The briefs: Battery charges dropped

Battery charges dropped

Misdemeanor battery charges have been dropped against a developer accused of fondling a waitress. A 36-year-old woman who was working as a waitress for a special event for men at the Park Ridge Country Club, 636 N. Prospect Ave., accused Bruce J. Adreani of touching her buttocks and breasts. Adreani of Northbrook is president of Norwood Builders. The woman failed to appear in court last week so charges were dropped, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office said Friday. Adreani's lawyer had said the touching was consensual.

Schaumburg land sale

Schaumburg has sold the site of its recently demolished former fire station at 1459 W. Schaumburg Road to Centrum Properties Inc. for $600,000. Centrum Properties also owns the adjacent Schaumburg Plaza. Village Manager Ken Fritz said Centrum's expansion of Schaumburg Plaza would represent the best possible use of the site, but the village hasn't yet received a formal development proposal.

Flu hospitalizes Krause

Republican state Rep. Carolyn Krause from Mount Prospect entered the hospital Friday morning due to the flu, one of her aides said. She's suffering from dehydration and will be in the hospital for the next two days, said legislative aide Evelyn Osowski. In July, Krause announced she wouldn't seek another term. Krause, who served as Mount Prospect mayor from 1977 to 1989, defeated then-state Rep. David Harris of Arlington Heights in the 1992 Republican primary after a newly drawn electoral map gave her an opening to run.

Holiday concert planned

The Northwest Festival Orchestra will hold its gala holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Performing Arts Center of Harper College, 1200 Algonquin Road, Palatine. Hermine Gagné of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will serve as concertmistress. Steven Larsen, music director of the Rockford Symphony, will join artistic director and resident conductor Verne Schwager on the podium, directing more than 60 professional musicians. Soprano Emily Lyday, mezzo-soprano Sarah Ponder, tenor Jay Decker, and Schaumburg baritone Charles Martin will perform in holiday works by Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Humperdinck and others. Tickets can be purchased at the door ($25 adult / $15 student) or in advance at (847) 392-9003 or (847) 925-6100 for credit-card orders.

Village minutes released

Hoffman Estates Mayor William McLeod said previously unreleased minutes from closed sessions will be made available to the public by the middle of next week. The once-sealed minutes from January 2004 to January 2007 will be available at the village clerk's office, McLeod said Wednesday. Some of the minutes have information blacked out, as topics including personnel issues are still deemed sensitive, McLeod said. Under state law, municipalities must review executive session minutes twice a year.