a joint effort begins today - between chicago police and ceasefire. their goal: to prevent violence among gangs. and already, "ceasefire" brings forward one suspect in a shooting. good afternoon i'm steve sanders. and i'm dina bair. we welcome our viewers who are watching us around the country on wgn america and on the web. wgn's julian crews is live on the south side with details. we are seeing a new wrinkle in police tactics in a pair of chicago districts and this is a measure of how desperate the

police superintendent and the mayor are to reduce the violence with out of the box thinking and a historic new campcollaboration between police and cease-fire a mediator for gangs ... >>this is a collaboration. >>bob jackson said it works ... an 18 year-old double shooting suspect turned himself in ... but his family says it's a case of mistaken identity. the young man they say has an alibi whatever the outcome of the cease-fire roseland group says its a good outcome ... >>in a historic pilot program

chicago police and the cease- fire groups will be collaborating in the city's third and 10th districts that will work together to mediate between rival gangs to prevent retaliations ... it's a controversial idea police resisted this in the past been reluctant to get into the game of negotiating and having dialogue with known criminals ... but the cease-fire people believe it's the only thing that can work to keep the violence from erupting >>it's a great thing ... >>with regard to the double shooting wounding the two little girls in the roseland neighborhood monday no charges have been filed against the 18 year-old who turned himself and he maintains that he is not the shooter his family says that he does have an alibi ...

a teenage boy is in critical condition after being pulled from lake michigan. police say they received a call last night about a boy in the lake near 39th street. chicago fire officials dispatched a full water rescue team to that location to look for the boy. police say he is either 16 or 17 years old. other details surrounding the incident remain unclear including how long the boy had been in the water. former mayor richard daley reportedly is scheduled to give a deposition today ... in the case of a man who says he was tortured by detectives under former police commander jon burge. daley was cook county state's attorney in 1986 when michael tillman was charged with the rape and murder of a south side woman. he was freed from jail in 2010 after special prosecutors said there was little evidence he committed the crime and that his confession was coerced. tillman's civil rights suit against burge and the city says daley was aware of the alleged torture as state's attorney and aided in a cover-up. a chicago police sergeant charged with brutality is now on trial. sergeant edward howard junior is accused of smacking gregory jeffries four times outside a king gyros restaurant in

october 2010. most of the incident was captured on surveillance video. on the first day of the trial yesterday, jeffries claims his face was left swollen and bleeding. but, howard's laywer argued he was defending himself that night, and jeffries was going to spit on him. the trial resumes next week. illinois is now one of 26 states across the country experiencing severe drought conditions... as we can see from where wgn's nancy loo is live... lawns and grass are suffering, nancy? >>we are in lincoln park. you can see the grass is not greener on any side of town right now ... if you needed an official declaration to know that the situation is severe. it is so bad the city fiercely could lose thousands of trees ... >>it's not just lincoln park

there's more yellow and green and every chicago park morning watering and sprinkling is keeping many spots thriving but the severe drought means that stormthere are water restrictions throughout ... the chicago area has seen half an inch of rain in the last month not nearly enough to sustain the plant life up to 10,000 young trees are showing signs of stress limited crews are watering as much as possible but the park district is baking for residents who live near these young trees to try to water them before it becomes too late >>the reality is we will see trees less and less successful in the years to come next spring will will be losing some trees and branches the worst-case scenarios that will lose a

couple of thousand trees to this drought >>it's especially difficult for the farmers throughout illinois corn and soybean farmers are sustaining big losses this year even if there is more rain soon the drought damage it has already taken its toll the corn crops are way below where they ought to be ... >>if we get rain in the next week it will benefit the soybeans more than the corn >>people are asked to exercise caution when working with fire or smoking ... >>we have lost fields of natural turf to fires because it is too dry >>bad as things are with this severe drought there are areas downstate that are classified as extreme or exceptional which is as bad as it gets

>>they can nancy >> twelve chicago public schools principals and assistant principals today are being removed from their posts. cps and the office of the inspector general announced 12 individuals are being removed for allegedly falsifying free and reduced lunch forms for their *own* children. it's part of an ongoing investigation. the names and schools of the principals and assistant principals are not being released immediately. they face disciplinary action up to, and including termination. wells fargo will pay $175 million to settle a discriminatory lending lawsuit in illinois. the state accused the bank of charging minority borrowers higher mortgage fees and approving them for more expensive sub-prime loans. more than 3300 borrowers in illinois will be compensated up to $15,000. wells fargo says it agreed to the settlement to avoid litigation. the "y-me" not-for-profit group is shutting down after 35-years. "y-me" has reportedly been facing financial issues for some time. since the late seventies the group has served as a support

system for breast cancer victims and their families. more than 30,000 people participated in "y-me's" breast cancer walk last may, and the group raised two-million dollars. illinois state police are motorcyclists on the edens expressway. state police, along with officers from skokie and lincolnwood are targeting a stretch of the edens between devon avenue and old orchard road. they say they get calls every night reporting rogue motorcyclists and unsafe driving conditions. so far this year, 13 people have died and seven were injured in motorcycle crashes. police say that rate is up a staggering 85 percent from last year. officers plan to arrest rouge drivers... who could face fines of up to 25-hundred dollars and jail time of up to one year for reckless driving. outrage in syria after severe violence.... nearly 300 people are killed in one single day -- making it the deadliest day since the regime change. also ahead: how penn state officials respond to the freeh

report about how the university handled the jerry sandusky sex- abuse case. plus: reaction as the country learns the olympic uniforms for u.s. athletes were actually made in china.

it could be the bloodiest crackdown in the conflict in syria. there are reports government forces killed nearly 300 people in a village called "tremseh." the united nations says the

military unleashed helicopters tanks, and heavy artillery. opposition leaders are calling on the special envoy for the united nations and arab league to step aside. they say kofi annan has been ineffective. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton met with the president withmyanmar in cambodia today the pair discussed recent changes that have swept the country clinton announced the implementation of a $5 million fresh funding project to boost development in southeast asia this week congress gave the green light to firms to invest in the country clinton has visited several asian countries over the past few days as part of a regional conference. for the first time we are seeing images of the hoodie that trayvon martin wore the night george zimmerman shot and killed him prosecutors released new

evidence including these never before seen images in one document sanford florida police described zimmerman as having a little hero complex one officer said he believes that george zimmerman targeted trayvon martin because he was suspicious of the hoodie that he was wearing not because he is racist george zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder penn state school officials are promising to make changes in response to the report that rips school leaders for their role in the jerry sandusky sex abuse scandal. a school-funded investigation by former fbi director louis freeh concludes that top penn state officials failed to report the abuse of children by former assistant football coach jerry sandusky. the report says former president graham spanier, former vice president gary schultz ... former atletic director tim curley and the late football coach joe paterno actively agreed to keep quiet about the sex abuse to protect penn state's reputation.. the report is said and sobering >>the board accepts full responsibility for the failures that occurred ...

board members say they don't plan to resign ... but will follow the recommendations from children are protected in the future. joe paterno's name is being removed from a child care center. nike has decided to change the name of the joe paterno child development center at its headquarters in oregon. nike's president says the move is in response to the report on penn state's handling of the child sex abuse scandal. company officials haven't said what they will rename the center. the united states olympic team won't be wearing uniforms made in america at the summer games. this year's olympic uniforms, made by fashion icon ralph lauren, were manufactured in china. this isn't the first time the uniforms have been made overseas -- ralph lauren also designed the 2008 uniforms and those were made in china as well. senate majority leader harry reid had some choice words for the u.s. olympic committee. >>i think the olympic committee ought to be ashamed of themselves i think they should be embarrassed i think they should take all these uniforms put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again ...

the u.s. olympic committee responded that the u.s. team is privately funded, and doesn't receive any aid from the government. the committee also said they're proud of their partnership with ralph lauren. just ahead: what two insurance companies are asking extectant mothers to avoid. and, still to come this midday: the amount of money j.p. morgan chase lost from its controversial trades. and in lunchbreak: we're making a light summery italian pasta dish: capellini checca!

[ female announce with swiffer dusters, a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done... i'm going to read one of these. i'm going to read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags swiffer 360 dusters extender gets into hard to reach places so you can get unbelievable dust pick up in less time. i love that book! can you believe the twin did it? ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back. ♪ ♪

losses at j.p. morgan are greater than originally stated there will be shutting down the unit originally responsible for the loss ... the ceo says they

fire the manager is responsible for the loss in its efforts to restore investor confidence ... confidence among american shoppers dropped in july to its lowest levels this year that's because of the weak job market ... insurers are trying to convince hospitals and doctors to cut back on induced births and c-section is which account for a third of all deliveries at night is louring reimbursements to hospitals for cesarean sections and rewarding hospitals that are encouraging natural childbirth signet is following suit ... a m seat is bringing the season premiere of breaking bad to the internet ... the network says dish

subscribers could subscribe on- line said it won't miss the opening of the show ... there's a huge rally right now on wall street ... all on speculation of what the chinese will do to stimulate the economy there ... coming up next the secret service investigation on a threat made to the first lady by a police officer ...

ahhh, now that's a clean mouth. i just wish it wouldn't fade away so fast. let me show you something.

[ dr. rahmany ] as soon as you leave here... plaque quickly starts to grow back. but now there's a way to keep the clean longer. introducing new crest pro-health clinical rinse. it's a clinical breakthrough that actually keeps your teeth 91% clean of plaque at 2 months after a dental visit. plus, it gives you these key benefits. new crest pro-health clinical rinse. crest. life opens up when you do. also try new crest pro-health clinical plaque control toothpaste. a police officer in washington d.c. has been put on administrative leave, as the secret service investigates whether he threatened first lady michelle obama. the d.c. metro police officer allegedly said he would shoot the first lady, and then displayed a picture on his phone of the gun he would use. the officer's identity has not been released. he reportedly made the comments wednesday. he worked as a motorcyle escort for government officials. president barack obama and

mitt romney's campaigns are accusing the other side of lying. romney's team makes the accusation in a new campaign ad .. after the obama camp jumped on a new report that raised questions about exactly when romney left his job at bain capital management. cnn's jim acosta takes a look at both accusations. the the mitt romney has said repeatedly that he left his private investment firm bain capital in 1999 ... but the filing with the securities and exchange commission according to public sources he was the ceo and president of the company in 2001 to years after he said he left the firm the a bombing campaign pounced on the document as proof that mitt romney has misled the public about his business career ...

>>he misrepresented his position and bane to the securities and exchange commission ... and that's a felony or he has misrepresented himself to the american people >>the above a campaign believes that there attack ads are accurate and that these documents are crucial to prove it ... the romney campaign insists that the barak obama campaign is lying ... democrats say it is romney's campeau is lying ... an sec commissioner during the carter administration says the government documents to raise serious questions >>either the statements in the sec filing are untrue and i

regard that as a serious problem-to-or they are true, but he was not really on the job. sec regulations are complicated ... although governor romney was not involved with bain capital after taking leave to run the winter olympics at that time this is nothing more than a quirk in the regulations ... his name remained on government documents because of his sudden departure from the firm he left in february 1999 to take over the running of the olympics he didn't stay involved with the firm or its portfolio companies since the day of its departure ... and the massachusetts secretary

of state's office in 2001 there were filing center of by the barack obama campaign that show that mitt romney was very much involved with bain capital the airline industry might be faced with a massive pilot shortage. chicago-based boeing says the airline industry will need to hire nearly a million airline pilots over the next two decades to prepare for a wave of new aircraft. this includes 69,000 needed in north america alone. that means the airline will need to hire more than 20,000 new pilots annually from now until 2029. boeing also forecasting a need for almost 100,000 technicians in north america. richard branson has a new adventure plant the billionaire plans to best his accomplishments by blasting off into space he plans with his family to be the first tourists in space on virgin galactic ... the price for the ride is 2000

$200,000 ... tom skilling will i'm a marathon runner, in absolute perfect physical condition and i had a heart attack right out of the clear blue... he was just... "get me an aspirin"... yeah... i knew that i was doing the right thing, when i gave him the bayer. i'm on an aspirin regimen... and i take bayer chewables. [ male announcer ] aspirin is not appropriate for everyone so be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. so he's a success story... [ laughs ] he's my success story. [ male announcer ] learn how to protect your heart at i am proheart on facebook.

we are in a serious drought system ... >>and we are not getting organized to systems that has these organized brainstorms not happening we just get the localized downpours ... they don't produce much rainfall accumulation ... there has been an influx of moisture with the

unstable conditions the temperature is dropping faster than it normally does with altitude that's called unstable atmosphere ... so you get these clusters of thunderstorms that develop locally. it will be interesting to see how these play out through the afternoon ... there is 20-30% coverage of these storms throughout the day perhaps a 50% coverage situation but the heat will be growing more intense entering next week ... we are entering the second heat wave this summer ... we are at 91 degrees right now the chicago area will remain in the nine days'90s

factor in that humidity ... the heat index will be rising. we will be feeling like 100 degrees come monday and tuesday. all of the pollen counts are low. the sun burned times are 19 and 58 minutes at 1 and 4:00 p.m. respectively ... currently

it's 87 degrees in winnetka ... 90 degrees here in the city. look at how burned out the grass is an northbrook we are all in the same boat with this drought. we are only a 25% of the normal summer rain totals

it's a tragic situation. only six of the lower 48 states have had any kind of normal precipitation this summer's season ... we're thinking back to 1988 and that's the benchmark for drought conditions here in the midwest. we're looking at the temperature averages for the next several days we will remain pretty high for about two weeks ... we have advisory's and red flag warnings for wild fires out west ... there is a buckle in

the jet stream to the north. that will close off the rain formation process. we will have a mix of sun and clouds tomorrow morning expects some embedded thunderstorms through sunday evening ... we see some thunderstorms along the shoreline in dupage county. we have our fingers crossed. expect thunderstorms possible for tomorrow afternoon.

there is a critical pollination period for the corn crop's week must get rain not a good situation out there on the farm partly cloudy hazy warm and muggy for friday and saturday night ... there will be widely scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms saturday and possibly sunday ... expect 94 degrees the high temperature for sunday. the people growing tense

monday and tuesday 97-99 war possibly 100 degrees by tuesday ... not a good situation. if you suffer from fear of phobia? a. friggatriskaidekaphobia b. frigophobia c. felinophobia the answer, still to come this midday!

time for sports: the cubs and sox return for the second half of the season today. the cubs start with a six- game home stand, while the sox are on the road for ten games. phil humber will re-join the starting rotation, after suffering an elbow strain. humber allowed two hits over six innings in his third rehab start in the minors yesterday. he should start for the sox in boston on tuesday. john danks hasn't pitched for the sox since may, and he won't return from injury for at least a few more weeks. paul maholm takes the mound for the cubs this afternoon at wrigley... he's 6 and 6, while the diamondbacks will send out ian kennedy. tonight, rookie jose quintana goes for the sox in kansas city... he's four- and- one and takes on bruce chen from the royals. schedule, and he's even walking without a leg brace now. his brother, reggie, tells "espn chicago" that rose has been in los angeles rehabbing the last two weeks.

he has not done anything basketball-related, and is focused only on rehab. meanwhile, a kyle korver- trade to minnesota fell apart, so the bulls are now exploring a trade with atlanta. that's a look at sports. your live illinois lottery drawing is next. good afternoon i'm linda, air komeier here are your winning pick three numbers: 9 0 8 here are your winning pick four

numbers: 7 7 5 9

scientists in texas are taking an unusual approach to figure out what causes autism... they're studying baby teeth. they're calling it the "tooth fairy study." researchers have been collecting baby teeth donated from children with and without autism. they grind up the teeth.. turn them into liquid.. then make it into gas. the gas is then run through a device which can detect particles like pesticide... plastics... and medicine. researchers hope to learn if a link exists between environmental factors and autism.

drinking coffee while pregnant will not make your child hyperactive. a new dutch study found no link between caffeine consumption during pregnancy and future child behavioral problems. researchers studied nearly 3500 five and six-year olds. they found youngsters whose mothers drank around three cups of coffee a day had no greater risk of suffering from "inattention" than those who had none. however.. researchers note the results don't mean caffeine may not be harmful for other developmental issues. ladies, want to lose weight? .. record what you eat! a new study by the fred hutchinson cancer research center indicates women who keep a food journal lose more weight than dieters who don't. researchers tracked dieting habits of 123 overweight women. the women followed a weight- loss program for a year and were advised to keep a food journal. at the end of the study, they lost an average of 19 pounds or about 11% of their starting weight. along with keeping a journal the study showed not skipping meals and not eating out for lunch helped them lose weight. lunchbreak is next. we're learning how to make a light summertime italian pasta

dish: "capellini checca" kate and i have been married for 15 years. that's 3 moves, 5 jobs 2 newborns. it's no wonder i'm getting gray. but kate still looks like...kate. [ female announcer ] with nice'n easy all they see is you -- in one step, nice'n easy with colorblend technology is proven to give more blends of tones. for color that's perfectly true to you. [ rob ] i don't know all her secrets but i do know kate's more beautiful now, than the day i married her. [ female announcer ] with the dimensional color of nice'n easy all they see is you. how many rounds of constipation do you have to go through... before you do something different? when you feel your first signs, try miralax. unlike other laxatives, miralax empowers the water you drink to do more. drawing water into your colon to unblock your system naturally.

which gets you back to being you. don't wait to feel great. miralax.

it's time for a lunchbreak... we're making a tasty pasta dish you can make with chicken or shrimp. chef dino lubbat is here from from dinotto ristorante in old town, on north avenue. thanks for coming in. >>thank you for having us ... this is a simple summer pasta dish. we want to keep people out of the kitchen in the warm weather ... this is prepared

pasta capellini we have oil and garlic sizzling in my pantsn.... the object is to heat this as though it is a warm salad. tear up some basil to release oil and aroma and add some chopped tomato ... this will all warm in the oil and garlic will lead salt and pepper

this is served room temperature. toss everything together. >>it looks good and it smells wonderful >>people add chicken or shrimp or docduck..... instead of using the diced tomato you are using these

sweet tendered cherry tomatoes ... when you tell people about other great dishes at your restaurant >>we do a lot of gluten-free and redo special order or made to order dishes ... >>we are very conscious of people's diets these days ... and some spumante to drink!

chef dino, thanks so much for diotto restaurante has a half- priced wine list every wednesday ... they're located in chicago's old town neighborhood at: 215 west north ave. to learn more, go to: dinotto.com. for today's recipe or to watch the segment again.. log on to: wgntv.com/ midday. [ female announcer ] letting her home be turned into a training facility? this mom has been doing it for years. she's got bounty. in this lab demo one sheet of new bounty leaves this surface cleaner than two sheets of the leading ordinary brand. bounty. let the spills begin.

and now the answer for today's trivia question: if you suffer from fear of "friday the 13th", what is your phobia? a. friggatriskaidekaphobia b. frigophobia c. felinophobia the answer: a) friggatriskaidekaphobia. according to the stress management center and phobia institute, fear of friday the 13th affects between 17 and 21 million americans.

>>my daughter was born on a friday the 13th and i believe its good luck ... we're looking at some pop up thunderstorms. we will see some of these blowing up this afternoon and again tomorrow afternoon and evening. we are getting into more humid air conditions. here is the forecast by this afternoon: it will be warming up and the scattered thunderstorms will continue to pop up over the weekend and by sunday afternoon we will be getting a stronger warm air layer above us ...

temperatures: these readings are warming quickly. we are already above 90 degrees. here is how we will start the day tomorrow mid to upper 60s ... we will reach 90 tomorrow as well with high humidity. triple digit temperatures are coming our way. by sunday we're into the mid-90s.

you'll see more cloud cover tomorrow. we will be into the mid-90s on sunday as i said the ocean is 80 degrees and the lake michigan temperatures are about the same at the chicago shoreline so it's a warm summer everywhere ... expect 99 degrees monday and tuesday possibly triple digits. we have a resurgence of this heat for next week well to next weekend ...

thank you tom skilling. thanks for joining us today. we hope you have a great afternoon. remember we are back at 5:00 this evening and again at 9:00. before we go, we leave you with more live music from "losing scarlet"... they're performing tonight at the river rockhouse in saint charles.