Briefs: Tollway lane closures
Tollway lane closures
Two southbound lanes on the Tri-State Tollway at the Kelly Road bridge will close today at 8 p.m. for bridge demolition. All lanes will reopen at 5 a.m. The same closures are planned for Thursday evening. Reconstruction of the southbound lanes from Russell Road to Brand Avenue is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. The northbound lanes will be rebuilt next year. In another portion of the project, one northbound lane between Golf Road and Lake-Cook Road will close at 7 p.m. tonight, with a second lane closing at 10 p.m. All lanes will re-open at 5 a.m. Thursday.
Harbor help rejected
The Waukegan City Council on Monday stood firm in its rejection of more than $23 million in federal funds for the clean up of its Lake Michigan harbor. The city included provisions in a proposed agreement with the federal government to guarantee the remaining harbor business would be removed. The city says it would not contribute to the local match of more than $12 million for the clean up without that guarantee, as it is in keeping with a master plan for the lakefront. Federal officials say that issue has nothing to do with the actual work and has said it would shift the funds to other Great Lakes communities.
Public hearing on outages
A public hearing is set for Sept. 4 on Commonwealth Edison's emergency response process. The hearing, called by state Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat, is at 10:30 a.m. at the Des Plaines Public Library, 1501 Elinwood St. Garrett says she wants to know how outage areas are prioritized, what resources the utility has available and how citizens can get access to accurate information. Municipal leaders, elected officials, and ComEd representatives will be on hand.
Stevenson scores
Stevenson High School showed improvement in all three areas of the Prairie State Achievement Examination this year, school officials announced. More than 84 percent of students met or exceeded state standards in reading, mathematics and science. The best performance was seen in mathematics, where 86.3 percent of current seniors met or topped state standards, almost 3 percentage points better from 2006. In reading, 84.5 percent of those tested matched or improved state standards (up from 84.3 in 2006), while 84.1 percent did so in science, up about 2 percentage points from last year.
Long Grove looks at codes
The village of Long Grove is looking to adopt several codes on fire prevention and property maintenance. Several residents at the village's Tuesday board meeting said they were concerned about some issues with neighbors that the village does not have control over. Residents cited overgrowth and fences on property lines that caused noise issues or created problem for fire trucks.