The major piece of legislation that became law last week was the passage of a bill to allow Commonwealth Edison to construct a smart grid with the hopes of creating better infrastructure. Opponents point out that rates will cost consumers $3-a-month and that electric bills could rise dramatically over the next 10 years. The rate increase is expected to kick in this January.

A Will County sheriff's deputy is accused in a lawsuit of breaking the neck of a private detective last year while responding to a dispute over a classic Pontiac Trans Am at a Plainfield auto repair shop.

Matt Griebel, 30, is accused not only of fracturing a vertebra in Donald Swanson's neck, but also of pummeling him so severely his liver was damaged and clamping handcuffs on so tightly they severed the ulnar nerves in Swanson's wrists, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week against Griebel and the Will County Sheriff's Office.

Lawmakers introduced a new proposal Monday that would provide incentives for Sears to remain in Illinois and a final decision on the matter could come as early as this week.

The legislation, tied into tax breaks for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, would extend the Sears deal with Hoffman Estates an additional 15 years and would provide District 300 $89 million from 2013 to 2028

A Barrington resident served on the jury that convicted Blagojevich's co-hort in a federal government corruption trial. Jennifer van Boven had never heard the name William Cellini before the day she was called to jury duty at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.  Like many Illinois residents, van Boven was keenly aware of the downfall of former governor Rod Blagojevich but held little interest in the continuing fallout of corruption charges among his network of power-brokers. That was until the afternoon of Oct. 5 when she was selected from a pool of 60 potential jurors to sit in judgment of Cellini on charges that he tried to extort funds for Blagojevich's re-election campaign.

In the last week, vintage car and motorcycle enthusiasts converged on Glenview from across the country and around the globe for the auction of Lee Roy Hartung's extensive auto collection. Hartung, who worked as a scrap dealer, amassed his trove of treasures over five decades. The cars went for more than $4 million. See photos in Glenview Patch.