The Central Illinois Foodbank plans to use an anonymous donor’s $500,000 gift to expand its reach during a time of growing need.

Officers with the Valparaiso Police Department were called around 12:20 a.m. Sunday to Bernardi’s home after receiving an anonymous tip about an ongoing drinking party.

The Central Illinois Foodbank plans to use an anonymous donor’s $500,000 gift to expand its reach during a time of growing need.

Officers with the Valparaiso Police Department were called around 12:20 a.m. Sunday to Bernardi’s home after receiving an anonymous tip about an ongoing drinking party.

Officers with the Valparaiso Police Department were called around 12:20 a.m. Sunday to Bernardi’s home after receiving an anonymous tip about an ongoing drinking party.

Officers with the Valparaiso Police Department were called around 12:20 a.m. Sunday to Bernardi’s home after receiving an anonymous tip about an ongoing drinking party.

La Grange Library staff member found book with German word for secret in itWhen a La Grange Park Public Library employee noticed the German word for secret written inside the front cover of an old book donated to the library, she knew it wasn't the typical anonymous gift.

Chief of staff was accused of sending anonymous emails posing as faculty leaderThe University of Illinois will pay its former president's chief of staff $175,000 to resign from her faculty post and drop unresolved wage claims, the university announced Tuesday.

University report concludes that controversial messages were sent from her laptop while it was in her possessionThe University of Illinois president's former chief of staff on Friday denied sending two controversial anonymous emails, even through a report issued just minutes earlier determined they came from her laptop, while it was in her possession.

Lisa Troyer resigned Friday amid an inquiry into messages sent to try to influence a contentious faculty decisionUniversity of Illinois President Michael Hogan's chief of staff resigned Friday amid an investigation into whether she sent anonymous emails posing as a faculty leader to try to influence a faculty decision, the Tribune has learned.

Tim, subject of a 2009 Tribune profile, is no longer on Illinois' sex offender registryAfter years of anxiety, Tim has finally gained the security of an anonymous future. The young man from Antioch committed a sex crime at age 14 and was put on a registry open only to police, but he worried that a federal law might cause his identity to be made public.

Meanwhile checks, including a $10,000 anonymous gift, flow to Alsip woman undergoing chemotherapyA Palos Hills man was charged Thursday with stealing a donation jar for a woman battling cancer after he was identified through surveillance video from a Crestwood convenience store.

Whether at the kettle or layaway counter, stealthy donations seem to be on the riseEvery year, it's popular to play Santa. Some people do so without anyone knowing.

Here are some notable cases of anonymous giving this holiday season:

Homes found for 4 of couple's 13 catsRon Gaeti was in tears after an anonymous donor paid part of his electric bill, avoiding a shut-off at the Park City mobile home he shares with his girlfriend and 13 cats.

Ex-Buffalo Grove trustee tried to get critic's identity divulged The name of an anonymous Web poster who ridiculed a former Buffalo Grove trustee's 15-year-old son does not have to be revealed, an appellate court has ruled in a case closely watched for its implications for Internet anonymity.

Rarely does a one-term mayor of a small, largely anonymous suburb gain national acclaim. But Judith B. Petrucci was not your ordinary one-term mayor.

Woman arrested after anonymous tip, official saysA Cook County Forest Preserve District employee has been charged with growing marijuana, county officials said Friday.

19-year-old arrested in shooting of cabdriver in alleged robbery attemptActing on an anonymous tip, Evanston police have arrested a 19-year-old Chicago man who has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery in the shooting death of a cabdriver in Evanston.

Borders cancels author events after threatTwo Chicago-area book signings scheduled at Borders Books involving former Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese Jr. were canceled after an anonymous threat, a Borders official said Monday.

Reaching, perhaps, the pinnacle of his pop-culture status, the once-anonymous Chicagoan behind the popular and profane @MayorEmanuel Twitter account appeared Tuesday night on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," meeting fellow satirist Stephen Colbert and hinting that the fake Rahm Emanuel could one day return.

Columbia professor is the foul-mouthed mystery impersonatorThe other (expletive) shoe has dropped, and the anonymous Twitterer known as @MayorEmanuel is anonymous no more: He's Dan Sinker, a 36-year-old Columbia College journalism assistant professor and founder/editor of the long-running, now-defunct Chicago-based magazine Punk Planet.

Anonymous donor to match value of up to 100 gold coins found in Salvation Army kettles in area this seasonGold coins in the kettles of Salvation Army bell-ringers have become as much a tradition in the Chicago area as lights along the Magnificent Mile.

Victim may have been robbed of $2,500 she had gathered to file for bankruptcy, authorities sayA Frankfort Square man accused of fatally shooting an acquaintance and stuffing her body in her car trunk allegedly left an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting early to commit the murder, a Will County police sergeant testified Monday.

With trademark brashness, Emanuel helped White House pass stimulus, health careWASHINGTON — A president's chief of staff tends to be discreet, low-key and anonymous.

Chicago Crime Commission releases its 1st list since 1937 For the first time in more than 70 years, the Chicago Crime Commission has released a "Most Wanted" list — this time promoting it on Facebook and starting an anonymous tip line to help catch the fugitives.

Appellate court rules newspaper must disclose names A newspaper in Ottawa, Ill., must disclose the names of two commenters on its Web site who allegedly made defamatory statements about a local couple, a panel of state appeals court judges ruled.