! The former Saturday Night Live star took his first turn on Broadway in 1998 with his solo show Colin Quinn - An Irish Wake, before going on to host Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central. Now he’s back on the boards, and he’s taking your questions. Have a question for Quinn? You set ‘em up, he’ll knock ‘em down. Go ahead, ask a star!
Broadway.com is celebrating Halloween week by filling your online trick-or-treat bags with some past Halloween-themed video goodies! Today, we're offering a pair of fan-made videos spoofing two smash hit musicals: Disney's Mary Poppins, which was adapted into a Broadway musical that's still going strong at the New Amsterdam Theatre, and The Producers, which was captured on film with original Broadway stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. The clever film parodists recut the trailers of the original 1964 Mary Poppins film and the 2005 Producers flick, reimagining them as horror movies. Take a look below as beloved Broadway stars Julie Andrews and Nathan Lane walk on over to the dark side!
Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bill Brady tore into each other tonight during their last debate before the election on the budget, ethics and social issues.
Quinn portrayed Brady as the bearer of "nonsensical" plans that won't lead the state forward, while Brady accused Quinn of standing by as ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich ran Illinois into the ground.
Read more in Clout Street.
As Priscilla Queen of the Desert readies to drive its bus onto Broadway, the glamorous drag queen-filled musical is first making a pit stop at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre to wow Canadian audiences. On October 26 the show celebrated its opening night with stars Will Swenson, Tony Sheldon and Nick Adams. The guys may sport some extravagant feathers, glitter, high heels and other accessories throughout the show, but they cleaned up just fine for the show's after-party (at the Westin Harbour Confrence Centre). Slap on your most marvelous outfit and join in on the fun by clicking below!
You might think Today Show personalities Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb wind down from their daily hosting duties with a well-earned afternoon nap. Think again: On October 27 the AM ladies headed downtown for a matinee performance of Daniel Beaty’s solo show, Through the Night. After the show, in which Beaty juggles six different characters, Gifford and Kotb joined the actor/playwright onstage to congratulate him on a job well done. Click on to see their adventure at the Union Square Theatre.
Stewart Warren might have felt queasier if she’d given the letter her full attention. But it was late last Saturday afternoon, she’d been running errands all day, had two parties to get ready for in the evening, and she was exhausted.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/forget-that-murder-get-in-here-and-bring-your-blackberry">Read more</a> ]</p>
Here's the First Look you've been waiting for: production shots of Bartlett Sher’s production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. With a cast led by Sherie Rene Scott, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Laura Benanti and Patti LuPone, this eagerly awaited musical is drawing crowds (and winning headlines) at the gorgeously restored Belasco Theatre, where it's set to open on November 4. Click through Paul Kolnik’s gallery of shots for a preview of Sher’s vision for transferring Pedro Almodovar’s Madrid, circa 1987, to the stage.
Absence No. 8, a painting by Rim Lee, part of The Body, a show with Claudia Hart opening Fri 10/29, 6-8 PM, at Kasia Kay Gallery, 1044 W. Fulton, 312-492-8828.
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Source: http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/morning-art-rim-lee
As Priscilla Queen of the Desert readies to drive its bus onto Broadway, the glamorous drag queen-filled musical is first making a pit stop at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre to wow Canadian audiences. On October 26 the show celebrated its opening night with stars Will Swenson, Tony Sheldon and Nick Adams. The guys may sport some extravagant feathers, glitter, high heels and other accessories throughout the show, but they cleaned up just fine for the show's after-party (at the Westin Harbour Confrence Centre). Slap on your most marvelous outfit and join in on the fun by clicking below!
On Fri 10/29, all Chicago IHOPs will serve free buttermilk pancakes to kids under 12 from 7 AM to 10 PM. In honor of Halloween, the pancakes are named "Count Spatula" and come with a whipped cream mouth, strawberry nose, and Oreo cookies and candy corn for eyes.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/28/1029free-pancakes-for-kids-at-ihop">Read more</a> ]</p>
More than half of Illinois public schools -- including, for the first time, many of the state's academic powerhouses -- failed to meet test targets this year, raising questions not only about the schools, but also the standard by which they are judged.
In Illinois, high schools fared the worst.
Nine of 10 high schools -- 609 of 665 in the state -- missed the mark on math and reading tests and risk federal sanctions, according to information released Wednesday by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Statewide, 44 percent of elementary and middle schools fell short.
Educators say it was bound to happen. The federal No Child Left Behind law requires that schools bring every student to proficiency in reading and math by 2014, a goal that most teachers have thought impossible from its inception. The standard ratchets higher every year as the deadline nears.
"Everybody knew it would get to this point. It had to," said Superintendent Linda Yonke of New Trier Township High School, which missed the test target for the first time this year.
This year, 77.5 percent of students had to read and do math at their grade level on state tests, up from 70 percent a year ago. Smaller subsets of students -- as defined by race or income, for example -- had to meet the target too.
New Trier, among the state's best schools by virtually any measure, posted some of its highest scores ever on the college-entrance ACT test, which comprises half of the Prairie State Achievement Exam given to juniors. But the performance of a small group of students, those with learning disabilities, fell short of the testing target.
The entire school failed as a result, revealing one of the troubling limits of the law: Schools that narrowly miss the mark with one group of kids get saddled with the same failing label as schools where virtually all students languish below grade level, and are subject to the same penalties.
The sweeping designation muddies the issue for parents trying to make sense of it all, and threatens to make the federal standard irrelevant.
"When we've got 98 percent of kids going to college, you can't tell me that we're a failing school," Yonke said.
What's more, she added, the very subset of learning-disabled students that failed to meet the federal standard, called "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, scored an average of 22.6 on the ACT -- two points above the state average.
The complete rundown of state and local test results will be released Friday. Several schools, however, previously disclosed scores or shared results with the Tribune.
No Child Left Behind took effect in 2002 with a pledge to hold schools accountable for the academic performance of every student, investing $6.5 billion in Illinois alone.
The law redefined how schools were judged when it tracked students by race, income, language and other factors. Under its rules, if one group of pupils fails to meet federal expectations for back-to-back years, the entire schools risks sanctions, which can ultimately include replacing its principal or closing.
A record 52.5 percent of Illinois public schools where students are tested missed the target this year, according to data released Wednesday.
High schools struggled the most, in part because students take a more difficult exam. What's more, high schools tend to have large, diverse enrollments. That means they are judged by how well they educate more subgroups of students, experts said. Illinois schools must have 45 students per grade in a classification before the subgroup's scores must meet the federal goal.
"The more diverse your school is, the more ways you can fail," said Bob Schaeffer of Fair Test, a national group that monitors standardized exams.
Schools face escalating consequences if they continue to miss federal test targets. In the first year, nothing happens. But after two consecutive years, schools that get federal funds for low-income students must offer tutoring or student transfers to other schools. They also must provide improvement plans to the state.
Schools that do not get the federal Title I money also must describe how they plan to turn around test scores and take corrective steps, but they are not required to offer student transfers.
This year, a record 367 schools must take dramatic steps to restructure after falling short of "adequate yearly progress" for at least six consecutive years.
While the future of No Child Left Behind remains uncertain, its reauthorization three years overdue, "it is still the law of the land," said Chester Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a former assistant secretary of education.
He said the Illinois results, like elsewhere in the country, show many schools are not serving all students well.
"But what we've also got here is a serious mixing of apples and oranges, where schools that are good for most of their kids are getting grouped with schools that are doing a dreadful job ... (and) that's misleading," Finn said.
More schools are expected to falter over the next four years, as states require rapid gains in the march toward 100 percent proficiency. Next year, the expectation will be that 85 percent of Illinois students meet or exceed state standards.
"Keep in mind, every year this is going to get harder. ... We expect there to be more and more schools that are not making it," Illinois school Superintendent Christopher Koch said Wednesday during a meeting of the state education agency in Springfield.
Lemont High School had not missed a federal test target until this year. Superintendent Sandy Doebert now must help parents understand how a school can earn its highest ACT score ever and still be deemed a failure. She already has gotten calls.
"They've never had to understand (AYP) very much because we always made it. They were happy. They didn't have to look at what it represented," Doebert said.
Parent Julio Padilla fired off an e-mail as soon as he read the news in his local newspaper.
As president of the school's educational foundation, Padilla wanted to understand what it meant as he expected other parents might turn to him with questions. His concerns lessened once he understood the federal system.
"It's something to look at, but it's not something to make me jump off a building about," said Padilla, whose son is a freshman and whose daughter graduated last year. But, he said, "no one wants to be on that list."
After studying the test results during recent years, Lemont officials launched a new learning initiative this fall that targets every freshman.
At Lemont High on Monday, teacher Jeana Parry coached her freshman English students through the rudiments of reading comprehension: predicting, summarizing and connecting their own lives to the material they are reading -- in this case, Elie Wiesel's "Night."
Freshman Cassy Lillwitz, 14, said the methodical steps already have helped her in school.
"It helps ingrain it in my memory to remember it in other classes and, eventually, for the SATs and stuff," Lillwitz said as she packed her books after class.
President Barack Obama proposed an overhaul of the law earlier this year that would ditch the all-or-nothing grading system for a measure that looks at student growth over time and reserves the most severe sanctions for the lowest-scoring 5 percent of schools.
Koch said the state plans to measure learning over time starting next year. For now, though, schools must answer to the current law.
When Urban Prep Academy for Young Men, Chicago's only all-male, all African-American public charter high school, opened its doors four years ago, just 4 percent of its students read at grade level. This year, 25 percent of the juniors scored proficiently on the state reading exam, officials said.
The growth was not enough. Urban Prep failed to hit the federal testing targets, even as the school, in one of the city's toughest neighborhoods, sent all 107 graduates to college, school founder and CEO Tim King said.
King said the school does not chart its success by test scores alone.
"We set up a department with two full-time staff who are devoted to support students once they leave and go to college. We don't have a department assigned to making sure we meet AYP (adequate yearly progress). That kind of shows you where the priority is here," King said.
In addition to meeting a loftier goal for test scores this year, high schools were also required to hit higher goals for attendance and graduation rates.
Downers Grove North High School hit all of the targets this year after not making it last year, school officials said.
Principal Maria Ward said there was no single solution. But she credits as one factor the push to enroll more students in challenging courses, including offering extra support to students with special needs who take a college-prep curriculum.
Since 2005, the school more than tripled the number of co-taught classes -- where a special-education teacher teams up with a subject teacher.
"You want to try to do what you can that makes sense regardless of the state test," Ward said.
On Monday, teachers Sally Heiwig and Mary Frazier welcomed students to their afternoon algebra class. Heiwig led the math lesson on function notation -- "this gives each equation a name," she said -- while Frazier, a special services teacher, roamed the room, offering feedback to students who needed it.
Amanda Coppotelli, 15, bent over her worksheet, pencil in hand. She was named algebra student of the month, a recognition that makes her laugh. She turned serious, though, when she talked about how important it is to take the right college-prep courses by her junior year, when she will take the ACT.
"I'm all about good test scores and grades," Coppotelli said. "I want to get into a decent college."
-- Tara Malone and Darnell Little
With Halloween right around the corner, Broadway.com is celebrating all week by filling your online trick-or-treat bags with some past Halloween-themed video goodies! Today's treat comes courtesy of Broadway legend Chita Rivera. The actress pulled in her second Tony Award for playing the title character in 1983's Kiss of the Spider Woman, but that wasn't her first experience of arachnid inspiration, thanks to a performance on The Carol Burnett Show in 1971. A leather-clad Rivera appeared on stage in front of a giant spider web to dance deviously to Blood Sweat and Tears' rendition of "Lucretia McEvil." Not surprisingly Rivera lures an array of male dancers into her web with the help of some sexy dance moves. Not enough Chita for you? We've got a second clip dating even further back, to 1965, when Rivera, this time accompanied by Burnett and Caterina Valente, sports a seriously ghoulish gown that would even make The Addams Family's Morticia jealous. The trio took on the Flower Drum Song classic "I Enjoy Being a Girl" by giving the sugary song a spooky twist. The ladies even receive a fitting introduction from horror movie legend Boris Karloff. Take a ...
The 57-year-old owner of a Loop jewelry supply business was savagely beaten in a Wednesday night home invasion of his Sauganash residence, police said this morning.
The Daily Herald's Steve Zalusky has a piece about Buffalo Grove's historic attempt to recall a trustee, who would apparently be the first elected municipal official to be recalled in the state's history. Controversy: "Stone has criticized fellow trustees, claiming they ignored the heroin issue."
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Source: http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/27/all-recall-politics-are-local
A wind warning for northern Illinois expired this evening after two days of high winds, with gusts today topping 50 mph through much of northern Illinois and northern Indiana.
The warning was in effect today until 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Although less damage was reported today, gusts today in the Chicago area topped out at 61 mph at Waukegan and Gary, and 55 mph at O'Hare, Midway and Aurora airports.
In the city and suburbs, several fires, including extra-alarm blazes in the Lincoln Park and Back of the Yards neighborhoods, were exacerbated by high winds. South Bend, Ind., officials and officials at the University of Notre Dame were investigating whether high winds might have contributed to an accident that killed Notre Dame junior Declan Sullivan.
Due to continued high winds today, airlines at O'Hare International Airport canceled more than 200 flights, officials said.
On Tuesday, a massive storm with wind gusts up to 81 mph howled across the nation's midsection -- including the Chicago area--snapping trees and power lines, ripping off roofs, delaying flights and soaking commuters hunched under crumpled umbrellas.
The road is blocked at the corner of Will Center Road and Beecher Blacktop Road in Peotone where high winds damaged homes and knocked over power lines Tuesday. (Photo for Chicago Tribune by Warren Skalski)
The National Weather Service confirmed three area tornadoes, and on Wednesday confirmed a fourth tornado touched down about 3 miles east-southeast of Ashton, Ill., about 12 miles east of Dixon near Interstate 88 at 5:41 a.m. Tuesday. One touched down near Peotone in Will County, ripping off the roof of a home and slightly injuring two teenage brothers. Another hit Elburn, which sustained significant wind damage that blocked some roads. A third tornado, of the weakest classification, came down briefly in rural Porter County, Ind. The Ashton tornado damaged some outbuildings and ripped the roof off others; it was estimated to have had winds of about 95 mph.
(See how strong the wind gusts were in your community by clicking here.)About 200,000 Commonwealth Edison customers were left without power, although those numbers were down sharply this morning, with the utility reporting only 3,500 outages as of about 8 a.m.
The winds tapered off Tuesday night, but were forecast to pick up again Wednesday before the system moves out of the area Wednesday night, according to the weather service. The high wind warning for northeast Illinois was canceled just before 7:15 p.m., but a wind advisory is in effect for northeastern Illinois until 7 p.m. Wednesday.
In Will County, the tornado's path was about a mile long and 200 yards wide, according to the weather service, which listed the tornado as a category EF2 on a scale that goes from 0 to 5. The tornado hit around 7:30 a.m. and tore the roof off a two--story home on Will Center Road between Beecher and Peotone. Kathy Webb, the sister of one of the owners, said her 16-year-old nephew Jesse Schroeder was cut on his face and would get stitches to his finger.
"He was standing on the porch and he was pulled back into the house through the glass door," Webb said.
Justin Schroeder, 17, said he was surprised by the force of the storm.
"There was a sound of the wind, then there was a tiny whistle and everything exploding around. Glass was exploding everywhere, it was like a bomb went off," said Schroeder. "I just thought it had blown out a couple of windows then I walked around the house and saw what had happened."
In Elburn, two barns and a grain bin were destroyed by the tornado, and a telephone pole snapped at one farmstead, according to the weather service. A house and two other farmsteads sustained minor damage.
In Lake Villa, a woman was injured when a dead tree branch fell about 65 to 70 feet, crashed through the windshield of her car and impaled her, police said.
The incident happened near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Deep Lake Road in Lindenhurst about 7:30 a.m., police said. Lindenhurst Police Cmdr. Kevin Klahs said the 41-year-old woman was driving a Smart car east on Grand Avenue when wind caused the branch to fall.
At DuPage Airport in West Chicago, high winds flipped over three single-engine planes that were tied down outside. "I'm not a mechanic, but they don't look very good," said Mark Doles, director of operations.
In Glenview, a motorist escaped injury Tuesday evening after a vehicle was crushed by a falling tree branch on Shermer Road near East Lake Avenue. The vehicle was in the roadway around 5 p.m. when the branch was apparently ripped from a tree by strong winds.
The driver was not injured, but the vehicle was heavily damaged. Power lines hung low about Shermer Road, weighted down by the massive branch.
The thunderstorms spawned tornado warnings in Kane, Will and Kankakee counties, but they expired around 9 a.m., along with tornado watches that had been issued for much of northeast Illinois. A tornado warning for Lake County in Indiana was cancelled around the same time.
The high winds caused 500 flights to be canceled at O'Hare International Airport on Tuesday. The Chicago Department of Aviation said afternoon delays averaged 45 minutes at O'Hare.
As of 4 p.m., the City of Chicago had responded to 448 tree emergencies, according to a news release from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Most of the damage involving large branches.
In addition, the city responded to 71 traffic signals out, 63 poles damaged, 36 street lights out, 50 downed wires to city lighting and 37 basements that were flooded.
Sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph were forecast for much of the day, with wind gusts up to 70 mph in the afternoon. The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning effective from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and issued a rare late October tornado watch until 11 a.m. for the entire Chicago area.
With that kind of wind in the forecast, the Chicago Park District chose to close both its Garfield Park and Lincoln Park conservatories to avoid potential problems with the buildings' glass roofs.
By 8 p.m., Commonwealth Edison was reporting about 17,000 customers without power across the region after restoring power to about 188,000 customers, said ComEd spokesman Tony Hernandez, correcting earlier information that 193,000 had had power restored by 8 p.m. The utility's northern region had the largest remaining number without power, about 8,800. About 4,000 customers in the city, 7,300 in the areas south of the city, and 6,000 in the west suburbs were also without service.
The massive storm, packing lightning and heavy downpours, is the result of a low-pressure system that the western Great Lakes and upper Midwest region has not experienced in decades.
"The storm system will be one of the most powerful we have seen in this part of the country in more than 70 years," said Jim Allsopp, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. "This is a big deal."
The weather service said the system's pressure reading today was the lowest ever in a non-tropical storm in the mainland U.S. If confirmed, that would be worse than the pressure that produced the Blizzard of 1978, the March 1993 "Storm of the Century" or the November 1975 storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald freighter, memorialized in a song by Gordon Lightfoot.
Liam Ford and the Associated press contributed to this report.
-- Carlos Sadovi, Serena Maria Daniels, Dahleen Glanton, Amy Alderman, David Elsner,
Brian Slodysko, James Janega, Dennis Sullivan, Clifford Ward, Dave Marzullo and Jeff Danna
So sez Marc Geelhoed and Alex Ross; the latter will interview the composer tomorrow at Northwestern in advance of his Dark Waves being performed at the CSO.
Speaking of Alex Ross, I have a Critic's Choice in this week's paper for his appearance tonight at Stop Smiling.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/27/chicago-has-effectively-become-john-luther-adams-city">Read more</a> ]</p>
Couldn't sleep, so was reading up on the massive storm approaching Chicagoland. This intrigued me:
The weather service predicted that the storm will have the second-lowest pressure ever detected in the Great Lakes region.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/26/the-forthcoming-weather-event">Read more</a> ]</p>[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]
Source: http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/26/the-forthcoming-weather-event
The low-budget horror hit Paranormal Activity achieved something of an aesthetic feat by dramatically dialing down the level of action and volume commonly employed in a commercial horror movie to make people jump; its mock-surveillance-camera narrative about a California couple being stalked around their home by an unseen demon was so incredibly dull most of the time that when a door flew open by itself, it had the power to shock. Operating on the same principle, Paranormal Activity 2 (R, 91 min.)… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/26/now-playing-paranormal-activity-2">Read more</a> ]</p>
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Source: http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/26/now-playing-paranormal-activity-2
When I first wrote about Koval Distillery, I asked Robert Birnecker and Sonat Birnecker Hart if they'd ever consider aging any of their pure organic white whiskeys. A year and a half ago the couple had yet to release their first bottles, and the idea of putting up precious spirit in barrels for months and months when bills needed to be paid seemed like a dream.… <p>[ <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/26/take-a-sip-koval-aged-rye-and-oat-whiskeys">Read more</a> ]</p>
