Five people have been arrested as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour in Ramsbottom.

Lawmakers to probe governor's grant to school, pardon to official

Gill, director of the Loop Lab School and niece of founder Elmira Mayes, was uncovered Tuesday in the Champaign County Circuit Court. Gill, a Chicago civil rights activist, had attended the University of Illinois and in 2002 was convicted for aggravated battery for a fight with a police officer there. Her lawyer said she was a chaperon on a high school trip and got involved in an altercation between another chaperon and a police officer.

Gill and other officials for the Loop Lab School could not be reached for comment. Gill unsuccessfully appealed the case, but her felony conviction was expunged while she was represented pro bono by a Chicago attorney brought in at the request of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.

Jackson said that he thought the conviction was unfair and that Gill needed it expunged so she could work as a school administrator.

Replica guns seized from collector

I don't understand... Is possession of the replicas actually illegal, or did the police just decide it's not a good idea and take this mans property? There was no discussion of charging him, so I guessing it's the latter. How does anyone tolerate this? .

Bad-luck Modestan sees 5 cars smashed in 18 months

Terry Hopkins figured it was just bad luck when a drunken driver careened into two of his family's parked cars outside of his East Orangeburg Avenue home a year and a half ago, totaling one.

Hopkins took his plight to City Hall last week, asking for a permanent fix to keep cars and pedestrians safe.

Advertising romance: Gone in 30 seconds - Pt. 5 - Uhhh…

Elevators suck because they're like 30-second real life commercials, without a product and without a script. Unfortunately, more and more often I have these encounters outside of elevators, and they're starting to make all of life feel like it sucks for the same reason. Maybe you know what I mean.

Leaving Village Video that day reminded me of a Coca-Cola commercial I once saw in which a young man holds a bottle of Coke and walks around a city smiling at strangers who smile back. The whole time, Louis Armstrong's version of "When You're Smiling" plays and you can't help but tap your toe, or at least your index finger. At the end, the young man hands a Coke to a coy-looking, curly haired girl sitting in a café. She was the first person he smiled at, and the only one to not immediately respond with two rows of bright whites shining between frighteningly stretched out cheeks.

Close Ask Kristin

Depending on how the networks schedules them, we could see the last three in early December, or they might hold them until January or February.

Keith in Topeka, Kansas: Have you talked to Bryan Fuller lately? Do we know how long until the strike affects Pushing Daisies? Pushing Daisies finished nine scripts before the strike went into effect.

Purdue airport still working to land carrier

There have been 14 commercial airlines at the Purdue University Airport over the years. All have left.

So when Betty Stansbury, Purdue's airport director, calls airlines about providing service out of Purdue, they want to know what's changed since the last carrier left in February 2004. Unfortunately, Stansbury doesn't have much to tell them.

"The demographics haven't changed much," Stansbury said. "All of the carriers that have been here, all 14 have lost money in this market. Every time an airline exits, it's harder and harder to get another to try it."

But there are still people in Greater Lafayette hoping Stansbury succeeds. From a development standpoint, the Lafayette area has a lot to gain from having a commercial airline in its own backyard.

Dana Smith, president of the Lafayette-West Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, said having an airport close can be attractive for new businesses.

For what it's worth

Just like the stock market, house values can be an up-and-down affair. But the market value of homes in Altoona is not as volatile as in bigger cities such as Pittsburgh, Baltimore and New York City, according to area home appraisers and real estate agents. “Most people in this area know that there's basically a gradual, 5 percent increase per year," said Richard Johnston, owner/broker at Howard Hanna Johnston Realty, Altoona. “In the bigger markets, home values are going up 15 (percent) to 20 percent every year. But like the stock market, it has to correct itself eventually." Bigger populations and more jobs account for the dramatic increases in bigger cities, Johnston said. Home appraisals are a key component of the home buying and selling process, Johnston said. A residential appraisal is a security tool used by lenders to establish the market value of a home's property.

For U, four goals and a win is a start

Gophers coach Don Lucia has coached for 21 seasons at Alaska Fairbanks, Colorado College and Minnesota. Never had one of his teams gone through a scoring slump as bad as this team has endured recently: 10 goals in the past eight games.

The Gophers were well-rested, too, after a week off during which they slipped two spots to ninth place in the WCHA.

Storied Pagan-Lewis sold to Sames Crow

From one family to another; that's how the owners of Pagan-Lewis Motors Inc., one of Corpus Christi's oldest car dealerships, described the sale of their dealership to Sames Crow.