Melissa Espana is a Digital Content Producer at WGN-TV.
Before joining WGN in June 2017, she worked as a web producer at ABC7 Chicago. She also produced at KTIV News in Sioux City, Iowa.
Melissa graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s in broadcast journalism.
CHICAGO — A deer got stuck on the CTA Blue Line tracks Monday afternoon, suspending service between the airport and the Harlem stop. The Chicago Fire Department tweeted that service was interrupted as officials helped with a deer on the tracks around 3:30 p.m. The deer appeared to be OK and unharmed. Service resumed around 4:30 p.m. Fire officials said the deer was taken off the tracks and taken away by animal control. No further information was provided. Update. Deer […]
LOS ANGELES – A new cellphone company called Visible offers service on the Verizon network with an unlimited plan including calls, text and data for just $40 a month – and mysterious storefronts are popping up around the nation. They’re painted bright blue, with the words 404, Store Not Found printed on them. Spoiler alert! They’re for a new wireless cellphone service called Visible. Visible, which is owned by Verizon but independently operated, is offering what might be the best […]
CHICAGO — If you’re ready for Christmas music, get excited because it starts on Thursday in the Chicago area. Chicago’s 93.9 LITE FM announced on their Facebook page Wednesday that they will switch to playing Christmas music starting at 4:05 p.m. on Nov. 8. Last year, the station started playing holiday music on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The earliest it has happened was Nov. 2 in 2006 and 2007, RobertFeder.com reports.
J.B. Pritzker was declared the winner of the Illinois governor’s race after incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner conceded less than an hour after polls closed for the 2018 midterm elections. Polls were open statewide from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Due to high voter turnout this election cycle, people were encouraged to vote early. There were more than 2,000 polling locations in Chicago alone. Here are the highlights from Election Day 2018:
Erika Harold conceded to Kwame Raoul in the Illinois attorney general’s race. In 2004, Raoul took the state senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. In the legislature, Raoul led the effort to abolish the state’s death penalty and to institute criminal justice reform measures. Raoul outspent Harold and derided her lack of experience as a prosecutor. Harold was Miss America 2003 and used scholarship winnings to attend Harvard Law School.
The Illinois general election is Tuesday, Nov. 6. Polls open at 6 a.m. statewide, and will stay open through 7 p.m. To check your registration status, find your polling place and see a sample ballot, go to chicagoelections.com/info. Here’s a look at the candidates for all of the statewide races: GOVERNOR J.B. Pritzker Democratic nominee, businessman Campaign Website | Twitter | Facebook Prior to this campaign, J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic nominee, was an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He helped run a private […]
“The Three Stooges” entertained people for decades, starting in the 1920s. Their brand of comedy, was slapstick—literally. The characters of Moe, Larry and Curly are being introduced to a new generation on Sunday on stage at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. The Three Stooges Live on Stage Arcada Theatre 105 E. Main Street St. Charles, Ill. Sunday at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
CHICAGO – A 21-year-old man died after a shooting in the city’s Gage Park neighborhood. Police said the shooting happened on the 2700 block of West 58th Street around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. The 21-year-old was driving when he got into a shootout with another person. The man was hit and then crashed into a parked car, police said. He later died from his injuries. No one was taken into custody and the investigation is ongoing.
CHICAGO — Students at a Far South Side high school were on campus Monday to mourn the fatal shooting of a college-bound senior. Family and friends attended a vigil for James Garrett at Butler College Prep, 821 E. 103rd St. The 18-year-old was at a candlelight vigil on the Far South Side near 132nd Avenue and Prairie Street Saturday, where a large crowd had gathered to remember a woman killed in a car accident. Then around 7:30 p.m., there was an […]
RIVER FOREST, Ill. — Police in River Forest are looking for the man who attacked a woman at Concordia University, prompting a campus-wide lockdown. The university went on lockdown Wednesday evening after officials said they got a call about a domestic distrubance around 6:15 p.m. The man and woman were not students, but were on campus for a seminar when the attack occurred. The lockdown was lifted around 10 p.m. The university posted on Facebook and said the “emergency situation […]
