Kate Thayer – Page 15

Former Downers Grove North High School student Jennifer Boudinot holds some of the documents she received from Community High School District 99 after submitting Freedom of Information Act requests.

‘I feel betrayed’: Downers Grove North alumni push for policy changes amid teacher sexual misconduct allegations

December 12, 2018 at 12:01 a.m.

Sexual misconduct allegations against two former Downers Grove North High School band teachers have fueled an impassioned group of alumni to push the school district to revise policies relating to...

Car riddled with 6,000 bullets on display in Chicago to draw attention to gun violence

December 11, 2018 at 10:32 p.m.

Robert Torres, founder of the nonprofit Parents for Peace and Justice, said gun violence has become so commonplace in Chicago that it seems as if the public has become immune....

A now-deleted Twitter photo depicting Plainfield District 202 staff dressed in sombreros and ponchos and donning mustaches for Halloween.

Plainfield superintendent apologizes after he and staff dressed in sombreros, ponchos and mustaches for Halloween

December 11, 2018 at 9:17 p.m.

Plainfield District 202 Superintendent Lane Abrell apologized for a now-deleted photo on Twitter depicting him and other staff dressed in sombreros and ponchos and donning mustaches for Halloween. Abrell, who...

‘There were no safe places’: Chicago police officer honored for nonprofit helping young people on South Side

December 11, 2018 at 6:58 p.m.

More than two decades ago, as a rookie Chicago police officer assigned to the South Side, Jennifer Maddox found herself regularly called to the Parkway Gardens housing complex in Woodlawn,...

Laura Jane Mellencamp, standing, does yoga therapy with Ann Walther at Yoga Among Friends on Oct. 26, 2018, in Downers Grove.

With political angst running high as midterms approach, voters on both sides worry: What if things don’t go my way?

December 11, 2018 at 6:48 p.m.

Driven by fear and anger over the current political climate, 51-year-old Ann Walther of Lombard recently voted for the first time in her life. “I am horrified,” said the self-described...

While campaign signs don't increase voter turnout overall, the signs provide a small boost to candidates in areas where they place them, according to one expert.

Campaign signs are everywhere. But do they work?

March 30, 2019 at 3:52 a.m.

Campaign signs start as a smattering, dotting lawns here and there, then become ubiquitous, blanketing communities and parkways as Election Day approaches. The bold-colored, block-lettered signs identifying candidates by name...

Two views of an animated video portraying Officer Jason Van Dyke and Laquan McDonald is shown to the jury during the trial for the shooting death of McDonald at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Sept. 25, 2018.

Jury deciding Van Dyke’s fate to be sequestered overnight during deliberations

May 23, 2019 at 1:21 a.m.

The Cook County jury in Jason Van Dyke’s murder trial left the courthouse Thursday after about five hours of deliberating and headed to an area hotel, where they will be...

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh testifies Sept. 27 before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington.

As Kavanaugh hearing puts spotlight on teens and alcohol, experts warn: ‘Adolescent drinking is a problem’

December 12, 2018 at 3:32 a.m.

With a party involving teen drinking serving as the backdrop of sexual assault accusations examined in confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, experts say alcohol use among...

Drew Peterson juror Ronald Supalo is shown Sept. 6, 2012, after the guilty verdict.

Here’s what it’s like to be a juror in a trial the whole city is watching

December 12, 2018 at 3:23 a.m.

As the city braces for the outcome of the murder trial of former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke, charged in the 2014 shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, those...

Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., flanked by Attorney General Janet Reno, left, and Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., meets reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington Tuesday, July 19, 1994, to discuss the Violence Against Women Act.

The Violence Against Women Act could expire soon. Here’s what’s at stake.

December 12, 2018 at 2:47 a.m.

As the world heard Christine Blasey Ford detail her sexual assault accusations Thursday against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the Violence Against Women Act — legislation first passed...

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