Illinois

Prosecutors have frozen the bank accounts of the wife of a northern Illinois police officer who authorities say killed himself after years of embezzling from a police-sponsored youth program.  Attorneys for Melodie Gliniewicz say she can't pay her mortgage, medical bills and other expenses because of a freeze order on her accounts. The freeze went into effect a day after Fox Lake Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz's suicide and thefts were revealed.  

Illinois authorities are urging hunters to be safe as firearm deer-hunting season gets underway.  The seven-day season starts Friday for a three-day period. A final four-day period starts Dec. 3.   The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says there were 20 hunting accidents in all of 2014, with two deaths. Ten of the incidents involved falling tree stands.  IDNR Director Wayne Rosenthal says this is the busiest hunting season of the year. He adds the best way to enjoy it ``is to be aware, be alert and be safe.''  
 

Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg will suspend adult education classes Jan. 1 because of the state budget crisis.  College President Lori Sundberg says the state-funded adult education, English as a second language, and literacy programs are up in the air because lawmakers in Springfield have been unable to agree on a spending plan. Sundberg says the school is the "sole provider''; there are no other places in the area for coursework. Sandberg remains a testing site for the GED.  

More items seized from the former Dixon comptroller who was convicted of stealing nearly $54 million from the northern Illinois city will be auctioned off. The second online auction of items that once belonged to Rita Crundwell will begin Tuesday. A recent auction of an English riding saddle, spurs and other items raised nearly $47,000 and the next auction that runs through Dec. 1. will include Crundwell's collection of belt buckles. A sealed bid auction is also underway for Crundwell's horse show trophies. Auction proceeds will go to the city.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has postponed the Nov. 18 budget summit because a family matter will prevent House Speaker Michael Madigan from attending. Rauner deputy chief of staff Mike Schrimpf says that the meeting will instead be held Dec. 1 in Springfield. The change came shortly after Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, released a statement saying he needed to attend an out-of-state family funeral next week. Schrimpf offered the governor's condolences. The much-anticipated meeting will be the first time in months that the Republican governor and the four legislative leaders have met.

Bloomington police are investigating the death of a man who was found on the city's south side Sunday. Shortly before 1 p.m., police responding to a well-being check found a 49-year old man unresponsive on gravel in the 400 block of South Madison street. He died less than two hours later.

McLean County Coroner Kathy Davis says the man died from blunt force trauma following an apparent fall. The victim's name is being withheld pending notification of relatives. The coroner's office and Bloomington police continue to investigate.

The Bloomington Police Department says victims of a series of recent burglaries are invited to claim their property. Earlier this week three men were arrested during a burglary, and police say they recovered what they believe is loot from 21 other robberies. The series of burglaries occurred between September and October. The recovered property will be at the Police Department Monday between noon at 7:30pm for victims to claim. An ID will be required.

The number of Illinois patients approved to use medical marijuana continues to climb as dispensaries get ready to sell the drug for the first time.  The Illinois Department of Public Health announced Wednesday it has approved 3,300 patients to use medical marijuana in the state's pilot program. That includes 20 children.

A special prosecutor in southwestern Illinois will review a levee district's repeated use of an auto body shop owned by its president. Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons is seeking the independent review of the business relationship between the Metro East Sanitary District and Andy's Auto Body & Towing, a Madison company owned by district president Andy Economy. The district's executive director crashed his government-owned SUV five times in the past three years.

Three insurers have sued Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs over an attempt to seek records on life insurance policies. Frerichs said Monday an audit was sought to find unpaid death benefits because returning unclaimed property is part of his office's mission. Frerichs says beneficiaries might be unaware policies exist. The information received would be checked against a federal death database. The lawsuit filed last week in Sangamon County argues the treasurer doesn't have such authority; benefits are paid if there's a claim and proof of death. The insurers are Chicago-based Kemper Corp.

A Cook County judge says he will rule Nov. 6 in a custody battle involving a central Illinois woman who's fighting a state agency's decision to take away her three children. Illinois child-welfare workers took Amanda Ware's three children last year after learning that in 2003 three of her other children drowned. Those children _ ages 6, 3, 2 _ died when the car they were in rolled into a central Illinois lake. Ware, then known as Amanda Hamm, served five years in prison for child endangerment. Her then-boyfriend Maurice LaGrone was convicted of their murders and is serving a life sentence.

A judge has found a central Illinois man fit to go to trial on charges he left his 6-month-old baby daughter to die by abandoning her in a bean field. Champaign County Judge Tom Difanis entered the finding Tuesday for Thomas Boitnott. It means he is now able to understand the charges against him and work with his attorney on his defense. The 24-year-old St. Joseph man was charged in June with attempted murder, child abduction and possession of a stolen vehicle. Authorities say he snatched the baby girl from her mother's St. Joseph apartment. She reported the baby missing.

Peoria police have arrested two more suspects in the slaying of a 14-year-old Peoria boy who was shot to death during a home invasion this month. 18-year-old Kiangelo G. Marshall and a 17-year-old whose identity was not released because of his age were arrested Thursday in Fulton County by the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Both were charged with murder and home invasion - the same charged facing four other suspects who had previously been arrested. The other suspects have appeared in court and their bonds were each set at $2 million. Tommie T.

A 50-year old man arrested for soliciting an underage boy for sex in Decatur is a recent applicant to be McLean County Coroner. Police reports indicate Vincent C. Peters was arrested after allegedly posting an ad on Craiglist seeking a young male for sex. Peters was arrested after an on line conversation with a Decatur Police Detective posing as a fifteen year old boy led to a physical meeting.

Officers say Peters acknowledged he intended to meet the boy for sex. His current residence is in Clinton but he listed a Bloomington residence last year on his application to be Coroner.