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Commerical-grade fireworks found inside Joliet casino hotel room, parking garage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

JOLIET, Ill. — A bomb squad on Friday determined what a housekeeper thought were explosives inside a casino hotel room in Joliet were commercial-grade fireworks.Just before noon, the housekeeper called Joliet Police Department officers after they found what they thought were unmarked explosives inside a guest's room. Why are fireworks illegal in Illinois? According to a news release from police, the Cook County Sheriff's Police Bomb Team determined they were commercial-grade fireworks.The team also found commercial-grade fireworks inside a vehicle in the casino's parking garage, according to the news release.Additional details haven't been released. Joliet police are still investigating.

Skilling: Cloudy, wet weekend for Chicagoland

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

June's final day logged a 91-deg high at O'Hare---the sixth 90 of the year to date; less than the 9 which had occurred by this time a year ago. The hottest Friday max temp I've found was a 94-deg temp near downtown Chicago—but many area highs remained in the mid to upper 80s. The area ended up with just 60% of its possible sun.  Many Friday afternoon heat index readings hover near 90-deg with stifling low and mid 70-deg dew points indicating moisture levels which supported the day's haze—and contributed to area of dense fog Friday morning west of the city and in scattered areas of northwest Indiana.JUNE 2023 CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT FRIDAY NIGHT---and goes into the books in Chicago as A DRY MONTH WITH NEAR NORMAL TEMPS.The month saw only a little more than half (58%) its normal rain—JUST 2.36" versus the normal of 4.10". That means June finished among the driest 29% of Junes on the books here over the past 153 years dating back to 1871.The period since April maintains a huge deficit,...

Several flights canceled at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport ahead of busy holiday weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

CHICAGO — Thursday was a busy day at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for many travelers, many of whom were dealing with delays and cancelations.As of 4 p.m. Friday, more than 60 flights have been canceled at O'Hare. At Chicago's Midway International Airport, no flights have been canceled. Both airports are seeing delays less than 15 minutes.On Thursday, at least 190 flights had been canceled at O'Hare and only two fights were canceled.Read more: Latest Chicago news headlinesThe delays and cancelations also come among the record-breaking holiday travel expected to start today. AAA predicts 50.7 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from their home over the weekend."What's happening is it's not just weather," Peter Greenberg, a flight expert, said. "It's a number of factors that got together to produce this perfect storm."Greenberg points to issues with airline staff scheduling, layovers with less than one-hour connecting time."Majority of the people flying to Chicago ...

Teamsters hold off on strike after UPS counteroffer

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and UPS will not strike Friday and are going back to the negotiating table after the delivery company gave the union a new counteroffer amid heated contract negotiations.UPS offered the Teamsters "a revised counterproposal with significant movement on wages and other economic language" Friday afternoon, the union said in a statement, though it said it was not enough to win the support of Teamsters leadership.UPS also asked the Teamsters to continue negotiations until July 5, the union said.“UPS came back with real movement, but it isn’t enough," Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement. "After they left the room, our national committee had a long dialogue and the universal consensus was to continue our leverage campaign."O'Brien and top Teamsters officials are scheduled to hold press conference Saturday and give an update on the status of negotiations. The Teamsters did not say Friday if they would agree to...

Arrest made in shooting death of 18-year-old near Waukegan apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

WAUKEGAN, Ill. — An 18-year-old male is behind bars for his alleged role in the shooting death of another 18-year-old in Waukegan, police said Friday. Devion WashingtonAuthorities identified Devion Washington as a suspect in the death of Kyron Goode on the 500 block of S. Genesee St. on Thursday, June 8. Goode was shot dead outside an apartment in Waukegan around 2:30 p.m. $10M bond for suburban man accused of shooting at ATF agents According to police, Waukegan officers learned of Washington's whereabouts on Thursday and executed a search warrant at a home in the 900 block of Pacific Ave.Once in custody, Washington was booked at Lake County Jail for first-degree murder. His bail is $5 million.  While searching the residence, Waukegan Police also located an assault rifle, a loaded magazine for the rifle and assorted ammunition. Quenta WashingtonQuenta Washington, 38, of Waukegan was arrested and charged with being an armed habitual criminal, in addition to the two counts of unlaw...

'A once in a lifetime type situation': NASCAR turns to 2 Chicago artists to make street race trophies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

CHICAGO — Whoever takes the checkered flag in the NASCAR Street Races downtown this weekend will get to take home creations that are Chicago's very own. That's because the stock car company enlisted the help of two artists from the area to create trophies for the winner in the Xfinity Series' "The Loop 121" and the Cup Series' "Grant Park 220."Nicole Beck and Thomas Lucas were selected by NASCAR to head up the creation of one of the trophies each ahead of the July 1 & 2 event. They were given instruction to make a sculpture that would represent the city during the inaugural running of the street races, and both came up with their own style to make that happen.Courtesy: Thomas Lucas Courtesy: NASCARCourtesy: Thomas Lucas Courtesy: NASCARGetting the chance to design the trophy for the Grant Park 220 Cup Series race was quite special for Lucas since racing has been a part of his life since he was a child."I love cars," said Lucas. "I grew up around family - father, uncles - working...

Frozen fruit products sold at Walmart, Target recalled to potential listeria contamination

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

(WRIC) — Check your freezers! A recent recall announcement by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration warns that some frozen fruit products may be dangerous.On June 21, SunOpta Inc's subsidiary, Sunrise Growers Inc. issued a recall of specific frozen fruit products linked to pineapple due to a potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Biden plots new course to get relief for student borrowers Products were distributed via the following retailers:Walmart: Great Value Mixed Fruit, Great Value Dark Sweet Cherries, and Great Value Mango Chunks sold at stores in Virginia and other states from January 19, 2023, to June 13, 2023Whole Foods: 365 Organic Tropical Fruit Medley, 365 Organic Pineapple Chunks, 365 Pineapple Chunks, 365 Organic Whole Strawberries, 365 Organic Slice Strawberries and Bananas, and 365 Organic Blackberries distributed to select stores throughout the US from November 1, 2022, to June 21, 2023Trader Joe’s: Trader Joe’s Organic Tropical Fruit Blen...

Analyst warning of local Airbnb collapse says Austin has more rentals than homes for sale

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin-based housing consultant Nick Gerli stands by his viral tweet thread from Tuesday, which claims that a short-term rental (STR) collapse is happening in Central Texas, despite contradictory data brought by STR data analysis company AirDNA. Previous: Is an Airbnb ‘collapse’ happening in Austin? AirDNA is a direct competitor to Alltherooms, who provided the data for Gerli's analysis. AirDNA provided its results alongside Alltherooms':Gerli, CEO of Reventure Consulting, said that he received Alltherooms' data around a month ago and dug into it."I found that a lot of cities in America had pretty big declines in Airbnb revenue per listing," Gerli said. "According to this data, in some of these markets, there were as much as 40 to 50% declines in revenue per owner, which shocked me -- I was like, wow, the Airbnb market is crashing."The main takeaway that he found was an "explosion" of supply; Austin's STR listings jumped from under 8,000 to more than 12,000 in jus...

Extreme heat hurts local eateries, Texas Restaurant Association says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Restaurant Association said this latest heat wave is hurting restaurants as customers stay home to stay cool. 5 things to know about the Texas heat wave The TRA said anecdotal evidence suggests that restaurants are offsetting lower sales and rising operation costs as the oppressive heat continues into its third week.As the triple-digit summer continues, the TRA also reminds restaurant operators to keep their staff safe.They encourage providing fans, misting hoses, and extra water stations for staff and customers. The TRA also suggests operators review their hours of operation to make sure team members have sufficient breaks.Miguel Kaiser, owner of T-Loc's Sonora Style Hot Dogs, said his business hours have changed as a result of the heat. Heat exhaustion a concern for firefighters as temps soar He said their lunch service closes an hour earlier than usual and its dinner service starts an hour later. Kaiser said the change was implemented to give staff t...

July forecast trending drier for Central Texas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:25:51 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Climate Prediction Center have updated their forecast for July and it is not looking as promising for rain as it once did.In mid-June, their previous July outlook was released, which leaned wetter for Central Texas. Based on the area that seemed most likely to get rain, it appeared we were going to get some rain coming from the Gulf of Mexico, possibly from some tropical activity. NEXT: Original July forecast (Released mid-June) Now the CPC's final July forecast has been released and the majority of Central Texas appears primed for near-normal rain, and that isn't good.July is usually our second driest month of the year, meaning our rainfall prospects aren't usually that great to begin with. Given our increasing rainfall deficit, we need more rain than normal just to catch up.July forecastOur second hottest month is looking hotter than normal. Odds of warmer-than-normal temperatures are relatively high.July temperature forecast (CPC)The area most likely to get...