A transportation expert says that Monday’s accident involving a Chicago Transit Authority train at O’Hare International Airport could have caused multiple deaths and injuries if it had happened later in the day.
The train was driven by a sleepy operator who investigators suspect fell asleep at the controls. The train crashed through a barrier, over a platform and then rocketed up an escalator before coming to a stop.
DePaul University professor Joseph Schwieterman said that it was “a miracle that nobody died.”
“A train running up a (crowded) escalator could have been a worst case scenario,” Schwieterman told Fox News. “When pedestrians are hit by a train, it is usual fatal.”
He also said that while many of the passengers suffered injuries, they were lucky that the train jumped the tracks instead of crashing into a concrete barrier at the end of the platform.
“That was a lucky break,” he said. “A train hitting a wall at … high speed could easily have been fatal for many.”
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Forecasters say that a temperature record that was set in the 19th century for Chicago could be in danger over the next week.
The polar vortex bringing cold temperatures back to the Midwest and Upper Plains states could cause Chicago to see a high temperature for Wednesday stay below the record for the date of 10 degrees set in 1888. The standing low record for the date is 1 below zero, but that was not broken overnight. It could still be broken later tonight.
Wind chill is also a major problem in the city with some areas reporting a wind chill more than 20 below zero.
The problem is predicted to be compounded by a second wave of cold air from the arctic that will force temperatures as far as ten below zero with wind chills greater than 30 below zero.
Forecasters say it’s possible the record low maximum temperature for Thursday, also 10 degrees set in 1888, could fall because of the second blast of cold air. The record low on February 28th of zero degrees set in 1884 is also likely to fall.
The blast of cold air is expected to keep driving down temperatures for over a week.
A Chicago judge has reduced the fine to an abortion clinic for violations of cleanliness and health issues from $36,000 to just $77.
The arbitrary decision by Cook County Circuit Judge Alexander White said that he reduced the fine because the abortion clinic’s owner closed the facility and there was only $77 left in the company bank account.
However, it’s been shown that while the other clinic was technically closed, the owner opened a brand new clinic in the same location using the same website as he previous clinic without doing anything to repair the health code violations.
The Illinois Department of Health conducted an inspection in 2011 of the Women’s Aid Clinic and found food in the same freezer as fetal tissue, dirty floors, medication cups with old medicine in them and staff re-using paper towels on patients.
The clinic also did not perform CPR on a patient who died while in their care.
While the state can appeal the judge’s action, the state attorney general has been a large supporter of abortion and observers believe nothing will be done.
The Centers for Disease Control is focusing on a hospital in the Chicago suburbs were an outbreak of a deadly bacteria seems to be spreading.
The bacterium, called a “nightmare bacteria” by doctors, contains a special rare enzyme that allows it to break down antibiotics.
The bacteria is known as carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae. The superbug lives in the intestines and can be spread by fecal matter.
The CDC reports they have only been able to document 97 cases of infection by the bacteria since 2009…but 44 have been connected over the last year to this one Chicago area hospital.
Officials say that as many as 250 patients were potentially exposed to the bacteria during an endoscopy procedure. Only 114 of the patients returned to be tested for the disease.
A 16-year-old Chicago youth has lost his life over a computer gaming system.
Raymond Galloway was shot by his 13-year-old cousin as he slept around 6 a.m. Sunday. He was rushed to a Chicago area hospital where he died about 90 minutes later.
According to a police report, the two teens had been fighting earlier in the evening over an Xbox.
The boy confessed to police that the shooting was in the presence of his mother. He was taken into custody and charged as a juvenile with first-degree murder. The judge decided not to allow bail in the case.
Police say that they do not know where the boy obtained the 9mm semi-automatic handgun used for the shooting. No adults have been charged in the case.
The deadly H1N1 swine flu virus has been confirmed in the Chicago area.
A microbiologist told CBS Chicago that in the last week they’ve found 21 patients with Influenza A and all but one of those cases was H1N1.
“We don’t know why it’s emerging,” Dr. Paul Schreckenberger said.
The outbreak in Chicago is troubling because five people have been confirmed dead in Texas from an outbreak of H1N1.
All five people have been confirmed to have died from H1N1. The Centers for Disease Control says that the flu shot for this year can help protect against H1N1 but less than half of American adults get a flu shot.
The CDC also says that 80 percent of the flu infections in Texas are H1N1.
At least six people are confirmed dead after a Sunday outbreak of tornadoes across the Midwest.
The town of Washington, Illinois was devastated by a massive tornado that tore an 1/8th mile wide track through the entire town. Mayor Gary Manier said that up to 500 homes have been damaged or destroyed and that some neighborhoods are completely destroyed.
“How people survived is beyond me,” Manier said.
The tornadic storms are considered unusual for mid-November. Damaging winds and tornadoes were reported in 12 states: Michigan, Iowa, Illnois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York.
The storms moved so fast at times that weather forecasters were warning people to see shelter even before they could see a change in the weather.
The storm threatened the Chicago area forcing the game between the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens to be delayed for two hours as teams and spectators huddled under the stadium.
Two Chicago women’s shelters who were facing closure because of more than $30,000 in overdue bills have received a reprieve from an anonymous donor who paid the bills.
The charity’s owner Clara Kirk told the Chicago Sun-Times she was struggling to pay the utility bills for a South Side shelter and another nearby facility. The 72-year-old Kirk said the financial problems arose because the group is having difficulty securing new grants.
The anonymous donor stepped up Thursday and said they would cover the bills for the West Englewood United Organization.
Kirk said that she’s learned people care more than she thought they cared.
Peoples Gas had turned off gas to one of the shelters on October 16th but turned it back on the day after the donor paid the bill.
Four men have been charged with various crimes related to a shooting spree in a Chicago park that wounded 13 people including a child.
Tabari Young, 22, Byron Champ, 21, Brad Jett, 22 and Kewane Gatewood, 20, were all connected to a shooting near a basketball court where two of the men used a military grade weapon to shoot into a crowd. Continue reading →
Chicago police are on heightened alert after discovering a street gang has created a special group aimed only at killing police officers.
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told CBS that his department is taking the seriously reports of a “hit squad”. Deputies with the Cook County Sheriff’s office discovered the plot. Continue reading →