Blogs

It was a quiet Sunday morning practice for the Blackhawks - on and off the ice.
Coach Joel Quenneville wouldn't confirm if Jonathan Toews and Ben Eager would be back from their concussions Monday night against Los Angeles, but look for both of them to play.
Toews skated on a line between Patrick Sharp and Dustin Byfuglien and was also back in the power play mix (thank goodness).
Eager skated on the fourth line with Colin Fraser and Andrew Ebbett.
As for Dave Bolland, he didn't practice and won't play Monday because of his back.
While Quenneville continues to call Bolland day-to-day to the media, like we wrote Friday the Hawks are discussing shutting Bolland down and even surgery.
Quenneville was asked Sunday if the team was considering shutting Bolland down.

According to Fremd director of football operations Mike Brown, the Class 8A quarterfinal will be played at 6 p.m. Saturday at Fremd's Hale Hildebrandt Field in Palatine.
Should be an interesting matchup between Marist's prolific Western Michigan-bound QB Mike Perish against Fremd's stingy defense led by S Jayme Szafranski, DL John Josif and crew. Will Marist benefit by going from its muddy home field onto artificial turf for its passing game? There's no doubt the Fremd fandom will be out in full force for this one.

During two heated Democratic challenges, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park was targeted by millions of dollars in TV ads painting him as a far right Republican in his north suburban district.
Much of the time, it was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paying for and writing those ads.
Kirk spent millions of dollars himself on ads to cultivate a moderate, independent brand in the 10th District.
Now it seems the DCCC agrees with him.
DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen said during a C-SPAN interview Sunday that Kirk is a "moderate," contradicting his own organizations efforts to paint him as the opposite and undermining attempts by Senate Democratic opponents to do the same.

After warming up briefly, Cardinals Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin will not play because of a nagging ankle injury.

Boldin caught 89 passes for 1,038 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He has 35 receptions for 404 yards this season despite the ankle injury. Boldin will be replaced in the starting lineup by Steve Breaston, who caught 77 passes for 1.006 yards last season and has 30 catches for 400 yards this season.

The Bears’ inactives are wide receivers Juaquin Iglesias and Devin Armoashodu, cornerback D.J. Moore, safety Josh Bullocks, linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, guard Lance Louis and defensive tackles Matt Toeaina and Jarron Gilbert.

Devin Hester has already been on the field stretching, warming up, catching passes and, most importantly, running at close to full speed.

There is no trace of the ankle injury that kept him out of practice Wednesday and Thursday and limited him on Friday, so he will be active today.

It also appears that Cardinals Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin will play despite a nagging ankle injury.

Suburban lawmakers in the U.S. House split strictly along party lines in a landmark vote on a major overhaul of America’s health care infrastructure late Saturday night.
Facing protests from both sides of the divisive proposal for months, U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Batavia ended up siding with their party in pushing the Democratic proposal across the finish line with 220 votes, just two votes more than needed. Also supporting the measure was U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Evanston Democrat who has long backed government health coverage expansion.

Tyrus Thomas breaking his left arm during a weightlifting session was certainly strange, but there has been no indication it was anything more than what the Bulls have reported.

Thomas was indeed doing a pull up on Friday when the radius in his left arm snapped in a freak accident. The break was about halfway between the wrist and elbow. He had a plate inserted during Saturday’s surgery and the procedure went well.

Since Thomas is right-handed, he’s expected to begin rehabilitation in a few days and the Bulls are optimistic that he’ll be back on the court ready to play in four weeks, which would be on or around Dec. 5. He is planning to travel with the team during the West Coast trip that starts on Nov. 17.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed a measure today to make a repeal of Cook County's sales tax easier, but the Chicago Democrat walked a political tightrope in doing so.

The legislation will reduce the number of votes required to override a veto by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, who pushed the 1 percentage point tax hike last year to save the county's public health system.

Attempts to override Stroger's vetoes of subsequent repeal measures have come up short under the county's unusually high four-fifths requirement. The legislation lowers the bar to a more standard three-fifths vote to override a veto.

But making it easier to repeal the sales tax puts Quinn between two important constituents as he faces a tough primary challenge now and seeks election late next year.

As Democratic leaders count votes today in advance of a landmark vote on health care reform, U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington and U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Batavia are now a “Yes.”
Bean and Foster have been on the fence in the health care debate for months, facing protests from activists on both sides of the issue.
Both have said they could support a public insurance option as part of reform, but they have withheld their commitment until a final measure was written in the House.
Bean spokesman Jonathan Lipman said late this morning that the three-term congresswoman would support the measure. Her 8th District stretches from northwest Cook County into eastern Lake County and northwestern McHenry County.

Well, well, well.

After Iowa shredded Northwestern on its first two possessions to take a 10-0 lead, the Hawkeyes became a turnover factory.

Iowa committed 4 turnovers in a 12-minute stretch of the second quarter and Northwestern capitalized for a 14-10 halftime lead -- and it probably should be more.

FYI, Mike Kafka started but Dan Persa has floated in and out. Persa, who ran the first six snaps he took, wound up with 19 first-half snaps while Kafka had 17.

Anyway, here's the turnover rundown:
14:04 2Q: Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi throws into double coverage and CB Jordan Mabin picks it off and returns it to Iowa's 48. NU forced to punt.