A few years ago, my parents were pulling out of their driveway to head to syagogue on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, when they heard a thud.  They looked beneath the car and saw my dad had run over one of our cats. Ordinarily pretty unsympathetic towards the animals my mom took it upon herself to care for, my dad was adament about getting this cat to the animal emergency room. "I can't have this on my conscience going into the new year," he told my mom.  So they took the cat to the vet, where her broken back was set. My mom spent the next few months moving the cat onto her litter box and…

Patch picked one winner out of the nearly 20 people who submitted photos of their summer vacation to Highland Park Patch. She's Susan Feinberg Fireside, and she'll be receiving a $75 gift certificate to E Street Denim, a $75 gift certificate to Uncle Dan's and a $100 gift certificate to Target. We really enjoyed looking at the photos all our readers submitted. It looks like some of you had some pretty awesome summers! Click through the image gallery at right to see some of our favorites from Highland Park Patch readers, including the winning entries.  Thanks for entering and for reading Patch…

Thirsty? You're in luck. Highwood kicks off its third annual Bloody Mary Festival this Sunday. As it's done in the last two years, the festival delivers 40 vendors that will mix up specialty Bloody Marys, food and live music throughout the day. The event will be in Everts Park in Highwood from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 24.  The event begins with a Bloody Buddy 5K Challenge that starts at 9 a.m. and benefits the Huntington's Disease Society of America. Registration for the race is still open. And what would a Bloody Mary Festival be without someone judging the Bloody Marys? Well, Patch is …

You've got opinions about local businesses, and Patch wants to hear them. Patch is relaunching its Readers’ Choice program and we’re asking you, your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers and anyone else who knows about Highland Park to nominate the best spots in Highland Park Patch. Want Highland Park news in your inbox every morning? Subscribe to Patch's newsletter. We’ll keep accepting nominations through July 9. After that, nominations will be closed and we’ll start the voting, so make sure to get in your favorites now. All you need to do to nominate a business is to add it in the list …

Earlier this week, Time Out Chicago asked if Highland Park was becoming the next Restaurant Row. Listing off new, upscale restaurants like Moderno and Benjamin and increasingly popular dessert places like Frost and Menchie's, the article made a compelling case for Highland Park's place as "the next big eating destination." (Of course, the article also mentioned Real Urban Barbecue and the city's dueling cupcake stores, but we covered both of those a while back.) So as someone who is always curious, especially when it comes to food, I wondered: Is this a trend? If so, why now? And how long can…

On Monday, Highland Park Patch broke 600 "likes" on Facebook.  That's... awesome. The site's come a long way since it launched in September 2010, and it's been incredibly rewarding to watch its popularity grow. I hope you'll keep reading, keep commenting on and keep getting to know Patch. Post an announcement or an event. Start a blog. Upload a picture. And always feel free to reach out to me if you have any concerns, suggestions or story ideas: jacob@patch.com. Thanks. 

At Highland Park Patch, we're all about helping local businesses and charities serve our community. So we've come up with a way to help Breathe Deep Deerfield while supporting local businesses at the same time. We’re calling it our "Patch Click and Claim for Charity" program. Breathe Deep Deerfield is a 5K fun run, 1-mile walk, and balloon launch held Saturday, May 6, to raise crucial funds for lung cancer research. The event will honor the memory of two local women who lost their lives to lung cancer, and will also serve to remember others in the community whose lives have been affected by …

We're Patch and we just want to say, "good morning!" That's what the daily Patch email newsletter is all about. Every morning, as you're rising to start your day, we send you the latest local headlines, events, blogs, photos and community tidbits — right to your inbox, free of charge. All you have to do is sign up. You won't believe how easy it is. Here's why we think you'll like it. 1) It's quick. Hey, we know you get a lot of email. That's why we made it easy to read. 2) We're all about your community. With a quick scan, you'll find stories about your schools, the local police, new …

I learned how to "Tebow" long before I learned who Tim Tebow was. This is partially because I'm clueless when it comes to professional sports, but mostly because, at this point, the Denver Broncos' starting quarterback is as famous for his Christian faith as he is for his football skills. Don't get me wrong — Tebow's game is fascinating on its own. A big portion of the Tim Tebow myth comes from the exciting, often bizarre way the quarterback manages to stage comebacks and lead his team to last-minute wins, as he did last week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Many Bears fans are still smarting…

2011 was quite the year for Highland Park, and for this news website the year couldn't have been more exciting.  The city elected its first female mayor, rejected a hotly contested high school referendum and started taking bids for the controversial, city-owned Highland Park Theatre. One Highland Park native debuted a critically acclaimed HBO series while another became embroiledin the Penn State scandal.  Two banks were robbed in less than a month, and the city battled with ComEd in the face of frequent outages and intense summer storms. See the full list of top stories below, and feel free …

Ever since the April election, avid Highland Park Patch readers have asked for Patch to hold a meet-up where readers and contributors can get together and talk face-to-face. Well, as Highland Park Patch approaches its one-year anniversary, that meet up is finally going to happen. On Wednesday, Sept. 21, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., readers are invited to join some of Highland Park Patch's most prolific contributors for drinks at Vibe at 1935. Meet news reporter Steve Sadin as well as columnists Ed Brill, Betsy Brint and Sally Higginson. Have a question about Rep. Robert Dold's position on jobs? …

We're excited to inaugurate a new series for our Patch Readers: "Dispatches: The Changing American Dream."Every day, the national media is full of stories about how American families, businesses, and neighbors are adjusting to these trying times. There are so many changes happening so fast that it's dizzying: national debates about unemployment, foreclosures, debt, religion, government and private enterprise all touch on fundamental ways in which we see ourselves and our communities. At Patch, we want to explore that conversation on a daily basis so we can better understand how our neighbors …

A month from Thursday will mark the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. As we near a decade since what has been deemed the worst terrorist attack against the United States, Patch is reaching out for your stories. We're hoping to compile personal narratives into a series of photo essays that capture 9/11's aftermath, especially here in Highland Park. How have you changed since 9/11/01? Has a member of your family been deployed or in the process of being deployed? Did you switch political parties in the wake of the attacks? Did you take up volunteering efforts? Have you stopped driving an SUV? Did you…

It's June, which means most of us have made a dent in our spring cleaning -- which also means garage and yard sale season is in full swing. Here at Highland Park Patch we pride ourselves on local, useful information. That includes who has books for a bargain, a dresser in their driveway or some clothes laid out on the lawn. Posting your garage sale on Highland Park Patch is easy. What's even better is it's free. You must be registered on Patch and logged in to enter an event, so do that first at .  Then click on our "Events" tab on the top of the page and on "Put it on the calendar" near the …

We're looking for bloggers who can riff on various topics, share their personality and engage our readers in discussions. Patch is more than a news site, it's an online conversation about your community. Are you passionate about Highland Park issues? Are you an expert craftsman or hobbyist who can share do-it-yourself tips? Do you have strong opinions about local government? Do you enjoy writing about the arts? Can you make us laugh? Then, we want to hear from you. This isn't a reporting job, and it doesn't come with a paycheck. You write what you want to say when you want to say it. Do it on…

Russ Mitchell from CBS News went to Sachem, Conn., recently for a segment about the future of journalism and Patch's role in the industry. "We're revolutionizing the game," Sachem editor Chris Vaccaro said about Patch's model of online journalism. The 24-year-old was laid off from two newspapers before joining Patch. Patch President Warren Webster pointed out that Patch has become the largest hirer of journalists in the country. The AOL-owned company will have hired 800 journalists by the year's end. "As traditional media outlets scale back out of local communities, Patch is filling a …

As Highland Park Patch continues to grow, so too have the discussions occurring in the comments section of stories. This is an incredible thing, and I'm so pleased to see readers share their opinions openly and thoughtfully on a website that's only a few months old. It speaks volumes about Highland Park's democratic spirit that residents engage in political conversations so readily, and seeing those conversations occur makes the work that goes into maintaining this site more than worth the effort. I've gotten a few calls and emails lately asking what Highland Park Patch's comment removal …

Welcome to Highland Park Patch. If you're reading this, you probably live in Highland Park, which means you probably still know much more about this community than I do. I aim to change that. As the editor of Highland Park Patch, it's my job to find and report on everything that's going on in the city. Since starting, I've been to meetings of the park district and city council, and concerts at both Ravinia and Port Clinton Square. Following the never-ending story of a park district recovering from an expensive scandal, and the beginning story of another city council election season, I've …