A 6-foot-tall, 275-pound bearded man crashed a children's birthdayparty in Oak Forest, identified himself as "vengeance," then helpedhimself to a piece of cake, police said.
The incident occurred earlier this month at a home in the 14800block of South Landings Lane in the south suburb, Deputy Police ChiefNick Sparacino said.
When the owner of the home asked the man who he was, the intruderreplied, "I am vengeance. I am the knight. …
REFLECTING ON THE TIMES IN WHICH HE lived, the Scottish philosopher and author Thomas Carlyle wisely noted nearly 175 years ago how, when our comfortable situation is threatened, we most appreciate what we have.
"The healthy know not of their health, but only the sick," is the "Physician's Aphorism" with which Carlyle begins his famous essay "Characteristics".
Carlyle's observation comes to mind for this Independence Day not because American civilization is in an historically unique squeeze, but because each day we are reminded of how people suffer -- knowingly or unknowingly -- because of the failed leaders who govern them, or groups who wish to do so. And we suffer from …
Campbell Soup Co.'s higher soup sales were watered down by commodity hedging losses in its first fiscal quarter, as the soupmaker said Monday that profits fell 3.7 percent even as more cash-strapped consumers reached for its brands.
Shares of the Camden, N.J.-based company tumbled 8 percent as investors worried about the nation's largest soupmaker's ability to keep ahead of currency fluctuations and to translate a bigger thirst for soup into higher earnings.
The company lowered its outlook for the year on worries about currency translation, which affects companies with sizable portions of their business overseas as the U.S. …
In calling Libyan strongman Moammar Khadafy "the mad dog of theMiddle East," President Reagan has stepped up - or in the opinion ofothers stepped down - the quality and eloquence of internationalrhetoric.
Some observers of diplomacy and speech communication suggestRea-gan's affection for so-called street language represents anevolution in presidential discourse that has been on the declinesince the end of the Vietnam War and the increasing influence oftelevision on political debate.
…
NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift closed her "Speak Now World Tour" with her best friend and the man her parents named her after.
The 21-year-old brought out James Taylor and Selena Gomez at her concert Tuesday night at New York's Madison Square Garden.
Swift said her parents named her after Taylor, and the two performed his hit "Fire and Rain." Taylor also played the guitar while Swift performed her …
Thousands of angry protesters converged on the central train station in the Georgian capital Tuesday, trying to block the trains as the opposition raised the stakes in its push to get President Mikhail Saakashvili to resign.
Throngs of demonstrators surrounded one train, sitting on the track and climbing on the engine to prevent it from leaving the station. The engine started and then cut off quickly as protesters banged on its sides, shouted and whistled. Police were not visible.
The move marked a change in the opposition's tactics, reflecting protesters' exasperation after six weeks of daily rallies without result. It followed debates between the opposition leaders, some of whom strongly opposed more forceful action for fear of provoking violence.
The blockade at the train station followed a massive rally in which at least 60,000 opposition supporters gathered at the national stadium before marching to the parliament building to push for Saakashvili's resignation. The president has remained defiant, saying he will stay through his second term, which ends in 2013.
Opposition leaders warned Tuesday that protesters will also block highways and the Tbilisi main airport to force Saakashvili to resign.
The opposition chose a patriotic national holiday to raise the pitch of its protests which it has been conducting almost daily in Tbilisi since April 9.
"Today the Georgian people have shown to the world and to themselves that they're ready to struggle to the very end," Nino Burdzhanadze, the highest-profile opposition politician, told the crowd at the stadium.
"You have frightened those who want to frighten you," she said to deafening cheers.
Demonstrators are angry with Saakashvili for leading Georgia into the war against Russia, in which Georgia lost territory and saw its military crushed, its towns bombed and large chunks of its land temporarily occupied by Russian troops. Russia then recognized independence of Georgia's breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but Georgia still considers them to be under Russian occupation.
The opposition also accuses Saakashvili of backtracking on democracy.
While the president still has a broad base of support in the former Soviet republic _ which has experienced significant economic growth during his five years in office _ opposition leaders hoped Tuesday's demonstration would prove to be a tipping point.
Tuesday's rally would have coincided with the annual military parade celebrating Georgia's short-lived independence before it was taken over by the Red Army in 1921. After decades of Soviet rule, independence was restored in 1991.
But the government canceled the parade, fearing clashes with the opposition.
No police were visible inside or outside the stadium during Tuesday's rally.
Waving red-and-white Georgian flags, the demonstrators in the stadium cheered, sang the national anthem and burst into chants of "Sakartvelo! Sakartvelo!" _ the name of the country in Georgian.
Giorgy Gachechiladze, a well-known singer and opposition figure, ran onto the soccer field and knelt in the center of a giant Georgian flag, pumping his fists.
Later, outside the parliament, he told demonstrators: "While blood runs through my veins I will not allow Saakashvili to preside over our country."
Opposition supporters poured in from around the country. Overnight, hundreds of demonstrators carrying flags marched into Tbilisi in a torch-lit parade.
Saakashvili has offered to hold talks with opposition leaders on constitutional changes, but they have said they are prepared only to discuss his resignation.
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Associated Press Writer Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili contributed to this report from Tbilisi.
The Cook County Sheriff candidate backed by several Black elected officials is still in the race despite a challenge to his nominating petitions.
The Cook County Clerk's office last week overruled a challenge to Sylvester Baker's candidacy based on the validity of his nominating papers. A complaint was filed by Michael O. Fleming, who was unable to be reached for comment.
Kelly Quinn, a spokeswoman for the clerk's office, said she did not know whom Fleming was associated with.
David Lowery Jr., spokesman for Baker, said he expected the electoral board to rule in Baker's favor.
"It should have never even been an issue," said Lowery. "We can expect games, but we're going to win this."
Baker primary opposition in the March 21 primary is Tom Dart, a former state representative in the 28th district, who currently serves as chief of staff to retiring Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan.
Dart has the backing of the Cook County Democratic organization, as well as Cook County Board President John Stroger Jr. and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
Baker, a retired Cook County Sheriff's Office sergeant, was the candidate chosen by a group of Black elected officials at a November meeting, including Rep. Bobby Rush (D-1st), Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) and state Sen. James Meeks (D-15th), and at least a dozen other Black elected officials.
Former Cook County Corrections employee Richard L. Remus, the third Democratic sheriff's candidate in the March 21, primary filed an objection to Dart's nominating papers, but that challenge was overruled Jan. 6.
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