Arlington Downs will include rental units, retail and hotels One of the largest single developments in the history of Arlington Heights got the final green light from the Village Board, with the developer hoping the first phase will be open by next summer.

November gas explosion scattered families to hotels, loaner apartments, hospital for the holidaysThe Wheatley family's third home since mid-November is a loaner apartment. It doesn't have a single twinkling light or shiny ornament. There is no Christmas tree.

Mayor's plan would shift focus to higher-risk establishments, such as hotelsGrocery stores, corner shops and some gas stations would largely police themselves on food inspections under a plan Mayor Rahm Emanuel put forth Wednesday.

Residents' ideas for property differ dramaticallyIn the city's first formal public forum on the fate of the 85-year-old Highland Park Theatre, residents recently suggested ideas that included keeping it a movie theater, adding live entertainment or tearing it down for hotels, retail or a senior center.

Closings hurt low-income workers, people with disabilities, elderly retirees Bob Covel has been a fixture at the Belair Hotel for 36 years. Blind and living on a fixed income, Covel always found the single-room occupancy building a good fit, even as it fell into disrepair and became home in recent years to a more itinerant clientele.

In 1989, a group called Lakefront SRO turned a single-room occupancy hotel in the Uptown neighborhood into a 69-unit building that provided rooms and social services to people long teetering on the edge of homelessness.

Rooms fill quickly as families seek air conditioning, Internet access, electricity for medical equipmentMelissa Meyer checked out of a Gurnee hotel Wednesday with four generations of family and a King Charles cavalier spaniel in tow, leaving open the possibility of a return trip if the power outage stretches into the weekend.

While gambling would bring more people downtown, there is disagreement over the benefits to hotels, restaurants and other businessesIn Chicago's full-court press for a casino, boosters insist such a development would do much more than help plug immense city and state budget deficits.

Despite the expected warmer weather this weekend, pools at some suburban parks and hotels are likely to be closed because of a nationwide recall this week of drain covers that are considered unsafe.

Developers showing interest in building near new Silver Cross Hospital campusA boomtown of hotels, restaurants and retail shops could spring up on vacant land around the new Silver Cross Hospital being built in New Lenox, local officials say.

North Center kennel expands into shelter for dogs facing deathLast March, Michael Heltzer, owner of one the city's poshest dog hotels, got a call from a veterinary technician in Wisconsin who knew that Heltzer had recently opened a shelter for dogs facing the death sentence because they are aggressive, sick or crippled — too flawed to be adopted.

The day before Labor Day, clerics tell congregations to respect workersAs a flight attendant, Angelo Raffo is rarely home. A typical week for him includes crisscrossing across the country, sleeping in hotels and negotiating with demanding and edgy passengers.

Inhospitable economy stalls new projects, closes others Not even Des Plaines, the future home of the state's 10 t h and final casino, has been spared from the slump devastating the hotel industry.

Measure would treat minors arrested for prostitution as victims, not criminals In Chicago-area hotels, truck stops and even suburban homes, children are being sold into prostitution and forced labor, Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said Wednesday.

Woman who ran home-based child center accused of meeting with sex clients at hotels The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services is shutting down a Naperville day care after its operator was charged with prostitution, a spokesman said Friday.