Dawn Patrol: Quick hits as you walk out the door

Naperville man sentenced to life in prison

A Naperville man currently serving a 57-year-jail sentence in Illinois, will spend the rest of his life behind bars in Texas after he was found guilty of abusing a child there. Stephen Silvey, 50, was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday on charges that he abused the 7-year-old Texas girl. He is currently serving a sentence here of criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal abuse and possession of child pornography.

10-foot gator, python found in Crystal Lake basement

An anonymous tip led Crystal Lake police yesterday to a virtual zoo in the basement of a 35-year-old man's home, including a 10-foot alligator, a 9-foot python and a 5-foot caiman. Police said the man was cooperative and the three illegally kept animals were taken away by animal control. “The setup was fairly elaborate and well done,” said Deputy Police Chief Eugene Lowery. “It looked like he had all the basic necessities for the animals. It was clean and well built.” Full story.

Protesters to ‘Occupy Naperville'

Protesters plan to start an “Occupy Naperville” movement, which hopes to have a presence in downtown Naperville every Saturday until “corporate dominance over our government has ended.” The group will gather starting at 10 a.m. outside the PNC Bank at the corner of Ogden Avenue and Washington Street before a march. The “Occupy Naperville” movement echoes “Occupy Aurora” and “Occupy Elgin” events from last weekend, said Steve Alesch, a Warrenville Park District commissioner and head of the DuPage Green Party. Full story.

Large fire damages Batavia barn

Batavia fire investigators continue to investigate a blaze that caused about $100,000 in damage to a vacant barn last night. The fire, which broke out just after 7 p.m. at 2S303 Deerpath Road, took firefighters about 15 minutes to bring under control. When firefighters arrived, the 35-by-75-foot structure about 1,400 feet off the roadway was engulfed. No one was injured. Full story.

Batavia doctor wins Tri-Cities group's Barth Award

Sarah Kimber of Batavia was given the 27th William D. Barth Award for human services last night at TriCity Family Services' Partnership in Caring 2011 dinner in Geneva. After leaving her practice with Dr. Robert Reeder in St. Charles in 2002, Kimber offered her skills to the TriCity Health Partnership clinic in St. Charles. In the past decade, Kimber has logged more than 1,730 volunteer hours in seeing an estimated 4,500 patients at the clinic, which offers free medical care to the uninsured. Full story.

Cops: Man who busted out of McHenry Co. sheriff's car a ‘prolific' criminal

Police said yesterday the McHenry man who kicked out a back seat window of a sheriff's squad car Wednesday night was on the run for about 12 hours and was able to somehow escape from his handcuffs. James R. Henson, 44, was located yesterday morning while attempting to burglarize a ComEd building. “I've known him for at least 20 years; he's a prolific burglar and thief,” McHenry County undersheriff Andrew Zinke said. “Years ago he broke into several churches in the area. He's broken into schools, homes, stolen cars.” Full story.

Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was hiding in a pipe

The first dictator killed in the Middle East's “Arab Spring” movement was reportedly dragged from a drainage pipe where he was hiding an hour before his death. Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was killed yesterday two months after he was driven from power. President Barack Obama told the Libyan people, “You have won your revolution.” Libyan leaders must now create nearly all its institutions from scratch in the hopes of democracy. Full story.

Blackhawks beat Avs, Crawford solid in net

The Blackhawks continued their hot start to the season with a convincing 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, who are off to a solid start themselves, in Denver last night. Corey Crawford's 31 saves helped the Hawks sweep their two-game road trip. “We weathered the storm with him holding the fort early in the game when we were sloppy,” Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “He was strong all game long.” Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews scored for the Hawks. The Hawks are now 4-1-1. Full story.

Prep Primer: Get ready for this week's games

Kevin Schmit provides a thorough breakdown of DuPage County football, Jerry Fitzpatrick examines Bartlett's rise to annual excellence, and Patricia Babcock McGraw investigates the odd combination of three pairs of brothers in Lake Zurich's starting lineup. This and more in our weekly http://edit.dailyherald.com/article/20111021/sports/710219923/">Prep Primer

Rangers take lead in 9th, tie series 1-1

The Texas Rangers bats were quiet through 8 innings, but two sacrifice flies in the top of the 9th gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead to tie the series at 1 game apiece with the St. Louis Cardinals last night. #8220;It would have been hard,#8221; said Josh Hamilton of possibly facing being 0-2. #8220;We would have been comfortable going back to our place, having three games. They're just like we are, never say die.#8221; Full story.

Weather

The wind is gone, but a chill is definitely in the air this morning. Its cloudy but clear with highs in the 40s early this morning. Temperatures are expected to rise to about 53 degrees this afternoon, Accuweather says. Full weather.

Traffic

There's a bad accident on the outbound Eisenhower at York Road near Melrose Park that is blocking three lanes, so try and avoid the area or give yourself plenty of time if you need to use it. Otherwise, things are moving along fairly well, but people are urged to avoid construction on Cedar Lake Road from Rosedale Ct. to Rollins Road. Full traffic.