A veteran Chicago police officer was arrested by federal authorities after he allegedly solicited a $150 bribe from a tow truck driver in return for tipping him about a stolen vehicle to tow. The driver was secretly working with the FBI as part of an ongoing investigation called “Operation Tow Scam.”   Officer James Wodnicki, 48, a patrolman with the Shakespeare District on the North Side who has been on the force for 20 years, was charged with one count of attempted extortion, according a criminal complaint made public today

A Chicago police officer was arrested today as part of an ongoing investigation by federal officials into police pocketing bribes to steer work to tow truck drivers, an FBI spokesman said. The arrest was made late today and officials expect to release details on Wednesday, said Ross Rice, an FBI spokesman.

A new witness, union official Thomas Balanoff, has taken the stand in Rod Blagojevich’s corruption trial this afternoon.

Two people were stabbed in their backs Monday night in separate incidents on Chicago ‘s South Side , officials said. The first incident happened about 10:15 p.m. in the 7200 block of South Emerald Avenue in the city’s Englewood neighborhood.

The federal jury deliberating the fate of former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge have asked their second question of the day. Burge is on trial on charges he lied in written answers in a 2003 lawsuit when he denied the use or knowledge of the torture of criminal suspects at Chicago Police Area 2 headquarters in the 1980s

At the same time, he probably was losing weight rapidly because the large tumor would have left little room in his belly for food, according to Dr.

Heroin abuse in the Chicago area has gotten worse over the last decade, creating a crisis that is perhaps more extreme than anywhere else in the country, Roosevelt University researchers conclude in a new study.

Claiming that Chicago Public Schools routinely fails to properly evaluate young children for special education services, an advocacy group has filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Education. Equip for Equality, the state’s federally mandated watchdog for people with disabilities, said in its complaint that “hundreds of children between the ages of 3 and 5, who have been referred for evaluations, wait many months to receive a response to their request for an evaluation, or worse, never receive one.” The complaint includes 14 specific cases in which children did not receive timely evaluations, and Olga Pribyl, managing attorney for the group’s special education legal advocacy clinic, said they have information on hundreds of other such cases. “It’s a huge issue,” Pribyl said

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana this morning, according to the agency’s Web site . The warning is set to expire at 10:15 a.m. and will affect southeastern Cook County, northeastern Kankakee County, central Will County and Lake County in Indiana.

The body of a 26-year-old Blue Island man who served as a Calumet Township Trustee was found in a local park pool Saturday morning, an apparent victim of drowning, authorities said. Carlos Salgado, 26, of the 1800 block of High Street in the south suburb was declared dead at MetroSouth Medical Center at 9:15 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Salgado died in an apparent drowning at Memorial Park, 12804 Highland Avenue, in Blue Island , according to the office

President Barack Obama will visit Racine, Wis., next Wednesday to hold a town hall meeting on the economy, the White House announced today. Obama will flying into Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport around noon Wednesday, then go to Racine Memorial Hall in the southeast Wisconsin city for the town hall, which is scheduled to start a little after 1 p.m. The town hall is open to the public; tickets will be available at Racine’s Festival Hall, 5 Fifth Street, Racine, starting at 10 a.m

Three people were taken to hospitals, including a 16- and 8-year-old, following a traffic collision in the northwest suburb of Crystal Lake late Friday, according to police.

Long before the advent of the megabookstore, there was a place of pilgrimage for readers and writers on North Michigan Avenue, presided over by Stuart Brent, who was not merely a merchant but literature’s self-appointed local guardian.

A man from Sandwich who was one of three men charged in the drug overdose death of a Joliet woman was sentenced Friday to a six-year prison term. Kyle B.

A Chicago man died Thursday when he lost control of the reportedly stolen motorcycle he was riding in the North Austin neighborhood. Derek Hawkins, 30, of the 5600 block of West Cortland Street, crashed in the 1800 block of North Linder Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Hawkins was pronounced dead at 8:07 p.m.

A man who was charged in the fatal hit-and-run death of an 11-year-old girl said he was unaware that he hit anyone until he briefly stopped and fled the accident out of fear that he would be attacked when a crowd began forming, the man’s family said today. Carlos Rubio, 67, of the 2300 block of West 18th place was arrested about eight hours after Tuesday’s accident on the 2500 block of East 79th Street that killed Itali Hinton. Rubio was charged today with leaving the scene of a fatal accident, a felony.

The flooded Stevenson Expressway reopened in both directions shortly before 4:40 a.m., sparing the Chicago area from a potentially crippling morning rush. Separately, Commonwealth Edison said 90,000 of its customers still were without power this morning

Lightning strikes the Willis Tower in downtown Chicago as severe storms roll through the region on Wednesday (Tribune / Chris Sweda) MORE PHOTOS Tornado sirens were activated as a band of severe storms passed through the Chicago area this evening, bringing reports of 80 mph winds, local flooding and widely scattered damage. Flooding closed some area roads, including two Chicago -area expressways. As of 7:45 p.m., the Eisenhower was closed in both directions at Central Avenue due to flooding, said Illinois State Police Trooper Clare Pfotenhauer

As Chicago Public Schools layoffs loom in response to a roughly half-billion-dollar budget deficit, schools chief Ron Huberman is proposing to circumvent the teacher contract by placing “unsatisfactory” teachers on the chopping block ahead of those with lesser tenure.

Nearly a year after the Cook County Board passed a controversial ordinance allowing sheriff’s police to ticket pot smokers for minor possession instead of arresting them, police have yet to issue a single ticket.