The Village of Forest Park continues to hire crossing guards as the 2024-25 school year fast approaches.    Dora Murphy, administrative assistant to the chief of police for the Forest Park Police Department, said the department, who handles the hiring for the Village of Forest Park, is always hiring for the position.   With seven current employees, […] The post Village and D91 continue crossing guard partnership  appeared first on Forest Park Review ..read more

A little over a year after filing a lawsuit against District 209’s Proviso Township High Schools and its former superintendent, three of the four teachers involved say they are still dealing with the emotional and professional damage left behind.   “We are teachers,” said Jenny LaBash, English teacher at Proviso West. “We never expected to be in this position of chaos.”   The lawsuit, filed March 6, 2023, claimed the district and then Supt. James Henderson “carried out a policy or practice of punishing the Plaintiff teachers for both speech and association rights protected ..read more

The Starbucks at 7231 Madison St. is set to reopen July 25 after nearly two months of being closed for major renovations.   Much of the inside of the building has been redone, including an all-new cafe area, bar and back-of-house. The Starbucks’ seating has been cut by about half, though the work area for staff is much larger, according to officials from DeJames Builders, the contractor who completed the renovations.   Starbucks invested more than $370,000 into that space, said Ryan Nero, commissioner of public health and safety. He announced Starbucks’ reopening at the village coun ..read more

The village awarded contractor Nardulli Construction Company, Inc. the project to redo stretches of sidewalk around the village at a July 22 council meeting.   Nardulli Construction was one of six contractors to bid on the project to replace sidewalks and curbs around the village. The contractor bid $45,520 when Christopher B. Burke Engineering, the village engineer, estimated the project to cost $60,200. Burke Engineering also reviewed the bid documents.   Sidewalk construction is expected to begin in a few weeks and will include removing and repouring 3,200 square feet of concrete ..read more

Look, Ma, No Gloves! John Westermayer and Rich Kaczmarski of the Bucketheads took fourth in the 34th Annual No Gloves in 2002. Licorice jumped on the Miller 45’s to take the tournament trophy by winning 7-1. Brothers Randy and Bobby Ross both were awarded the Most Valuable Player Award; both batted over .500 in the tournament.  Despite the long hours, hot days and heavy rain that fell for four hours, soaking the field, volunteers, park staff and enthusiasts maintained the reputation of Forest Park’s excellence in hosting “No Gloves.” Jill Wagner Photo Josh Hawkins 2002 Forest Park Review ..read more

A reader asked me to write a column about wisdom. Wisely, I said yes. For me, wisdom is preserving my mental and emotional health in the face of negativity. If I want to prevent anxiety, the coping skills I developed as a private investigator still work. Detective work has a high degree of failure. It took me years to adjust to accomplishing little or nothing. Every time I hit a deadend, I told myself I was eliminating a possibility. I finally became comfortable with this level of failure. I hoped for success but didn’t expect it to happen. I could only make intelligent attempts to solve ..read more

An article in last Wednesday’s Review contained reactions by elected officials to the attempted assassination of former president, and present candidate, Donald Trump.  I decided it would be interesting to have the nine pastors in town respond to the event by viewing it through the lens of their Christian faith, so I emailed all of them, asking for their response and emailed them again with the same request on Friday. None of them responded. Zero. That puzzled me, because I know all of them and in private and off the record, they will wax eloquent on almost any topic where they are able t ..read more

Ripples from some seriously dark years at District 209 continue to be felt more than a year after the Proviso Township High School board ousted James Henderson, the chaos superintendent. Today the Review interviews three of the four D209 teachers who filed a lawsuit against the district in March 2023 after Henderson brought allegations against them and sought their dismissal. Three board members publicly opposed the superintendent with a bare majority backing him. The suit was settled last July and the teachers were reinstated with back pay and their suspensions expunged from their personnel f ..read more

Mystery Night Featuring Mia Manansala Tuesday, July 30, 6:30 – 8 p.m., Forest Park Public Library – Austin Room   Join Forest Park mystery novelist Mia P. Manansala for an evening delving into the craft of writing, featuring her latest book in the Tita Rosie’s Kitchen series, Murder and Mamon. Register at https://tinyurl.com/55t9cdma, 7555 Jackson Blvd., Forest Park  High and Lonesome Thursday, July 25, 6:30 p.m., Robert’s Westside   Robert’s Westside Presents: High & Lonesome. General Admission – $12 + Service Fees. Reserved Seating – $15 + Service Fees. Purchase tickets a ..read more

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