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About 11,000 Commonwealth Edison customers on the Southwest Side were hit with a power outage this evening, a company spokeswoman said.

The outage happened about 8:45 p.m., but by 9:20 p.m. all but 1,200 customers had their power restored, said Laura Duda, a ComEd spokeswoman.

The outage occurred near Midway Airport, mostly in two areas: between Central Park Avenue and Central Avenue, from Archer Avenue to 87th street; and from 73rd Street to 76th Street between Kostner Avenue and Cicero Avenue, Duda said.
 
Duda did not believe the airport was affected.

Crews were en route to the area to determine what caused the outage, Duda said.

--Staff report

The jury in the trial of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich could be hunkering down for lengthy deliberations after asking Friday for a copy of all the testimony in the two-month trial.

"Is it permissible to obtain a transcript of the testimony?" the note signed by the jury's foreman read. "It would be helpful."

U.S. District Judge James Zagel said he would reject the request but let the jury know he would consider releasing transcripts of specific witnesses. But the jury left a little before 5 p.m. without sending out any further notes. Deliberations are scheduled to resume Monday morning. The jury has deliberated for 2 1/2 days.

Transcripts of all the testimony would be a mountain of material -- 27 prosecution witnesses took the stand.

On Thursday, the jury asked for a transcript of at least one of the government's closing arguments, but Zagel denied that, too, because arguments are not evidence.

Sheldon Sorosky, an attorney for Blagojevich, objected Friday to giving transcripts of testimony to the jury.

"The government will have the benefit of presenting its case a whole second time," said Sorosky, who pointed out that the jury took copious notes. Prosecutors had no objection.

The jury is working from about 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to court officials. The six-woman, six-man jury began deliberating just before noon Wednesday following the end of closing arguments on Tuesday.

--Jeff Coen

Police on Friday said that tips from witnesses have pointed them toward a suspect in the slaying of a 13-year-old boy, but investigators are still seeking additional help.

Also, police said they couldn't verify claims by the family of the victim, Robert Freeman Jr., that Wednesday's shooting might have been a case of mistaken identity.

Robert, who had been a student at Oglesby Elementary School, was shot 13 times in the 11500 block of South Perry Avenue, police said. Several witnesses have come forward to identify the gunman, acting Calumet Area Cmdr. John McMurray said.

But he added that "there are a number of witnesses that have not been cooperative and have not (spoken) to us."

"The code of silence only helps the offenders, and it's just a matter of them eluding justice for a short amount of time," Assistant police Supt. James Jackson said at the news conference

Jackson said the suspect should "do the right thing" and turn himself in, either to police or clergy.

"We encourage him to listen to his conscience. Bring justice and closure to this grieving family," Jackson said.

Robert was the fourth teen shot in the area in a week.

--William Lee

The car in which three women were killed this morning on the Southwest Side. (Photo by Brad Bartley)

Horrified Southwest Side residents tried in vain to rescue three women from a fiery crash early this morning and watched helplessly as flames consumed their car.

The car hit a light pole and burst into flames about 12:30 a.m. in the Brighton Park neighborhood, leaving the three women inside dead.

"Everyone tried to get them out before the fire started," Juan Quinones told WGN-TV. "They used their bare hands but couldn't break the windows. All the neighbors were out there trying to help."

Tricia Blacina, another person at the crash scene, said: "They couldn't get (them) out because of the intense heat and how quickly the car went into flames. They actually saw them burning alive."

While police initially said the woman's car may have been chased, they are now saying they don't believe the car was being pursued, Chicago police news affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien said Friday afternoon. Police are investigating the incident as a motor vehicle accident, O'Brien said.

Witnesses told police they saw the Chevrolet Monte Carlo going at high speed, losing control and striking a pole, officials said.

Police have not identified the victims. Officials from the medical examiner's office said they will require dental records to identify them.

The car is registered to a 20-year-old woman in Lawndale, according to records. Neighbors said she and two friends were seen leaving her home at about 11 p.m. Thursday. They were out celebrating the birthday of one of the women who also lives in the Lawndale home and, according to records, turned 24 today.

The two women in the Lawndale home each have a child who were being cared for by friends, neighbors said.

The aunt of the 24-year-old's child said Friday evening that her family was devastated.

Dyesha Mitchell, 33, said she had just spoken with the 24-year-old earlier Thursday evening.

"She was just saying that tomorrow was her birthday and she was so happy to celebrate," said Mitchell of East Chicago, Ind. "That was around 10 p.m."

Mitchell said that she met the 24-year-old victim nearly a decade ago and that she was always willing to help anyone.

"Recently she came over and I asked her if I could borrow $100 and she just went out (to an ATM) and got it," said Mitchell. "She was just that type of person -- if you needed her, she was there."

Friends said they had not seen the women since they left Thursday night.

Neighbor Angela Parker said the two women who lived in the Lawndale apartment were known as kind, helpful young women who would chauffeur neighbors on errands.

"They would take you to the grocery store," Parker said. "One of them took me to do my taxes."

"Both of them have two little boys," Parker said.

"She's a good person," Rachelle Pouncey said through tears about the 24-year-old. "She had a very good heart."

Initially, witnesses told police the two-door Chevrolet Monte Carlo was going west in the 3000 block of West 47th Street at high speed, seemingly pursued by another vehicle, police said.

-- Becky Schlikerman, Pat Curry, Cynthia Dizikes and Caroline Kyungae Smith

The Daily Herald reports: A 20-year-old Carol Stream man, a graduate of Glenbard North High School, died late Thursday in a crash on Schmale Road at Longview Drive in Glendale Heights, police said.

Get the full story: dailyherald.com

A man was shot in the armpit and killed this afternoon in the West Pullman neighborhood, police said.

Police investigators work the scene of a shooting on South Peoria Street in Chicago on Friday. (Tribune / Terrence Antonio James)

The 26-year-old man was shot in an alley near 116th Street and South Peoria Avenue just after 4 p.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Darryl Baety.

The man walked out of the alley toward the street, where he collapsed, police said,
He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and pronounced dead at 4:44 p.m., Baety said.

Calumet Area detectives were investigating, but no further information was immediately available.

Michael Smith, a longtime friend of the victim, said neighbors called to tell him the news.
"It's so sad," said Smith. "I've been to more funerals this year than I have in my life."

Smith, 47, described the victim as an "intelligent, mild-mannered young man" who had grown up near where the shooting took place.

Smith said he had recently talked to the victim.

"About a month ago, when it first started getting hot, we talked," said Smith. "We talked about him staying out of trouble."

--Staff report

The Daily Herald reports: More than 30 pets, many long dead, have been found in a mobile home near Elk Grove, while the Cook County sheriff's police want to talk to two men who neighbors said had been living there.

Get the full story: dailyherald.com

A 43-year-old Burbank man who has advanced liver disease was sentenced today to 9 years in prison for driving drunk and causing the death of a 38-year-old Darien woman who was a passenger in a van he hit.

Robert Pas pleaded guilty to aggravated drunk driving in January and was sentenced today by DuPage Judge George Bakalis, who could have sentenced him to up to 12 years.

Pas, of the 8600 block of Rutherford Avenue, was driving south on Interstate 55 in Burr Ridge shortly before noon on June 17, 2008, when his 2008 Chevrolet Malibu went out of control and crashed into a van.

Dawn Voss-Alshwayit, 38, of Darien was killed in the accident.

DuPage County court records indicate that Pas's blood-alcohol level was 0.33 percent, more than four times the legal limit.

The defendant, who has been in the DuPage County Jail since June 2008, has had his sentencing delayed several times because of his medical condition.

--Art Barnum

Andre Matthews, 48, has been living in a deteriorating Maywood apartment complex for almost four years now, but on Thursday afternoon he and dozens of other residents in the building were ordered to pack up their belongings and vacate the building within less than 24 hours.

A sign at a Maywood apartment complex telling residents to immediately vacate the condemned building. (Tribune / Alex Garcia) 

"The police knocked on our doors and told us we got to move," said Matthews. "That's ridiculous. Why can't they give us a little more time? Some people have nowhere to go."

Maywood officials said they could do nothing because village code inspectors deemed the building at 1832 S. 5th Ave. uninhabitable. Residents were informed at about 4:30 p.m.

"The building has no electric, heat and the water is out," said Village Spokesman Larry Shapiro. "The fire alarms are also not working. Nobody should be living in that building right now."

Flooding in the building may have also played a role, village officials told WGN.
 
On Friday, residents were seen taking boxes out of the building and some loading items onto moving trucks. The building has about 50 to 60 units.

Matthews said he was canvassing the neighborhood trying to find another apartment. But he said he worries about other residents too, many who have children.

Matthews said the building--which is apparently in foreclosure--has been deteriorating for years, but he only partially cited the management company for letting the building fall into disrepair.

"They [the management company] tried to refurbish some units but some of the residents destroyed them," said Matthews. "I think the management company just gave up on the building. But we always got a prompt notice from them when the rent was late."

The management company would not return calls on Friday.

--Joseph Ruzich

As the first day of his sentencing hearing wound down, an emotional Thomas G. Ofenloch Jr. turned to face the families of the two former high school classmates he killed in a high-speed crash in 2007.

"I would give anything to trade places with them," the teary-eyed Aurora resident said Thursday. "And I pray that someday you might be able to forgive me."

On Friday, Kane County Timothy Sheldon sentenced Ofenloch, 26, to 10 years in prison for aggravated DUI for the horrific accident that killed Andrew Berger and Joshua Sutton, both 21-year-old Batavia residents and close friends.

"His 'sorry' in court today comes too late," the judge said.

Berger and Sutton were passengers in Ofenloch's 2007 Nissan Sentra that became airborne as it ran through a T-intersection in rural Sugar Grove Township around 2:40 a.m. on Aug. 4, 2007. The car landed and then slammed into a tree.

An accident specialist testified Thursday that the car was traveling between 104 and 113 miles per hour when it left the road. It was still going around 58 mph when it hit the tree, 300 feet north of the intersection of Dugan and Scott roads, and was sheared in half.

The three inside had been at a party together. A hospital test taken about 90 minutes after the crash showed Ofenloch's blood-alcohol level almost double the legal limit, according to prosecutors. He also had marijuana in his system.

It was not Ofenloch's first offense.

"He has a horrendous driving record, a total disregard for the law," the judge said.

Ofenloch has a number of speeding tickets, an arrest for driving with a suspended license, and had been arrested for DUI in June 2007, just five weeks before the fatal accident.

Kane County Assistant State's Atty. Greg Sams read the report of an Illinois State Trooper who pulled Ofenloch over on I-90 that day in Chicago after he and three friends were returning from a Cubs game, and Ofenloch, who later tested almost double the legal limit, was driving erratically.

After the stop, the trooper reported overhearing Ofenloch calling a friend to come pick up his car, and that he had been stopped where I-88 and I-290 meet. When told he was actually near O'Hare Airport -- on a different expressway -- he reportedly said to the officer, "Oh my God, I don't know how I got here."

Ofenloch attorney J. Brick Van Der Snick argued that a remorseful Ofenloch had turned his life around. During 30 months on electronic home monitoring, Ofenloch had earned a license to maintain building systems, had remained alcohol-free and attended counseling and A.A. meetings, and given speeches about his story.

"It took that accident for him to realize that he had messed his life up," Van Der Snick said.

But the prosecutor gave a 45-minute summation, concluding with a request for a 12-year sentence. Sams's argument hammered away at a sentencing provision that would have allowed the judge to sentence Ofenloch to probation if he'd found "extraordinary" circumstances.

The high speed, awful injuries and bad driving were all extraordinary, but not in a way that cast favorable light on Ofenloch, Sams said. Since the accident, Ofenloch had not done anything special; he merely followed the rules, the prosecutor said.

"How low have we come that ordinary is the new extraordinary?" Sams asked. "That is through the looking glass."

Afterward, family members of the dead men said they were generally satisfied with the sentence.

"It's been a long three years, and I'm glad it's over," Joshua's mother, Cheryl Sutton, said.

Sutton and Berger were best friends at Batavia High School; Ofenloch graduated from the school two years ahead of them and was more of an acquaintance, family members said.

Since graduation, Berger worked in the building trades and still lived at home with his parents, Debra and Alan Berger. Sutton had completed his junior year at Eastern Illinois University and hoped to own a restaurant someday.

Alan Berger said his son's death was another grim DUI statistic. He urged people to take whatever steps possible to avoid driving while impaired, even if it meant sleeping it off in a car or in a park.

"We're killing each other over this drunk driving issue," he said.

-- Clifford Ward

A Chicago teen filed a lawsuit today against former Roman Catholic priest Daniel McCormack, a convicted sex offender, alleging that he sexually abused him dozens of times while he was a sixth grader.

McCormack, who was pastor at St. Agatha's Catholic Church in Chicago, repeatedly raped and inappropriately touched the victim between 2001 and 2002, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

The boy, now 19, also named Cardinal Francis George and the Archdiocese of Chicago as defendants, alleging they failed to properly investigate and report McCormack to authorities following reports of inappropriate sexual behavior.

The lawsuit is one of many that have been filed in Cook County against McCormack, who served more than two years of a five-year prison sentence for abusing five boys in St. Agatha's rectory. He was removed from the priesthood in 2007 by Vatican decree.

The victim is seeking an unspecified amount of damages. Officials with the Archdiocese could not be reached Friday night for comment.

--Cynthia Dizikes

"Social security not necessary. 100 percent guarantee," read the notice allegedly posted by 32-year-old Jaroslaw Kowalczyk of Des Plaines.

Kowalczyk is accused of driving two Polish immigrants from Chicago to Albuquerque this month, charging them $1,000 each and trying to help them get driver's licenses, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque

New Mexico is one of four states -- along with Hawaii, Utah and Washington -- where no proof of immigration status is required to obtain a driver's license.

Kowalczyk waived a preliminary hearing Thursday and was jailed pending trial. His court-appoitned attorney, David Streubel, said he couldn't comment because he'd just met Kowalczyk, who doesn't speak English, and was gathering information.

Kowalczyk was arrested July 21 at a northeast Albuquerque Motor Vehicle Division office along with two other Polish nationals -- all illegal immigrants, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The two went to get their driver's licenses, hit a snag and asked for help, drawing the attention of employees. Investigators came and interviewed them, then talked to Kowalczyk and arrested him. The two other men weren't arrested, according to court records.

Kowalczyk told investigators he was paid $150 for each person brought to New Mexico and the remaining $850 went to a person identified in the complaint only as Alexander and Alex. Kowalczyk said Alex paid for his cell phone, gasoline and the newspaper advertisement.

The complaint says Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents recently have reported "a significant number" of fraud arrests in Albuquerque involving undocumented citizens of Mexico, Poland, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and Guatemala seeking New Mexico licenses.

Most of those people, it says, have come from Georgia, Florida, New York and Illinois.

Applicants for a New Mexico driver's license need some documents, such as a birth certificate, a passport and a utility bill with a New Mexico address. Foreign-issued passports are acceptable.

Michael Sandoval, director of New Mexico's Motor Vehicle Division, said he wasn't aware of any recent spike in fraud cases.

Sandoval said New Mexico uses a thorough system to evaluate the authenticity of documents submitted by foreign nationals.

"What usually happens is we'll look at the documents, and if we see something we don't feel comfortable about, we turn them away," he said. "This case went a little further than that, but I don't think it is happening too frequently."

--The Associated Press

About 280,000 Cook County homeowners who automatically get a senior citizen exemption on their property taxes would have to reapply for the break every year under a provision tucked into legislation awaiting action by Gov. Pat Quinn.

House Speaker Michael Madigan backed the little-noticed addition, which is opposed by two fellow Chicago Democrats, Mayor Richard Daley and Cook County Assessor James Houlihan.

Quinn may have little choice but to sign the bill because its main purpose is to extend a popular cap on property assessments that has helped to hold down tax bills for Cook County homeowners. While Madigan is no fan of the so-called 7 percent cap, Daley and Houlihan support it and are loath to have the program expire with statewide and city elections looming.

It's a curious mix of property tax politics and Democratic rivalries in a year when everybody is worried about angering voters, particularly senior citizens.

House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, Madigan's top lieutenant and the sponsor of the amendment, said it's needed to weed out people who abuse the system by claiming the exemption before they are 65.

Currie cited several examples of "good anecdotal evidence" -- among them the case of Kelly Burke, who beat a Madigan-backed candidate in the Feb. 2 primary for a southwest suburban House seat.

Burke, the Evergreen Park Library Board president, was blasted by her primary opponent for repeatedly receiving the senior homestead exemption even though she and her husband are in their 40s. Burke said she wasn't aware of the error and noted a senior citizen had owned the home previously. She and her husband paid $2,189 to cover the tax breaks they received over several years, according to records and interviews.

Houlihan's office said it typically removes the senior exemption whenever there is a deed transfer, but that did not happen in the Burke case.

Currie said the change was "absolutely not" political payback for the rare primary loss for Madigan, the state Democratic Party chairman. Instead, she said it was intended to correct Houlihan's decision to automatically roll over the senior exemption each year.

"We think there ought to be ... responsibility on the part of the person claiming an exemption actually to meet the test and to show that he or she qualifies," said Currie, a Chicago Democrat.

The move was assailed by Houlihan, who has long clashed with Madigan, a real estate tax lawyer with a huge portfolio of downtown properties, over the assessment cap and other tax issues.

Houlihan acknowledged a "case or two" like Burke's might have slipped through, allowing ineligible homeowners to get the senior break. But he said it is rare. Removing the automatic rollover is a "wrong-headed" and "cynical" move that will hurt seniors because they will have to do more work to get a tax break they are entitled to every year, Houlihan said.

The senior citizen homestead exemption results in tax breaks ranging from $157 for qualified homeowners last year in ritzy Kenilworth to $823 for seniors in impoverished Ford Heights. In Chicago, the average senior break last year was $193.

The break automatically rolled over every year beginning in 2008 for homeowners age 65 and older once they signed up. Since then, the number of homeowners in the program has surged by more than 20,000 to 280,338, according to the assessor's office.

Under the legislation, the automatic rollover would end in fall 2011. At that point, senior homeowners would need to fill out annual reapplications sent by mail and return them to the county assessor's office. They'd also need to send copies of their driver's licenses and property tax bills, officials said.

Currie said the requirements are not onerous.

Despite their concerns over the senior provision, Houlihan and Daley want Quinn to sign the legislation because an attempt to remove it could jeopardize the three-year extension of the property tax assessment cap. It's unlikely lawmakers would consider a Quinn veto or a rewrite before the fall election. Quinn is expected to act within days.

"The governor has to sign it to protect the 7 percent (cap)," Houlihan said.

Chicagoans would get up to a $20,000 exemption on property taxes billed this fall if the cap is extended, Houlihan's office said. Without it, the tax exemption would drop to $6,000.

Houlihan and a Daley spokeswoman said follow-up legislation is needed to remove the requirement for seniors to reapply every year.

The clash over property taxes will remain a subplot in Democratic infighting.

Houlihan, who is retiring, has refused to support the Madigan-backed candidate to succeed him -- Joseph Berrios, the Cook County Democratic Party chairman and member of the county tax review board. Instead, Houlihan is backing an independent bid by Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool.

--Ray Long

WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. -- A safety net under a "free fall" attraction at a popular amusement park failed on Friday, seriously injuring a 12-year-old girl who plunged more than 40 feet before hitting the ground.

Police declined to identify the girl or to elaborate on her injuries, but said she was from out of state and was visiting the Wisconsin Dells with her family. The park is a popular Midwest tourist attraction known mainly for its water rides.

On its Web site, the park describes the Terminal Velocity ride at its Extreme World as a one-of-a-kind experience that offers an "unattached, controlled free fall." Participants are outfitted in a special harness, taken up in an elevator, and then dropped straight down into a "huge airtube supported net."

After the girl was released for her fall, "the net mechanism that was supposed to catch her and break her fall was not high enough above the ground to completely break the fall and she did hit the ground," Lake Delton Police Chief Thomas Dorner said.

Dorner said the girl was treated by amusement park employees and family before emergency responders arrived, around noon. She was eventually transported to the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison by helicopter. Dorner said details on her injuries were not available, and hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette said she could not share them.

Extreme World owner Bill Anderson said it was the first accident in the 8-year history of the ride, which will be closed while police and state regulators investigate the accident. He said Extreme World, which also operates bungee jumping and other attractions, was closed Friday but would reopen on Saturday.

Department of Commerce spokesman Tony Hozeny said the ride was inspected on June 28, and there were no violations found. He said the ride has been inspected every year since 2004, and there was only been one minor violation found in 2008, which was immediately fixed.

"We want to express our sympathy to this person who was injured," Hozeny said. "As soon as we learned of this accident, we sent an inspector on site who is still investigating the situation to find out the facts."

Ken Martin, an amusement ride safety consultant based in Richmond, Va., said nets have failed at least twice on similar rides elsewhere -- once in July 2003 in California, and once in Florida in November 2002.

Dorner said the investigation by his department and the Sauk County Sheriff's Department also continues.

Extreme World promises riders on its website that air tubes and break suspensions around the net "stop your fall so softly that you feel virtually no impact at all." The company compares the sensation to a parachute jump.

-- Associated Press

A 16-year-old McHenry County boy died Thursday at a Chicago-area hospital following a skateboarding accident earlier this week in which he apparently was being pulled by an auto, authorities said.

Alexander Baer, 16, of the 1900 block of North Woodlawn Park Avenue in unincorporated McHenry County near McHenry, was pronounced dead at 2:46 p.m. at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, two days after he was taken to the hospital following the accident, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

McHenry Fire Department and McHenry County Sheriff's officials were called to the scene of the accident on Tuesday, within walking distance from where the teen lived, a fire department official said.

Preliminary information indicated the boy was on a skateboard and was being pulled by a rope attached to a vehicle, sheriff's police said in a release this afternoon.

A McHenry Police Department sergeant said the sheriff's department is investigating.

-- Serena Maria Daniels