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Charlie Trotter, famous Chicago chef, was found by his son Dylan unconscious and not breathing in his Lincoln Park home this morning and was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead [...] Namesake restaurant opened in 1987 and closed in August 2012 [...]

Prosecutors on Tuesday contended that Billy Eugene Varner killed his wife, Peggy Henderson, age 61, on Oct. 26, 2013 -- machete attack with near decapitation and near severing of her arm [...] At St. Michael’s Catholic Church 5 p.m. Mass in Ray, North Dakota on Saturday night November 2, 2013, Varner allegedly walked through the back door of the church with a 12-gauge (shotgun), swung it back and forth, ordered everyone to the outer sides of the pews, and instructed the Rev. Benny Putharayil to collect money from more than 20 in attendance and put it in a black trash bag [...] St. Michael’s Catholic Church parishioners chased the man out of the church, followed him and provided a solid description leading to his arrest by Williams County Sheriff's Office while traveling south on Highway 2 near Williston, North Dakota [...] Extradited, faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of his wife, 51-year-old Peggy Henderson and his mother, Dorothy Varner, 82 and is schedul...

The Chicago Bears won in Green Bay for the first time since 2007 [...] LIVE SCORE from bleacher report ... Brandon Marshall had 107 yards receiving and a touchdown in the win [...] Sacked by Bears Defensive End Shea McClellin, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a fractured collarbone in Monday night’s game against the Bears [...] Playing without starting quarterback Jay Cutler, the Bears forced a three-way tie atop the NFC North with the win over the Green Bay Packers [...] NFL NFC North Standings ... NFC North W L T PCT PF PA STRK Packers 5 3 0 .625 232 185 L1 Lions 5 3 0 .625 217 197 W1 Bears 5 3 0 .625 240 226 W1 Vikings 1 7 0 .125 186 252 L4

UPDATE BELOW from NBC CHICAGO ... CTA released surveillance photo of woman with alligator on train ... An alligator, between 12 and 18 inches long, was discovered under an escalator by a maintenance worker on the lower level of Terminal Three at O'Hare International Airport [...] Roaming free under an escalator in American Airlines' Terminal 3 [...] VIDEO 'Allie' the alligator startles officials at O'Hare [...] O'Hare Terminal map ... PHOTO: Here's that alligator discovered under the escalator at O'Hare http://t.co/rvJ8a3sxQ2 pic.twitter.com/nvhSVTsaL3 — FOX 32 News (@fox32news) November 3, 2013 Post by NBC Chicago .

Holiday windows unveiled today on State Street, as is tradition on the first Saturday in November each year and helps kick-off Macy's holiday season [...] Magnificent Mile Light Festival is November 23, 2013 themagnificentmile.com/events

Dick Ingram, executive director of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, says the retirement system for 390,000 public school teachers in Illinois is spending more money than it’s taking in. In a few decades the TRS faces a real possibility that the system will not have enough money to pay benefits to retirees (those currently in their 20s and 30s and 40s)  [...] Illinois Teacher Retirement System ... TRS Wikipedia ...

Lake Forest native Brian Ludmer recovering from gunshot wound after getting hit while waiting to board aircraft at LAX [...] Stephen Hartley, 59 of Chicago, had flown into Los Angeles to be with his daughter after her emergency appendectomy ... Stephanie Rosemeyer, 26, awaiting a flight to Chicago, looked into the gunman's eyes, heard him curse the TSA [...] WORLD WATCHES AT LAWA ... Gunman killed a Transportation Security Administration worker and wounded two others — after sending a suicidal text message to his family [...] First TSA officer killed in the line of duty is 39-year-old Gerardo I. Hernandez [...] Gunman's Text Message: LAX gunman, Paul Anthony Ciancia, planned to die in shoot-out with 'pigs and the TSA' [...] LIVE LAX shooting TIMELINE: 'Multiple victims' hit; at least 7 hurt [...] BREAKING ... A Transportation Security Administration agent and a suspect were wounded in a shooting at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday morn...