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Sting performing with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Ramsey Lewis celebrating his 75th birthday and Crosby, Stills & Nash making a Ravinia Festival debut will be among highlights at Highland Park's annual arts soiree.

Sting will front orchestral versions of his songbook on July 17 and 18; Lewis will share the stage with Nancy Wilson and the Dave Brubeck Quartet on June 18; and Crosby, Stills & Nash will play Aug. 22.

Read more HERE on chicagotribune.com.

Click HERE for the Ravina Web site calendar.

Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich kicked off his latest self-promotional campaign Wednesday by appearing on "The Late Show With David Letterman." Blagojevich read a Top 10 list: "Questions Rod Blagojevich Asked Himself Before Appearing on 'Celebrity Apprentice.'"

For more check out The Watcher on chicagotribune.com.

Friends of a graffiti artist who died after plunging into the Chicago River in a chase with police paid tribute the best way they knew how Wednesday: spray-painting a mural in his memory on a brick wall behind a Radio Shack in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood.

"Just because he was a graffiti artist doesn't mean he was a bad person," A.J. Harris said of his friend Jason Kitchekeg, 26, a popular presence in the city's close-knit graffiti and tagging community, a ragtag collection of teens and young adults celebrated as artists in some circles and derided as vandals in others.

Graffiti artist A.J. Harris, a friend of Jason Kitchekeg, adds a dedication for Kitchekeg to a mural on a wall off of Broadway, after getting permission from the building owner. (Tribune / William DeShazer)

"He wasn't out being malicious or trying...

A 12-year-old boy and 16-year-old boy were in critical condition tonight after they were wounded in a drive-by shooting as they walked to a 7-Eleven store, police said.

The shootings also left a 14-year-old girl injured with a graze wound but her condition did not appear life-threatening, said Schaumburg police Sgt. John Nebl.

The shootings happened at about 8:30 p.m. on the 900 block of Bode Road as the youths were about to enter the parking lot of a 7-Eleven at 920 Bode Rd., Nebl said.

As they were walking, shots were fired at them from inside a gold-colored extended cab pickup truck driving westbound on Bode Road. The pickup truck continued westbound, Nebl said.

No one was in custody, Nebl said.  Police are questioning witnesses in the area.

-- Carlos Sadovi

Click HERE for a WGN-TV report on this story.

Source: Chicago Breaking News | Published: 10 Mar 2010, 11:26 pm

A Mt. Prospect school bus driver who smelled of alcohol to a co-worker managed to drop off 50 children before she was arrested Tuesday for being nearly three times over the legal limit for alcohol, police said.

When he learned of the co-worker's suspicions, a transportation supervisor in Mt. Prospect School District 57 tracked down the driver and called police, but allowed her to continue on her route until authorities arrived, school officials said Wednesday.

Betty Burden, 54, of the 1400 block of Park Drive, was arrested after police received a call at about around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday from the supervisor, Vincente Ramirez.

School board President Joseph Leane said another driver had smelled alcohol on Burden's breath at about 2:30 p.m. but did not report it to Ram...

Chicago police said there ended up being nothing suspicious found in a suitcase that caused disruptions on the CTA Red and Purple lines during the evening commute.

Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said the Chicago police Bomb and Arson Section officers exploded a suitcase found on the street near Granville and Broadway at about 7:40 p.m. The suitcase did not have anything hazardous in it, said Mirabelli.

Because the suitcase was near the tracks, all train service had been suspended in the area, causing delays throughout the system.

Red Line trains continued to bypass the Granville station until police finished the investigation at the scene.

Officials from the Chicago police Bomb and Arson Section had received a call about the suspicious suitcase at 4:49 p.m. today, police said.

CTA spokeswoman Sheila Gregory said police had ordered CTA officials to suspend train traffic on the Red and Purple lines which share the trac...

The Chicago Police Department is dramatically expanding its use of Tasers, adding several hundred more and putting them in the hands of patrol officers for the first time, officials said Wednesday.

The "stun guns" will go in every squad car to give front-line beat officers a more effective way to protect themselves and calm a disturbance.

But the electrical devices have caused controversy nationwide, with debates about their safety and lawsuits filed on behalf of dozens of people, some in the Chicago area, who have died after being "Tased."

Chicago police laid out their plans just hours after a 31-year-old south suburban man was pronounced dead after Midlothian police used a Taser to subdue him.

Jaesun Ingles, of Riverdale, who was on parole, was stunned with the Taser after he tried to swallow a plastic bag that police believed contained drugs, resisted arrest and ran from officers, Midlothian police said. An autopsy by the Cook County medical examiner's...

The father of a 17-year-old Joliet girl who survived a fatal collision in New Lenox this week said his daughter is struggling to heal from losing her best friend while overcoming injuries from the accident.

Alainna H. Haiman was driving a Chevrolet Cavalier east on New Lenox Road on Monday night when the car either drove through or slowly rolled through a stop sign and collided with a Ford F-150 truck, authorities said.

Emily A. Dukovac, 16, of Joliet, was killed in the accident. Haiman and another passenger, Chelsea M. Hamm, 17, of Joliet, remained at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet on Wednesday with non-life-threatening injuries, Haiman's father said. Haiman, Hamm and Dukovac were close friends who were on their way to a sandwich shop to eat with another friend when the crash occurred, said Haiman's father, Dennis.

The crash has devastated many in the close-knit south suburban community, Dennis Haiman said. He said he felt helpless, not knowing how to help his...