Cook County briefs

Food pantry needs donations:

The Self-Help Closet & Pantry of Des Plaines is appealing to businesses, community groups and residents to schedule fall food drives for the pantry. The pantry has had a 25 percent rise in clients served in 2009 over 2008, with a monthly average of 1,000 clients compared to 800 last year. Registered clients can visit the pantry once a month to obtain nonperishable food and gently used clothing. The pantry is open for clients 12:30-3 p.m. Tuesdays and 10 a.m.-noon Saturdays. Donations are taken 9 a.m.-noon Mondays and Tuesdays and 9-10 a.m. Saturdays. The pantry, 600 E. Algonquin Road at Wolf Road, has served Des Plaines residents since 1971. To schedule a drive or tour the facility, call Debra Walusiak, community resource director, at (847) 337-1443.

Senior Lifestyle Expo:

A senior lifestyle expo will be held 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 2 and 3, at Drury Lane Theatre and Conference Center, Oakbrook Terrace. Entertainment, seminars, contests and giveaways. $3. For list of events, contests and times, call Kim Robery of the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging at (800) 528-2000 or (630) 293-5990 or e-mail expo@ageguide.org. Visit ageguide.org.

Wheeling man charged:

A Wheeling man faces up to a year in jail after police said he was caught driving drunk Saturday with his 3-year-old daughter in the back seat. Victor J. Yha, 35, of the 700 block of 7th Street, was charged with endangering the life and health of a child and driving under the influence, after a traffic stop about 10:07 p.m. Saturday near Elm and Third streets in McHenry. Court documents state Yha was driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.12 percent. Yha also was charged with violating a condition of bond because his wife, whom he had been accused of committing a domestic battery against earlier this month, also was in the car. As a condition of Yha's bond on that charge, he was to have no contact with her. Yha remained in the McHenry County jail Monday unable to post $500 bond.

Get a pass, visit a museum:

Macy's is teaming with the Metropolitan, DuPage and North Suburban library systems for the Museum Adventure Pass program, which gives suburban library cardholders free passes to local museums, zoos and historical sites. As of Tuesday, Sept. 1, the Museum Adventure Pass will be available at 152 public libraries. Cardholders can get complimentary passes redeemable for two to four admissions to 17 museums, including Brookfield Zoo, Chicago Botanic Garden, Kohl Children's Museum and more. If admission is free daily, another offer is available. Each Museum Adventure Pass expires within one week of the checkout date. For details visit or call a public library in the Metropolitan, DuPage and North Suburban Library System, or visit museumadventure.org.

Garrett holds tollway hearing:

State Sens. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) and Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston) will hold a hearing Sept. 9 to discuss tollway operations, including the most recent foreclosure suit filed against the operators of seven Tollway Oases. The hearing will begin at 11 a.m. in Room 16-503 of the James R. Thompson Center, Chicago. iStar Financial is foreclosing on the oases because operator Wilton Partners defaulted on an $82 million construction loan. Wilton made an agreement in 2003 with the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to raze existing oases, build new ones and rent them out, paying the tollway a yearly fee.

Two chosen for arts panel:

Laurie Mitchell, director of special events and volunteer programs for Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, and Janet Souter, author and former Daily Herald employee, have been nominated to the Arlington Heights Arts Commission. Village President Arlene Mulder introduced the two to the village board Monday at a committee of the whole meeting. At least two members have left the commission over a controversial opinion from the village's legal office that members cannot exhibit in any event sponsored by the commission. The name of a third member has been removed from the village's online list of members; a fourth member is moving out of town. The commission is authorized to have nine members. Resumes from people who want to serve are being accepted, said Mulder.