Dawn Patrol: News you need as you walk out the door

<h3 class="briefHead">Breaking News</h3>

People are looking to the skies to see if a 6-ton satellite will fall on their head today. But, worry not, NASA said only a small portion of the satellite will make it through the reentry process, and those pieces will not land in North America. NASA officials are still trying to pin down the exact location of the remaining half-ton of space junk. Full story

<h3 class="briefHead">Weather</h3>

The first day of autumn is greeting people with chilly weather and a possible shower today. It'll be about mid-50s when you wake up and head out the door this morning, then it'll reach about 62 degrees this afternoon with a possible shower. Full weather.

<h3 class="briefHead">Traffic</h3>

Over all, traffic congestion seems to be reduced from earlier this week, though there are a few hot spots that are slowing things down, specifically the inbound Kennedy from the Tri-State to I-290 and I-55 from the Tri-State to US 41. Motorists should avoid Roosevelt and County Farm Road in Wheaton due to an accident. Full traffic.

<h3 class="briefHead">Cook property values down, but taxes rise</h3>

Although most property values in suburban Cook County have declined, property owners are facing higher property tax rates, which could be blamed on neighbors or businesses who won assessment reductions from the county's Board of Review. Cook County Clerk David Orr released the list of tax rates for schools, park district, municipalities and other government bodies yesterday showing virtually all are up. Nearly 380,000 assessments were appealed this year, the second highest number ever behind last year's 430,000. Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">Kane County homeowners want their assessments ... higher</h3>

While most homeowners calling the Kane County Board of Review hope for a lower property tax bill, the agency has been flooded with calls lately that their property assessments are falling. Those calls are coming from people looking to sell their homes at a certain price, while dropping neighboring assessments are making that price seem too steep. "When supply increases and demand does not, prices are going to go down in any market, including houses," said the county's Supervisor of Assessment. Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">David Axelrod stumps for Duckworth; Krishnamoorthi not intimidated</h3>

National politicians stepped into the race for the new 8th Congressional District yesterday as Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod voiced his support at a fundraiser for Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth, who is running against Raja Krishnamoorthi. Raja Krishnamoorthi, her primary opponent, is facing pressure from the outside and within the Democratic Party, but he's digging in his heels. He had already gained the support of many local Democrats before Duckworth joined the race. Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">Fermilab to help confirm discovery challenging Einstein's theory</h3>

News of a discovery that will rock the very basic principles of physics was released from Europe yesterday - that it may in fact be possible to travel faster than the speed of light. Researches said they collected data indicating a subatomic particle called a neutrino traveled 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light over a 454-mile trip. Although minuscule, that tiny fraction of a second could shatter Einstein's special theory of relativity. European researchers are asking physicists from around the world, including at the Fermilab in Batavia, to attempt to verify their findings. Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">New haunted house in Rosemont goes to another level</h3>

Want to know how it feels to be in the home of a real-life serial killer? Then Rosemont's new haunted house is the place to be this fall. Dubbed Screams In The Park at Rosemont, it's the latest attraction in the village's new $30 million restaurant and entertainment district under construction on village-owned property south of Muvico Theater, north of Balmoral Avenue, and east of the Tri-State Tollway. The gory haunted house opens Oct. 1. Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">Facebook unveils major redesign</h3>

Just a day after Facebook introduced changes to the look of its newsfeed and main page, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced major changes to its users' profile pages to create what he says is a "new way to express who you are." At the company's f8 conference in San Francisco Zuckerberg unveiled the Facebook "timeline," which will take the place of profiles by allowing users to create a virtual scrapbook of their life. Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">Barry Rozner recounts his favorite Buehrle memory</h3>

As rumors of this being Mark Buehrle's last season with the White Sox swirl, columnist Barry Rozner reminisces of his favorite memory of the ace pitcher. It is not the perfect game he tossed in 2009, not either of the two no-hitters on his resume, but a walk he made from the bullpen at Minute Maid Park in Houston at 12:45 a.m. Oct. 26. The walk to the mound with two outs in the bottom of the 14th with two on and two outs, a day after throwing 100 pitches in game two of the World Series. Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">Bears to use 3rd different O-line in three weeks</h3>

Heading into Sunday's matchup with the Green Bay Packers, the Bears sit in familiar territory at the top of the league in a fan favorite category - most sacks allowed. The Bears will start Sunday's game with their third different offensive line in as many weeks as rookie Gabe Carimi is out with a partially dislocated knee and Lance Louis is recovering from a sprained ankle. "We're two games in," said Jay Cutler. "I don't think there's any reason for anybody to hit the panic button. Those guys are going to be fine. They're working fine. They're doing what they have to do. We just have to help them out some." Full Story.

<h3 class="briefHead">Hawks to dress top talent vs. Capitals</h3>

Fans of Blackhawks top line regulars Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Dave Bolland and Niklas Hjalmarsson will most likely get a chance to see them take the ice tonight for the first time this year in the Hawks' third preseason game versus the Washington Capitals. Starting goalie Corey Crawford is expected to get the nod as coach Joel Quenneville looks to get the chemistry going again among his top talent. Veteran winger Andrew Brunette is expected to get a try in the top line with Toews and Kane to see how he fits in with the star forwards. Full Story

<h3 class="briefHead">Previewing this week's high school football games</h3>

It's football day in the suburbs, and our prep sports writers will tell you what to look for in our Friday previews. See stories, photos, video in the Daily Herald's Football Focus.

<h3 class="briefHead">Coming Sunday</h3>

You know how home improvement projects run long? Do they ever run 36 years? Cliff McIlvaine has been working on projects at his house for that long, and the city of St. Charles is putting its foot down. But McIlvaine isn't giving in that easily. He's a perfectionist who believes he's doing much better work than city regulations require. See the story in Sunday's Daily Herald and here on dailyherald.com.

<h3 class="briefHead">Coming Monday: Weekend in Review</h3>

And if you miss that and all the other suburban news from the weekend, come back here to dailyherald.com for the Weekend in Review, a roundup of the stories we covered Saturday and Sunday.