10 stories you might have missed this weekend

1. When her husband's hospital room windows looked out on a drab rooftop, Shelly Lawler decided to create a change of scenery. Now she transforms windows into art for others.

2. “Tell me what you think I don't know,” U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk says as he sits down with a group of former heroin users in Addison. He's one of many local politicians seeking answers to the problem.

3. Been putting off a long road trip? Now might be the time to pack up and hit the highway as gas prices have fallen below $2 a gallon at some suburban stations.

4. The hockey world continues to mourn the passing of Blackhawks Blackhawks assistant equipment manager Clint Reif, who died in his Lombard home Dec. 21. the latest tributes took place at a minor league game in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Reif went to high school, as well as over social media.

5. The St. Charles North High School Drill Team, with 15 consecutive Team Dance Illinois State Championships under its belt, is about to perform on its biggest stage yet: The Orange Bowl.

6. John Gaines, 74 — businessman, outdoorsman and husband of Jean Gaines, the president of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce — was found dead Friday in a creek on the golf course.

7. Former Libertyville High School basketball star Jack Lipp, a freshman at the University of Missouri, has died after being in critical condition since a fall from a balcony during a Dec. 13 party.

8. At least $2,000 in damage was caused in a Christmas Eve burglary at a Round Lake Area Unit District 116 school, officials said.

9. No matter how long a school had been deemed “failing” under the No Child Left Behind education act of 2001, it has shed that label now and gained freedom from several mandates.

10. An American Staffordshire terrier dumped at a Grayslake-area no-kill pet shelter in late 2003 is back where he started after recently landing in a Long Island facility and once again seeking a new home.

Bonus: The Bears accomplished a rare double: Becoming as unlikeable as they were unsuccessful, sports writer Mike Imrem says.