CHICAGO (AP) — Federal officials have tested a mobile X-ray machine capable of screening the contents of large cargo containers to check trucks entering O’Hare International Airport. Read the rest of this entry »

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) — The Will County sheriff is going to spend a week in his own jail.
Mark Curran isn’t saying why he wants to be locked up — only that it was his decision to do so and not anybody else’s. Read the rest of this entry »

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday rejected one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s debut attempts to substantially change legislation using his veto power, but the governor scored a victory when lawmakers acceped his changes to another bill. Read the rest of this entry »

Citing what he described as “unfinished business,” Nickey Yates has announced he will seek the Democratic Party nomination to become the next mayor of Kankakee.

Yates, 47, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major, was narrowly defeated by Kankakee Mayor Donald Green in the April 5, 2005 municipal election. He was elected as the District 18 representative to the Kankakee County Board in November 2006.

NEW YORK - General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will extend employee discounts to everyone on almost all of its 2008 and some of its 2009 models as it seeks to clear its remaining inventory of 2008 vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Amid growing speculation on his choice of a running mate, Barack Obama plans a return to the city where he launched his presidential campaign. Read the rest of this entry »

Arletta M. Menard, 80, of Bourbonnais and longtime Kankakee resident, died Sunday (Aug. 17, 2008).

Donald L. Witte, 84, of Henderson, Nev., formerly of Kankakee, died July 16, 2008.

• A cut? A trim? A shave? Those were questions asked amidst the buzzing of electric hair trimmers in the gymnasium of the Kankakee Community Resource Center on N. Indiana Avenue on Monday. Local barbershops and businesses joined forces to give any boy from 5 to 12 years old a free haircut between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday to herald the beginning of the new school year.

• With the Kankakee City Council’s approval to vacate the alley between South Washington and Entrance avenues along West Court Street, the way has been cleared for the construction for a new 14,820-square-foot Walgreen’s Drug Store.

• A $90,000 “Freedom Sign” honoring Kankakee County veterans and enlisted service members is in the works in Bourbonnais. Announcement of the project — a partnership between the village and Olivet Nazarene University — was made to the Bourbonnais Village Board by Trustee Bruce Greenlee, who is heading it up for the village.

• The public is being invited to participate in a half-day planning session on Sept. 20 about the proposed downtown Kankakee Community Arts Center. Planners and architects are going to offer their advice, free of charge, to the Community Arts Council in Kankakee County, which is planning to make over two storefronts in the 100 block of South Schuyler Avenue in Kankakee.

• A vacancy is being left on the Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School Board of Education with the resignation of board member Kevin Baker. The three-term incumbent cited personal reasons for his resignation, which became effective last week.

Mary Ann R. Latsaras, 70, of Bourbonnais, died Sunday (Aug. 17, 2008).