No Blanks!

Hello all! I'm back in your inbox this morning with everything you need to know about what's happening in town today. Today you'll find news about these stories and more:

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But first, today's weather:

. High: Low: .

Here are the top stories in Oak Park-River Forest today:

1. Downtown Elmhurst Restaurant Planned (Patch)
2. Midday Fix: Elevate Your Spritzes (WGN TV Chicago)
3. Family-Run Business Offers Puerto Rican Cuisine for All Occasions (WGN TV Chicago)
4. Lucas Regan: Man reported missing from West Town for over a week (FOX 32 Chicago)
5. Morlen Sinoway's Fulton Market building for sale (Crain's Chicago Business)
6. First day greetings from Chancellor Miranda | UIC today (UIC Today)
7. Dozens Honor Humboldt Park Cyclist Ron Mendoza At Ghost Bike Vigil: 'He Had A Heart Of Gold' (Block Club Chicago)
8. Perfect picnic ideas from Farmer's Fridge (FOX 32 Chicago)
9. College of Business Administration dean: More online programs, community, student success | UIC today (UIC Today)
10. Cook County man drowns trying to help children in Lake Michigan (FOX 32 Chicago)
11. Crews put out garage fire in Franklin Park (FOX 32 Chicago)
12. At Roscoe Village's Sweet Rabbit Bakery, Owner Fulfills Lifelong Dream Of Running His Own Pastry Shop (Block Club Chicago)
13. Barings Offloading 141-unit Mondial River West (The Real Deal)
14. Brighton Park's First Teen Center Opens, Giving Young People 'Space To Heal And Feel Safe' (Block Club Chicago)
15. Elmhurst Eatery Victim Of Embezzlement: Cops (Patch)
16. Man fatally shot while crossing street in Garfield Park (Chicago Sun-Times)
17. Man killed, another wounded in West Loop shooting (Chicago Sun-Times)
18. Woman dead, children seriously injured in Elmhurst head-on crash (WGN TV Chicago)
19. 15-year-old boy shot on Near West Side (Chicago Sun-Times)
20. Lakeview CTA Tracks Getting Sound Barriers As Part Of Red And Purple Line Overhaul (Block Club Chicago)
21. Father charged in murder of wife, daughter in Little Village fatal shooting (WGN TV Chicago)
22. Cook County clerk seeks end to historic anti-patronage case (Chicago Tribune)
23. Cook County's Black populations continues to decline (Crain's Chicago Business)
24. Man, 24, shot to death in Homan Square (FOX 32 Chicago)
25. Look inside a Logan Square house decorated with moss and tree limbs (Crain's Chicago Business)
26. 7649 W Norridge Street, Norridge, IL, 60706, MLS# 11822576 (realestate.patch.com)
27. 125 S Ridgeland Avenue, Oak Park, IL, 60302, MLS# 11822412 – Patch.com (realestate.patch.com)
28. 2619 N Major Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60639, MLS# 11822416 – Patch.com (realestate.patch.com)
29. Actor Gary Sinise surprises veterans at Hines VA hospital with Fourth of July feast (FOX 32 Chicago)
30. Review: THE 39 STEPS: A Hysterical Thriller at Drury Lane Theatre (Broadway World)

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Today in Oak Park-River Forest:

Tuesday, July 11

From my notebook:

• Brookfield Zoo: "✨ Which sweet creature from around Swan Lake are you this summer? 1️⃣ Chipmunk searching for tasty treats 2️⃣ Tiger swallowtail butterfly flitting from one activity to the next 3️⃣ Sun-speckled fawn resting in the shade 4️⃣ Turtle taki..." (Brookfield Zoo via Instagram)
• Cook County Sheriff's Office (Official): "Our Cook County Sheriff’s Child Rescue Unit has been named the 2023 National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) Crime Victim Services Award recipient in recognition of outstanding achievement by a Sheriff’s Office in support of crime victims. S..." (Cook County Sheriff's Office (Official) via Facebook)
• Village of Oak Park, Illinois: "The Village's Sewer Backup Protection Grant Program was established to provide financial assistance to homeowners who install systems to protect their homes from sewer backup during a heavy rain event. The program's intent is to offset a..." (Village of Oak Park, Illinois via Facebook)
• Dominican University: "The latest issue of Dominican’s magazine is now available to read online. This edition's cover story highlights how graduates of DU's library and information science program are protecting the right to read and defending access to librar..." (Dominican University via Facebook)
• Oak Park - River Forest (OPRF) Chamber of Commerce: "We are happy to announce our new Chamber member MACRO Consulting Group, LLC! https://mcgroup312.com/" (Oak Park - River Forest (OPRF) Chamber of Commerce via Facebook)
• Wednesday Journal: "Encampment is roughly two months old with five to a dozen residents" (Wednesday Journal via Facebook)
• Trinity High School: "Don't wait to sign up for Trinity's Super Sitter Workshop! This workshop has sold out for the last two years! Learn basic childcare, leadership skills, activity ideas, and first aid and CPR Certification! Sign up online at https://trinit..." (Trinity High School via Facebook)
• Trinity High School: "Why Trinity? In the words of the Goodman Research Group after a study on The Girls' School Experience, "Girls' school graduates are 6 times more likely to consider majoring in math, science, and technology compared to girls who attend co..." (Trinity High School via Facebook)

You're officially in the loop for today! See you tomorrow for another update.

— Celeste "Pirate Queen" Wetzel

About me: The original Pirate Queen and QA engineer for Patch. The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes “Boots” theory of socioeconomic unfairness.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Oak Park-River Forest Patch newsletter? Contact me at celeste.wetzel@patch.com