Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 2-3

3 CHICAGO TRIBUNE METRO SECTION2 Southern Illinois University in Carbondale has established a scholarship to honor a Batavia man killed in a Downstate car crash less than two weeks before graduation. The Ryan M. Rendleman Photojournalism Scholarship will go to an SIU photojournalism student. Four faculty members have donated the money to start the scholarship, and the school hopes to raise $25,000 to create an endowment so the scholarship can be awarded annually. Rendleman, 22, was killed April 29 en route to photograph an assignment for the student paper, the Daily Egyptian, when his car was rear-ended by a semi while he sat in a line of traffic at a construction site.

He was to have graduated Saturday. Scholarship to honor Batavia crash victim CARBONDALE A Chicago Heights teenager was shot and killed Saturday, and police there are searching for the suspect. Joseph Fleming 17, of the 1600 block of Buena Vista Avenue was in the 1900 block of Revere Street at about 7:20 p.m. when shots were firedand Fleming was hit in the chest, Lt. Michael Romano said.

Fleming ran to a nearby home and collapsed, Romano said. He was taken to St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields, where he was pronounced dead. Police said they have a possible motive but no suspect. Boy, 17, fatally shot; police seek suspect CHICAGO HEIGHTS A man was shot and killed early Sunday on South Side in what police said appears to be a gang-related incident.

Victor Ortiz, 22, of the 11300 block of South Langley Avenue was in the street on the 600 block of East 115th Street when he was shot in the head, Officer Marcel Bright said. A suspect was seen driving away, and police are looking for that person, Bright said. Ortiz was pronounced dead at the scene. Killing may be linked to gangs, police say SOUTH SIDE A woman who was hit by a car Friday while crossing a street died Saturday, Chicago police said. Alice Rosado-Jackson, 20, of the 1300 block of West 81st Street was walking about 4:30 p.m.

on South Ashland Avenue near 79th Street when the car hit her, Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti said. It appears Rosado-Jackson accidentally walked into oncoming traffic, Ursitti said. She was pronounced dead about 3 p.m. Saturday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, the Cook County medical office said.

The driver, a 43-year-old woman, was cited with failing to use due care for a pedestrian in the roadway, Ursitti said. Woman dies day after being struck by car SOUTH SIDE Two men arrested in connection with a mortgage fraud investigation were held on $225,000 bail Sunday after prosecutors charged they submitted false applications for state ID cards at area Department of Motor Vehicle locations. Sang Cha, 44, of the 4000 block of South Lake Park Avenue, and Yoon Kim, 53, of Los Angeles, appeared in a bond hearing Sunday before Cook County Judge Maura Slattery-Boyle. Cha was charged with four counts of false application for a license or identification card, a felony, while Kim was charged with three counts. On four occasions in 2006 and 2007, Cha filed false applications for identification cards at one Chicago location, 5401 N.

Elston said Assistant Atty. Stephanie Miller at the bond hearing. Kim was accused of filing false applications three different times in 2006 and 2007 at a location in Bridgeview. Both men were caught after facial-recognition software used by the secretary of office identified the men as having several aliases, authorities said. The arrests were made as part of a joint investigation between the Secret Service and Illinois State Police into a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud case, Miller said.

Bail set for 2 men over fake ID charges CHICAGO By David Mendell TRIBUNE REPORTER For a state facing financial Gov. Rod proposed 2009 budget fails to address key funding weaknesses and likely would worsen the precarious fiscal condition, a prominent watchdog group concludes in a report to be released Monday. The Civic Federation of Chicago, a non-partisan research group, criticized budget blueprint as relying too heavily on raising business taxes and for taking on billions more in debt. The group also opposed the idea of selling at least a portion of the Illinois State Lottery to help pay for a proposed $25 billion capital infra- structure program. In a 62-page analysis, the group urges the governor and state lawmakers to address systemic problems, most specifically $44 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $24 billion in retiree health-care liabilities.

see so little attention here to any kind of reform, and we just keep going down this said Laurence Msall, president of the federation. state needs to get serious about addressing its structural The annual report comes as Blagojevich and the General Assembly face a May 31 deadline to pass a budget. Much like last year, which featured a record overtime, the various battling Democratic factions who control state government do not appear to be anywhere near a deal. budget speech, delivered in February, was panned by many lawmakers who noted it contained several repeat ideas that have failed to gain traction. Since then, Blagojevich has lobbied lawmakers and editorial boards on his plan to sell a portion of the lottery, but the civic group said it could not support the idea because unclear what capital projects the revenue would fund.

The federation said lawmakers demand a detailed capital improvement before approving such a dramatic move as a lottery sale. proposal to issue $16 billion in pension-obligation bonds is ill-advised in the face of weakening revenues and massive liabilities, the group said. The money would go back into the pension system to help shore it up. The federation did applaud a couple of the proposals: 3 percent spending cuts in some areas and corporate tax relief. encouraged that the governor has come forward with areas to Msall said.

not big enough to make up for the spending A spokeswoman for the budget office said the Civic Federation failed to take into account that state government provides important services. And the report offered no ideas on keeping those services in place during a bad economic cycle, the spokeswoman said. What the fails to recognize is that there is a huge human aspect to what government Blagojevich spokeswoman Katherine Ridgway said. would like to hear the ideas on how the state can really help people during the national economic budget taken to task 2009 plan would worsen plight, report says By Emily S. Achenbaum TRIBUNE REPORTER Standing in the Bohemian National Cemetery, she holds an infant curled up in her left armand reaches with a robed right arm around a boy who stands at her side, gazing at her.

She is a statue made by Albin Polasek in the 1920s, and on Sunday, 30 people braved the steady rain to formally pay tribute to the statue for the first time. The reason: the 100th anniversary of the first Day church service in the United States. were inspired by the sculp- said Elizabeth Raleigh, the general manager. The 16- foot gleaming bronze and now an acid been on the grounds since 1927. Bohemian National, on Northwest Side, dates to 1877, and Raleigh said the cemetery is proud to have two pieces by the acclaimed Czech sculptor.

The second piece is called On Sunday, Dave Pimm, cemetery president, spoke briefly to the crowd wearing red and white carnations, who had gathered in the gatehouse to stay dry. (Red carnations are worn to honor living mothers; white honor the deceased.) Day here at the cemetery is a unique Pimm said, describing the statue as a symbol of life among memories of the dead. Polasek served as head of the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago for nearly 30 years. Born in 1879 in Moravia, now the Czech Republic, Polasek studied woodcarving in Vienna before coming to the U.S. at age 22.

He died in 1965. Other sculptures by Polasek in the Chicago area include at the Chicago Botanical Garden and Spirit of in Grant Park. Tribune photo by E. Jason Wambsgans Day was marked Sunday with a tribute to the statue by Albin Polasek, at Bohemian National Cemetery on the Northwest Side. Day tribute puts a favorite statue in spotlight At a Northwest Side cemetery, 1920s sculpture is honored on 100th anniversary By Brian Cox SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE Some elementary school teachers in Evanston say they have found a solution to the age-old problem of getting children to eat their vegetables: Help them grow their own.

Elementary students in several Evanston schools are rolling up their sleeves and planting gardens as part of a wellness program to persuade students to try new foods and eat healthier. kids are very interested in gardening and even do it during said Karen Bradley, principal at Dawes Elementary School. getting more connected to where food comes from and are willing to try different The wellness program was created a few years ago in part to help fight childhood obesity, high blood pressure and diet-related diseases found in grade school students in rising numbers across the country, said Lynn Hyndman, director of school wellness for the Healthy Schools Campaign in Chicago. The students are learning there is more to food than simply going to a fast-food restaurant or taking a trip to a grocery store, Hyndman said. gardens provide a real opportunity to help kids learn about where food comes from and where it she said.

focus is on the pleasures of fresh seasonable foods and how gardening is important to our During a day of rare sunshine last month, 2nd graders at Dawes planted lettuce and other vegetables in a dozen raised gardening beds behind the school. The students have been working on the garden since they were in kindergarten and said they look forward to the spring planting each year. you get to pick the things and eat them, really good because fresh and said 7-year-old Dina Baron. are my favorite vegetable because kind of There are also vegetable gardens at Chute Middle School, Washington School, Lincoln School and smaller at Orrington, Hyndman said. School District 65 joins other area school districts that use similar vegetable- growing programs, including some Chicago public schools.

want them to see the process and have a hand in putting the soil said Barb Wahle, a kindergarten teacher at Orrington School. going to be a whole class project. all of us doing it Gardening also allows the children to learn about math and science by doing measurements and by studying various root and sprout systems, said Nancy Zordan, a 2nd- grade teacher at Dawes. whole cycle of being able to plant and looking at what going to give us touches back on their science Zordan said. palates are starting to be awakened to foods that are more nutritional and closer to nature than processed The students and their teachers harvest some of the vegetables before leaving school for the summer and do a second harvest in the fall, Hyndman said.

After each harvest the students and teachers enjoy taste-testing the goods from the gardens, she said. Dawes 2nd-grader Dakota Erwin said basil is his favorite. learned that gardening is not very he said. think the cool thing is you can eat a lot of the stuff in Planting the seeds of healthy diets Photo for the Tribune by David Banks Vicky Brugger (from left), Jazmyne Thompson, Isaiah Harlan-Ricketts and Dina Baron, 2nd graders at Dawes Elementary School in Evanston, plant kale for a healthy-eating program in School District 65 that puts students to work in gardens and lets them taste the results. Program teaches Evanston grade-schoolers the benefits of eating vegetables Product: CTMETRO PubDate: 05-12-2008 Zone: ALL Edition: HD Page: 2-3 User: mmccann Time: Color:.