to lay them off because of poor performance. but the judge found that teachers with excellent ratings were let go. judge gave the school system 30 days to work with the union to help tenured teachers pursue current openings. school officials say they may appeal the ruling. mid-term elections are less than a -- deadline to register is today. to vote you need a u.s. citizen at least 18 years old and a resident of your precinct for 30 days before the election. for information how oregister go to wgntv.com/web links. the election is november 2. some outstanding members of the chicago police and fire departments are being honored with the city's top awards today. wgn nancy loo is live at city hall with details. well, with the imminent retirement of richard m. daily, this is among the final group of chicago's finest and bravest to be recognized by this particular mayor. as always, his honor devoted a

healthy chunk of his schedule to honoring the best of the best within the city's police and fire departments. the top award winners this year, a firefighter jason durbin off duty last december when he rushed into a high-rise fire climbing 28 stories into a smoked filled apartment to rescue a woman proceeding to carry her 28 stories back down to safety. also honored, chicago detective dominik. who studied a pattern of armed robberies before spotting the suspect and foiling the last attempt ending a string of 25 robberies many at gas stations. >> as far as being in the right place at the right time. we were watching the robbery patterns where they were going and picked a certain area and it had good results. >> adrenaline kicks in and a situation where you don't think about what you are doing. when i got done -- down to the first floor and handed her off. at that point i sat down and

kind of like pinched myself, what just happened? it was exhausting. >> reporter: clearly two very humble heroes. the city also recognized its fallen firefighters and police officers. their families received standing ovations. we are live at city hall, nancy loo, wgn news. next on the midday news, judge hand downs a sentence to the man behind the failed bombing of new york's times square. the spill may be capped but the flood of problems with bp's oil 13eu8 compensation is just beginning. and president obama announces new program to assist a growing student population at community colleges. what's up ? tdt@ú@3q ugh. my feet are killin' me.

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the man accused of trying to set off a bomb in times square earlier has been sentenced to life in prison. faisal shahzad admitted parking his suv on a busy manhattan street in may. nissan path finder was loaded with explosives but the car bomb failed to detonate. he called himself a muslim soldier and pled guilty to terrorism and weapons charges. former budget analyst from connecticut said he was trained and financed by the pakistani taliban. three men were arrested in pakistan in connection with that case. the german foreign ministry is investigating reports a u.s. missile strike in a mountainburn region in pakistan killed five mill tntds. pakistani intelligence -- when a u.s. missile struck the town in the north. u.s. officials believe a cell of germans and bringtens linked to a terror plot are hiding in that region. the u.s. has issued an advisory for americans traveling in europe to be on the alert for

possible attacks. georgia stripper says she traded sex and drugs for money with a federal judge. now that judge faces drug and weapons charges. senior u.s. district judge jack camp was arrested after trying to buy cocaine and pain medication. authorities say they also found two weapons in the front seat of his car. the stripper says she and camp had been using coke, pot and other drugs together. camp is free on $50,000 bond. the administrator in charge of the bp oil spill claim fund says fraudulent claim asks questionable documentation are slowing the process. attorney kenneth feinberg is in charge of dispensing $20 billion to oil spill victims. he says program is bogged down by the volume of claims and that many of them are inflated and contain false information. 98,000 people have applied for compensation. victims say their lives were destroyed when the rig exploded sending 200 million gallons of oil spewing into the gulf of mexico. in washington, a one day

summit on community colleges. president obama says they are america's unsung heros in the education system. >> may not get the credit they keserve and may not get the same resources as other schools but they provide a gateway to millions of americans to good jobs and a better life. the president says new program will hook students up with possible employers for training. oak brook based mcdonalds and other employers including the gap have signed on to create job shadowing programs. nurs poll shows a majority of americans 71% believe it is better for some students to go to community colleges instead of a four year school. the president's goal is 5 million more community college graduates within the next ten years. now a bit of a baseball history. part of the black sox scandal exhibit in the baseball hall of fame is a fake. eight white sox players threw the 1919 world series as part of a deal with the mob.

shoeless joe jackson's uniform was on display at hall of fame for ten years. now experts say it is a fake. because fibers used to stitch the logo were polyester with agrillic coloring. we know -- acrylic and polyester were not used until 1940s. the uniform was originally sold for $7 million. this is like a scandal within a scandal. the body fat that could actually be good for you. that's ahead in the medical watch. first only two cars make the top cut in a newly designed government crash test. which vehicle models meet the stricter standards coming up next. great for tailgate because they hold their heat but are just as good cold. chef kelly williams is making po-boys in lunch break.

i'm bloomberg's angie lau live at cme group in chicago. it is a corporate telenovela in the making. two biggest spanish language broadcasters are burying the hatchet. mexican media giant agreed to buy as much 35% of univision's communications for $1.2 billion. to expand is programming in the united states. meanwhile, jamba juice and necessarily getting re- energized. partnership for the ready to drink market targeting the $8.5 billion energy drink market and we could see an early 2011 retail launch of the new line of energy drinks they say in the northeast. meanwhile, when it comes to smartphones, the top choice is apparently google's android. that according to neilson. google's android software has become the most popular operating system in the u.s.

among smartphone users beating out amiphone and rimmed the platform which tied for second place. the reason is because android software is free to any company that wants to build -- well, to build phones using it. schaumburg based motorola one of many manufacturers who have adopted android for their smartphones. but apple when it comes to trading today is one of the leaders in the market today. shares actually up more than 3% after jeffrey's group advised its investors to buy the shares. now according to bloomberg, to date this buy rating gives apple its 48th positive recommendation among 51 analysts calls we tracked. so far apple stocks has surged 32% this year. pretty good if you bought at the beginning of the year. all right, on wall street right now stocks surging in part thanks to a faster than forecast growth in the services industry. got that report today. that report covers about 90% of

the economy and again faster than forecast. live at the cme group in chicago, angie lau, bloomberg news. now back to you. the justice department is suing three major credit card companies for engaging in anticompetitive practices. the government says visa, master card and american express deliberately prohibited merchants from encouraging customers from using competing credit cards with lower acceptance fees. visa and master card have agreed to stop the practice but american express is fighting the suit. it says settling the suit will do nothing to promote competition. preliminary rules have been issued to put more airspace between boeing's big dream liner jets and other jet liners. rule for the 787 cream liner requires more than twiels the current distance during landing approaching. the current distance is at least 10 miles for planes behind the 747 boeing jets. extra spacing rules could issue operating issues.

revisions to the new rule are expected after test flights according to the faa. the five star safety rating on the new car will mean a lot more because it will be harder to earn. transportation department is tightening is standards for new car crash tests. how tight? only two car models have earned five stars under the new system. they are the bmw5 series and the hyundai sonata. the most popular car, the toyota camry earned only three stars. ratings measured how well a car stands up to a front end crash, side crash and a rollover. meanwhile toyota says it has repaired 80% of the gas pedals on those recalled vehicles. the auto maker says it plans to equip all future vehicles with a socallied smart stop that will allow you to override sudden acceleration by pressing on the breaks. passengers at chicago's union station will see some major upgrades. we will tell you about them coming up next. details about the simple genetic tests that may be the key to better detection of

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now, that's progressive. call or click today. update on our top story. an aide to cook county board president todd stroger goes court on corruption charges. wgn's julian crews is live at the cook county criminal courts building where bond for carla oglesby has been set at

$250,000. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: wearing her street clothes and looking tired and exhausted after nearly 24 hours in police custody, carla oglesby went before a cook county judge. she is accused of using her position to steer contracts to her private public relations firm as well as to other companies and individuals. now oglesby had only been working for cook county president todd stroger for 12 days in her capacity as the deputy chief of staff. she was hired in february of 2010 and that's when according to investigators with the cook county states attorney, quote, carla oglesby schemed to defraud the people of cook county through a series of sham vendor contracts. the first alleged scam revolve around a federal disaster loans that were being made available. this is wake of serious flooding that occurred in cook county in 2008. the executive director of the

department of homeland security sought a no bid contract between cook county and cgc, that's carla ogleby's pr firm. the department of homeland security was wanting to put out the word to residents that grant funds were available for people who suffered damage from those floods of 2008. cgc was tasked with working with the office of the president. the president of the cook county board and the county commissioners to inform home owners of the availability of these funds and she was tasked with putting together a campaign to put the word out. however, investigators interviewing a number of public officials in county government observed that it appeared that the work was not done. and one official identified as public official d told investigators she was very surprised to hear claims that cgc had worked tirelessly in december regarding the flood relief and she did not believe that cgc did anything regarding

the relief effort. now there was also other contracts, all of these contracts the common denominator was that these were no bid contracts for less than $25,000. and that means that the contracts did not have to be approved by the full cook county board. another alleged scheme involved putting out information about composting and electronic collection services for county residents. once again the contract that was just over $24,000. and the state's attorney is alleging that at this point in time she was -- she did not actually perform the job. so oglesby's bond was set at $250,000. her mother and father were in the courtroom. her lawyer said they were going to post the bond nord to have her released. no comment as of yet available from her lawyer and the cook county states attorney will have a press conference here shortly at 1:00 to detail the

charges. at 26 and california, julian crews, wgn news. thank you. the couple whose logan square home was raided by the fbi is refusing to testify before a grand jury. last month agents searched the home of joseph osbacker and his wife. the couple claims they were targetedded by the fbi because of their opposition to u.s. involvement in the middle east and south america. they were among several activists targeted in an fbi raids here and in minneapolis. documents show investigators were looking for possible links between the activists and terrorist organizations. the couple says despite being ordered to appear before the grand jury, they will not testify because they feel it is attack on their first amendment rights. if you ride the train on a daily basis you might notice a heightened police presence on your commute this weekend. the exercise is all part of operation rail safe going on all over, the country. this friday a law enforcement surge is expected along the

state's commuter rail system. federal, state and local police will be stationed at rail stops and aboard trains. officers will conduct canine sweeps on rail cars and random passenger bag inspections. air conditioning will soon return to union station after a more than 40 year absence. ridership on amtrak and metra have grown 40% in the past 12 years so the station will get a major renovation paid for with federal money. it will include expanded boarding lounges and more restrooms. we may need the air conditioning later this week. tom skilling has details about our impending warm up coming up next. i know the best card you're holding. you do? your medicare card. [ laughing ] but don't let me or anyone see it except your doctor or their staff. and don't tell anyone your card or social security number over the phone. guard your card. [ woman 2 ] i hear unauthorized card use is a big source of fraud.

the new healthcare law lets us crack down on criminals and win against fraud. making medicare stronger. and speaking of winning... [ man 2 ] not again! [ man ] learn more at stopmedicarefraud.gov.

tom skilling with good news for the farmers. >> very good news. i hear regularly from john hazard who farnls down in will county. keeps us going up to date on what's going on the farms. you know the harvest didn't start for our farmers, the corn and soy beans until november. this year it's 75% complete and 90% complete on the soy bean harvestcap we are told the yields are good. these are great years for our farmers. that's true of the gardners and those who you grow things at home as well and what a gorgeous spell of weather now. it's been chilly and rough on the plants because we had frost in the area. had lows in the 29-degree range at indiana this morning and near paxson. and we find ourselves under beautiful sunny skies and in a warming weather regime as we come to you today. there are big clouds with rains fall together east of us. we will tell you more about that in a moment. and also to the west of us. no rain in sight here of any

consequence and a warming pattern that will come on slowly. 29 this morning at burlington, wisconsin. pontiac hit 31. 33 south suburban kankakee and south elgin hit 34 this morning just a sampling of the loys -- lows around the area. so cool while in the city at o'hare the low was 39. and we are up to 63 already with very light winds blowing not only at o'hare and midway at 63 where the low this morning was 40. mchenry 62. the low there this morning was 38. so these are all temperatures that could produce some frost in the suburban areas. not in the city or near the lake. valparaiso at 62 at this hour. 36 this morning there. there is the view from sauk village and you take this view and rubber stamp it across the area. it's gorgeous. fact is we have a big blocking pattern in north america and satellite lays it out. big rains falling in the eastern united states.

mid-atlantic. huge rains even some big thunderstorms at this hour going through parts of arizona and utah. they have big snows that occurred in california and look at this storm. producing 60-mile-per-hour winds and 20 foot seas on the gulf of alaska. each time these things roars in there it rain like the devil and pump up warm air which buckles the jet then a branch of it dies southward and then rides north over our warm air dome and sinks southward again. you get this wharfie jet stream pattern and then things slow down. you don't get much eastward projection systems. it's the blocking patterns. frost advisories out for 12 states last night. out for fewer state buzz down to tennessee and into the deep south tonight. the next two days will see the rains where you would expect to see them in a blocking pattern under the cool air pools and this one right here another one out to the estthis thing expected to produce ten or more

inches of snow in the sierra and has been doing that. notice how the main jet kind of by passes these weather systems so that means weather in the lower 48 just crawling along and that's great for us because we are in the nice weather and stuck in place here for awhile. that's a pleasant development. the rains continue out to the east of us. an area that's hit time and again. there is pennsylvania, new york with little convective towers poking up from the louds -- clouds there. then out to the west we have cloud tops here in parts of arizona already topping 30,000 feet. there were 60-mile-per-hour winds but the mix down of cooler air occurs. outflow of the thunderstorms will prevent 100 degree temperatures that are common in the desert southwest of late. we have nothing remotely close to that. 60s in our area and as you can see and then this prod of warmer air. this yis the jet stream rides like that across the country. it forms on boundary between warm and cool air.

79 at this hour in rapid city where it's in the mid-80s yesterday. and look at the chill starting to take shape out west. there are signs canada will pull up with cool air next week from somewhere along range forecast models and will spill into the middle and end of next week. but we could have 80 degree temperatures early next week before all of that takes place. that will be nice. and you know to give you an