Original News, Features & Opinion on local and regional news you won't find anywhere else
Jimmy Carter was a great man who should be emulated By Jeffery M. Leving In January of 2000, I wrote to President Jimmy Carter to ask if he would mediate the Elian Gonzalez case. In case you were too young or just do not remember, Elian Gonzalez was a young boy from Cuba who was…
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State program allows senior citizens to defer payments on property tax bills Your Property Taxes with Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas By Maria Pappas Amid increasing concerns that rapid increases in property tax bills will drive people from their homes, state officials are boosting a program that lets senior citizens defer paying their property tax…
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Illinois Attorney General slams Orland Park for withholding critical information on unfiled annual audits By Ray Hanania In another major setback for Keith Pekau, the besieged MAYOR of Orland Park in suburban Chicagoland, the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul ordered the village to release the correspondence between the village and its auditors. The issue surfaced…
Orland School District 135 turns sex abuse case involving 2 female students into victim shaming By Ray Hanania Everyone remembers in January 2015 when an Elementary School District 135 teacher, Cara Labus, was arrested on charges of sexually abusing two young school girls, aged 14, beginning in 2008 in suburban Orland Park. The case was…
Comptroller’s Office comments on Pekau Administration’s “resolution” Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza responds to lies and exaggerations made by beleaguered Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau and his rubber stamp board which has mishandled the village’s finances distinguishing themselves by being among only a few governments that have failed to file two annual financial audits in…
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Lipinski and Hanania discuss Trump cabinet appointments on Video Podcast Former Congressman Bill Lipinski and coumnist and political writer Ray Hanania discuss Trump’s cabinet appointments and name the news media bias as “the biggest losers” in the presidential election battle between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. View Youtube video podcast below. 11-14-24 Co-Hosts Ray Hanania…
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Third-party notices tell you if a relative or anyone you know misses a tax payment By Maria Pappas My office lets you sign up a relative or anyone you know receive copies of certified notices that are mailed a month before the Annual Tax Sale if your property taxes become delinquent. You can also register…
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Orland Park withholds Finance and TIF audits and brings State censure State Comptroller Susana Mendoza slaps the wrist of Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau as TIFs, Taxes, and Audits continue to plague the Southwest suburban village, but is it enough? By Ray Hanania State Comptroller Susana Mendoza suspended the Village of Orland Park from the…
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Orland Park mayor defends school district 230 chief who scolded colleague for raising TIF concerns Mayor Keith Pekau used his eNewsletter to defend School District 230 President Lynn Zeder who attacked a school colleague for raising concerns about the impact Pekau’s 3 new TIFs will have on schools and property taxes By Ray Hanania Mayor…
Jiang Niu BBQ House in Orland Park, offers great food in a fun way By Ray Hanania Jiang Niu BBQ House in Orland Park, 14651 S La Grange Road, has a fantastic menu with a great tasting Korean Chinese fusion food menu. But it goes one step further offering a fun way to enjoy it allowing…
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High School District 230’s President Lynn Zeder should resign from the board Opinion: District 230 President Lynn Zeder was aware of plans involving three TIF districts that will siphon hundreds of millions in property taxes from the district’s three high schools, but she has been publicly silent about it. Instead of addressing these TIFs, which…
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Apply for a refund yourself and keep the money you would have paid to a third party By Maria Pappas Some Cook County homeowners are bombarded with ads and solicitations from vendors offering help to obtain refunds on their property taxes. My office has about $93 million available in potential refunds for property tax overpayments…
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Change in law lets tax breaks automatically renew for homeowners with disabilities By Maria Pappas State lawmakers have made it easier for people with disabilities to continue receiving property tax relief on an annual basis. Cook County homeowners who receive the Persons with Disabilities Exemption no longer have to reapply for the benefit every year….
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Katsenes and Pekau are angry that I blew the whistle on their TIF district threat to taxpayers By Ray Hanania 09-04-24 The dangers of Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau’s secretive TIF district proposals I am not surprised Orland Park Trustee Cindy Katsenes, a local realtor with Village Realty, attacked me personally at the Village Board…
New school year challenges also provide a chance for parents and children to start fresh By Jeffery M. Leving SM The start of the new school year comes with anxiety for too many parents and children, so it’s essential to take preemptive action to address the things that cause stress and seize opportunities. Like the…
Union leader says former Cook County Commissioner Ed Moody lied to union, public and can’t be trusted By Ray Hanania Former Cook County Commissioner Ed Moody had a bad habit of lying about how he would act on controversial policies from the prevailing wage to the one-cent per-ounce tax on soda pop. Published in The…
Ex-wife used daughter’s therapy to cut dad’s court ordered parenting time By Laura Reichel The time a father spends with his child can be incredibly important to maintaining a strong relationship between father and child. However, in the case of a Chicago father, he feared his relationship with his young daughter was at risk. Chicago…
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Unincorporated Orland homeowners blast mayor’s annexation move Residents of Unincorporated Orland Township blast Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau for trying to grab their land and violate their rights. Residents say Mayor Pekau failed to properly notify them of his plans that began quietly in 2022 and continued to 2023 before residents could address the board…
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