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In Chicago, a recent donation event was hosted encouraging local fishermen and fishing companies to donate their gear to give to veterans for “fishing therapy.”

Joseph Lomalie, 34, from Oak Lawn, was injured in Afghanistan in 2008. Like so many other veterans, he currently suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression.

The Chicago Tribune reports that in 2014, Lomalie founded Helping Veterans Go Fishing after realizing it was fishing that helped him deal with his trauma.

There are more than 38 million Americans who hunt and fish, and there are many reasons as to why these activities are so popular. But for Lomalie, the therapeutic benefits are what drive him to go fishing.

“I realized when I was fishing, it helped me keep my mind off my pain — and brought peace to it — and got me motivated to get out of my house and be active,” Lomalie said.

According to VeteransAndPTSD.com, more than 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or depression.

The event, held at VFW Post 5220 in Oak Lawn, held a raffle to win even more fishing equipment, a guided fishing tour from Army Major and professional bass fisherman Mike Rasco, and a $1,500 boat.

It is the Helping Veterans Go Fishing foundation’s second annual event, and this year more than two dozen veterans attended.

All proceeds from the event will go to a free fishing outing and barbecue in September for veterans and their families.

“We go out fishing to relax,” said Ed Sturtevant, a 48-year-old veteran from Wauconda. He served 17 years in the Army before being discharged in May of 2001. He, too, suffers from depression and believes fishing helps him take his mind off the trauma.

“When we’re out fishing,” Sturtevant said, “we’re not thinking about anything except for the fish.”

Last Thursday’s MRI results revealed that Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant’s ankle sprain would keep him out of service for a full weekend; however, he returned to the field for Sunday morning’s game against the Braves.

Bryant rolled his ankle while rounding second base on Thursday and was forced to sit out on Friday’s victory over the Braves. Due to Saturday’s rainout, Bryant was able to get in another day of rest.

“I had a really bad angle going into second, so I tried to make up for it and cut a corner a little too tight,” the third baseman said. “The ankle went the other way… I’ve dealt with a lot worse.”

Manager Joe Maddon expected Bryant to get back into the game on Monday, but Sunday morning’s warmups showed that the player was feeling well enough to jump back in early. “The training staff said, ‘He’s fine. Go for it. Don’t worry about it,'” Maddon said.

Reports estimate that as many as 25,000 Americans suffer from an ankle sprain every day. It is an incredibly common injury, especially among professional athletes.

Bryant has suffered from ankle problems in the past and usually tapes his ankles before every game. Because he had been feeling so well recently, he had actually stopped taping his ankles, which is what caused last week’s injury.

Bryant says he will go back to taping his ankles in order to prevent further harm.

“The [risk] with sprained ankles is to re-jam it somehow,” said Maddon. “That’s the problem with the ankle. You could be feeling fine after even a week or two weeks and you just hit it wrong and you feel it.”

The relaxed dress code movement grew out of the “Casual Fridays” trend of the ’90s and swept across a variety of fields. However, professional industries such as accounting and banking have hesitated to join in due to the nature of their work.

“The overwhelming majority [of people] that are coming in to get your guidance on taxes — they look at you, and if you’re wearing an $800 suit, they think: She must know something,” said human relations expert Edward Yost of the Society of Human Resources.

However, as the job market landscape evolves and a new generation moves into the sight of recruiters, workplace values and incentives have begun to shift as well. Even financial companies are looking to appeal to the masses of Millennials who are now entering the workforce, which may mean compromising on certain office policies and relaxing the dress code.

Over the past six months, Chicago-based accounting firm Crowe Horwath has been experimenting with what they call the “Dress for your Day” policy, an extension of the “Casual Friday” practice, which is allowing employees a little more freedom when it comes to daily office attire.

The firm’s accountants still must dress business professional when meeting with clients; however, they are now enjoying the comfort of wearing jeans on days spent in front of the computer.

Like many trending office perks popular among startups and other companies led by young professionals, the freedom to dress down is a recruiting technique. Millennials just leaving college and entering the working world have a different set of values than the baby boomers they are bound to replace in the near future. Workplace happiness and a sense of autonomy have replaced high salary as the number one driving force behind young employees’ work ethic.

Studies show that well-lit, well-ventilated, comfortable workplaces increase productivity by as much as 16% and that comfort extends beyond desk chairs and air conditioning. Workers are more productive when they are comfortable in their clothes as well.

Chicago is one of the premier destinations in the U.S. for trade shows, but the proposed demolition of a local convention center in favor of a new art museum could change that moving forward.

According to the Chicago Tribune, McCormick Place’s Lakeside Center seems to be Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s sacrificial lamb in a last-ditch effort to keep the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago.

Many Chicagoans view the Lakeside Center as an eyesore, but the building plays an important role in the local economy due to the massive trade shows that it hosts. Most notably, the building is home to the International Manufacturing Technology Show, which draws more than 100,000 visitors from all over the world every two years.

The Lakeside Center is also used for several major medical conferences in the area, including events for the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

“It could certainly cause a major challenge,” said Steve Drew, assistant executive director of RSNA.

About 50% of the largest 200 shows in the U.S. take place in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Orlando. Chicago’s economy is greatly influenced by these trade shows, and the proposed demolition would force the city to find new ways of generating fast revenue.

Much of this revenue should come from the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which would replace the Lakeside Center if Mayor Emanuel’s plans are approved. The museum is the brainchild of “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas, who is expected to commit nearly $743 million of his own money to the project.

As Arch Newspaper reported, the Lucas Museum is currently involved in a legal battle with Friends of the Parks, a public space advocacy group that is concerned with how the museum would affect the city’s parks. This snafu has caused Lucas to reconsider the Chicago location, which prompted Mayor Emanuel to expedite the Lakeside Center demolition.

Blare Kamin, a Chicago Tribune architecture critic, recently backed the mayor’s decision to demolish the Lakeside Center, referring to it as the “shoreline’s Berlin Wall.”

There is still much left to be determined, but it seems as if the brash nature of the building’s aesthetics, paired with Mayor Emanuel’s infatuation with the Lucas Museum, could spell the end of the Lakeside Center.

Heavy winds caused major roof damage in Chicago’s Park Manor neighborhood on Saturday, April 2.

Saturday’s snow storm came with high winds that blew off parts of the roof of an apartment building in the 7200 block of South Evans Street. Debris scattered across the neighborhood as some tenants watched from outside, while others were stuck in the building.

One witness told Chicago’s CBS 2 what he saw” “The chimney came crashing down. Then a second gust of wind hit the front part of the tarp and it brought all of the bricks down on top of the building.”

Tenants will not be allowed back into the building until it is deemed safe by a city inspector.

CBS 2 Meteorologist Mary Kay Kleist reported that the area registered tropical storm force winds at 56 mph. The Skydeck at Willis Tower was also closed as a safety precaution.

Uprooted trees, roof shingles, and fallen branches littered the streets, and fences were seen collapsed in suburban yards.

More expensive than fixing water damage, wind damage repair can cost a homeowner as much as $5,757. Homeowners across the city and surrounding suburbs will have some repairs to face, but fortunately for the https://www.rossitchpediatricdentistry.com/buy-clomid-online/ residents of Chicago, the storm passed fairly quickly before causing any injuries or fatalities.

Chicago and the surrounding suburbs were not the only areas to be terrorized by the sudden storm on Saturday.

Washington D.C. experienced gusts at 58 mph, nearly matching the winds of 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, which were incredibly destructive at 61. Iron fences were mangled, cars were crushed, and 100-foot oak trees were brought down in the D.C. area.

Despite the damage to property, there have been no reports of injuries caused by the storm.

The entire country has been trending towards clean energy solutions for the past decade, but some are more committed to the movement than others. While Illinois has fallen behind in solar and wind energy, it’s still providing tons of jobs in other sections of this industry.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago-based Clean Energy Trust recently completed its first Clean Jobs Midwest report, which analyzed the growth of clean energy jobs in 12 Midwest states. Illinois was the top performer among all other states in this report, boasting 114,000 clean energy jobs with a 9% job growth rate in the past year.

Additionally, it seems as though the clean energy movement in Illinois is here to stay for the foreseeable future. Clean energy jobs in Illinois are expected to grow another 5.3% this year, exceeding the 4.4% average projected growth rate for the other 11 states.

Despite this impressive progress, it’s worth noting that Illinois has fallen behind in solar and wind energy jobs. In fact, the state lost 10.8% of its wind jobs and 3.4% of its solar jobs between 2014 and 2015.

However, its strong showing in this report is largely tied to job growth in energy-efficiency sectors such as heating and air conditioning, which many people do not associate with clean energy.

“People understand the idea of someone screwing a wrench on solar panels on someone’s roof or putting up a wind turbine,” said Ian Adams, director of public affairs at Clean Energy Trust. “A significant part of this economic activity is happening in (energy efficiency), where people at first glance might not realize there are clean energy activities going on.”

These overlooked clean energy jobs include tasks such as spray foam insulation installation, which can reduce heating costs up to 50%. In turn, these projects allow homeowners to use less energy on a daily basis.

As for the lack of progress in the solar sector, Adams attributes this issue to complicated state policy. The Illinois Power Agency currently collects all state funding that should go towards clean energy, but a regulatory problem has funneled most of this money into unrelated projects.

Illinois has suffered a significant setback in solar energy as a result of this funding snafu, though the rest of the Midwest isn’t faring much better. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, California leads the nation in solar electric capacity, and there is not one Midwest state in the top 10.

Peter Littlewood, director of Argonne National Laboratory, believes that the Midwest will see more solar energy job growth in the near future. The federal government plans to spend $20 billion on clean energy research and development in the next five years, and much of this funding will end up in the great state of Illinois.

“The Midwest is well-poised to take big chunks of that, because of the concentration we have of a very interesting mix of international labs and universities that play a big role,” Littlewood said.

Though Illinois may not be a national leader in solar or wind energy, it’s certainly doing its part to provide clean energy jobs in other essential ways.

It seems as if a story of an amputated fingertip ending up in someone’s food pops up once a year. Now, a new study from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has found that these severe and grotesque injuries are more common than previously thought.

According to the Chicago Tribune, a new federal rule requiring U.S. employers to report all severe injuries in the workplace led OSHA to find thousands of disgusting injuries that may not have otherwise been reported.

OSHA workers in the organization’s Atlanta office noticed “numerous reports of fingertip amputations among workers using food slicers.” In total, the report found 10,388 cases of severe work-related injuries in 2015 alone, which was the first full year of the new federal requirement.

Among these 10,388 cases, there were 2,644 amputations and 7,636 hospitalizations. The new federal rule has opened OSHA’s eyes to a widespread problem of employers failing to report severe injuries in the workplace.

“Too often, we would investigate a fatal injury only to find a history of serious injuries at the same workplace,” the report stated. “Each of those injuries was a wake-up call for safety that went unheeded.

Slips, trips, and falls typically account for about 25% of all reported injury claims each year, but this report has revealed that minor injuries constitute only a small percentage of claims. In fact, Assistant Secretary of Labor David Michaels added that “we think the actual number [of severe workplace injuries] may be twice as high.”

The report also caught many companies that were trying to “beat the system” by declining to report these severe injuries.

“In one stunning example,” OSHA reported, “a manufacturer tried to conceal an entire production line from OSHA inspectors after a staffing agency reported the amputation of a worker’s finger.”

“When inspectors arrived, the employer closed interior doors and parked forklifts in front of them, then turned off the lights and told workers to be quiet. Inspectors who uncovered the back room found a row of machinery with exposed parts that could have caused other workers to lose their fingers,” the report continued.

In another example of grossness and negligence, Fox News recently reported that a California woman found the severed fingertip of an Applebee’s cook in her salad. The restaurant chain is investigating the incident, deeming it “unacceptable.”

This Applebee’s example would typically be the end of a national workplace safety conversation that tends to start after these incidents are made public.

However, considering these recent findings from OSHA, there will likely be several other similar stories being leaked in the near future.