Aurora news

• POLIS: Less talk, more action in tackling gun violence

  16-02-2018 23:54
  On Feb. 14, 17 children and educators were gunned down inside their school in Parkland, Fla. The idea of parents saying goodbye to their kids in the morning only to never see them again is too horrific to put into words. But while most of us know about the tragedy in Parkland, we’ve heard barely a thing about the dozens of other shootings that have occurred already in 2018.
  Americans have become so desensitized to horrific violence that many tragedies that would be unthinkable in most deve
  
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• Naperville teen recounts confronting Larry Nassar at sex abuse sentencing: 'I am no longer broken by you'

  16-02-2018 23:44
  After injuring her hip during a gymnastics meet, 13-year-old Jade Capua was desperate to find a doctor who could help her return to the sport she loved. The Naperville teen had heard Dr. Larry Nassar was a "miracle worker" who treated Olympic athletes. But during her one visit to Nassar's Michigan...
  
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• Moran: As the bell tolls once again in America, this gun owner turns his back on the NRA

  16-02-2018 23:42
  The following is a column that, for various reasons, I never wanted to write. I have long since realized the difference between want to and have to. I grew up in an NRA household. Guns were stored in many corners, and not all were directly related to my father's job in law enforcement. Some were...
  
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• Wrestling: Seven Aurora wrestlers set for Friday night semifinals

  16-02-2018 23:20
  Grandview sophomore Alex Santillan, back, topped Monarch’s Ryan Kuykendall 3-0 in a 113-pound Class 5A quarterfinal match on Feb. 16, 2018, at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Santillan is one of seven Aurora wrestlers who moved into the 7 p.m. semifinal round. (Photo by Courtney Oakes/Aurora Sentinel)
  DENVER | Aurora’s contingent in Friday night’s semifinal round at the Class 5A & 4A state wresting tournaments at Pepsi Center consists of two ends of the spectrum with nothing in
  
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• Rescue squads sent to scene of shooting in Zion, fire chief says

  16-02-2018 23:15
  Police and fire personnel in Zion responded Friday afternoon to a report of a shooting with injuries at a residence in the 2800 block of Edina Boulevard. Fire Chief John Lewis said rescue squad personnel were dispatched around 1:45 p.m. The Lake County Major Crime Task Force was called out to assist...
  
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• Former Elk Grove Village library worker pleads guilty to sexual abuse of teen girl

  16-02-2018 22:50
  A former Elk Grove Village library employee who prosecutors said befriended and then sexually abused a teenage girl has pleaded guilty to a felony in the case against him, according to court files. Robert Thulin, 65, of Roselle, made a blind plea of guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual...
  
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• 'Person of interest' questioned in shooting death of 20-year-old man in Evanston, police say

  16-02-2018 22:38
  Evanston police said Friday that they are questioning a person of interest in the killing of a 20-year-old man who was shot to death after getting into a fight with someone. Police would only say the person they are questioning is a male who was brought into the police station Thursday after police...
  
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• Student threat to Streamwood High School unfounded, officials say, but police presence increased

  16-02-2018 22:10
  A student threat against Streamwood High School posted in a boys restroom was determined to be unfounded but prompted extra police presence at the school Friday, officials said. The threat at the school, which is part of School District U46, was discovered Thursday in the stall of a restroom on...
  
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• Richards freshman, first girl to win at IHSA state wrestling meet, could place third

  16-02-2018 21:12
  Mia Palumbo's history-making run will continue to the final day of the wrestling season. Palumbo, the Richards freshman who on Thursday became the first girl to win a match in the 80-year history of the IHSA wrestling state meet, went 1-1 Friday at the State Farm Center to reach Saturday's Class...
  
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• 'The kids are in awe': New wings, entrance open at East Aurora High School

  16-02-2018 20:03
  One recent afternoon nearly two years after East Aurora School District 131 officials first publicly proposed an immense construction project, high school students paraded through newly renovated hallways outside a newly renovated cafeteria as they sent an athlete off to state competition. School...
  
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• Man's body found in burning car on Mount Prospect street

  16-02-2018 20:00
  Mount Prospect police are investigating the death of a man whose body was found in a burning car early Friday, officials said. Police and firefighters were called just after midnight about a car fire in the 1700 block of West Algonquin Road near the intersection of West Dempster Street. After extinguishing...
  
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• BREAKING: 13 Russians charged in Mueller investigation — COLORADO CONNECTION

  16-02-2018 19:33
  WASHINGTON |Thirteen Russians and three Russian companies were charged Friday with an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media propaganda aimed at helping Republican Donald Trump and harming the prospects of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, prosecutors announced Friday.
  The indictment , brought by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, alleges that Russians used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently pu
  
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• 13 Russians charged in Mueller investigation — COLORADO CONNECTION, COMMENT

  16-02-2018 19:33
  WASHINGTON |Thirteen Russians and three Russian companies were charged Friday with an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media propaganda aimed at helping Republican Donald Trump and harming the prospects of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, prosecutors announced Friday.
  The indictment , brought by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, alleges that Russians used bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently pu
  
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• Aurora Pride Parade supporters say it's about time the city accepted the LGBT community

  16-02-2018 19:21
  Howard West came to Aurora City Hall a few days ago to say he was disappointed. It's a forum the lifelong Auroran has rarely if ever used, but he came this time to share his disappointment — not in the fact that an organization had applied for an LGBT pride parade in the city, or that members of...
  
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• Student parking spaces going for $3,000 in Highland Park's Charity Drive

  16-02-2018 19:01
  With only 10 hours left to bid in Highland Park High School's Charity Drive auction Friday, the hottest items weren't the Chicago Bears, Bulls or Blackhawks tickets mixed among the nearly 200 items contributed by donors. The most coveted items — hands down — were the three student parking spaces...
  
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• Aurora prep sports schedule, 2.16.18

  16-02-2018 19:01
  AURORA | The Aurora prep sports schedule for Friday, Feb. 16, 2018:
  Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or [email protected]. Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
  AURORA PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE, 2.16.18
  BOYS BASKETBALL
  Gateway at Rangeview, 5:30 p.m.
  Regis Jesuit at Heritage, 6 p.m.
  Aurora Central at Hinkley, 7 p.m.
  Eaglecrest at Cherokee Trail, 7 p.m.
  Grandview at Mullen, 7 p.m.
  Overland at Arapahoe, 7 p.m.
  Smoky Hill at Cherry Creek, 7 p.
  
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• Wrestling: Hoage, other Aurora first-timers find some success to open 5A state tournament

  16-02-2018 18:54
  Smoky Hill junior David Hoage, top, settles in with his hold on Northglenn’s Trenton Suazo on his way to a pin in a 220-pound first round match at the Class 5A state wrestling tournament on Feb. 15, 2018, at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Hoage was one of seven Aurora first-team state qualifiers to win their debut matches and advance to the quarterfinals at 12:45 p.m. Feb. 16. (Photo by Veronica Lee/Aurora Sentinel)
  DENVER | The bet David Hoage lost that brought him to wrestling continues to
  
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• ‘Super Dario’ pulls off 3-peat in cross-country 15K free

  16-02-2018 18:46
  PYEONGCHANG, South Korea | Switzerland’s Dario Cologna has solidified his legacy as one of the best distance cross-country skiers of all time.
  Cologna, known throughout his sport as “Super Dario,” became the first cross-country skier to win three Olympic gold medals in the same event, capturing the 15-kilometer freestyle in dominating fashion Friday. He also won this race in Vancouver in 2010 and Sochi in 2014.
  “It takes a lot of effort to just to win one gold medal,
  
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• One for Speedy: US aerials skier hopes to land a Hurricane

  16-02-2018 18:46
  PYEONGCHANG, South Korea | If the conditions are right, American freestyle skier Mac Bohonnon will pay tribute to one of his sport’s most fascinating and beloved characters. And if that goes well, he might find himself with an Olympic medal hanging around his neck, too.
  Bohonnon has been working on the “Hurricane” — the same trick the late Jeret “Speedy” Peterson landed eight years ago to win his silver medal in aerials. To this day, Peterson is the only
  
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• Huskova wins Olympic gold in breezy women’s aerials final

  16-02-2018 18:46
  PYEONGCHANG, South Korea | Like every other country and discipline, the aerials team from Belarus puts together a strategy in preparation for the Olympics. What is it? Well, Hanna Huskova says that’s none of your business.
  “I am not going to go into it right now,” Huskova said.
  Whatever it is, it’s working.
  Huskova survived unpredictable and windy Phoenix Snow Park on Friday to give Belarus its second straight gold medal in women’s aerials, edging Zhang Xin of
  
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• Column: Cheer for Pechstein? Root against her? Tough to say

  16-02-2018 18:46
  GANGNEUNG, South Korea | As Claudia Pechstein churned through those last couple of laps, any hopes of an Olympic gold medal snatched away by legs that grew heavier by the stride, it was easy to feel a bit torn.
  Was it a victory for clean sport?
  Perhaps.
  But one couldn’t help but feel a bit of empathy and a whole lot of admiration for the 46-year-old-to-be, more than a decade older than anyone else on the ice Friday at the Gangneung Oval, skating 12 1/2 laps in the Winter Olympics agai
  
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• Budget undercuts Trump focus on mental health, school safety

  16-02-2018 18:46
  WASHINGTON | President Donald Trump is calling for a focus on mental health and school safety in response to shootings like the one that took 17 lives in Florida, but his budget would cut funding in both areas.
  Trump’s latest budget would slash the major source of public funds for mental health treatment, the Medicaid program serving more than 70 million low-income and disabled people. The budget also calls for a 36 percent cut to an Education Department grant program that supports sa
  
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• Austria’s Mayer wins Olympic super-G, breaks Norway’s streak

  16-02-2018 18:46
  JEONGSEON, South Korea | Matthias Mayer came to the Pyeongchang Games as an Olympic champion, and he’ll leave as an Olympic champion.
  Just not in the event he expected.
  A sliding crash into a TV cameraman was the inelegant end of the Austrian’s charge for a medal in the opening combined event. It caused a hip injury that left him little hope of retaining the Olympic downhill title he won at the 2014 Sochi Games.
  But on Friday, Mayer broke Norway’s 16-year grip on the men&r
  
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• 22-year-old Visser proves how good the Dutch are at Olympics

  16-02-2018 18:46
  GANGNEUNG, South Korea | Perhaps more than anyone else, Esmee Visser proved just how good the Dutch really are at speedskating.
  A near non-factor at national level who was elbowed out of the team by an array of stars until Christmas, the Olympic rookie skated away with a gold medal only two months later.
  Visser had the race of her life Friday in winning the 5,000 meters to give the overpowering Dutch a sixth gold medal in seven events at the Olympic Oval. Crimson-faced as she crossed the fi
  
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• Brookfield Zoo orangutan recovering after appendectomy by La Grange Hospital surgeons

  16-02-2018 18:11
  Dr. Eric Yang, a surgeon at Hinsdale and La Grange hospitals, has done hundreds of appendectomies, possibly even a thousand, but none like the one did last month. The patient was Ben, a 40-year-old orangutan who lives at Brookfield Zoo. "He is a big animal, 250 pounds and incredibly strong," Yang...
  
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• Two Norge Ski Club members qualify for Olympic large hill ski jump final

  16-02-2018 17:57
  Mike Glasder and Kevin Bickner of the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove have qualified for Saturday's large hill ski jump competition at the Olympic Games in South Korea. Glasder finished 38th and Bickner finished 35th in the qualification round held Friday night at the Alpensia Ski Jump Stadium...
  
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• Gary schools manager plans to close Wirt-Emerson at end of year

  16-02-2018 17:06
  Gary's emergency manager plans to close the Wirt-Emerson School of Visual and Performing Arts and Beveridge Elementary. Peggy Hinckley told the state Distressed Unit Appeals Board Friday she will shutter the schools at the end of the year to help reduce a $1.5 million monthly shortfall in the district...
  
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• 22-month-old girl's condition upgraded to stable after being seriously injured in crash near Zion

  16-02-2018 16:30
  A 22-month-old Winthrop Harbor girl seriously injured this week in a crash near Zion was upgraded to stable condition, authorities said. According to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, the collision occurred at 10:24 a.m. at Russell and Kenosha roads, just outside the city of Zion. The preliminary...
  
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• 'One of the saddest, most depressing moments': Norridge District 80 board votes to eliminate band program

  16-02-2018 16:20
  Norridge School District 80 Board members voted reluctantly Tuesday night to eliminate the district's band program beginning next school year. Officials cited the need to act on the district's precarious financial situation, as well as a lack of desire by community members to pay a fee, as factors...
  
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• West Chicago High School teachers, board of education avoid strike with tentative contract agreement

  16-02-2018 15:50
  High school teachers in West Chicago will not be going on strike Friday after a tentative contract agreement was reached Thursday night, according to school and union officials. “We are grateful the negotiating teams were able to find common ground and reach an agreement, that a strike was averted,...
  
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• State lawmakers advance bill on immigrant driver license renewals

  16-02-2018 15:42
  DENVER  | State lawmakers have advanced a bill that would allow unauthorized immigrants to renew their Colorado driver’s licenses online or by mail instead of through an in-person appointment.
  The Denver Post reports the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on Wednesday passed the bill, sending it to the Senate Appropriations committee for consideration.
  Ranking Republican Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg joined two Democrats to advance the legislation.
  The bill, which is sim
  
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• 2014 champ Shiffrin 4th behind Hansdotter in Olympic slalom

  16-02-2018 15:42
  PYEONGCHANG, South Korea | Mikaela Shiffrin is, without a doubt, the best women’s slalom skier there is. Has been for years. All of the victories confirm it. Her competitors are aware of it. And, yes, so is she.
  “This is going to sound so arrogant,” Shiffrin said Friday, her eyes closed. “I know that I’m the best slalom skier in the world.”
  She spoke those words after failing to live up to that billing. After, as she put it, “puking before the first run&
  
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• Colorado flu season should start fading, state doctor says

  16-02-2018 15:41
  DENVER | The state epidemiologist says the influenza season in Colorado likely has peaked.
  State epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy says the record will likely fall before the end of February, but plenty of flu is still going around.
  The Denver Post reported Thursday that the state is on a record-setting pace. The state Department of Public Health and Environment said that through Sunday, 3,306 Colorado residents had been hospitalized with influenza this season.
  The state record for inf
  
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• Florida gunman had extra ammo at school, fired for 3 minutes — VIDEO CLIPS

  16-02-2018 15:37
  PARKLAND, Fla.  | The teenager accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people at a Florida high school confessed to carrying out one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings and carried extra ammunition in his backpack, according to a sheriff’s department report released Thursday.
  Nikolas Cruz told investigators that he shot students in the hallways and on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, north of Miami, the report from the Broward C
  
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• Trump to tackle mental health, school safety — but not guns; VIDEO CLIPS

  16-02-2018 15:34
  WASHINGTON | Declaring the nation united and grieving with “one heavy heart,” President Donald Trump is promising to tackle school safety and “the difficult issue of mental health” in response to the deadly shooting in Florida. He made no mention of the scourge of gun violence.
  Not always a natural in the role of national comforter, Trump spoke deliberately Thursday, at one point directly addressing children who may feel “lost, alone, confused or even scared.”
  
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• In many US states, 18 is old enough to buy a semiautomatic gun

  16-02-2018 15:31
  Just months after his 18th birthday, Nikolas Cruz went to a Florida gun store to buy a weapon. But there were limits on what he could purchase at his age.
  Cruz wasn’t old enough to buy any of the handguns at the store. But there’s no such restriction for rifles, shotguns or the AR-15 that police say he used to carry out the nation’s deadliest school shooting in more than five years.
  The young age of the man accused in the Florida high school shooting that killed 17 people has
  
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• Senate rejects immigration bills; young immigrants in limbo after DACA deal fails

  16-02-2018 15:28
  WASHINGTON | The Senate has left hundreds of thousands of “Dreamer” immigrants in limbo, rejecting rival plans that would have spared them from deportation and strengthened the nation’s border security. Senators dealt President Donald Trump an especially galling defeat as more than a quarter of fellow Republicans abandoned him on an issue that helped propel him to the White House.
  Also defeated Thursday was a plan by a bipartisan group of senators who offered a compromise that
  
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• ‘Run’: A 6-minute fatal rampage for shocked Florida school — VIDEO CLIPS

  16-02-2018 15:27
  PARKLAND, Fla.  |  Nikolas Cruz jumped out of an Uber car and walked toward building 12 of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, carrying a black duffel bag and a black backpack. A man inside the school spotted Cruz and knew he was a former student, a troubled kid. He radioed a co-worker, and within a minute heard gunshots.
  The 19-year-old was wearing a maroon shirt, black pants and a black hat. The man, whose name was blacked out from a sheriff’s affidavit, told detectives C
  
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• Did FBI miss a warning before Florida high school shooting? — VIDEO CLIPS

  16-02-2018 15:25
  PARKLAND, Fla. | The massacre at a Florida high school is again raising concerns about whether the FBI missed signs that might have stopped a mass shooting.
  Last fall, a Mississippi bail bondsman and video blogger noticed a comment on one of his YouTube videos that said, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” He immediately reported it to YouTube and the FBI and the next day two agents came to his office to take a printout of the comment and ask him whether he knew an
  
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• 6 inseparable friends support each other in school shooting — VIDEO CLIPS

  16-02-2018 15:20
  PARKLAND, Fla. | It was the final period of the day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and Jonathan Blank was in history class, learning about the Holocaust. Across campus, five of his friends, pals since grade school, sat in different classrooms watching the clock. In 19 minutes, school would be out and the buddies had plans this Valentine’s Day: a little basketball and boys’ time.
  Inside classroom 1214, the clock hit 2:21 p.m. Then: POP! POP! POP!
  Instinctively, 16-year-old Jonathan
  
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• Xanax and opioids prove lethal mix as deaths soar: 'It’s a prescription drug, people can rationalize it'

  16-02-2018 13:06
  Nick was a high school junior already well-acquainted with mind-altering substances when a friend introduced him to Xanax. He was immediately smitten. The prescription anti-anxiety medication affected him differently than booze or weed, he recalled, smothering his inner turmoil so completely he...
  
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• Nuggets make 24 3-pointers, beat Bucks 134-123

  16-02-2018 09:20
  Denver Nuggets’ Gary Harris shoots as Milwaukee Bucks’ Sterling Brown, rear, defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)
  MILWAUKEE | There’s something about playing in Milwaukee that brings out the best in Nikola Jokic.
  Just over a year after recording the first triple-double of his career at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Jokic wrapped up the feat in the first half on the same floor Thursday night.
  Besides
  
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• Puzzling yet popular, Americans are learning to love curling

  16-02-2018 09:11
  A fan from the United States watches men’s curling matches at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
  GANGNEUNG, South Korea | When Ann Chase and her husband were planning their trip to Pyeongchang for the Olympics, she set her sights on nabbing tickets to the most glamorous event of the Games: Figure skating. Her husband, however, had decidedly humbler ambitions.
  “He was like, ‘No, CURLING!’ And I was like,
  
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• Washington St defeats Colorado 73-69 behind Flynn’s 30

  16-02-2018 09:04
  PULLMAN, Wash. | Malachi Flynn scored a career high 30 points and Washington State rallied late to defeat Colorado 73-69 on Thursday night to end a seven-game losing streak.
  The Cougars (10-16, 2-11 Pac-12) trailed for most of the second half, but Flynn proved to be clutch.
  Flynn scored 21 points in the second half and made back-to-back buckets with 1:10 remaining to put the Cougs up 68-66. Colorado’s McKinley Wright answered with a 3-point play but Flynn was fouled driving to the basket a
  
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• Wrestling: 2018 Class 5A/4A state tournament first round results

  16-02-2018 08:18
  Overland senior Kaelin Chin, top, drives into Brighton’s Troy Coronel during a 195-pound first round match at the Class 5A state wrestling tournament on Feb. 15, 2018, at Pepsi Center. Chin won by fall and was one of 19 Aurora winners who advanced to the championship quarterfinals on Feb. 16. (Photo by Courtney Oakes/Aurora Sentinel)
  DENVER | Team scores and first round results involving Aurora wrestlers in the Class 5A & 4A state wrestling tournaments, which began on Feb. 15, 2018, at
  
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• Richards freshman Mia Palumbo becomes first girl ever to win match at IHSA state wrestling meet

  16-02-2018 05:08
  Richards freshman Mia Palumbo is used to winning on the wrestling mat, so it took a moment for her to realize the significance of her latest victory. With her opening round victory Thursday, Palumbo became the first girl in Illinois to win a match in the 80-year history of the IHSA wrestling state...
  
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• Rich Central cop accused of ramming 105-pound high school freshman against radiator in lawsuit

  16-02-2018 03:29
  A police liaison officer at Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields allegedly rammed a female student against a radiator unit and then slammed her to the ground while responding to a classroom disturbance last March, according to a federal civil rights suit filed earlier this month. Filed by...
  
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