July 2009

Heat contributed to woman’s death

By Admin on July 31, 2009

The hot weather contributed to the death of a 75-year-old woman, whose body was found Thursday in her South Side home, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said today.

In addition to heat stress, Dorothy Posey died of heart disease and chronic alcoholism, the medical examiner’s office said.

She was found dead at her home in the 8400 block of South Ashland Avenue on Thursday.

–Staff report

Suburban man killed by forklift

By Admin on July 31, 2009

Channel 2 reports: Carl Muehlfelder, 51, of Harvard was killed Thursday when a forklift fell on him at a repair shop in Elk Grove Village.

Get the full story: cbs2chicago.com

Observations from the Bears first practice

By Admin on July 31, 2009

The Bears officially started training camp today with Charles Tillman sidelined following back surgery and Marcus Harrison sitting out with weight issues. Here’s what else … >>> Camp tweets

Web site helps time mid-movie bathroom breaks

By Admin on July 31, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) — The mid-movie dash to the restroom can turn us into calculating Usain Bolt wannabes: Ah, this looks like a lull — time to dash.

Lawsuit filed in prisoner’s drug-related death

By Admin on July 31, 2009

Central Illinois resident Brian Parks, 38, who had long struggled with his addiction to prescription pain medication, was sent to Stateville prison outside Joliet in 2007 after being arrested for a violation of his work release.

Two months later, the Pekin man was found dead inside his cell, about a day after a prison doctor to whom he’d complained about back pain handed him a pack containing 30 pills of Tramadol, a prescription pain medication he was addicted to, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Will County circuit court and the inquest report.

 

The cause of the Aug. 1, 2007 death was Tramadol intoxication, according to the inquest. Investigators found only 10 of 30 the pills in his cell.

 

Elizabeth Green, Parks wife, told the coroner’s jury in 2007 that Parks was addicted to Vicodin and Tramadol, had been jailed at least three times for drug offenses and had been hospitalized before after overdosing. She said her husband would often complain of pain to get his hands on the drugs.

 

“I don’t understand why they would give an addict pills while he’s in there for being a prescription drug addict,” she said, according to a transcript.

 

The wrongful death lawsuit names Wexford Health Services, Inc. – the Pittsburgh-based firm that contracts for health care at Statesville. It alleges the medication was given to Parks by Dr. Constantine Peters.

 

“Literally you’ve taken the thing that’s this guys private nightmare and given it to him,” said Michael Clancy, the family’s attorney.

 

Clancy said private medical providers find it cost-effective to dispense such drugs in volume rather than assigning a nurse to hand inmates a cup with their medications.

 

A spokeswoman for Wexford declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit, but issued a statement.”Our policies and procedures are based on nationally accepted industry standards, and comply with all applicable state and federal regulations for inmate care.”

 

A spokeswoman for the department of corrections, which was not named in the lawsuit, also declined to comment.

 

At the 2007 inquest, Dorothy Culkin, a department of corrections investigator, testified that she did “substantiate charges” against two prison guards for failing to follow the prison’s procedures for checking on inmates.

 

–Steve Schmadeke

Hail and farewell, Michelle Kwan; a wider world awaits

By Admin on July 31, 2009

Three executives replaced at Huron; earnings to be restated

By Admin on July 31, 2009

Three executives at Chicago-based management consultancy Huron Consulting Group, including CEO Gary Holdren, have resigned as the company announced Friday it is restating financial statements for three fiscal years.

Where no man has gone before: Astronaut wears high-tech undies for a month straight

By Admin on July 31, 2009

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — In what might embarrass less adventurous souls, astronaut Koichi Wakata is returning to Earth with the underwear he kept on for a solid month during his space station stay and scientists will check them out.

$1 million bail for man in killing of newborn

By Admin on July 31, 2009

Bail was set at $1 million today for an estranged husband charged Thursday with first-degree murder for allegedly kicking his wife atop a third-floor porch during a fight, causing her to lose hold of her newborn son, who then fell over a railing to his death.

Jason Range, 20, was arrested Wednesday by Chicago police at an office as he was picking up a certificate for taking an anger-management class, several law-enforcement sources said.

Range had been charged with criminal damage to property in an unrelated case and needed the certificate to take to a court hearing, according to court records and one of the sources.

He allegedly smashed his aunt’s car with a tire iron and slashed the car tires last February, the court records show.

Range, who lives in the 8200 block of South Maryland Avenue, was charged with murder in the death Sunday of 5-week-old Jeremiah, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Jeremiah’s mother had gone to Range’s home to pick up the baby, and she and Range got into a fight inside the apartment. Range was angry that Jeremiah’s mother arrived at the home with two individuals, according to court records.

When one of the two individuals who accompanied Range’s wife intervened, he was stabbed and needed 9 stitches to his hand, court records stated.

Range allegedly wielded a knife and then kicked his wife in the back as she was walking onto the porch, police said.

 
Jeremiah was being carried by his mother in a car seat — unsecured — when Range allegedly kicked her, police said. The baby slipped from the car seat and dropped from the third floor to the ground, they said. Range made a videotaped admission to his involvement in Jeremiah’s death.

Although Range was allegedly attacking his wife, first-degree murder charges would be appropriate under the doctrine of transferred intent, said Daniel Coyne, a clinical professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

“The doctrine … would allow charging an individual who had intended to do harm to an individual and did not accomplish that but instead inflicted harm on another,” Coyne said.

Range was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery in 2008 for allegedly threatening his wife with a knife and dragging her by her hair, court records show. The charge was later dropped.

 

–Annie Sweeney and Matthew Walberg

Cubs in good shape for stretch run | Hart gone

By Admin on July 31, 2009

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