The Sun Times credits the combination of inexperienced riders and drivers who aren't used to seeing so many cycles on the road to the crash increase. Specifically, in Cook County, the number of motorcycle accidents in 2008 was up 26 percent from 2006. And according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, the number of motorcycles registered in Cook County and seven surrounding counties was up 6 percent last year over 2006.

As a motorcyclist, what can you do to protect yourself? For one, make sure that you carry enough insurance to protect you if you are involved in an accident. Also, be cognizant of wearing the proper protective clothing and helmets. Finally, if you are in an accident, contact an experience personal injury attorney to discuss your rights. The Chicago motorcycle accident attorneys and Shea Law Group have handled hundreds of cases where motorcycles are involved. If you have been injured in an accident, contact us at 877-365-0040
or online for a free consultation.

The Cook County Sheriff's Office and the FBI's Chicago office had been collecting evidence at the Alsip cemetery since allegations were made that cemetery employees had dug up bodies from their gravesites and relocated them to a vacant lot on the premises while they resold the plots for profit. Four employees have been charged with dismembering a human body and other criminal counts. It is likely that the cemetery will also face civil liability for their alleged actions.

According to the report, investigators had collected 1,200 pieces of evidence, including bones, pieces of burial vaults and headstones. But because cemetery records were found to be disintegrated and rotting, investigators will not be able to identify the remains.

In May, a University Village couple fell 20 feet to the concrete—suffering neck and head injuries—after the guardrail of their apartment porch collapsed. According to the Tribune, the porch at the center of this accident is one of about 700 hazardous porches that have been phoned into the city's 311 system that haven’t been inspected by the City.
These statistics are troubling in light of the tragic Lincoln Park accident six years ago where 13 people were killed as a result of a porch collapse. That accident called the entire inspection process into question and resulted in one of the nation's strictest building codes for newly constructed porches and allowed the City to finally enforce codes on landlords who ignored porch hazards for years. But apparently, the standards implemented as a result of that catastrophe have become lax again. City officials say their hard work has reduced the potential threats, but a shortage of inspection manpower and an increase of new reports may mean that bad porches often are discovered only “haphazardly.”

Police report that two people suffered minor injuries in the accident and that the driver says she mixed up her brake and accelerator pedals while parking the vehicle. Thankfully, the injured people were taken to a hospital in the nearby suburb of Barrington in “good condition.”

According to unconfirmed fire dispatch reports, a man suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and two gunshot wounds to the abdomen and was taken to an area hospital. In route, the car crashed near the intersection of Western Avenue and 71st Street. Police did not know where the actual shooting happened but said that initially, the victim appeared to be fatally wounded but showed “signs of life” shortly after crews arrived.

Victor Calderon, was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident that occurred in the 2100 block of West Fullerton Avenue. He was pronounced dead at Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago.

Henry Manso, was killed in a car crash two hours later at the intersection of Grand and Thatcher Avenues in River Grove. Within twenty minutes of that crash, Todd Filkins, was killed when his motorcycle crashed into another car at the corner of 26th Street and East End Avenue in Chicago Heights.

According to lawmakers, the bill protects bowling alley owners from lawsuits from patrons who leave the alley to and return with wet feet, creating a hazard that could result in slips or falls. The bill doesn’t legislate away plaintiffs' rights to sue when a property owner is negligent though. Chicago store owners still must inspect their property for potential dangers and either fix a problem within a reasonable time period or warn the public of those defects.

The family claims that Maplewood Care's administrator tried to cover up a rape by calling it consensual sex. This case is an example of the dangers that can occur when senior citizens and younger mentally ill residents are both placed in nursing homes without proper monitoring.

What are the signs that your loved one could have been abused in their nursing home:

Frequent arguments or tension between the caregiver and the elderly person
Changes in personality or behavior in the elder
Unexplained signs of injury such as bruises, welts, or scars
Broken eyeglasses or frames
Behavior from the elder that mimics dementia, such as rocking, sucking, or mumbling
Unusual weight loss, malnutrition, dehydration
Untreated physical problems, such as bed sores
Unsanitary living conditions

CPD Officer Richard Bolling has been criminally charged by the Cook County State Attorney’s Office with aggravated driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident where a death or injury occurred and reckless homicide. His bail was set at $2 million.

It is alleged that the boy had sneaked out of his home and was riding his bicycle with friends on Ashland, traveling north in the southbound lane. Bolling was driving his car in the southbound lane and, according to witness accounts, raced through the intersection and hit Trenton. Bolling is alleged to have continued without stopping and was stopped by police shortly thereafter.

It is unclear at this time whether the child’s family is going to pursue civil remedies for the crash, including filing a wrongful death action in Cook County courts.

Take for example George Baldwin of Lake Forest, who received a $2.5 million settlement this winter from a case involving his ex-girlfriend’s mother, whom he claimed allowed her two daughters to drink and give him and a friend alcohol. Allegedly, an argument ensued and the two younger men left and got in a car accident that left Baldwin paralyzed from the chest down.

On the civil side, insurance companies that are involved in nearly every Chicago car accident case are starting to find that jurors will hold parents at least partially responsible for injuries caused by underage drinking on their property. Insurance carriers are now starting to take this into consideration when deciding to how settle cases and there may be a time when insurance coverage is denied in cases where parents allow their kids to drink --which could open parents up to costly personal liability for the damaged party’s accidents.

Monetary sanctions are only the beginning. In addition, providing alcohol to someone younger than 21 is a misdemeanor in Illinois, punishable with up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Highland Park Mayor Michael Belsky initiated the ban following the mauling of a 14-year-old girl, who was bitten on the face and arms and required hundreds of stitches after a pit bull attack.

The statistics regarding dog bites are interesting: According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), U.S. emergency rooms treated an estimated 310,000 people for dog bites in 2007. This estimate has fallen fairly consistently since 2001, when an estimated 366,000 bite victims were treated. In addition, a 2000 study cited by the CDC and other health agencies reports pit bull-type dogs were responsible for more bite-related deaths than other breeds from 1979 to 1999-- but it cautions that those statistics may mean pit bulls are just more common than other types of dogs.

According to Biomet’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the 27 are among the more than 120 plaintiffs who allege in lawsuits that that King misdiagnosed, harmed and even killed patients after the hospital hired him as a surgeon in 2002. The SEC filing coincided with several of the plaintiffs agreeing Monday to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed under that allege that EBI improperly marketed its devices through an illegal kickback scheme that involved King and defrauded federal health care programs. EBI denied those allegations.

Six of the King malpractice cases were slated for a combined civil trial June 1 have been postponed in the wake of the settlement agreements.