The Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity on Friday abandoned plans to eliminate grants to Planned Parenthood. “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” a Komen statement said.

Six-year-old Bogart is stretched out across a veterinarian’s table, tongue wagging, as 12 electric acupuncture needles send 4.5 volts of electricity coursing through his body. Bogart is a fluffy chow mix that Flossmoor resident Rhonda Aronson affectionately calls her baby. She’s been taking him to Evergreen Park veterinarian Joe Whalen since the dog injured a disc in its spine on Christmas Eve. Aronson said Bogart was playing with a Labrador retriever at a family friend’s house when the two dogs slipped on a rug and the other dog fell on him. Bogart couldn’t get up. “We were a mess,” she …

A 22-year-old Gary man was ordered held without bail Friday in the Nov. 28 shooting death of a Lynwood man. Calvin Griffin, formerly of Chicago Heights, was charged Thursday with murder, home invasion and kidnapping in the slaying of 56-year-old Eugene White Jr., who was found shot to death in his home in the 19800 block of Orchard Avenue the morning of Nov. 28 after his wife told police she had been kidnapped, police said. Griffin also was charged Thursday with aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon for his alleged role …

A Tinley Park man who heard that a local nonprofit would struggle to deliver food to the needy because of thieves made a delivery of his own Friday. Chris King, the president of South Holland-based Robinson Engineering, presented a $500 check to Together We Cope to cover its insurance deductible after two catalytic converters were stolen from the truck it uses to get food from the Chicago Food Depository. King’s gesture was made after he read about Together We Cope’s plight last week in a story by SouthtownStar columnist Phil Kadner. “It really made an impact on me, and got …

The former congresswoman and one-time Mary Kay saleswoman dashed up to the pulpit of the black megachurch and offered stories of growing up poor and raising two children on her own as she tried to win the congregation’s support for her bid to unseat Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-2nd). Debbie Halvorson, who is white, is giving the son of the iconic civil rights leader his first real competition in a district that has been held by a black congressman for three decades. Halvorson, of Crete, believes recent ethics scandals have made him vulnerable, and a new congressional map has added …

Take all that a homeowner goes through in moving to the next suburb, and imagine doing it 160 times in a four-week span. What Silver Cross Hospital is in the midst of could be called the move of the century. Or century-plus, to be more accurate. After years of planning and construction, the hospital will begin a new chapter in its 120-year history when it officially opens its new New Lenox home at 7 a.m. Feb. 26. But how it is moving those 31/2 miles east from Joliet to 1900 Silver Cross Blvd. is a story in itself. More than …

A gunman robbed a Park Forest resident Jan. 26 in a lot at at Western Avenue and Court H2, in Park Forest, according to police. They said the man exited his vehicle about 12:30 a.m., when he was approached by a man who asked “what’s up?” and then pulled a handgun and told the victim to empty his pockets. After stealing a ring, watch, $8 and a cell phone, the robber told the victim to “get out of here” and then fled on foot, police said. …

A Chicago Heights man was robbed about 4 a.m. Jan. 28 by four male teens at the Pace bus depot, 46 E. 16th St., in Chicago Heights, according to police. They said one of the teens pulled up his shirt, revealing a pistol tucked into his waistband, and another teen reached into the victim’s pocket and stole $50. The four then fled on foot west on 16th Street, police said. …

Collecting action figures or trading cards is for other 9-year-old boys. Bruno Cap prefers to gather signatures from Marines. For the past year and a half, the Frankfort Square boy has turned his love and respect for the U.S. Marine Corps into something tangible by collecting servicemen’s signatures on his USMC flag. With more than 60 collected so far, Bruno proudly displays his flag behind his bed. He intends to bring it with him when he joins the Marines. Bruno and his parents, John and Tina Cap, come from a military family with a history of service dating to World …

LOCKPORT — Mayor Dev Trivedi successfully defended water-rate increases that took effect in December, citing a need to pay for operations and infrastructure improvements. The city council majority tried to eliminate the increases, which had been approved by a previous council. However, Trivedi vetoed the majority’s measure last weekend. At Wednesday night’s meeting, the majority did not have the six votes needed to override the veto. Council voting was along the same lines as past veto conflicts: Voting to override were council majority members Justin Fentress, Tom Kelly, Kelly Turner, Dick Van Dyke and Denise Marynowski. Voting to sustain the …

For the second straight year, Rich Township High School District 227 on Sunday will host a party for the Super Bowl. And for the second straight year, it won’t cost party-goers a penny. Admission, food and beverages are free, thanks to donations from local businesses. District 227 will spend $634 to host the party, spokeswoman Nikitta Foston. She said the teachers union donated $800 to cover costs. Two security officers will be paid a total of $250 for five hours each, and two custodians will be paid a total of $384 for six hours of work each, she said. Foston …

The celebration for Jane Ising’s 110th birthday was all set. Her son and his wife were coming from Homewood to the Applewood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Matteson, where monthly parties are held for residents turning another year older. Ising, at 110 becoming a “super-centenarian” — one of fewer than 75 living worldwide, according to the Gerontology Research Group — would have the spotlight. There would be balloons, music and a cake: chocolate on chocolate, Ising’s favorite. But the German-born Ising, who filled her life with world travels, teaching, community service and physical activity, died in her sleep early Thursday …

A neighbor woke up a man and helped him and two dogs escape an apartment fire Thursday morning in Hickory Hills.

Most people want lower taxes. They want new businesses that will provide jobs. And from the number of telephone calls and emails I’ve received over the past few years, I would say the majority of Americans want illegal aliens deported. That’s why I find the controversy in Crete over a proposal to build a detention center for illegal immigrants intriguing. Residents of Crete believe they weren’t provided enough information about the village’s plan for the detention center. But when Mayor Michael Einhorn finally got around to explaining it, I doubt many minds were changed. The center, which likely would house …

JOLIET — Catholics throughout the Diocese of Joliet will hear from Bishop Daniel Conlon this weekend on an Obama administration mandate that would force the church to provide free coverage of birth control in employee health benefits. A letter from the bishop, who calls the directive “a violent breach of the wall of separation between church and state,” is to be read at all Masses in the diocese Saturday and Sunday. Bishops across the U.S. have been calling on Catholics to write the White House and Congress in opposition to the requirement since it was announced Jan. 20. “The directive …

The trial of accused family killer Christopher Vaughn could begin late this summer and last nearly two months.

Based on his plans for the next week or so, Jason Weitzel didn’t leave the South Side’s reputation for producing tough guys behind when he moved to Alaska. The transplanted Oak Lawn resident, 39, will participate in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race that begins Saturday. During the 1,000-mile trek, he will have nothing but his sled, some supplies and 14 Alaskan huskies guiding him through the rough terrain of the Arctic winter. He’s doing it for a cause. When Weitzel leaves Fairbanks, Alaska, for Whitehorse, Yukon, he will be thinking about his contribution to the Wounded Warrior Project. …

Marianne DeHaan made a distress call to Ikea last month to rescue the kitchen at the Palos Park firehouse where she’s worked for 10 years. “The kitchen is currently on advanced life support and the firefighters/paramedics are performing CPR (Cabinet Partial Removal) when necessary,” DeHaan wrote in her entry essay for the Ikea Firehouse Kitchen Remodeling contest. It worked. The Palos Fire Protection District station at 8815 W. 123rd St. is one of three finalists in the online voting competition that continues through Feb. 28. “We’re asking everyone we know to vote, daily, for our station,” said DeHaan, the fire …

A funeral Mass will be said Saturday for Therese “Terry” Waigand, a woman whose maiden name, Gately, is well-known throughout the Southland. She was born into the Gately family that ran two popular department stores in the Southland. Mrs. Waigand, 60, died of lung cancer in Fort Myers, Fla., on Jan. 16, a cousin, Mary Gately, of Chicago’s Beverly community, said Thursday. Their grandfather, James Gately, started the department store in Chicago’s Roseland community and later opened another in Tinley Park on 159th Street east of Harlem Avenue. The latter became home to the SouthtownStar newspaper until last year. “We …

The new 80th Avenue Metra train station in Tinley Park will open March 22, the village said Thursday in a news release. Village and Metra representatives will be on hand to distribute refreshments and information to commuters, the release said. Plans called for a 5,400-square-foot station that includes a 50-foot clock tower, a full kitchen, Internet cafe and rest rooms inside, and three warming shelters, reconfigured parking stalls and a covered drop-off area and veranda outdoors. The old station had few amenities, and some commuters had to jump onto and off of trains because of a huge gap between the train step …