Matt Garrison’s CondoShark.com tracks more than discounts on downtown condos — it also keeps tabs on the city’s single-family home market. If you know where to look, you can find a single-family home listed for 25 percent or more off its original list price. The two listed at CondoShark.com are:

Bucktown:

• 1837 N Marshfield Ave: Four-bedroom / 4.5-bath; was $1.05 million, now $749,900 (28.6% reduction)

Lake View:

• 2324 W Diversey Ave: Two-bedroom / one-bath; was $399,000, now $299,000 (25.1% reduction)

Technorati Tags: Bucktown, CondoShark, Lake View, Lincoln Park, North Side, Resales, Single-family homes, uncategorized

Chicagoans bent on getting to work braved the relentless snow today as they splashed through slush, shivered outside for buses and trains, or hopped into waiting cabs.

“It was like a herd of people, it was a stampede,” said Robin Giles of the morning rush hour at the Ogilvie Transportation Center this morning.
Huddled in the back of a bus shelter outside the station, Chris Reed said his train from Wheaton had been 20 minutes late.

“There were a lot of people on the train and the floors were all wet,”
said Reed who attends law school at Loyola. “I will likely be late to
class now.”

Reed said he briefly considered taking a cab, but decided it wouldn’t be worth it.

“I’m kind of cheap,” Reed said. “I’d rather be 10 minutes late then spend 10 dollars.”

Other commuters decided the weather necessitated special transportation and different routes to work.

Tonya Moore, who said she normally would have taken the bus into the LoopA Loop reviews from the North Side, had her husband drive her instead.

“With the weather and the CTA cutbacks we didn’t know which lines were running when,” she said.

“It’s nasty, it makes you want to live in California,” said Ken Levinson, who was ducking through a series of buildings to avoid the weather as he made his way from Ogilvie station to LaSalle and Wacker.

“It makes me feel very gerbil-esq,” he said of taking the convoluted path to work.

Tom Miller, an engineer at Hotel 71 on Wacker, said he had been outside shoveling and sweeping since 7a.m.

“It’s very discouraging,” he said as he laughed and watched more snow fall over his newly shoveled path. “This is going to be an all-day thing.”

Many, however, said they felt the magnitude of the winter storm had been overblown.

“Listening to the news made it seem like it was going to be terrible,” said Jessica Sykes, who took the “L” into the Loop from the South SideSouth Side reviews. “But I got down here 30 minutes early.”

Jeff Feld of Buffalo Grove said he appreciated the challenge of navigating the city in a storm.

“I think people are being babies about the weather,” he said.

Instead of taking a cab, businesswomen Karen Manzari and Lena Helms armed themselves with sunglasses and an umbrella and walked to their next meeting instead.

“It’s pretty out,” said Manzari, who held the umbrella in front of herself and Helms like a shield.

Larry Filipiak, who installs windows, deemed the conditions very workable.

“It’s ChicagoChicago reviews and you have to put up with this stuff to maintain your job,” said Filipiak as he trudged down Wacker on his way to another job site. “And today a job means everything.”

Steve Stevlick’s commute longer than usual this morning, but not because of snow-filled streets. Stevlick gave his son, who normally walks, a ride to school.

“I also drove my wife to the store because she didn’t want to walk,” he said. “So indirectly that added 45 minutes to my commute. For the most part, streets were pretty clear.”

– Cynthia Dizikes, Kristen Mack

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Facing stalled negotiations with union officials on how to resolve a major budget deficit, the ChicagoChicago reviews Transit Authority began implementing major service cuts today for the first time in more than a decade.

Joe Ramos, 65, said the delays already impacted him when he left his job on the south side at 3:30 a.m. He said he had to wait two hours for his bus near 44th and Wallace St., doubling the normal time.

The delay meant he didn’t get to his home at Cottage Grove and 72nd Street until 6 a.m.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Ramos.

Jamika Bivens, 14, said the delays will really impact her school schedule as well as daily life. Bivens, of the South SideSouth Side reviews, was waiting for the No. 29 bus on 69th and State Street.

“You’re going to be out too long and then it’s going to make you late for your destination,” said Bivens.

On the eve of service cuts today, Mayor Richard Daley voiced concern on Saturday that union members would rather accept 1,100 layoffs than agree to pay cuts, unpaid days off or other concessions.

“They said most of their members would agree that people be laid off, unfortunately,” said Daley, after he brought CTA and union officials to City Hall on Friday to try and restart negotiations.

On the North Side, Erin Bell, 28, was waiting with her daughter Emma, 6, on their way to a childrens’ birthday party and they were already delayed.

“We’re already late,” said Bell, adding they had been waiting 20 minutes for the No. 77 Belmont bus.

Bell, of Roscoe Village, said she had heard about the cutbacks but forgot they were to take effect today.

“I hope we don’t miss cake time,” said Emma.

The greatest impact of the service cuts will be felt Monday, the first work day since 119 bus routes and seven of the eight rail lines began operating less frequently, CTA President Richard Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez urged riders to plan their Monday commutes in advance to ensure they have enough time to reach their destinations.

As a general guideline, rail customers can expect an additional minute or two for trains to arrive during rush hour, while bus riders should expect an additional two to five minutes between buses, CTA said.

“Although the increments seem minor, there will be a significant difference in the length of a customer’s commute,” Rodriguez said. “Both buses and trains will fill up faster as a result of the service decrease, particularly during peak service hours, and riders may be forced to wait for multiple vehicles to pass before being able to board.”

CTA closely monitored routes from its control center Sunday and said there were “no serious problems related to service reduction,” according to CTA Chairman Terry Peterson.

Robert Kelly, president of the CTA’s rail union, said over the weekend that members historically have taken a hard line against concessions. He plans to met with members this week to present them with the CTA’s position and hopes an agreement can be reached within the next seven to 10 days.

“In the past the membership has said, ‘Don’t give up nothing,’ ” Kelly said. “I can tell you we don’t give up nothing without getting something. That’s negotiating.”

Even if the union agrees, the changes won’t come in time to push back the changes which commuters already had to grapple with today. Rodriguez warned riders to expect longer wait times and more crowded buses and trains.

CTA buses and trains will not run as often and some buses will not run as late into the night. Passengers should plan for longer waits between buses on 119 of 150 CTA bus routes, as well as on seven rail lines. Forty-one bus routes will have shorter hours and nine express routes will be eliminated.

CTA riders are advised to check transitchicago.com when making travel plans.

In addition, two dozen Pace suburban bus routes will be eliminated or operate with reduced service starting Monday to save money.

– Georgia Garvey , Kristen Mack and staff

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DNA evidence helped authorities charge a South SideSouth Side reviews man in connection with an unsolved 25-year-old homicide.

Authorities identified the victim as Sheila Johnson, 24, who was found stabbed to death in her apartment on March 17, 1984, in the 5800 block of North Winthrop Avenue on ChicagoChicago reviews’s North Side. 

Authorities could not discuss the circumstances that led to the stabbing. But first-degree murder charges were lodged against 44-year-old Melvin Green of the 1500 block of West 87th Street, police said.

The Chicago Police Department’s cold case squad revisited the case in 2008 and were able to obtain evidence, which was submitted for DNA analysis. A DNA match led police to Green, who was subsequently taken into custody, police said.

Court information for Green was unavailable.

–Staff report

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A man who emerged from under an “L” platform and walked onto the CTA Red Line tracks at the Loyola Avenue station was struck and killed by a train about 4:30 a.m., officials said.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office said the 56-year-old man was declared dead at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston at 5:45 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday.

Citing preliminary reports, CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said power was shut down on the northbound tracks near Loyola after a report came in that a train had hit a person who was already on the tracks.

As the train was pulling away from the northbound platform–which is at the south end of the double-length station–the man came apparently from underneath the platform and walked onto the tracks about 4:30 a.m., said CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney.

The incident effectively closed most of the northbound Red Line on the city’s North Side for several hours, but power was restored and normal operations resumed by about 7 a.m., according to Hosinski.

– Staff, Dan Simmons

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Two men were shot at a building within the Cabrini-Green public housing complex on the Near North Side early this morning, a ChicagoChicago reviews police spokesman said.

The victims were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said Officer Veejay Zala, a police spokesman. One of the victims was shot in the abdomen, while the other was shot in the leg.

Their conditions were unavailable this afternoon.

The shooting happened at 2:15 a.m. in the 1200 block of North Burling Street.

Zala said no one was in custody for the shooting. He could not release further details this afternoon.

–Staff report

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Counterfeit designer-label items were seized and four people arrested when authorities served a search warrant on the North Side, ChicagoChicago reviews police said today.

The search Wednesday afternoon at the business in the 4500 block of North Clark Street turned up “a large quantity” of reproduction consumer goods such as Coach handbags and Chanel sunglasses, police said.

Officers from a Town Hall District tactical team also found various mock designer labels and tools used for attaching the labels to merchandise.

Police said four people were arrested.

Chae W. Kim, 67, and Sun Kim, 62, both of Glenview, were charged with one felony count each of Unauthorized Use of Trademarks — More Than 500 Items. The other two people, whose names were not released, were charged with one misdemeanor each of Unauthorized Use of Trademark, police said.

The Kims had been scheduled for bond hearings today but court information was not available.

–Staff report

Some of the items in a North Side business where police seized counterfeit trademark goods. (Police handout) 

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The family of a Hanover Park man is searching for him after he failed to show up to work last week and police found his abandoned car near Foster Avenue Beach on ChicagoChicago reviews’s North Side.

Richard Wieting, 53, a 22-year U.S. Postal Service employee, was last seen at his home in the 1500 block of Indian Hill Avenue, police said.

But early Jan. 19, Wieting’s co-workers from the Harwood Heights post office reported that he hadn’t shown up for his morning shift as a letter carrier, said family friend MaryJo Neri. His family then reported him missing.

About 4:20 a.m. the next day, Chicago police found Wieting’s 2007 black Chevrolet PT Cruiser parked near the Foster Avenue Beach, police said. Inside, were the keys to the car, his wallet and a jacket.

Police do not suspect foul play, but Wieting’s family is concerned, saying his disappearance is out of character, Neri said.

She added that Wieting takes heart and cholesterol medication, which
if not taken could cause him to become disoriented or to lose his
memory.

Wieting is described as 6 feet 2 inches tall, 185 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes.

Wieting’s family has passed out fliers near where his car was
discovered and surrounding his work. Anyone with information about
Wieting’s disappearance is asked to call Hanover police Detective Dan
Granias at 630-372-4427.

– Serena Maria Daniels

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Albany Park district detectives are reviewing surveillance tapes after three men tried to rob a woman in front of her North Side home after she left a CTA Brown Line stop, officials said.

The incident occurred about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the 4400 block of North Whipple near the  Francisco Avenue Brown Line station, officials said. The woman had cuts and bruises on her hands, legs, face and head, police said.

A neighborhood advisory issued by the ward office described one of
the robbers as 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, black with a medium complexion,
wearing a dark blue jacket and a dark blue ski cap.

The second robber was described as 6 feet, 230 pounds, black with
dark complexion, wearing a dark blue jacket and thin moustache. The
third was 5-foot8,  200 pounds and wearing a blue jacket.

Detectives are looking at video from area cameras and on buses that might have passed by during the time of the incident.

–Serena Maria Daniels

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A day after his aides blamed the cancellation of the city’s July 3 Grant Park fireworks extravaganza on a lack of money, Mayor Richard Daley today said cost was only a secondary consideration.

The mayor said he’s been thinking “for the past 10, 15 years” about spreading out the patriotic displays along the lakefront. The city now plans to hold three shorter, simultaneous fireworks shows.

“It’s not about saving money, but with the amount of people, a lot of people felt like they couldn’t come because it got too crowded,” Daley said at a news conference to promote winter tourism in ChicagoChicago reviews. “So you have one on the North Side, one on the South SideSouth Side reviews and one downtown. You take all parts of the city. You get more and more people at each site.”

Read more on Clout Street.

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Two Far Far reviewsNorth Side teenage girls robbed a cab driver using a can of pepper spray but were caught by police a short time later, prosecutors said today.

Tessica Smith of 6400 block of North Oakley Avenue and Vergie Perry of the 6200 block of North Artesian Avenue both face an armed robbery charge in the Monday attack.

The two got into a cab in Rogers Park about 11:20 a.m. Monday and asked the cab driver to take them to the intersection of Paulina and Touhy avenues, said Cook County state’s attorney’s spokesman Andy Conklin.

At some point, Smith got into the front seat of the cab and sprayed the cabbie with pepper spray while yelling for Perry to grab the driver’s money, Conklin said.

The two escaped with $46, Conklin said.

Police caught them a short time later in the 1600 block of West Chase Avenue. Smith was found to have a can of “Back Off” pepper spray and $46 on her, Conklin said.

In a hearing today, Cook County Criminal Court Judge Peggy Chiampis ordered each of the girls held in lieu of $150,000 bail and ordered them not to ride in any cabs. They were schedule to appear in court on Feb. 1 in Branch 42 of Cook County Criminal Court, Conklin said.

– Staff report

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A Lincoln Park man has been charged with impersonating a police officer after allegedly luring a couple into his car and robbing them, authorities said.

Dwayne Carter, 37, of the 1700 block of Clark Street, is scheduled to appear in bond court today with aggravated false personation of a police officer, aggravated robbery and possession of cannabis.

About 4:30 p.m. Friday, the suspect, driving a silver Chevrolet Impala, stopped the vehicle alongside a man and woman in the 4800 block of North Hamlin Avenue in Albany Park, police said. The suspect showed the couple a pair of handcuffs, a police scanner, and what they believed was a handgun.

The suspect ordered the victims into the car, telling them he was an undercover office, and drove the two to a nearby alley, where he took their belongings, including cell phones, an iPod and an unreported amount of cash, police said.

Albany Park district police officers were called to the scene and broadcast a description of the suspect and vehicle over the radio. Patrol officers later spotted and stopped the car in the 3400 block of West Leland Avenue and called the victims to the scene.

The couple identified Carter as the suspect and have since retrieved their belongings, police said.

– Serena Maria Daniels

Technorati Tags: Albany Park, Chevrolet, chicago, couple, crime, Friday, Impala, man, Nbsp, News, North Side, Northwest Side, officer, photo, Police, robbery, scene, suspect

A Lincoln Park man has been charged with impersonating a police officer after allegedly luring a couple into his car and robbing them, authorities said.

Dwayne Carter, 37, of the 1700 block of Clark Street, is scheduled to appear in bond court today with aggravated false personation of a police officer, aggravated robbery and possession of cannabis.

About 4:30 p.m. Friday, the suspect, driving a silver Chevrolet Impala, stopped the vehicle alongside a man and woman in the 4800 block of North Hamlin Avenue in Albany Park, police said. The suspect showed the couple a pair of handcuffs, a police scanner, and what they believed was a handgun.

The suspect ordered the victims into the car, telling them he was an undercover office, and drove the two to a nearby alley, where he took their belongings, including cell phones, an iPod and an unreported amount of cash, police said.

Albany Park district police officers were called to the scene and broadcast a description of the suspect and vehicle over the radio. Patrol officers later spotted and stopped the car in the 3400 block of West Leland Avenue and called the victims to the scene.

The couple identified Carter as the suspect and have since retrieved their belongings, police said.

– Serena Maria Daniels

Technorati Tags: Albany Park, chicago, crime, News, North Side, Northwest Side, photo

A Lincoln Park man has been charged with impersonating a police officer after allegedly luring a couple into his car and robbing them, authorities said.

Dwayne Carter, 37, of the 1700 block of Clark Street, is scheduled to appear in bond court today with aggravated false personation of a police officer, aggravated robbery and possession of cannabis.

About 4:30 p.m. Friday, the suspect, driving a silver Chevrolet Impala, stopped the vehicle alongside a man and woman in the 4800 block of North Hamlin Avenue in Albany Park, police said. The suspect showed the couple a pair of handcuffs, a police scanner, and what they believed was a handgun.

The suspect ordered the victims into the car, telling them he was an undercover office, and drove the two to a nearby alley, where he took their belongings, including cell phones, an iPod and an unreported amount of cash, police said.

Albany Park district police officers were called to the scene and broadcast a description of the suspect and vehicle over the radio. Patrol officers later spotted and stopped the car in the 3400 block of West Leland Avenue and called the victims to the scene.

The couple identified Carter as the suspect and have since retrieved their belongings, police said.

– Serena Maria Daniels

Technorati Tags: 4800 North Hamlin Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, Albany Park, chicago, crime, News, North Side, Northwest Side, photo

A resident of a Rogers Park apartment building where a man died in a suspicious fire last week had been charged with murder and arson in connection with the blaze, police said.

Mahad Ali Hassan, 26, of 6720 N. Sheridan Road, was charged late Saturday night with first-degree murder, aggravated arson and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, said ChicagoChicago reviews Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

Hassan was arrested Friday at a North Side location other than the apartment building, following Belmont Area and Bomb and Arson detectives’ interviews with witnesses and other leads, Mirabelli said. He was in possession of a loaded handgun at the time of his arrest.

The fire, which began just before 12:15 p.m. Thursday, killed one man and injured five other people, including two firefighters and a man who jumped from his apartment on the fifth floor of the building, where the fire started in a hallway.

The fire was determined to be an arson, and the person who died of inhalation of smoke and soot was determined to have died in a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The person who died has not yet been identified, pending notification of family.

The Red Cross also helped set up a shelter for many of the 25 people diplaced by the fire, which spread from the fifth floor to the fourth and caused heavy smoke damage, although the fire itself spread only into the apartment from which the man jumped, officials said.

Hassan was expected to appear in Cook County Central Bond Court today, Mirabelli said.

For an earlier story about the fire, go HERE.

– Liam Ford, staff

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Two men were shot while they were walking down the street this morning in ChicagoChicago reviews’s Noble Square neighborhood.

The men were walking home from a gas station at about 12:21 a.m. when a suspect riding in a vehicle opened fire on them in the 1500 block of North Bosworth Avenue, said Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. Preliminary reports did not have a description of the vehicle, he said.

One victim was struck in the leg and the other suffered a graze wound to his buttocks, Mirabelli said.

There was no information available about the victim’s condition or where they were transferred to for treatment, he said.

Police are investigating.

– Deanese Williams-Harris

Technorati Tags: 1500 North Bosworth Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, chicago, News, Noble Square, North Side, West Town

Police officers outside an entrance to the Roosevelt subway stop this morning. (Jeremy Gorner/ChicagoChicago reviews Tribune)

Two passengers suffered minor injuries early this morning when a CTA Red Line train derailed in the subway at the Roosevelt Road station.

Trains were rerouted to LoopA Loop reviews elevated tracks for about 4½ hours. Service in the subway resumed at 5:47 a.m. after the train was removed and the track inspected for any damage.

The four-car northbound train with roughly 20 passengers was stopped near Roosevelt when it started moving again and hit a switch and derailed, officials said. CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney could not confirm the cause.

At the time, all trains were moving on a single southbound track because of maintenance work.It was the second CTA derailment in little more than a month. Four CTA employees were fired after a Green Line train derailed Dec. 12 at the 59th Street junction when a stop signal was ignored. No one was seriously injured in that event.

This morning about 1:15 a.m., the second of a train’s four cars jumped up onto a walkway, just before the
station’s waiting area at the Roosevelt station, with the front and rear cars still on the
tracks, according to the Chicago Fire Department. The cars,
however, remained connected to one another, they said.

The two injured passengers, both men, were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for “bumps and bruises,” officials said.

The passengers on the train were escorted from the station above ground
by firefighters and onto shuttle buses to continue their trips.

Jason Hicks was riding in the third car, on his way to the Sheridan Road stop on the North Side from the 95th Street station on the South SideSouth Side reviews.
 
Just before the derailment,  “they [the CTA] had stated the train was gonna be delayed a little since it was on a single track,” said Hicks, 23.
 
Then after two minutes of sitting, he said, the train started to move, then “fell off the tracks.”
 
“As we appraoched Roosevelt, the train started to jerk a little. It was running on a single track and then it kind of fell off its wheel on a track, hit the platform, sparks flashed, lights went off and smoke was everywhere,” Hicks said.
 
He said at the time of impact, mostly everyone “was sleeping, and everyone just jerked forward.”
 
“It was just a surprise.”
 
After the derailment, Red Line trains were running along elevated tracks in both directions
between the Fullerton Avenue and Cermak Road stations, and shuttle buses operated between those stops as well.

–Jeremy Gorner

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A ChicagoChicago reviews man has died, 5½ years after he was found beaten in a stairwell of a public housing building on the Near North Side, authorities said.

Vincent Peterson, 47, who most recently had lived in a nursing home in the 2400 block of West Touhy Avenue, was declared dead at 8:21 p.m. Saturday at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Peterson was found by police about 4:40 a.m. on May 26, 2004, in a stairwell of a building in the 900 block of North Cambridge Avenue, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer JoAnn Taylor. Peterson, who the medical examiner’s office said appeared to be a beating victim, had severe head trauma when he was found alone in the stairwell, Taylor said.

The property where Peterson was found is part of the Cabrini-Green public housing complex.

There was no indication what the motive for the beating might be, and no one has been charged in the attack, Taylor said. Belmont Area detectives were investigating.

Peterson had lived at nursing homes since the time of his injury, according to the medical examiner’s office. The final results of an autopsy performed today were pending further studies, according to the office.

– Liam Ford

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ChicagoChicago reviews police have found an 18-year-old man who suffers from schizophrenia who went missing Wednesday.

Carlos Wilson, of the 200 block of West 39th Street, was spotted Friday by patrol officers walking along the street in the Lakeview neighborhood, according to a police statement. Wilson told the officers he didn’t feel well and he was taken to Weiss Hospital on the North Side.

Wilson was last seen near his home on the South SideSouth Side reviews wearing a blue knit hat, black puffy coat, black T-shirt, blue jeans with yellow writing on the back pockets, and white gym shoes with a blue “NIKE” symbol. He was recently a patient at Jackson Park Hospital.

– Staff report

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No injures were reported after a small fire broke out on the 25th floor of a residential building on the North Side.

At 11:45 a.m., about 90 firefighters and paramedics responded to an alarm in The New York Private Residences in the 3600 block of Lake Shore Drive in the Lakeview East neighborhood, according to Fire Department spokesman Kevin McGregor.

The fire was put out by the sprinklers, McGregor said.

– Staff report

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For the last 60 years, Standee’s Snack ‘N Dine in Edgewater has been open almost continuously — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — offering heaping breakfasts and midnight meals to North Side residents and college kids. But at 6 a.m. today, the longstanding greasy-spoon establishment turned off its iconic 50s-style sign, unplugged the grill and deep fryers, and shut its doors.

For the first time in decades, Standee’s, at 1133 West Granville Avenue, was closed for business.

“It’s going to be totally weird to not see Standee’s here anymore,” said Jim Twist, who has been eating at the diner for more than 40 years. “It’s really sad.”

Despite a petition signed by more than 600 customers and a “Save Standees” Facebook page created by local college students, the lease was not renewed, according to restaurant operator Adolfo Suastegui.

But Suastegui said that a Standee’s-less Edgewater would only be temporary. Suastegui, who has owned Standee’s for about 11 years, said he plans to re-open the restaurant around March just a few storefronts down the street.

“I didn’t want to leave here,” Suastegui said. “But the new place will have the same food, same hours and same people.”

But the lighted outside sign that has beckoned many a midnight wanderer into the restaurant over the years will be gone for good, Suastegui said. Suastegui said his new landlord did not want the large sign and so it was sold to an Indiana man for $500.

As Suastegui and waitress Kim Trieu packed up the restaurant late this morning, some of the regulars could not stay away. So Trieu fired up the grill one more time and the smell of fried potatoes and the sound of sizzling bacon filled the narrow diner. 

“Last day,” said Eric Rommel, who tentatively walked into the restaurant about 11 a.m. with longtime girlfriend Andrea Thomann.

“We met here,” said Thomann.

“Standee’s was just one of those places where you would start talking to people and that’s how we met,” Rommel said. “We said we have to go to Standee’s before it closes.”

– Cynthia Dizikes

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A 14-year-old boy who ChicagoChicago reviews police said was missing since Oct. 20 has been found safe and living with his sister in Elgin.

A police news release sent Friday night contained no other details, and said it was “unknown at this time where subject has been during his time missing.”

On Dec. 15 Chicago police released a new photograph of Luis Lopez to assist in their search for the 14-year-old boy reported missing in October.

Lopez never returned home from school on Oct. 20. Police had said he was reported missing from the area of 48th Street and Hermitage Avenue in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South SideSouth Side reviews.

Police said at the time that Lopez may have been living in the UptownUptown reviews or Lakeview neighborhoods on the North Side. He also went missing in June and was found living in the 4500 block of North Sheridan Road.

–Staff report

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A Northwest Side man was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 bail today after he allegedly rammed his vehicle into a Massachusetts man in a road-rage incident.

On Oct. 24, Bryan Fleming, 21, and a man from Provincetown, Mass., got into a verbal argument while driving, prosecutors said Wednesday in a hearing in Cook County Bond Court.

Both the Massachusetts man and Fleming pulled over into a ChicagoChicago reviews gas station, prosecutors said.

When the other man stepped out of his vehicle, Fleming intentionally turned his four-door Ford Taurus at him and ran into him, prosecutors said. The man flew over the vehicle before crashing to the ground.

Fleming then fled the scene, prosecutors said. The victim suffered bruised ribs and had to get six staples in his head.  

Fleming faces aggravated assault charges. He was held in lieu of $150,000 bond and is to appear back in court on Jan. 5.

Originally Fleming had been charged with a misdemeanor and released, but he now faces felony charges upgraded following further police investigation. 

– Daarel Burnette

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The Sun-Times reports: A Cook County judge today sentenced Benjamin Johnson, of the 5000 block of North Sheridan Road, to 80 years in prison for a May 2006 rape of a woman in her nearby home.

Get the full story:  suntimes.com

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Two masked bandits tied up a half dozen employees at a North Side recycling facility this morning and tried to carry off an ATM there, police said.

But it was too heavy, and they left empty-handed.

Police were called to Sims Metal Management, Inc., 1509 West Cortlandt St., about 6:45 a.m. after the employees managed to free themselves.

None of the employees were hurt.

Police were hunting for the would-be robbers, who drove off in a dark-colored Jeep Cherokee.

Sims bills itself as the world’s largest metals and electronics recycler, with 230 locations around the world.

–Pat Curry

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At the end of his first year, ChicagoChicago reviews Police Superintendent Jody Weis had already faced angry aldermen and repeated questions about low morale and arrests.

And then 2008 ended with this: a troubling double-digit homicide increase.

But nearing the end of this year, homicides in the city have dropped by 11 percent, apparently reversing the 2008 spike and bringing the city more in line with a decline that started in the early part of the decade.

There had been 453 homicides through Monday, compared with 509 at the same time last year. Shootings were down 6 percent.

“I said at the end of the year that 2008 was the year of transition,” Weis said. “I (expected) 2009 to be the year of results.”

Experts cautioned against blaming or crediting any one person or strategy for a one-year crime trend, but Weis and other department officials said several efforts launched this year have chipped away at the violence.

City gang teams were reorganized, and they were given a new mission: more search warrants and fewer street-corner drug investigations. They were also told to ramp up their use of informants so they could make more informed arrests.

In the districts, commanders and community members say they’ve been working — from tracking gang anniversary dates to dog-walking – to make a difference on the blocks where they police and live.

Still, because Chicago’s homicide total brings the city in line with declines experienced here and nationally throughout much of the decade, some suggest the more compelling question could be what happened in 2008.

“(Last year) was the anomaly,” said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University  in Boston. “This year is part of the pattern.”

Weis doesn’t agree that the 511 slayings in 2008 were too out of step with the declines of the decade, especially compared with the 1990s when homicides were still in the 900s.

But 2008 was marked by high turnover. Several commanders were moved into new positions, including many in the districts.

Weis said he spent a good part of 2009 encouraging commanders to be creative and find solutions unique to their crime patterns instead of using cookie-cutter approaches.

“I want commanders who are risk-takers,” he said. “It took a while to have commanders understand that.”

But even if experts are hesitant to assess a one-year crime trend, they did note that some of the programs and strategies put to use in 2009 reflect the now widely accepted idea that policing should be based on quickly analyzing crime data and responding.

For example, on the Northwest Side in the Grand Central District, where officials estimate there are more than 20 street gangs fighting for territory, Cmdr. Robert Lopez started tracking the anniversaries of gang slayings so police could flood rival neighborhoods and look for trouble.

On at least one occasion an alleged gang member wearing a hat emblazoned with an anniversary date was arrested with a gun in rival territory, Lopez said. Investigators believe he was on his way to a shooting.

“He had a gun,” Lopez said. “It was the anniversary of someone getting killed. And he had the hat to prove it.”

Perhaps the most troubled area of the city, as a whole, has been the Far South SideSouth Side reviews. The area receives a lot of support from citywide units that tamp down the violence.

But like in other districts, homicides were down nearing the end of the year. Calumet District Cmdr. John Ball credits coordination among all the local commanders, who meet weekly to look at crime data and decide where specialized teams would be best used.

Ball also agrees that 2008 was a transition year in many ways. He and three of the other five commanders were new to the area.

“We had to change and develop and recognize who was what,” he said.

Still, this fight for a neighborhood can’t only be fought by the police, experts said.

Professor Dennis Rosenbaum, a criminologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, calls it a “battle for the control of the space as well as the hearts and minds of young kids”  –  and says the community has to get involved.

On the Far Far reviewsNorth Side, when police in Rogers Park decided to start the year with a “zero tolerance” policy on one troubled strip, they demanded that residents help.

Police flooded Howard Street, which backs up to one of the most challenging parts of the district, to make arrests for anything from felonies to misdemeanors.

Meanwhile, residents Toni Duncan and Eva McCann also took to the neighborhood on foot, spiral notebooks in hand, jotting down anything that was amiss.

Duncan and McCann, community policing facilitators, noted decrepit buildings, busted street lights and even the color of gang members’ shoelaces. Dog walkers sometimes joined. They had anti-violence marches and got to know some of the troublemakers.

“We know who they are; they know who we are,” said Duncan, a seven-year resident. “It gives a sense of neighborhood or community. I am sure if I fell down, one of them would help pick me up. They’re not bad all the time.”

McCann, who has lived in the area more than 20 years, said zero-tolerance had its detractors because some residents have felt targeted. But since the program started she sees a more vigilant police force and a chance to attack real problems. “They’re … dealing drugs,” McCann said of some people in the area. “They are causing fights. They are loitering, and they are gambling and drinking. The list goes on.”

Another effort that comes from the community is CeaseFire, an anti-violence program working in some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods. Studies have shown a reduction in shootings where CeaseFire works. But after losing its funding, most of the work halted in August 2007. It was not brought back until March 2009, and the program has since mediated 350 conflicts and made more than 1,000 referrals for service.

“Any time you can talk a guy down from shooting someone, we save lives,” said Tio Hardiman, the director of CeaseFire Illinois.

Gangs drive at least half the shootings in the city, and the department also refocused its approach to these investigations in 2009, in part to try and arrest more people like Pierre Manning.

Since 2007, Manning, an alleged West SideWest Side reviews gang leader, had been suspected in 10 crimes in Chicago – among them shootings and a homicide, according to police records. He was among the most wanted gang members on the West Side and, police said, was behind an internal gang fight, sparking shootings across the community.

His February arrest in  an alleged shooting – after he led police on a chase – came after weeks of gang officers investigating him. Manning was later charged with an unrelated killing.

To police, the arrest highlights how the newly structured gang teams work  –  policing larger areas and gathering information they need to arrest people who cause the most violence.

Investigating the most violent individuals is not a new idea, but some say there is now more communication among the various units involved: gangs, narcotics and homicide detectives.

Department brass said they increased the use of confidential informants and the number of search warrants  –  from 300 to 1,200 in the narcotics section alone. Cash seizures are also up $7.5 million.

“Gang activity is driven by the illicit trafficking in narcotics,” said Ernest Brown, the chief of the Organized Crime division. “By increasing the number of search warrants, we are attacking first their source of revenue. … The people who sell narcotics are also violent.”

The search warrants, in part, replaced the street-corner conspiracy investigations that have been done over the last several years. The investigations aimed to dismantle drug corners with months of surveillance and arrests of offenders and seizures of narcotics.

Brown said the department has not abandoned street-corner operations. Seventeen were done in 2009, but that is down from 34 the previous year.

“They frequently did not result in us arresting either a source of supply or a particularly violent group of offenders because they were more likely to be guys who were just ‘running’ the packs,” Brown said. “And as soon as the takedown was completed, there would be a whole group of replacement players.”

–Annie Sweeney 

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