Suburbs battle new woe - yard waste dumping

They're locking up the garbage bins in the Elmhurst ParkDistrict. Homewood and Flossmoor are thinking of doing the same.It's not that they're worried about people taking anything, it's whatthey might leave.

Park district dumpsters are being padlocked so grass clippingsand other plant waste won't be dumped there by suburbanites seeking aquick solution to a new yard waste mandate.

The state banned yard waste from landfills July 1, and the lawhas prompted extra costs for curbside pickup.

From Arlington Heights to Flossmoor, homeowners and landscapersare dumping grass clippings and branches, some loose, some bagged in(ugh!) plastic, along with chunks of …

After conviction, legal woes mount for Jackson doc

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jail time is not the only problem looming for the doctor convicted in Michael Jackson's death. Lawsuits, medical licensing issues and possible payments to Jackson's family await.

Some of the matters have been on hold since Dr. Conrad Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter in February 2010, and the cardiologist's attorneys have so far fended off attempts to end his ability to practice medicine.

Now, with the jury's guilty verdict announced Monday, the efforts to hold Murray accountable in civil courts will speed up and the loss of his medical privileges are all but guaranteed.

The Houston-based physician is being sued by Jackson's father, …

Goodbye jobs, hello mom and dad, say young adults

Faced with limited job options, many young adults are turning to an old standby to weather the recession: moving back in with mom and dad.

Nearly 1 in 7 parents with grown children say they had a "boomerang kid" move back home in the past year, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. In a turnabout in the rite of passage in which a college graduate finds a job and an apartment, many are returning to their parents' empty nests because of tight finances or as they pursue an advanced degree.

"The journey home for Thanksgiving won't be quite so far this year for many adults," said researchers Wendy Wang and Rich Morin, …

Battle for Brighton Pk. // Residents rallying to fend off decay

Ashadow hung over Brighton Park on the Southwest Side, tauntingthe July sun.

Indeed, this disturbance has been spreading for a few years,according to some who have staked their lives on this section of thecity that still has neat houses.

Gang graffiti oozed onto walls. Bullets tore dumbly, shatteringsigns, snapping siding and puncturing the car of a father driving hisyoung daughter at the intersection of Kedzie and 38th. City servicesseemed less reliable, and some found police downright hostile.A few months ago, a handful of residents started bandingtogether, guided by a slightly built organizer from the NationalTraining and Information Center, a Chicago …

Doctors blame health problems on gases releases from "industrial hog farms"

An increasing number of scientists and public health officials throughout the nation report that they have traced health problems in persons living near huge industrial livestock farms to "concentrated animal waste, which emit toxic gases while collecting in open-air cesspools or evaporating through sprays." Notes a front-page article in The New York Times (5/11/03): Livestock trade officials and Bush administration regulators say more study is needed before any cause and effect can be proved. But Dr. Kaye H. Kilburn, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies the effects of toxic chemicals on the brain, said evidence strongly supported a link between the farms and …

Eric Lieber, producer of 'Love Connection' and Dick Cavett's talk show, dies at 71

Eric Lieber, whose television production credits include the long-running dating show "Love Connection," has died. He was 71.

Lieber died Wednesday of leukemia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said his wife, Peggy.

Lieber created "Love Connection" in 1983 after decades producing other game shows, as well as the talk shows of Dick Cavett, Sammy Davis Jr. and Mike Douglas.

"Love Connection," hosted by Chuck Woolery, aired until 1995. Lieber also was executive producer of the 1998-1999 reprise of the series, hosted by Pat Bullard.

On the program, …

Fungus menaces Calif. pine

PINE TOUR: Richard Hawley, executive director of Greenspace,showsa visitor from New Zealand infected pine trees …