Officials with Chicago’s public schools have agreed to settle a Justice Department lawsuit that accused them of discriminating against a teacher because she got pregnant. The Justice Department says Traci Meziere lost her seniority as a Chicago teacher when she took her first pregnancy leave and was demoted when she took a second. Under the settlement announced Friday, the schools will among other things distribute a fact sheet to teachers and others outlining the board’s policy toward pregnancy leave and pay Meziere $15,000 in back pay and interest and $30,000 in compensatory damages. The lawsuit isn’t final until approved by U.S. District Judge Charles Kocoras. — The Associated Press

The Southtown Star reports : A firefighter from the Will County suburb of Manteno is accused of trying to use the internet to arrange a sexual encounter with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. Get the full story : southtownstar.com

Between 30 and 40 animals were killed early this morning when a fire swept through a barn on the property of Riegel Farm in University Park, according to employees of the farm. That number represents almost 75 percent of the total animals at the popular petting zoo run by the Village of University Park at the nature center, said the farm’s director, Robert Graham. “It’s a very tough situation,” said Graham. “It’s very sad.” Fire investigators still do not know what started the 1 a.m. blaze. Graham said his does not know exactly how many animals were killed because all of the farm’s animals have been taken off site while the fire department conducts its investigation. He believes most animals died of smoke inhalation. Among the animals killed were two horses, two bulls, a goat and a number of chickens, University Park Fire Department Chief Chuck Exner said earlier.

Lech Walesa, former president of Poland, used the opportunity today to call for world government during the dedication of a building in his honor at Northeastern Illinois University. The Northwest Side university named Lech Walesa Hall to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of Communism in Poland.  Walesa is generally credited with that accomplishment, which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and its satellite empire. Walesa noted that years ago he called for a united states of Europe saying, “I had a copyright on the idea.” Today, he said the alternatives are chaos or increasing unity of countries across the globe. The university sits close to part of the Chicago Polish community. — Ron Grossman

Federal law-enforcement authorities are probing the controversial investment of city employee pension fund dollars in a real estate firm involving Mayor Richard Daley’s nephew, Robert Vanecko. A federal grand jury issued a subpoena Wednesday to the police pension fund, according to records obtained today by the Tribune. Prosecutors with U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald’s office are demanding fund officials turn over documents regarding their dealings with DV Urban Realty, which includes Vanecko and longtime Daley ally Allison Davis. The police fund’s board voted in 2006 to invest $15 million in DV Urban, part of a $68 million deal that also involved other local government pension funds. Read the full story in Clout Street . 

One of two sisters charged with neglecting their now-deceased mother said in court today that she loved her mother and denied the woman was abused. Jill Barry is on trial with her sister Julie in Kane County court. They were charged after their mother, Mary Virginia Barry, 84, died in 2007 after being found in squalid conditions in the house the three women shared in Geneva. Her death was caused by pneumonia brought on by cancer. The sisters are charged with criminal neglect of an elderly person. Judge Allen Anderson last week dismissed a more serious charge, criminal neglect of an elderly person resulting in death. Jill Barry took the stand today as the defense began to present its case in the bench trial. She recalled hearing a hospital nurse say that the Mary Virginia Barry was an abuse case. “I stood right up to (the nurse) and said my mother has never been abused,” Jill Barry said. When asked by defense attorney Gary Johnson if she loved her mother, Jill Barry, her voice cracking, said, “Yeah.” She said before her mother’s condition had dramatically deteriorated, she broached the subject of bringing in outside help to care for the woman. “She was incredibly upset (by the idea),” Jill Barry. But the mother added, “I’m sorry I’m such a burden to you,” Jill Barry testified. She said her mother was combative in the last days of her life. Bathing her had been a difficult process.   Prosecutors were expected to question Jill Barry this afternoon. –Clifford Ward

Chicago firefighters rescued a 38-year-old man near death this afternoon after a fire erupted in the South Side basement where he was found, according to a Fire Department spokesman. The man suffered second- and third-degree burns and had a weak pulse when firefighters found him in the basement of a three-story residence at 5632 S. Indiana Ave. hiding underneath a kitchen table, said spokesman Larry Langford. But fire personnel were able to get the man to breathe on his own before he was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center.  The man is reported in critical condition at the hospital, Langford said. The fire caused “extensive” damage to the basement, which was not equipped with any working smoke detectors, he said.  At least one of the floors above sustained some smoke damage. The injured man was the only occupant of the basement.  There were an unspecified number of people on at least one of the above floors, Langford said, but they were able to leave the building on their own after the fire started. The fire erupted about 1:15 p.m. and was put out within 20 minutes of the firefighters’ arrival to the scene, Langford said. The cause of the blaze was being investigated this afternoon. — Jeremy Gorner

Wells Fargo & Co., the lead lender to Hartmarx Corp., said it opposes the bid from London-based Emerisque Brands to buy the Chicago-based suit maker, saying the bid is too low, the Tribune reports. Hartmarx owes more than $114 million to a group of banks led by Wells Fargo and the Emerisque deal “fails to provide adequate value to Hartmarx lenders,” the San Francsico-based bank said in a statement. Hartmarx, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, last week accepted Emerisque’s bid worth $119 million for substantially all of its asserts from Emerisque and SKNL North America B.V. About $70 million of the purchase price is in cash. Wells Fargo claims that working capital adjustments will reduce the cash portion to less than $56 million. For the full story, go here .

Investigators were questioning at least one person in connection with the theft of a 9 mm Baretta belonging to a Chicago police officer as he lay critically injured in a traffic crash Wednesday at 98th and Halsted Streets, authorities said this afternoon. Officer JoAnn Taylor, a police spokeswoman, said at 2 p.m. that no charges have been filed in the case. Officer Densey Cole II was unconscious in his police SUV after the accident, officials said, happened about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. Four other people also were hurt in the crash. “Whoever would prey on a wounded officer, incapacitated, take his weapon and then roll him around with a spinal injury to try and steal his wallet, is reprehensible,” Police Supt. Jody Weis said Thursday.  Weis said police were examining cell phone video taken at the scene to see if it could help in their investigation. The officer, who was responding to a call when the crash happened, was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, said Quention Curtis, a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department. An older man and woman also were taken to Advocate Christ, and two teenagers were taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. At the same summit on street gangs held at a downtown hotel where Weis spoke to reporters, Mayor Richard Daley said it was “appalling” that someone moved a seriously injured police officer to steal his weapon and rob him after his SUV crashed. “For someone to take advantage of someone’s injury and be able to steal their gun and rob them and move them around in a state of serious condition is appalling,” the mayor told reporters. — Staff report

  Three of the four suspects: Henrietta Augusta Shores (left), Juan Carlos Esparza (center) and Hector Alvarez Rojas (right). (Courtesy of the Chicago Police Department)  Marijuana with an estimated street value of roughly $18.5 million was seized by Chicago police during a month-long investigation that also led to four arrests. Hector Alvarez Rojas, 39, of the 3900 block of West 55th Street, Chicago, Henrietta Augusta Shores, 57, of Glencoe and Juan Carlos Esparza, 28, of Cicero were each charged with felony cannabis trafficking, police announced today.  Olivia Belmonn, 47, of the 5800 block of West 64th Place, was charged with misdemeanor possession of cannabis. Narcotics officers received information about the drug operation earlier this month, and on Wednesday saw Shores and Esparza meeting near the 5800 block of West 64th, police said.  The officers approached Shores and saw 20 bundles of marijuana in plain view before detaining her, police said. The officers then went to a nearby garage they surveyed, subsequently arresting Esparza and Rojas.  The officers later obtained a search warrant, leading to Belmonn’s arrest and the discovery of $3,000 in Esparza’s Cicero residence, police said. “At the conclusion of the mission, Chicago police impounded six vehicles, [discovered] $10,000 of drug-related monies in addition to the $18.5 million dollars of cannabis [which translates to more than 2,500 pounds],” police said in a statement. — Staff report

A convicted burglar on parole has been charged with more than a dozen additional burglaries in the Loop in recent months, police said this morning. Alexander Parks, 41, was arrested early Thursday morning by a Central District watch commander conducting surveillance near Lake Street and Wabash Avenue. Parks has been charged with 13 counts of burglary and is due in bond court this afternoon, police said. Police believe Parks was the man they dubbed the “fire escape burglar” for allegedly using fire escapes to break into various Loop-area buildings. Police said the burglaries took place between midnight and 6 a.m. with fire escapes used to gain entry. Parks was sentenced in 2002 to 14 years in prison following a conviction for a series of burglaries, but was paroled in March. — Staff report

One man was killed and three others injured in a possible drive-by shooting early this morning in West Garfield Park, Chicago police said. One of the victims may have been defending himself by returning fire. The shootings occurred at about 1 a.m. in the 4200 block of West Gladys Avenue. The victim who died was identified as Kenneth Meeks, 37, of the 4300 block of West Gladys,  according to the the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Meeks was pronounced dead at Mt. Sinai Hospital. Chicago News Affairs Officer David Banks said one of the victims may have returned fire. One male victim was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds and another victim was being treated at Loyola University Medical Center with gunshot wounds to the leg and buttocks. One more victim was shot in the leg, but Banks had no other information on him. Police were still at the scene at 4 a.m. Neighbors at the scene said they heard up to 20 shots fired. At about midnight, officers responded to the 8300 block of South Colfax Avenue, where they found a 24-year-old man on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, police said. The victim — identified as Anton Dean of the 2900 block of East 80th Place — was pronounced dead at the scene. Calumet Area detectives were investigating. — Staff report