State News
07-08-2008
7/7/2008
Illinois Summary
>>No Bond For Fishy Poison Suspect
(Chicago, IL) -- Bond has been denied for a suburban Chicago man accused of possessing a deadly fish toxin. A federal judge in Rockford has ruled that there is probable cause to hold Edward Bachner until his next scheduled court hearing. Bachner was arrested last week as he tried to pick up a batch of tetrodotoxin at a UPS store. Police say they then found needles, syringes, empty vials of the toxin and a book on how to poison people in his home. Authorities haven't commented on why Bachner was seeking the substance, which is commonly found in pufferfish.
>>Cops: Charges, Psych Evaluation, Man Who Shot At Springfield Officers
(Springfield, IL) -- What kind of trouble a Springfield man will face depends in large part on what doctors say about his mental state. Officers in the capital city expect some charges for the man who drew police to his house after a number of 911 calls. Cops say the man at some point darted back into his house after midnight Monday morning and came out with a pistol, and started firing. He shot at the officers' cars, they did not shoot back. They did take the still unidentified man to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation. Commanders say they man will face charges, but just what charges remains to be seen.
>>Judges Tosses Chief Logo Suit
(Champaign, IL) -- Another court has dropped another lawsuit over Chief Illiniwek. A federal judge in Champaign dismissed a suit from the man who designed the Chief logo. Jack Davis sued the University of Illinois, trying to get control of the Chief logo he designed almost 30 years ago. He wanted to block the school, which has banned the Chief from dancing at football and basketball games, from using the image of the Indian chief. The judge in Champaign says his court is not the venue for such a suit. U of I officials say they will continue to use the Chief logo as well as the new Illini and Fighting Illini.
>>Police Seeking Teen Mother, Baby
(Wood River, IL) -- Wood River police are looking for a teenage mother who's believed to have run away from home with her baby. Family members reported 15-year-old Ashley Dickerson and her three-month-old daughter missing early yesterday morning. Police say a note was found at Dickerson's home saying she was leaving to find her mother. Dickerson is white, five-feet-two and 160 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to call Wood River police at 618-251-3114.
>>Local Student Dies On Peru Church Mission
(Troy, IL) -- A Troy, Illinois church is mourning the death of a student in an accident in Peru. Twenty-two-year-old Gregory Gomez died Saturday in a bus accident in southern Peru where he was part of a Southern Baptist missionary group. Gomez recently graduated from the University of Mississippi and was a member of Bethel Baptist Church in Troy. Funeral arrangements are pending.
>>Fired Reporter Sues Over Swimsuit And Stebic Story
(Chicago, IL) -- Former Chicago television reporter Amy Jacobson is suing "CBS-2 [[ WBBM ]]" for more than a million-dollars over a video the station aired last year. The tape showed Jacobson in a swimsuit at the Plainfield home of Craig Stebic, whose wife Lisa has been missing since April of 2007. Jacobson was fired a short time after the incident. In her lawsuit, Jacobson is claiming Channel 2's story was edited to create the appearance that she was having an illicit relationship with Stebic. The 38-year-old Jacobson says the story caused her public humiliation and emotional distress. She also says her firing forced her family to move to a less expensive home.
>>Sandbags Used During Flooding Starting To Fall Apart
(Waukegan, IL) -- Some folks who live along the Chain 'O Lakes and the Fox River have another problem to deal with now that the floodwaters have gone down. The "Chicago Tribune" reports some 80-thousand sandbags were used during repeat flooding in Lake County over the past nine months. The bags, containing an estimated four-tons of sand, are starting to fall apart. It's illegal to spread the sand on property within the flood plan, because officials don't want one person's property to sit higher than their neighbor's, resulting in worse flood damage to the lower-level property. And there is concern sewage-soaked bags could cause health problems. Officials hope to come up with a solution next week.
>>Over Three-Million Pig Out At 2008 Taste Of Chicago
(Chicago, IL) -- City of Chicago officials say attendance at this year's Taste of Chicago dropped slightly from last year's total of three-point-six million. Still, more than three-and-a-half- million people sampled this year's offerings at the annual festival of food. A spokesperson for the Mayor's Office of Special Events says visitors consumed more than 200-thousand slices of pizza, more than 170-thousand ears of corn and, believe it or not, one-and-a-half tons of shark. Leftovers go to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which distributes the food to soup kitchens and shelters.
>>InBev Files Papers With SEC
(St. Louis, MO) -- InBev is taking the next step in its attempt to buy out Anheuser-Busch. The Belgian brewer filed a consent solicitation statement with the SEC yesterday seeking to have the current members of the A-B board of directors replaced. The current A-B board has rejected InBev's 65-dollar a share buyout offer, but that offer could be back on the table with a new board in place. InBev's slate of proposed board members includes Adolphus Busch the Fourth, the uncle of current A-B president and CEO August Busch the Fourth. Anheuser-Busch is asking shareholders to take no action on anything InBev sends them.
