CRETE, Ill. (WLS) — As the severe storms faded, communities across the Chicago area sprang into action, with neighbors rallying together to assist one another in the recovery efforts that persisted through Wednesday.

According to the National Weather Service, five tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down during Monday’s storms. This adds to the numerous tornadoes reported in the region this year.

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The NWS specified that an EF1 tornado affected areas including Country Club Hills, Hazel Crest, Harvey, and Homewood. Another EF1 tornado was identified in Lansing, while EF0 tornadoes were reported in Glen Ellyn, Orland Park, and Wheaton.

In Wheaton, the tornado initiated just south of Wheaton College, carving a brief path lasting no more than two minutes. The funnel had a maximum width of 100 yards and wind speeds reaching 75 mph, the NWS noted on Wednesday.

ComEd officials reported that approximately 80% of power is expected to be restored by Wednesday. However, many could remain without electricity until Friday.

Parts of Crete remained without power Wednesday as residents and business owners continued recovering from Monday’s severe storms that damaged property, canceled events and disrupted daily life across the community.

The effects of the storm remained visible outside the Willard Wood Park Center, where two massive trees crashed onto the building.

Crete Park District officials said children attending a summer camp sheltered in the basement before being evacuated from the building. No one was injured.

The park center remains closed as crews assess the damage and continue cleanup efforts.

“Until we can assess the damage and figure out what the next step is, you know, the building’s going to be closed,” Andy Biesterfeld of the Crete Park District told ABC7. “Everybody, even the office staff, is out helping us cut trees and remove all the debris. I mean, we got a lot of work to do.”

The outages and damage have forced cancellations across the community. Three weddings scheduled for this weekend at the park center were canceled.

Residents are also dealing with the effects of prolonged power outages.

“Me and my son were in the basement when we heard all of this happening,” Crete resident Jody Gromnicki told ABC7. “That tree got hit by lightning. So yeah, it was a lot. We were scared.”

Trees knocked down power lines behind Gromnicki’s home, bringing down a transformer and forcing her family to temporarily stay with relatives in Schererville.

Two days after the storms, cleanup efforts were continuing across the community as some residents waited for electricity to be restored.

As the outage dragged on, some business owners said they were worried about security.

“It’s kind of scary. I mean, we have no security at all on any of our buildings, and it’s something that all of the businesses have concern about,” said Judy Petrungaro, president of the Crete Area Chamber of Commerce.

Business owners who did not want to appear on camera told ABC 7 they had been sleeping at their businesses because they were worried they could become targets for theft while the power remained out.

The outage has also taken a financial toll on local businesses.

Petrungaro said the lack of power forced the cancellation of her annual Vintage Oak parking lot party after ice cream ordered for the event spoiled.

“It’s going to take us at least a week to get restocked, and it will impact us because once the power comes back on, we cannot just open up again because we have to reorder everything. Everything was spoiled,” Petrungaro said.

Despite the challenges, signs of recovery were emerging across Crete.

Staff at Fitness Premier Crete spent part of Wednesday going door-to-door helping neighbors with cleanup efforts.

“We’re trying to be a helping hand right now. So we’re picking up debris, picking up trees, asking our members if they need help,” said Ebenezer Gideon of Fitness Premier Crete.

At Roxann Sports Bar, a generator provided residents with a place to gather, charge their phones and connect with neighbors while the outage continued.

“I feel like Crete is already good at that. So when something like this happens, they don’t fall short of showing up for each other,” assistant bar manager Heather Bohlen said.

Even as parts of the community remained without power, residents and business owners said they continue to support one another as recovery efforts move forward.

“They have power. But yeah, with three dogs and three of us, it’s a lot for a townhouse,” Grominicki said.

One silver lining is even with damaged homes, cars and no power, some are finding healthy things to do, like pickleball, only emphasizing the neighborly support in the community.

“I mean, this town has always rallied around each other to get things done,” Biesterfeld said.

Residents in Chicago Heights and Homewood continued cleaning up widespread storm damage Wednesday.

Across the south suburbs, debris remained scattered on homes and properties as crews and homeowners worked to clear fallen trees. In Chicago Heights, large uprooted trees blocked streets and driveways, creating challenges for residents trying to access their homes.

Among those affected is Darlene Jimenez, whose vehicle was destroyed after the storms.

“I was like, ‘no, I cannot believe this; I just got this car,'” Chicago Heights resident Jimenez said.

Jimenez purchased the vehicle three months ago. Despite the loss, her family said they were grateful the worst of the damage did not impact their home.

Along Normandy Drive in Chicago Heights, several residents have had to navigate around fallen trees to enter and leave their properties.

“There have been storms but not like this one. I was like, ‘OK, it’s probably one of them regular ones.’ But I got home from work, and I’m like, ‘woah, this is a disaster.’ I couldn’t believe it,” Chicago Heights resident Roberto Urquizo said.

In nearby Homewood, residents faced similar conditions. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado moved through the village Monday with winds of up to 110 mph.

On Pierce Avenue, an elderly couple found themselves largely trapped at home after large trees fell across the front of their property, narrowly missing their living room.

“It just scared us half to death,” Homewood resident Margaret Darty said.

Darty said the fallen trees also blocked access to their garage.

“It’s hard for us even one way out; we couldn’t even get out of the garage. We have good neighbors here and they came and cut the tree down to get the car out of the garage,” she said.

Many residents in Homewood remained without power, relying on generators as cleanup efforts continued. Neighbors throughout the community have been helping one another remove debris and recover from the storm.

“We have a great community here in Homewood and when we need help you always have someone to help you,” Homewood resident Alex Perez said.

The National Weather Service continues surveying storm damage in Chicago Heights. Officials have not yet confirmed whether additional tornadoes touched down there, but damage assessments remain ongoing.

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A tragic incident unfolded in Florida where a man is accused of shooting his mother after years of resentment, subsequently setting her body ablaze. The man claimed this was in accordance with her wish to be cremated, as detailed in an arrest report.

George Beemer, aged 23, was taken into custody and now faces charges including second-degree murder, first-degree arson, and abuse of a deceased body, according to a statement from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office shared on Facebook.

On the day of the incident, Beemer dialed 911 from his residence in Fort Myers, reporting chest pain, and was promptly transported to a nearby hospital for a medical examination.

While Beemer was en route to the hospital, emergency services received a second 911 call concerning a fire at the same location. Firefighters quickly responded and upon extinguishing the blaze, they tragically discovered the charred remains of Beemer’s mother.

Detectives then developed probable cause that Beemer shot the woman before intentionally setting the home on fire.

“Major Crimes detectives, Crime Scene investigators, and our partners with the fire service immediately recognized that something wasn’t right. Their professionalism, attention to detail, and relentless investigative work ensured a swift arrest was made,” Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a statement.

Beemer later admitted to detectives that he murdered his mother after years of built-up anger and set the home on fire because “she wanted to be cremated,” according to a police report, WINK News reported.

He confessed to shooting his mother one time before pouring gasoline around her body and igniting it, according to the report.

Detectives said Beemer claimed his mother had mistreated him for years, including molesting him. He told detectives that he had finally had enough.

But a friend of his mother said the allegations of abuse are false.

“There’s absolutely no way,” the friend told WINK News. “No, no, absolutely never, never, no. I can’t buy it. I will never buy it. He’s using it as a defense mechanism to think that there’s any remote chance that this was justified.”

Beemer’s former classmate, Madison Edwards, told the outlet she was shocked when she heard the news of the arrest.

“We were just completely shocked,” Edwards said. “I wasn’t surprised that he ended up in jail. I was just very surprised as to the reason why.”

Beemer is being held at the Lee County Jail.

The incident remains under investigation.

“My prayers remain with the victim and loved ones as they begin to process this unimaginable tragedy. They deserve answers, and we will continue working tirelessly to provide them,” the sheriff said.

News Media has reached out to the sheriff’s office for additional information.

A man from Rhode Island, once famously acknowledged by Pope Leo for surviving a near-death experience as a newborn deprived of oxygen for over an hour, has found himself in legal trouble. Tyquan Johnson has been apprehended due to his alleged involvement in a recent double shooting incident.

Nineteen-year-old Johnson was taken into custody by a US Marshals fugitive task force in Virginia on Wednesday morning. This arrest follows allegations from the Newport Police Department that he shot two individuals in Newport, Rhode Island.

The shooting occurred on July 19, and after the incident, Johnson reportedly fled to Virginia, prompting law enforcement to issue an arrest warrant to secure his capture.

Fortunately, the victims involved in the shooting sustained injuries not considered life-threatening, as confirmed by the police.

Authorities have announced that they are in search of a second person for questioning in relation to the shooting. However, they have yet to reveal the identity of this individual.

Johnson has been charged with felony assault with a firearm and firing in a compact area, police said.

The arrest comes almost exactly a year after Pope Leo XIV declared Johnson’s 2007 birth the first miracle of his papacy and the first ever recognized miracle in Rhode Island, the Boston Globe reported.

The stunning connection came to light when law enforcement released his arrest warrant with Johnson’s photo, name and date of birth matching those of the man Pope Leo had recognized in July 2025.

Johnson was born prematurely on Jan. 14, 2007, at the former Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island in Pawtucket.

The newborn was suffering from oxygen deprivation and other symptoms that showed no improvement after 65 minutes, leaving doctors with little hope he would survive, according to the Diocese of Providence.

The attending physician, Juan Sanchez-Esteban, prayed to 19th-century Spanish priest Valera Parra for intervention in saving the child’s life, according to the Boston Globe.

Just as Sanchez-Esteban was about to deliver the devastating news to the child’s parents, a nurse stopped him and told him the child “suddenly recovered” and his heart had started beating without medical intervention, he told the outlet.

The doctor — who is from the same region of Spain where Parra was a priest — said the boy should have suffered permanent brain damage from the lack of oxygen, but instead lived a life completely free of any complications.

The investigation into the miracle began more than 10 years ago — with a bishop in Valera Parra’s native Spain sending investigators to Rhode Island in 2014, Father Timothy Reilly, Chancellor of the Diocese of Providence, told WJAR last year.

The Diocese of Providence announced that Pope Leo XIV declared Johnson’s recovery a miracle on July 18, 2025.

“The cool thing is, the more you think about the miracle itself, Father Valera lives in the 19th century,” Reilly said. “He never came to the US. We have no knowledge of him coming here. Never came to Rhode Island. And yet, because the doctor called out and called upon his name for help in the situation back in ’07 on behalf of that little baby, he decided to intervene and ask God for a miracle.”

Parra was a diocesan priest, archpriest and parish priest of Huércal-Overa who lived from 1816 to 1889.

Ben Affleck captured the elusive $1,000,000 prize during his guest appearance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire this week, marking a rare feat for celebrity contestants.

The Oscar-winning actor, aged 53, recently mourned the loss of his mother, Chris Anne, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Teaming up with Jeopardy! legend Jamie Ding, Affleck triumphed, securing the million-dollar reward for charity.

The winnings are set to benefit the Eastern Congo Initiative, a foundation Affleck co-established in 2010, continuing his commitment to philanthropic endeavors.

In the climactic moment on Wednesday’s broadcast of the ABC game show, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, Affleck and Ding confronted the daunting $1 million question.

The pivotal question challenged them to identify which name had not been used in the U.S. presidential tradition of pardoning turkeys during Thanksgiving, testing their knowledge and nerves.

The answers included: Peanut Butter & Jelly, Tater & Tot, Mac & Cheese, and Spaghetti & Meatball. 

Affleck and Ding decided to use the Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call Ding’s longtime trivia partner Stephen Morrison. 

Kimmel explained to the duo that they also still had the Ask-The-Host lifeline, which prompted the actor to jokingly say to ring up Ding’s pal. 

‘No. We might as well have Jimmy help,’ the Hollywood star then expressed. 

The late night talk show host playfully quipped, ‘Alright, I don’t have to give you any of my f***ing thoughts, if you don’t want.’

But Affleck replied, ‘Actually, you’re very good with cooking and food, current events, too. Actually, you might know this.’ 

Kimmel eventually suggested that the answer could be D: Spaghetti & Meatball. 

‘I could see me adding a big bowl in Donald Trump’s hands and him slurping up the spaghetti and meatballs,’ he then joked, before adding, ‘That one sounds like it wasn’t the one to me.’

Affleck shared that the host was ‘probably the best person in the world to ask this question to.’

‘If I’m wrong, I’m so sorry,’ Kimmel said before locking in Spaghetti & Meatball as his own final answer. 

To be extra safe, Affleck and Ding decided to still call up Morrison.

‘Jimmy, you might like this friend of mine. I mean, Harvard-educated, father, we’re two years apart,’ Ding began. 

‘But we’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations together. Just like Ben and Matt.’ 

With a deadpan expression, Kimmel then joked, ‘Are you looking for trouble?’ 

Ding then quickly fired back to go along with the joke by asking, ‘Are you looking for trouble?’ which caused the live audience to laugh. 

After calling Morrison, however, he was unable to guess the correct answer. 

‘But listen, you know what? He’s smart because if you don’t know it, you don’t know it, right?’ Kimmel said of Morrison. 

Affleck and Ding decided to trust Kimmel’s guess and also locked in with Spaghetti & Meatball. 

After a few lingering seconds, it was revealed that the pair had guessed correctly and won the $1 million prize. 

The pair jumped to their feet and excitedly hugged each other as confetti fell down onto the stage. 

Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Affleck for comment, but has yet to hear back.  

The money will be donated to Affleck’s Eastern Congo Initiative which he co-founded with Whitney Williams in 2010. 

The nonprofit organization helps ‘support locally led organizations to expand access to essential services, strengthen economic opportunities, and promote justice. 

‘Our work is designed to create scalable, sustainable impact across eastern Congo,’ per the official website. 

The year prior, Affleck’s close friend and collaborator Matt Damon also scored the same million-dollar prize on the game show. 

At the time, The Odyssey star had been paired with Ken Jennings. The winnings went to Damon’s clean-water nonprofit Water.org. 

‘I’m not sure Ben knew that he was paired with a champion when he agreed to do the show,’ Kimmel told Variety earlier this month. 

‘But when I told him, he seemed surprised and delighted. I think he was prepared to do it on his own. He’s very smart, that Ben Affleck.’

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

A harrowing narrative from Patrick Clancy, detailing the night his three children tragically passed, could provide prosecutors with a crucial perspective on arguing that Lindsay Clancy was aware, intentional, and legally accountable during the incident, according to legal analysts.

During testimony on Wednesday at Plymouth Superior Court, Patrick meticulously recounted to jurors each step of his journey away from their Duxbury, Massachusetts home on January 24, 2023. This included a quick stop at CVS to purchase a stool softener for one of their children, followed by picking up dinner.

Patrick shared that while inside CVS, Lindsay called him, comprehended his purpose at the store, and had calmly agreed to use a generic alternative. Upon returning, he encountered an unsettlingly silent home, noticed blood in their locked bedroom, and found Lindsay injured beneath an open second-story window.

When Patrick found Lindsay Clancy lying on her back beneath their bedroom window, he said she had deep cuts on her wrists and a red line across her neck.

“What happened?” he recalled asking her.

“I tried to kill myself,” she responded, according to Patrick.

He then asked, “Where are the kids?”

“They’re in the basement,” Lindsay told him.

Patrick testified that she did not say the children were injured, in danger or needed help.

Attorney Shari Karney said those seemingly mundane details, the text messages, phone call, dinner order and timing of Patrick’s drive, may become critical as prosecutors try to prove Lindsay understood her actions when the children were strangled with exercise bands.

“I call this case murder versus madness,” Karney told News Media.

Karney said Patrick’s testimony largely helped the prosecution because it portrayed Lindsay as responsive and organized shortly before the killings. The state, she said, is attempting to “squeeze that timeline” as tightly as possible around the precise moment the children were killed.

“That’s fairly lucid,” Karney said of Lindsay’s ability to discuss the CVS purchase and coordinate the takeout order.

But the defense is expected to argue that competence during routine tasks does not establish criminal responsibility during the killings. Lindsay’s attorneys contend she suffered from severe mental illness, including postpartum psychosis, and was impaired by a shifting regimen of psychiatric medications.

Patrick testified that Lindsay later told him she heard a man’s voice telling her that if she did not act then, she would “lose her chance.” He also said she had never previously told him she was hearing voices or experiencing psychosis.

Karney said the case will likely turn on whether jurors view the killings as a calculated act or “a catastrophic collapse” caused by severe psychological illness.

The emotional stakes were on display when prosecutors played Patrick’s 911 call for the jury. The recording was barred from broadcast or reproduction under a court order, and the pool camera remained trained on Lindsay.

She sobbed and buried her face in her hands as the call played.

Karney said that reaction could help both sides.

For the defense, she said, it humanized Lindsay as a “shattered, broken” mother confronting the consequences of the worst night of her life. For prosecutors, the same reaction captured the horror of the killings.

Before the recording was played, Judge William Sullivan warned jurors not to allow sympathy, anger, passion or pity to influence their verdict.

“You must not be influenced in any way by the unpleasant nature of some of the evidence,” Sullivan said, reminding jurors that their verdict must not be based on “sympathy, anger, passion or prejudice or pity.”

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, has pleaded not guilty to three counts each of murder and strangulation.

Leave it to the WNBA to stir up a potential gambling drama involving two of its biggest stars, adding a new twist to the league’s narrative.

The league’s official X account recently shared—and later removed—a video featuring Wings sensation Paige Bueckers and Dream’s dazzling Angel Reese. The clip allegedly showcased them engaging in a light-hearted $400 wager during All-Star weekend practice for their matchup on Wednesday night, a nail-biter where Atlanta barely edged out Dallas with an 82-81 victory.

In the uploaded footage, the caption playfully stated: “Paige Bueckers on the bet she made with Angel Reese at All-Star Weekend regarding tonight’s showdown.”

The video, which social media detectives managed to save and circulate, captured Reese brandishing several hundred-dollar bills as both appeared to affirm their friendly gamble. It included a snippet of a voice from behind the camera reminding Bueckers, who flashed an uneasy smile, about the wager on the very day of the game.

“At All-Star Weekend, you and Angel made a bet on this game, is that correct?” queried the camera operator, turning the casual bet into fodder for social media buzz.

“We did?” Bueckers retorts before the video of the bet begins.

The video could become quite the problem for the WNBA and embattled commissioner Cathy Engelbert during a time of high scrutiny of sports betting by pro and college athletes, though this was more of a friendly wager that might quietly go on among highly paid athletes. The WNBA’s CBA has a gambling clause.

It’s stated in Section 5(c) that: “Any player found by the Commissioner after a hearing to have been guilty of wagering (directly or indirectly), or of offering or attempting to wager, money or anything of value on the outcome, score, or any other aspect of any WNBA Competition shall, in the sole discretion of the Commissioner, be subject to a fine, suspension, and/or dismissal and disqualification from any further association with the WNBA.”

Engelbert is unlikely to ban Reese or Bueckers, two of the league’s biggest stars, for this, as their wager would have no effect on them doing anything other than trying to win the game even more. The two even shared a heated exchange in the first quarter when Bueckers started clapping theatrically after she was called for a foul for standing her ground on Reese in the post.

Still, the two, by letter of the law, broke a WNBA rule and could face repercussions, along with whoever posted the video to the league’s account in the first place.

The league will likely not want to look like it endorses gambling on games in any way or for this to become a bigger story than it already is.