"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

Rain cools Colorado fires, other wildfires grow

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 04:27 PM PDT

A sudden wind shift draws smoke back over the top of Sheep Mountain as the Squirrel Creek fire spreads Tuesday, July 3, 2012 near Woods Landing, Wyo. (AP Photo/Laramie Boomerang, Andy Carpenean)Rains cooled Colorado's wildfires Wednesday, but more than a dozen wildfires elsewhere in the West continued chewing through bone-dry pine and brush as firefighters working through the holiday kept a nervous eye for fireworks and other hazards.

Peru protest leader arrested as emergency imposed

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 04:45 PM PDT

Police arrested and roughed up a prominent anti-mining activist in a northern provincial capital Wednesday, further inflaming tensions as the government imposed a state of emergency to quell increasingly violent protests against Peru's biggest mining project.

A throwback Fourth of July for many Americans

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 03:24 PM PDT

Silverstone, dressed as "Uncle Sam," marches in the Takoma Park Independence Day parade during celebrations of the United States' Fourth of July Independence Day holiday in Takoma Park, MarylandGeorge Washington never had air conditioning, but he knew how to keep cool: a mansion with lots of windows elevated on the banks of a wide, rolling river and lots of ice cream, maybe with a little brandy.

Lifeguard fired for trying to save drowning man outside of his zone

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 09:52 AM PDT

Fired Florida Lifeguard's Coworkers Out After Admitting They'd Save Man Outside ZoneTomas Lopez Left His Zone to Help a Drowning Man

Firefighters save dog stuck in 200-foot deep quarry

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 03:03 PM PDT

A 2-year-old pit bull mix who disappeared from its home one week ago was found and rescued Tuesday by firefighters who repelled down a steep quarry to save her.

Man arrested in pickpocket spree

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 02:50 PM PDT

A Chicago man with more than 100 arrests has been arrested in connection with a recent spree of pickpocketings at the CTA's Jackson Red Line subway station. Police credited security cameras and the Tribune's recent Getting Around column about a tourist's experience on the train.

Yasser Arafat's body set to be exhumed

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 08:36 AM PDT

File picture shows Palestinian President Arafat, assisted by his wife Suha and two aides, leaving his West Bank office in RamallahArafat's Wife Suha Demanded His Body Be Exhumed Following al Jazeera Report

Eureka! Physicists celebrate evidence of particle

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 02:24 PM PDT

Rolf Heuer, Director General of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), answers journalist's question about the scientific seminar to deliver the latest update in the search for the Higgs boson at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, July 4, 2012. The head of the world's biggest atom smasher is claiming discovery of a new particle that he says is consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson known popularly as the "God particle." Rolf Heuer, director of the European Center for Nuclear Research, or CERN, says "we have a discovery" of a new subatomic particle, a boson, that is "consistent with a Higgs boson." He spoke after two independent teams at CERN said they have both "observed" a new boson that looks just like the one believed to give all matter in the universe size and shape. (AP Photo/Keystone/Martial Trezzini)Scientists at the world's biggest atom smasher hailed the discovery of "the missing cornerstone of physics" Wednesday, cheering the apparent end of a decades-long quest for a new subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, or "God particle," which could help explain why all matter has mass and crack open a new realm of subatomic science.

Kane County coroner dies

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 01:57 PM PDT

Kane County Coroner Charles West, who had been awaiting trial on felony misconduct charges, died early today from complications following liver transplant surgery, according to his family.

Mexico to recount ballots from more than half of polling stations

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 02:33 PM PDT

An employee of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) counts votes of the past presidential election in AcapulcoMexico's national election authority Wednesday announced a recount of ballots cast at more than half of the polling stations in the country's weekend presidential election in which Enrique Pena Nieto claimed victory.

Canadian police: Human head belongs to Chinese student

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 01:10 PM PDT

Handout of Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, accused of killing Chinese student, Jun Lin being escorted off a plane from Germany by Montreal police in MontrealThe human head discovered in a Montreal park during the weekend belongs to a Chinese student allegedly dismembered by a porn actor in one of Canada's most gruesome slayings in recent memory, police said on Wednesday. A Montreal police spokeswoman said medical tests showed the remains were those of Jun Lin and confirmed local media reports saying the body part in question was a head. Lin's hands and feet were mailed to the offices of political parties in Ottawa and to schools in Vancouver, while his torso was found in a pile of garbage. ...

Vatican gets report card on financial transparency

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 02:49 PM PDT

Pope Benedict XVI waves during an audience to newly appointed archbishops, the day after they received the pallium, a woolen shawl symbolizing their bond to the pope, at the Paul VI hall, Vatican, Saturday, June 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)The Vatican got a report card Wednesday on its efforts to be more financially transparent — but it's a secret for now.

Who are the most compatible Supreme Court judges?

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 12:13 PM PDT

Who Are the Most Compatible Supreme Court Judges?Do you remember compatibility tests you'd do in junior high or high school to see which of your classmates you were best suited to be your significant other? Yeah, the Washington Post took that idea and applied it to the Supreme Court. 

Chestnut wins 6th straight title, downs 68 dogs

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 02:38 PM PDT

Five-time reigning champion Joey Chestnut celebrates after he wins his sixth straight Coney Island hot dog eating contest on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 at Coney Island, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Chestnut tied his personal best and the record with eating 68 hot dogs. Last year, Chestnut won with 62 hot dogs. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)Joey Chestnut won his sixth straight Fourth of July hot dog-eating contest at Coney Island, downing 68 dogs and buns on Wednesday to tie his personal best in a sweaty, gag-inducing spectacle.

Five killed in German hostage standoff

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 11:39 AM PDT

Undertakers load a body into a funeral car in KarlsruheA 53-year-old German gunman facing eviction shot dead four people before committing suicide in an apartment in the southern city of Karlsruhe on Wednesday, police said. The unemployed man killed a bailiff and locksmith who tried to evict him from his flat, as well as the new owner. Police found the man's 55-year-old partner dead in bed and said he had shot her as well. "Special forces broke into the apartment at 11.48 after smelling something burning and found four dead bodies. One of them was the gunman," said Karlsruhe police chief Roland Lay. ...

A bus driver's caffeine defense for groping girls

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 12:44 PM PDT

We have heard of temporary insanity, diminished capacity, the abuse excuse and even the Twinkie defense but a caffeine defense might be pushing it.  Nevertheless, that is what Kenneth Sands, 52, is attributing his incident involving him groping five females...

South Korea to start 'scientific' whaling

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 03:33 PM PDT

Members of the International Whaling Commission attend their 64th Annual Meeting in Panama CitySouth Korea said Wednesday that it would start whaling under a loophole in a global moratorium that allows scientific research, outraging conservationist nations by using the same tactic as Japan.

Utah mayor puts his 18-inch mustache up for a vote

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 04:08 PM PDT

The mayor of Murray has put all 18 inches of his handlebar mustache up for a Fourth of July vote.

Train derails near Northbrook-Glenview border, bridge collapses

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 02:24 PM PDT



A freight train hauling coal derailed on Union Pacific tracks near Willow Road and Shermer Avenue by the Northbrook-Glenview border. Witnesses said the bridge overpass over Shermer Avenue collapsed due to the accident.

'Black Widow' wins hot dog eating contest, downing 45 in 10 minutes

Posted: 04 Jul 2012 09:12 AM PDT

Women's hot-dog eating record-holder, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, right, challenges five-time hot-dog eating world champion Joey Chestnut, left, during a weigh-in for contestants in the annual Coney Island Fourth of July international hot-dog eating contest, Tuesday, July 3, 2012, at City Hall Park in New York. The event will take place midday Wednesday, July 4, at Coney Island, Brooklyn. Chestnut will try to break his own world record of downing 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. Thomas, who weighs 100 pounds, will headline the women's competition, facing 14 female eaters from the U.S. and Canada. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)The Black Widow of competitive eating wins again.