Saturday Soapbox: Therapy dogs, had-butting hockey pucks
Sobering reminder on fire safety
Recent blazes that killed a woman in Palatine and destroyed houses in South Barrington and Barrington Hills are frightening reminders of how quickly fire can spread through a home. Take a minute to test your smoke detectors, change the batteries and see if you have enough of the devices. Plan an escape, too.
Seniors and their pets
It might be easy to overlook something as basic as helping seniors care for their pets. The bond is so strong, the elderly sometimes forgo their own sustenance to ensure a pet is well-fed. Proceeds from May 31 RunFurShelter in South Elgin will go to the Golden Diners program, a division of the Salvation Army that provides meals to seniors.
Top dog:
Ellie Rose is gentle, calm and obedient, which makes the 107-pound Bernese mountain dog a perfect companion to students at Peterson Elementary School in Naperville. Buoyed by a special-education teacher's glowing nomination letter and thousands of online votes, Ellie was named the top therapy dog in the nation by a pet-focused insurance company.
Top owner:
We think Ellie Rose's owner, Renee Cole, is pretty special, too. She accompanies Ellie on weekly visits to the school. The duo also make once-a-week visits to Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, visiting patients.
These teens will amaze you:
Congratulations to the 40 members of the 2015 Daily Herald Academic Team. These graduating seniors from across the suburbs have straight A's, top ACT and SAT scores and donate countless volunteer hours. We're thrilled to be able to honor our best and brightest.
Great milestone:
What you've got to like about A-May-Zing Mundelein's Annual Day of Caring is how it pulls the community together. The volunteer spring clean up event hosted by the village and police department, celebrated its 20th anniversary last weekend. Here's to another 20.
The scoop on Wrigley:
Cubs beat writer Bruce Miles did a nice report summing up what's working and what's not at the revamped Wrigley Field. Working: Videoboards and bleachers. Not so much: The ramps and sound system. Do you agree?
Pack a blanket:
If you plan to attend a College of DuPage meeting, come prepared for a long one. The new board this week picked apart the list of bills that normally is approved with a blanket vote and asked administrators to explain the bills one by one.
Heads-up play:
Let's get this straight: You can score a goal by purposely deflecting a puck off your skate or your leg - as long as you don't overtly kick it - but you can't head butt it in? C'mon, NHL. Olympics judges would have given Andrew Shaw's shot a 9.7 for technique. Good thing that callback didn't cost the Hawks Game 2.
One-long celebration:
It was way back in September when the Schaumburg Boomers captured their second straight Frontier League baseball title. Like many championship teams, they had to wait a while before raising a banner. That night finally came Friday, along with fireworks. Let's hope for more celebrations ahead.