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WGN Exclusive: Ousted Urban Prep founder fights back

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

CHICAGO — For over a decade, Chicago mayors made it a point to attend college signing and graduation ceremonies for students of Urban Prep Academies.The charter school network boasts that 100% of its graduating seniors have been accepted to four-year colleges and universities for the past 14 years. It’s what made the school founder’s departure last year so surprising.“I birthed Urban Prep,” Tim King tells WGN Investigates. “Urban Prep is in my heart. Urban Prep is in my blood. Urban Prep is in my soul. I will never ever abandon it.”King is breaking his silence because he said he fears for the future of the schools he founded in 2002. “What’s concerning is less about my leaving Urban Prep but why [Chicago Public Schools] continue their assault on Urban Prep?” he said. Chicago’s ‘rat’ rage grows King’s leadership unraveled last year when he said he reported to the district social media comments made by a former student that claimed King made sexual advances...

Woman in critical condition after Harwood Heights carjacking, suspect in custody

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

HARWOOD HEIGHTS, Ill. -- A 61-year-old woman remains in critical condition after being severely beaten and left lying in the middle of a Harwood Heights street Wednesday morning.According to the Harwood Heights Police Department, officers responded to a residential area across Wilbur Wright College on the 4400 block of North Natchez Avenue just after 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday on reports of a woman lying in the street.Upon arrival, officers discovered a 61-year-old woman severely beaten lying in the middle of Natchez Avenue who later was learned to be a victim of a car jacking. She was rushed to the hospital with life threatening injuries, where she remains in critical condition.The suspect reportedly stole the 61-year-old woman's blue Scion.Neighbors tell WGN it’s normally very quiet in this area, and are horrified to hear about what happened to their neighbor.After the attack, Harwood Heights police put out an alert with the vehicle description to law enforcement across Illinois and s...

Loyola celebrates Sister Jean's 104th birthday

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

CHICAGO — A back-to-school block party on Thursday at Loyola University was a chance for the campus community to celebrate Sister Jean's 104th birthday.She celebrated her birthday last week but was the guest of honor during Thursday's event. Cubs give Sister Jean a 104th birthday gift, continuing a recent tradition She gave a piece of advice to returning students and said she is sure this will be a better year for Loyola's basketball team after a not-so-great season last year.You can see more from the party in the player above.

Emerging technique offers less invasive, gentler treatment for prostate cancer

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

An emerging treatment for prostate cancer is offering a gentler way for patients. It’s about reducing, even eliminating, what can be significant symptoms for men who have their prostate removed or radiated. Local doctors have spent a decade honing a less-invasive technique and it is welcome news for men who may avoid treatment due to potentially debilitating side effects.Tony Romano says he’s living one of the best chapters of his life.“I have three grandsons so spend a lot of time with them,” he said.Time with family is even more precious after the retired English teacher’s 2021 prostate cancer diagnosis. “The PSA numbers kept going higher so when they got to about nine, I opted to have my prostate removed entirely,” he said. “But there were some complications so in the middle of the surgery they had to stop.”The plot twist meant prolonged problems.“I was having some problems, voiding which is a polite way of saying peeing,” he said.But ultimately led him down a different trea...

'Total miracle': Dog home safe after Ohio storm, saved from river

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW) — An Ohio woman says she was devastated when her dog disappeared during severe storms in the area last week. She said she needed a miracle to bring her beloved pet back home.The miracle began to unfold as Elyria resident Jim Warren was on his back patio watching the rain-swollen Black River rising on the ravine below. That is when he noticed something moving in the mud near the edge of the rapids. $20M stolen ancient Roman statue seized from Cleveland Museum of Art Warren told Fox 8, "The more I looked, I saw it was a dog that was trapped in between the raging river and a fallen tree down there, and I thought, 'Oh man, that dog is in trouble.'"The dog that Warren spotted was a 14-year-old boxer-pit bull mix named Sienna, who had gotten out of her owner's backyard during a break in the severe storms two days earlier, leaving 60-year-old Renee Morton, of Elyria, heartbroken."I recently lost my husband to ALS in April, and to lose her too would have been so hard," ...

Shooter among 2 dead in shooting at The Arboretum in northwest Austin, APD says

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin Police during a media briefing on Thursday confirmed the shooter was among the two dead in a shooting at The Arboretum shopping center in northwest Austin. Another person was also seriously injured.At 5 p.m., APD, Austin-Travis County EMS, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Austin Fire Department, as well as other agencies, responded to reports based off a 911 call of multiple shots fired in the 10000 block of Research Boulevard, APD Interim Chief of Police Robin Henderson said during the media briefing. Additionally, Henderson said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire and Explosives (ATF) and APD bomb squad responded to the scene, because the incident was initially reported there were sounds of an explosion.However, Henderson confirmed when officers first arrived on the scene that the incident was the result of the shooting. Two people were found dead on the scene, and police confirmed one of the people dead was the shooter. Police did not release an...

Austin ISD discusses plan to add more school resource officers amid new state law

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Independent School District officials project they will need more than 100 officers to comply with a new state law requiring armed officers on every campus. According to AISD Interim Superintendent Matias Segura, the district currently has two school resource officers in every high school and one in every middle school, but officers patrol the elementary schools."What we are moving to is a placement for every elementary school and what that will do is give us complete coverage," said Segura. "That will require us to expand our police department by a little over 70 officers, and when you do that you have to add other supervisors and pay for equipment and all the things needed to support that officer."Segura said he believes they will be able to meet the requirement for HB 3 over the course of about a year. Chief Jeffrey Yarbrough with the Hutto Police Department used to serve as the chief of Round Rock ISD and said having trained officers on campus is...

Franklin, Tiller: With more Alzheimer’s treatment options, when should doctors prescribe them?

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

Alzheimer’s disease was first named and described in 1910. It is disgraceful that for most of the 20th century, the disease was underfunded by the government, neglected by most of the medical community and ignored by Big Pharma. It was not until 1994, more than 80 years after the disease was discovered, that the Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug for Alzheimer’s. That medicine was not especially effective and was ultimately pulled from the market for safety concerns. Were it any other disease, such an approach would be unconscionable.Now things are changing. Every day, about 10,000 baby boomers — people born between 1946 and 1964 — turn 65, the average age of onset of the most common form of Alzheimer’s. In 2020, those older than 65 in the U.S. numbered about 56 million (nearly 17% of the total population); by 2030, every baby boomer will be older than 65, making up an estimated 73 million Americans.This has caused a rethinking of Alzh...

Meeting held to discuss Parkview Apartments

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Members of the Parkview Tenant Association spoke with the Albany Housing and Community Development Committee. Thursday night's special meeting was for both the tenant association and the council to discuss what the next steps for the building will be.Those who live there want the owners of the building to transfer ownership, meaning the only business they would have with the building is liability. Those who live in the building said the current owners are slum lords. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! "I can tell you right now, 90 percent of the people that I talk to have some kind of health issues, and they are only getting worse," Parkview Tenant Association Pres. Diane Dietz said.The president of the tenant association hopes the meeting is the first of many to discuss how to handle the property.Twenty-five residents took part in a survey, and one of the key findings in the survey was more than 60 percent of resi...

Gillis family files lawsuit against alleged shooter

Published Thu, 06 Feb 2025 11:22:07 GMT

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The family of the 20-year-old woman who was shot and killed in Hebron in April has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the alleged shooter and his wife. Court documents show Kaylin Gillis's family is seeking damages from Kevin Monahan and his wife and any other relief the court deems appropriate. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! Monahan is charged with second degree Murder. His attorney has sought to have the criminal charges against him dismissed. NEWS10 reached out to Monahan's lawyer for a response to the lawsuit and have not heard back. Monahan is being held in jail. He is accused of firing two shots toward a car Gillis was in when it accidentally went up his driveway. Gillis was with a group of friends looking for a different house down the road.The defense argues Monahan acted in self-defense.