Briefs: 'Crazy' author to speak

Pete Earley, a former Washington Post reporter and fiction writer, will be the guest speaker for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill's speaker series today at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. Earley is the author of several books about uncloaked spies as well as seven novels. He will focus on his book, "Crazy -- A Father's Journey Through America's Mental Health Madness." The book is about Earley's son, who has schizophrenia and found himself in prison after going off his medication and breaking into a neighbor's home. He was discovered in the home taking a bubble bath. Earley's personal experience led him to investigate the problems of people with mental illness caught in the cycle of mediation, hospitals and the legal system. Earley will speak at 1 p.m. at the college in honor of Mental Awareness Week.

Two DuPage judges tapped

The Illinois Supreme Court has filled two vacancies in the 18th Judicial District. An associate judge, John J. Kinsella, has ascended to the circuit bench to fill a vacancy. Kinsella is a former 23-year criminal prosecutor, last serving as first assistant, who left the office in 2003 to be a judge. Justices also appointed Richard M. Stock to the other circuit vacancy. Stock was former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan's chief of staff from 1998 to 2002, when he went into private practice. He joined the office in 1995 after an 18-year career as a prosecutor in Cook in DuPage. Both men must run in the November 2008 election to keep their posts.

Police hunt burglars

Naperville Crime Stoppers is offering up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the recent theft of 18 coils of copper cable and 150 pieces of copper tubing valued near $5,500. Authorities said Friday that burglars cut a chain on a fence outside a construction site sometime on Oct. 5 or 6 at Tabor Hills, 1439 McDowell Road, and removed the items from an unlocked building. A truck or van would have been needed to haul the heavy items. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (630) 420-6006. Callers may remain anonymous and still collect the reward.

Alderman co-sponsors bill

Aurora Eighth Ward Alderman Chris Beykirch said Friday he'll co-sponsor a parental notification ordinance. The proposal, introduced Thursday by Fourth Ward Alderman Rick Lawrence, requires doctors to notify a parent or guardian at least 48 hours in advance of doing any kind of medical procedure on anyone younger than 18. The plan is expected to be discussed at the city's next government operations committee meeting at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at the alderman's office, 60 E. Downer Place. "The idea that anyone licensed to practice medicine would want to perform a medical procedure on a minor without prior consent and approval of that minor's parent or guardian is incomprehensible to me," Beykirch said in a release.