Top 10 stories of 2015 in Lake County

The death and disgrace of Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, a tornado that raced through the Grayslake area, completion of some big projects and the basketball expertise of a local teen were among the top stories in Lake County in 2015.

The following list was selected by Daily Herald staffers who cover Lake County from among scores of possibilities and are presented in no particular order.

Fall from grace

Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was found shot dead in a swampy area of the village the morning of Sept. 1, just minutes after he had radioed a vague description about chasing three men.

The death ignited a prolonged and intense manhunt by multiple agencies and an outpouring of community support, which included a lakeside vigil attended by several hundred well-wishers who hailed "GI Joe" as a hero. His death was national news.

Eventually, the facade unraveled. The death was ruled a suicide and it was determined the scene was staged. Gliniewicz apparently felt the heat of inquiries into the Fox Lake Law Enforcement Explorer youth program, which he founded and ran.

Money was stolen and village officials duped. Two months after it began, George Filenko, commander of the task force investigating the death, laid bare the details at a packed news conference televised live.

"Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community," Filenko said. "The facts of his actions proved he behaved for years in a manner completely contrary to the image he portrayed."

The fallout continues. The Explorer program has been temporarily disbanded as the investigation continues and the village is trying to restore trust in the police department.

Beating the odds

Twelve-year-old Sam Holtz of Hawthorn Woods knew how to pick winners but couldn't win himself. In April, he became a national sensation after beating 11.5 million entrants and tying for first in the ESPN Tournament Challenge, college basketball bracket contest. But there was a catch.

Because he was too young to enter the challenge, Holtz also wasn't eligible to enter a drawing for a $20,000 Best Buy gift card and a trip for two to the 2015 Maui Invitational college basketball tournament.

But he became a winner after all, with a trip for four at the Kaanapali Alii Resort in Maui awarded by Internet sports website Scout.com. Holtz also received two X-box One systems from Best Buy and a $20,000 college scholarship offer from ViSalus, a marketing company.

A mighty wind

It materialized quickly and was gone just as fast, but businesses and residents were scrambling in the aftermath of an EF-1 tornado that cut a narrow path across central Lake County.

The early-August twister cut a swath about 7½ miles long and 300 yards wide, according to the National Weather Service. The Pizza Place, a longtime business along Route 134 in Round Lake Park, was severely damaged, as was the roof at Grayslake Central High School. Countless trees were felled or damaged along the path, but remarkably no injuries were reported.

"It was probably only a minute or two, but it seemed like a lifetime," said Jean McCue, owner of The Pizza Place. "We lived through it unharmed. That's the important part."

Overdose antidote

Just after the New Year began, Deerfield police were noted as being the first department in Lake County to successfully use an anti-opiate drug to save the life of a heroin overdose victim.

The save actually had occurred a week earlier, on Christmas Day 2014. But even though the news was late getting out, the use of the naloxone by many departments became commonplace as police in 32 communities were trained and equipped with the antidote.

To start the program, the Lake County Health Department helped secure a donation of the anti-opiate worth about $1.4 million from Virginia-based kaleo Inc.

In September, officials recognized a second donation by kaleo of 3,000 hand-held automatic injectors to be used by police officers, who often are first on the scene of an overdose. The donation was worth an estimated $1.5 million. Officials at the time estimated 33 lives had been saved.

The Lake County Opioid Initiative, which began more than two years ago, also emphasizes treatment and education, combined with aggressive prosecution of drug dealers.

Closing the gap

The first segment of the Des Plaines River Trail was built in 1980, but it would take 35 years to close the final gap in what now is a continuous, 31.4-mile path crisscrossing the Des Plaines River from the top of Lake County to the bottom.

Creating the signature trail involved 142 land acquisitions over 53 years.

The groundwork for the last connection was set in 2014 when Gus Boznos, owner of the Par-King Skill Course on Milwaukee Avenue near Aptakisic Road in Lincolnshire, agreed after 20 years of overtures to sell a narrow strip of property along the west bank of the river.

Work involved the installation of a 500-foot steel wall in the riverbank to stabilize the trail in one of the trickiest sections built over the years. Campanella & Sons Inc. of Wadsworth was the general contractor for the first trail segment and also the last. Kevin Zupec, foreman for the current job, was a heavy equipment operator on the first.

"Did I think it would go all the way to Cook County? It never entered my mind," he said of the original work.

Big settlement

In March, Juan Rivera was joined by relatives and his attorneys at a news conference in Chicago to announce a $20 million settlement - believed to be the largest wrongful-conviction award in U.S. history.

Rivera was three times convicted of killing 11-year-old Holly Staker in Waukegan in 1992 before DNA evidence exonerated him. His was among six convictions in Lake County courts that have been reversed since 2010.

Rivera's case was one of Illinois' most notorious wrongful conviction cases. The settlement of the federal lawsuit amounted to $1 million for each of the nearly 20 years he spent behind bars. Lake County, Waukegan and towns that comprise the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force were named in the suit.

"I still would prefer my 20 years with my family than $20 million," Rivera, formerly of Waukegan, said at the time.

Top o' the morning

Students at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire can sleep in a while longer next year, as classes will start 25 minutes later.

The school board in October approved the measure intended to improve students' sleep habits. The school day starts at 8:05 a.m. now.

Pediatric health experts and activists nationwide are campaigning for later school-day starts, saying it improves student performance. Later start times also have led to fewer car accidents involving teenagers in those communities, experts have reported.

Stevenson isn't the only suburban high school to go for a later start. Maine Township High School District 207 did so in 2014 and Barrington High School shifted in 2013. Northwest Suburban High School District 214, Barrington District 220, Elgin Area District U-46, Naperville District 203 and Lincolnshire-Prairie View Elementary District 103 are among the suburban agencies that have studied delaying start times.

Shop til you drop

A ribbon cutting in late April at the new AMC Hawthorn 12 theater in Vernon Hills represented a palpable impact for village officials who waited more than 10 years for what the project represents.

The 1,200-seat theater opened as the centerpiece of an extensive $50 million renovation at Westfield Hawthorn mall village officials long had been seeking. Fueled, in part, with sales tax rebates that could amount to $13 million, the mall makeover is intended to solidify the village's vast commercial base and keep Vernon Hills at or near the top of retail sales in Lake County. The village instituted a quarter percent home rule sales tax to help offset the cost.

The expansion also included: the renovation of three mall entrances and creation of a fourth for AMC; several new restaurants, including Smashburger and Maggiano's Little Italy; a revamped food court; a Dave & Buster's restaurant/arcade; and, a comprehensive sign package.

Westfield is trying to rebrand the 1970s-era, 1.4 million-square-foot center as a destination for entertainment and dining, as well as shopping.

Justice for Justus

Seventeen year-old Justus Howell was shot and killed by Zion police in April, an action that a month later was ruled a justifiable homicide Lake County state's attorney Mike Nerheim.

Dozens of peaceful protesters took to the streets of Waukegan seeking "Justice for Justus," but fear that more than 2,000 people would descend on the city led officials to close county government offices early.

The surge didn't materialize but participants in a small but emotional march chanted "black lives matter," "no justice, no peace" and other refrains common among protesters after racially charged shootings around the country.

"We need to advocate for our youth because if we don't do it, these injustices will continue to happen. It has to stop today. It has to stop now. We need to stand up for our rights," Justus' mother, LaToya Howell, said through tears into a megaphone for the crowd.

Nerheim said Justus Howell was turned toward police with a gun in his right hand during a foot chase. Howell, who is black, was then hit by two bullets fired by veteran officer Eric Hill, who is white.

A long haul

Decades of frustration for thousands of motorists ended with the completion after more than two years of construction of the Rollins Gateway project in Round Lake Beach.

Said to be the most complicated and expensive project undertaken by the Lake County division of transportation, the main aspect of the work involved lowering Rollins Road beneath railroad tracks just west of Route 83.

Local and state-level officials gathered in October to mark the end of the $33 million construction project, which also included widening the legs of intersection, realigning Hainesville Road, installing sidewalks and a multiuse path and other improvements.

Drivers now have two through lanes in each direction of Rollins and Route 83. There also are two left-turn lanes and a right-turn lane at each leg of the intersection.

Planning started in 2008, utility work began in 2012 and road construction started in earnest in 2013.

"It's been identified many times as one of the worst intersections in Lake County," Round Lake Beach Mayor Richard Hill said at the ribbon cutting in October.