Briefs: Hospital briefly loses power
Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights lost power in some of its buildings between 10 and 11 a.m. Thursday. At no time during the outage were patients at risk, hospital officials said. During the outage, surgeries were postponed and ambulances transported non-critical patients to other hospitals. The outage occurred when a transformer began burning on a local ComEd utility pole. Two primary ComEd lines feed the hospital building. However when the main line failed, the automatic switch to the secondary line didn't occur due to a blown fuse. Emergency generators started immediately to power key areas of the hospital, such as surgical units and labor and delivery. A ComEd crew arrived and manually switched the main power to the secondary line. The areas of the hospital campus affected by the outage included the hospital's main building, day surgery center, north pavilion and Busse Center for Specialty Medicine.
Man accused of abuse
A 21-year-old Streamwood man accused of molesting the 5-year-old daughter of a friend remained in jail Thursday after his bond was set at $150,000 the day before. Jorge Marquez, of the 100 block of David Drive, was charged Tuesday with predatory criminal sexual assault. Streamwood police Cmdr. Randy Hart said Marquez was arrested Monday after the mother of the victim reported that the girl had claimed to be molested on two occasions during April and May. Marquez's next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 14 in the Cook County courthouse in Rolling Meadows.
Alert system to be tested
Today, the village of North Barrington will conduct its first test call of the newly implemented Connect-CTY alert notification system. The service allows local officials to create and disseminate rapidly important messages to every telephone number and e-mail address stored in the village's database. All primary residential phones in North Barrington will automatically be included in the system and should receive a message today indicating a test is in progress. However, residents have the option of providing up to the three phone numbers and two e-mail addresses for the system by visiting northbarrington.org. Those without internet access can call (847) 381-6000.
Flyers back-to-school deal
The Schaumburg Flyers is featuring a special ticket offer for kids heading back to school. Monday, anyone with a student ID can purchase a reserved seat ticket to the Flyers game against the Gary Southshore Railcats for $5. The regular price for a reserved seat ticket is $9.50. Students are encouraged to wear their school colors. The school with the most attendees will receive a prize package from the Flyers to include an Alexian Field facility rental, a suite rental for a game during the 2007 or 2008 season and a 50-person group outing for a 2008 game. Make sure to identify your school when you purchase your tickets for the 7:05 p.m. game on Monday. For more information, call the Flyers at (847) 891-2255.
Dist. 211 studies TV option
The Palatine-Schaumburg District 211 school board voted Thursday to explore broadcasting its meetings on local cable television. Suggested by board member Bill Lloyd as a way to give the public a better idea of how the district works, the item will appear for discussion on the Sept. 20 meeting agenda. The board wants to know about expenses and how other municipalities deal with liabilities. Board member Susan Kenly-Rupnow said the board could edit footage in certain situations, including if someone said an obscenity.