Skokie Review News

• Updated 12/14: Almost 2 in 3 students need early tutoring
  

  Nearly two-thirds of all students at Evanston Township High School have been required to report to school early for morning tutoring sessions this fall under a new initiative to assist students at risk of receiving a D or F in one or more courses.

• Cabbies seek parking ban leeway
  

  Skokie taxi drivers say that dozens of drivers will still be burdened by Skokie's ban on commercial vehicle parking despite new compromises meant to ease their hardship.

• Trustees continue tax levy freeze
  

  The Village Board's tentative 2007 tax levy of nearly $15.5 million should have a familiar ring to it for residents who have been paying attention.

• Creative Kids Corner finds new Skokie home
  Anniversaries sometimes have a way of sneaking up with little warning. Creative Kids Corner, where children are introduced to music and art and other life skills, where they dance and move and expand their imaginations, where some even learn to cook and speak another language, really has two anniversaries to celebrate. The first is a 10th anniversary, which recently passed by with little fanfare, said Creative Kids Corner Director Linda Kusel.
• Ice storms tell us winter has arrived
  

  Several ice storms have forced Skokie public works crews to dip into their supply of salt as winter has entered the area in a different way than last year.

• Evanston schools foresee slower rise in tax revenue
  

  Evanston school officials expect property tax revenue to rise at a slower clip next year, thanks largely to a drop in the inflation rate that sets tax caps.

• New village 'green' committee sets ambitious goals for itself
  

  Mayor George Van Dusen's newly-appointed Sustainable Environmental Advisory Committee has set an ambitious course for itself, which is likely to include months of education before serious recommendations are made.

• Girl Scouts pack sacks with holiday kindness
  The youngsters in Lincolnwood Girl Scout Troop 1500, from the youngest Daisies to their Junior age sisters, know that this time of year can mean getting presents, celebrating festivals and in general having a good time. They are also learning to pass some of that joy along by creating gifts to give people who otherwise might be bereft during the holidays.
• Board reluctant to borrow for tech needs
  

  District 65 School Board members expressed reservations Monday about using borrowed funds to finance technology -- a shift Superintendent Hardy Murphy has been urging for months as a way to free up cash in the operating funds.

• Police Blotter
  
• Library hosts registration drive
  

  The Skokie Public Library and State Representative Lou Lang's office will facilitate a voter registration drive Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. in the west library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie.

• Meeting Notes
  

  The Skokie Village Board took the following actions at last week's regular board meeting.

• Obituaries
  Loretta Corrigan
• Updated 12/12: Evanston schools foresee slower rise in tax revenue
  

  Evanston school officials expect property tax revenue to rise at a slower clip next year, thanks largely to a drop in the inflation rate that sets tax caps.

• Updated 12/12: Library hosts registration drive
  

  The Skokie Public Library and State Representative Lou Lang's office will facilitate a voter registration drive Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. in the west library, 5215 Oakton St., Skokie.

• Updated 12/10: Hamos, Schoenberg schedule town hall meeting next month
  

  State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-9th, and state Rep. Julie Hamos, D-18th, have scheduled a town hall meeting for next month so constituents can help them set their 2008 legislative agenda.

• Updated 12/7: Man, 44, struck, killed by car while crossing Skokie street
  

  A 44-year-old Chicago man was struck and killed by a car Thursday night while he was trying to cross the 3900 block of Golf Road in Skokie.

• Care packages let troops know they're missed
  

  The men and women of America's armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan face danger on patrols, loneliness and more than occasional discomfort as they fulfill their duty.

• Hyde achieved much in 40 years as legislator
  Given the choice, Henry Hyde, who died early Nov. 29, would have been a congressman 14 years sooner. He made his first run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1962 against incumbent Roman C. Pucinski. He wasn't successful. But he didn't give up hope.
• District 219 appoints member to its board
  

  A Skokie resident with a career in education is the newest member of the Niles Township High School District 219 board.

• New retail development OKd for Touhy Avenue
  

  Plans for a new Touhy Avenue shopping center highlighted by a fitness center and a grocery store cleared final hurdles Monday when Village Trustees unanimously approved the site plan and other ordinances associated with the project.

• Elegy for a showman
  Danny Newman, Lyric Opera of Chicago's beloved, ebullient press agent from its first days in 1954 until his retirement in 2002, died in his Lincolnwood home Saturday. He was 88 and the cause was pulmonary fibrosis.
• Teddy bear care dispels kids' ER fear
  If these children ever need medical care, they'll know that they don't have to be scared now that they've seen some of their best friends get better. Their friends may not be human -- in fact, they're all teddy bears -- but that doesn't dilute the lessons that they learn. "This is a great opportunity for kids to learn about safety," said registered nurse Rita George, Emergency Services Manager at Rush North Shore.
• Courthouse deputy sheriff continues giving tradition
  

  Cook County Deputy Sheriff Michael Wronkowski doesn't set goals when he collects food, toys and gift certificates for his annual drive in the courthouse parking lot.

• Meeting Notes
  

  At their Nov. 26 meeting, members of the Niles Township High School District 219 board undertook the following actions:

• District 68 board declines to adopt silent moment policy
  

  At one time the Skokie School District 68 Board was prepared to reluctantly develop a policy that calls for a moment of silence in classrooms as mandated for all state schools.

• Empty Bowls fundraiser Saturday is a reminder of homeless plight
  

  Buy a ceramic bowl, fill it with soup, eat it and contemplate the homeless.