Patch Flash: Suburban Brothers Get 14 Years for Scamming Seniors

Two brothers were each sentenced Tuesday to 14 years in federal prison after being convicted last year of engaging in a home-repair fraud scheme that targeted elderly victims on the city’s south and west sides, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced. The defendants, John J. Sullivan, formerly of Northbrook, and his brother, Daniel J. Sullivan, of Niles, swindled more than 50 victims out of a total of almost $750,000 in equity in their homes. Prosecuters said the brothers would promise to perform expensive home repairs, convincing victims to refinance their homes to pay the costs, then later intentionally failed to perform or complete the projects.

. Jim Pergander, business agent for the Lake County Federation of Teachers Local 540, told Patch the Jan. 16 strike date was chosen because "we wanted to give everyone enough time to prepare."

The Huntley Education Association has declared an impasse bringing teachers in District 158 one step closer to a strike. The district's teachers' union was expected to meet with the District 158 school board Tuesday night to continue working toward an agreement in contract negotiations. The union voted in favor of a strike vote in October. 

Sign up for the FREE Arlington Heights Patch Newsletter!

Chicago Public Schools could move to ban the sale of a swath of snacks and drinks deemed unhealthy as part of its broader "Healthy CPS" initiative. The plan would prohibit the sale of soft drinks, fruit drinks and energy drinks with minimal nutritional value -- such as Gatorade -- during school hours, with an exception made for student athletes drinking sports drinks who are participating in sports events. Whole milk would be barred in favor of low-fat or skim varieties and cheese would be required to be "low, reduced-fat and low sodium." Last month, CPS received a $4.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that supported the launch of "Healthy CPS," an initiative aimed at tackling obesity rates and tobacco use among CPS students.

The Powerball jackpot now stands at $185 million, since no one matched the numbers in the multi-state lottery drawing on Saturday. The next drawing will be Wednesday, Nov. 14. Saturday night’s drawing was for $168 million. The winning numbers were 32, 42, 50, 54, 55, and the powerball number was 32, CBS Chicago notes. The Powerball lottery is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. While $185 million is a sizable sum, it is nowhere close to larger jackpots in the past.

 late last month.