Vol. V No. 45 A unique seafood market comes to Hillside PAGE 3
D209 supt. releases video addressing fights
But teachers, community members say talk alone isn’t enough to correct multiple crises By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
With complaints about conditions inside of Proviso East High School in Maywood and Proviso West High School in Hillside spreading, District 209 Supt. James Henderson recently issued a video response addressing one of what many people say is a host of problems at the school. “You’ve seen the videos and you’ve heard about the fights that are happening in our schools, now let’s talk about it,” Henderson said in the video uploaded to the district’s YouTube channel on Nov. 3. “Yes, some of our students have taken things that don’t belong to them; even vanSee VIDEO on page 11
NOVEMBER 10, 2021 Landmark status for Hampton House? PAGE 9
vfpress.news Illinois national guardsmen march alongside members of the Broadview/Hillside American Legion Post #626 during Saturday’s Veterans Day Parade. See more photos of the parade on page 2.
Michael Romain
State approves request to reopen Melrose Park hospital Westlake will be revived as Woodlake by 2022, hospital officials say By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Work is currently underway to reopen the shuttered Westlake Hospital, 1225 W. Lake St. in Melrose Park, as Woodlake Hospital. Westlake Hospital closed in 2019. A company based in New Jersey filed an application with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board over
the summer to reopen the Melrose Park hospital as a specialty hospital that would include 80 acute mental illness beds, along with drug and alcohol addiction services. Woodlake officials have said that the hospital would create “at least 500 to 600 permanent jobs.” The Review Board approved the request by Woodlake Specialty Holdings LLC in August. Woodlake officials said they anticipate spending about $43 million to reopen the hospital and anticipate a complete date of Dec. 31, 2022. Woodlake’s Local Board of Directors include Bellwood Mayor Andre Harvey, who
was recently appointed board chairman., according to a Nov. 4 Facebook statement by Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, who is also on the board. Proviso Township Clerk Anthony Williams, Maywood Trustee Antonio Sanchez and Doug Olson, of the Melrose Park Chamber of Commerce, are also board members. The hospital’s CEO, Shannon Jones, is a woman of color, Woodlake officials said. During an Aug. 9 public hearing convened by the Review Board, Jones said that the hospital will occupy about 270,000 square feet and feature “80 acute mental illness
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See WOODLAKE on page 9
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