Briefs:Derailment causes delays

A freight train derailment near Antioch early Thursday caused temporary delays on Metra, officials said. The freight train carrying coal was headed to Green Bay, Wis., on Canadian National Railway tracks when a car left the rails about 5:45 a.m. The train car, one of 114, remained upright, CN spokesman Jim Kvedaras said. No injuries were reported. Commuters traveling on Metra's North Central line between Chicago and Antioch faced delays of 18 minutes. Meanwhile Thursday morning, a broken rail on the Union Pacific Northwest line near Fox River Grove also caused longer commutes than usual.

Park worker killed on job

Authorities said a Joliet Park District mechanic is dead after being crushed by a piece of heavy machinery near a maintenance shed at a district golf course. Fifty-year-old Voyle Williams was pronounced dead at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet. Police Chief Fred Hayes said Williams was crushed Tuesday by the bucket of a dirt-moving machine. Williams was working on the equipment at Woodruff Golf Course at the time of the accident. Authorities said the bucket was raised and was supposed to be locked by a safety mechanism, but it fell and crushed Williams.

Scammers target seniors

Senior citizens on Chicago's Southwest Side are being targeted by thieves posing as utility workers. Police said the scam begins when one man rings a victim's doorbell claiming to be a water department employee who must check the homeowner's pipes in the basement. When the victim escorts the man to the basement, another man enters the home and ransacks the house for money, jewelry, credit cards and other valuables. Police advised residents not to open their doors to people identifying themselves as city or utility employees unless they have requested service.

Ice jams cause flooding

Flooding caused by ice jams on two rivers is threatening homes in northern Illinois. Officials said the rising Rock River has forced people to leave seven homes in Winnebago County's Machesney Park. Meanwhile, flooding on the Kankakee River is threatening more than 30 homes in Wilmington in Will County. Authorities are pumping warm water from the Dresden Nuclear Power Plant Cooling Lake into the Kankakee River to melt the ice. The National Weather Service said ice jams can be unpredictable and cause water levels to rise suddenly.

Blue Man Group sued

Audience participation is a staple of the Blue Man Group. But apparently, one audience member attending the Chicago show said he believes cast members took their surreal antics too far by forcing a video camera down his throat during a performance in October 2006. James Srodon of California filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the group. The lawsuit alleges the Blue Man actors circled him, held his neck and arms and "forced his head back" to insert the camera. It claims he was restrained from removing the camera from his mouth. "At the time the 'esophagus cam' was inserted into plaintiff's mouth, it was covered in food, liquid and grime from the Briar Street Theatre floor, including the thick blue paint used to cover the actors' faces," the lawsuit says. Srodon is seeking damages of more than $50,000 for battery, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. He contends the camera injured his mouth, throat and dental work.

Retrial bid denied

In a 2-1 decision Wednesday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a bid by Michael Evans for a retrial of a lawsuit against 10 Chicago police officers he holds responsible for his wrongful conviction in the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl. Evans was convicted of the January 1976 abduction, rape and strangling of Lisa Cabassa and served 27 years in prison. He was freed in 2003 after DNA tests arranged by the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University in Evanston showed that neither Evans nor his co-defendant, Paul Terry, could have raped the girl. Evans later filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against the 10 police officers, alleging they framed him. He was seeking as much as $60 million in damages. But in August 2006, the nine-member jury in the court of U.S. District Judge David H. Coar ruled in favor of the detectives and police officials who arrested Evans and helped put him behind bars.