Illinois
Illinois apartment tenants said they were trapped inside units after property was boarded up
Harvey, Illinois residents living in an apartment building became trapped inside their units after their doors and windows were boarded shut, according to reports.
FOX 32 in Chicago reported that some residents in the apartment complex, located on S. Halsted Street, became trapped inside, and when videos made the rounds on social media, several people raised concerns.
One resident, Rudolph Williams, said he was trapped inside one of the units and told the station he “didn’t hear anybody knock on the door” Friday morning before the door was boarded up.
Photos of the more than 30 now boarded up units show non-occupancy orders.
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Some Harvey, Illinois residents were reportedly trapped inside their units after they were boarded up on Friday. (FOX 32 Chicago)
Residents at the development told the station there were at least five families still inside their apartments with their belongings.
“Contrary to recent claims, the city did not evict anyone from these properties but has communicated with the property owners regarding the unsafe conditions of the buildings and need to immediately rectify the dangerous living conditions,” city officials said in a post on Facebook.
The City of Harvey posted several photos of the apartment complex on social media showing deplorable living conditions and major structural concerns.
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Harvey, Illinois Halsted Street apartments were boarded up after the building’s structural integrity became compromised. (City of Harvey)
Some of the photos show broken concrete and rusted out holes in staircases leading to the second floor, personal belongings being stored in stairwells, piles of garbage left on the property grounds and overflowing dumpsters.
In October 2023, the City of Harvey launched an extensive investigation into the property, along with discussions with the property owners, Jay Patel and Henry Cho, regarding structural issues and collapsed stair risers.
The city also discussed the numerous 911 calls for illegal acts taking place at the property.
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Garbage was strewn on the property grounds at an apartment complex on Halsted Street in Harvey, Illinois. (City of Harvey)
Two months prior, the city had a meeting and recommended the property owners hire a structural engineer to assess the damages. The city’s building department granted a two-week period to hire the contractor and urged the property owners to erect temporary structures to block the stairs.
The city said it also emphasized to the owners the need to vacate the building for safety reasons as construction was underway, granting the owners an extension until the end of October for residents to arrange other housing.
City officials said in the post that the property owners were told the structural integrity of the building had surpassed its life expectancy, and the building needed to be evacuated by Oct. 28.
“The responsibility to communicate this information to tenants was also emphasized,” the city said.
Multiple assessments on the property took place between Oct. 28 and Dec. 14, at which point the city’s building department determined two buildings at the property posed “imminent safety risk,” mainly because of the deterioration of the balconies and stairs.
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Then on Friday, the city added, the owners of the property boarded both buildings as city police conducted inspections and wellness checks.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mayor Christopher J. Clark for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Illinois
Unincorporated Bensenville residents say ‘nightmare’ rat infestation threatens their health, safety
UNINCORP. BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) — People living in a neighborhood in unincorporated Bensenville say a rat infestation is a threat to their health and safety.
Those in the White Pines neighborhood say they know the source of the problem, but they feel like elected officials are not doing enough to help them.
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Multiple homeowners say the issue goes back at least two years. They believe one particular property is ground zero and that there have been no significant measures to eliminate what they are calling a rat infestation.
“It’s just a nightmare right now,” said White Pines resident Jim Brill.
Brill says for two years, he and his neighbors have dealt with rats running around their property.
“It’s impacting every house that surrounds that house. The rats come out when we put our trash cans out. They literally swarm out of the yard, that house’s yard, go in our trash cans,” Brill said.
Another neighbor says his home security picked up the rodents after they tripped the camera’s motion sensors, sharing at least a dozen videos with ABC7 showing them scurrying around the side of his house.
And pictures show multiple rats on the windowsills on the home that neighbors believe is the root of the issue.
“We have to, you know, take huge measures to maintain our property, and we’ve done that, but when your neighbor isn’t doing that, and then creating housing for these vermin, right, that carry disease, and can, you know, be troublesome and problematic, it’s quite frustrating,” said White Pines resident Kristin Henri.
Henri says her parents have lived there for more than 50 years, never with a rat problem, until 2024. She says the rats are a hazard to their health and safety.
“We’ve had rats on our property, running through in broad daylight, so it’s unnerving. I can’t let my dog out. I worry about my neighbor’s child across the street, who’s a toddler,” Henri said.
Henri and Brill say living in an unincorporated part of Bensenville has complicated matters. At this point, they believe it is in the county’s hands, but still the problem persists.
“We contacted the county. They keep telling us they’re going to take care of the problem, and they don’t,” Brill said.
“We need somebody to help eliminate this. It’s not fair to us. We maintain our properties, and we want to live in a safe environment,” Henri said.
The DuPage County Building and Zoning Staff told ABC7 they been working on this problem since 2024.
They are working with the owner of a single property to clean the home’s interior.
Once that’s done, the county says, it will have an exterminator come in and set traps in the area.
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Sightings of a fireball were reported across Illinois and at least eight other states on Monday night.
The American Meteor Society received nearly 200 reports of a fireball seen over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin around 10 p.m.
Some of the reports out of Illinois came from Chicago, Aurora, Carpentersville, Warrenville, Addison, Waukegan, Oak Lawn, Shorewood Westchester, and Glen Ellyn. There were also reports from Indiana, including Valparaiso and Fort Wayne.
There was also a report out of Ontario, Canada.
Home camera footage, posted by the American Meteor Society, shows a flash across the sky in Michigan about an hour Northwest of Detroit.
A car crashed into a home in unincorporated Cary, Illinois, while three people were inside Monday evening, fire officials said.
A spokesperson for the Cary Fire Protection District said they were called to a home in the 2500 block of Oakdale Terrace just after 5:30 p.m. after reports came in that a vehicle had crashed into a house.
When paramedics and firefighters arrived, they found a black Jeep had slammed into a house, causing damage.
Three people were in the home at the time, fire officials said, but they were all able to get out safely and no injuries were reported. There were two people in the Jeep who got checked out by paramedics for minor injuries, but they declined further medical attention and did not want to go to a hospital.
Because of the damage to the home, McHenry County officials deemed it unsafe to occupy until repairs were made.
The American Red Cross is helping the four residents of the home with temporary housing and other needs while repairs are made.
The circumstances surrounding the crash are under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. It was not clear if any charges or citations would be issued.
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