Skyline Newspaper

Rhonda Rasche and Danny Chasteen thought their luck had changed, they took a chance and would be rewarded in money. At least that’s what should happen. Rasche and Chasteen are two of the reportedly dozens of lottery winners in the state of Illinois that are being told they can’t collect their winnings, according to the Chicago Tribune. Usually the government withholds up to a quarter of jackpot winnings, in this case they’re not giving up any of the $50,000 prize Rasche is sitting on, while Chasteen won a $250,000 jackpot.

“How the heck can they do this, and they’re still selling tickets?” Rasche said. “If I was the one selling raffle tickets and I didn’t pay, I would be sued or in jail or both. I laugh, but it’s not funny. This could go on forever. (House Speaker Mike) Madigan and (Gov. Bruce) Rauner will never get along. It could be 2018 before I see my money. I don’t trust the state.”

They have decided to take the matter to court and demand action. The motion, filed Wednesday, seeks class-action status saying that the lottery committed fraud by continuing to market and sell tickets for prizes they knew they couldn’t currently provide. It calls for temporary stoppage of lottery ticket sales until the state is in a position to fulfill all obligations. It also states that lottery officials and administration be barred from receiving salary payments until the issue is resolved.

Smaller winners are still able to obtain their winnings, but for amounts over $25,000 the state comptroller, Leslie Munger, can’t pay out until a new budget is passed for the fiscal year. The budget, which had a July 1 deadline, may not be decided on until late September or October. That isn’t soon enough for winners like Rasche and Chasteen who have already waited over a month only to be told they still can’t have the money they’re entitled to.

State Representative Jack Franks plans to draft legislation that would allow the comptroller’s office to write the checks for the big winners without a budget.

“They’ve got the money, they just don’t have the legal authority to spend it,” Franks said. “My bill will allow them legal authority to do it.”

The only problem with Frank’s plan is that state lawmakers won’t be back in session until September 24, unless the governor calls them back for a special session. Until then Rasche, Chasteen, and the other big money winners are stuck in lottery limbo.

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The Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences certainly provides plenty of entertainment and educational experiences that normal American high schools never see, but even this school never dealt with cows on the loose — until the first day of September, that is.

Principal William Hook said that he was getting ready to go home around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1 following a program for freshman and sophomore orientation when he received an unusual call: two of the school’s cows were wandering around on 115th St., near Pulaski Road.

Luckily, the cows were still fairly close to home; the school, which is located at 3857 W. 111th St., has a 12-acre pasture for its six cows.

According to the Chicago Tribune and DNAinfo, the high school uses the cows for teaching purposes — along with plenty of other farm animals that are all well-cared for and which haven’t escaped from their pens, save for “a wily chicken or two,” since Hook has been principal.

Hook immediately responded to the call and found a police officer directing traffic around the two escapees, even though they both behaved quite well and stayed on the sidewalks.

A few staff members and approximately a dozen police officers from three different police departments came to assist the principal and lead the cows back into their pasture, which ran alongside the sidewalk. Some bystanders offered to help, but considering that the cows weigh around 1,400 lbs. each, most people simply took pictures and offered moral support.

The other four cows stood in their pasture, calmly watching the event, and offering their moral support as well.

The cow-wrangling team corralled the first animal through a nearby gate leading into the pasture, which only took about 10 minutes. The second cow was a little more stubborn and kept walking down Pulaski Rd., so it took about 40 minutes to herd it back to safety.

All in all, both cows were home safe and sound by 9 p.m.

Hook stated that the cows likely broke the straps which hold the chain link fence to larger posts. Once these straps were broken, the fence folded over and the cows were able to walk underneath it.

Students have since mended the fence and the school’s agricultural construction program has stated that its students may look into adding an electric fence to the current chain link one.

There may be over 89 million cows in cattle ranches in the U.S. today, but there’s no doubt that the Mount Greenwood community considers these rogue bovines to be extra-special.

The Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings are North Division rivals in the National Football League’s (NFL) National Football Conference (NFC). There is little love lost between fans and players when they meet on the field, but those emotions become suddenly frivolous when something happens like it did at the end of August. One unidentified roofer fell to his death while working on the new Vikings stadium, and another was seriously injured. John Wood, the senior vice president of Mortenson Construction and the general contractor in charge of the $1 billion project, described it as a “tragic day.”

“Our priority is to ensure that we know exactly what happened and ensure that it never happens again,” Wood said. “A man lost his life on this project today and that simply never should happen.”

The man who died worked for Berwald Roofing Co., and according to the Chicago Tribune he fell from the edge of the roof about 50 feet into a snow gutter on the north side of what will be U.S. Bank Stadium. It was only about 45 minutes into his shift, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. There is no indication if the slope of the roof, which is measured in inches as a ratio of its vertical rise over a horizontal distance of 12 inches, played a role. As of this writing no causes have been determined, but Wood promised a “very thorough investigation.”

A later piece by the local Star Tribune, reported the man who died was Jeramie Gruber, 35 of Northfield. Family couldn’t be reached, but condolences and memories were being shared to his Facebook page.

It was a traumatizing day for workers throughout the safety-minded Mortenson company — a company so focused on safety they make their workers use the crosswalk and wait for the light whenever they have to get to and from the site.

Most metal roofs last for at least 50 years — and the Vikings are undoubtedly hoping it will be at least that long before they face another disaster. Keeping up with the 2016 deadline is important, but not so much that they didn’t send everyone home the day of the incident and have had counselors on site since.

“We’re not thinking about the construction schedule right now,” Wood said. “We’re thinking about these two men and their families.”