Ill. Supreme Court allows O'Hare expansion to proceed

In a notable eminent domain case, the court declined to review a decision from the appellate court, thus allowing seizure of cemetery land and expansion of O'Hare International Airport.

Columnist writes about O'Hare/cemetery clash

Here's a good column that spells out some of the sensitive issues involving the planned takeover of St. Johannes Cemetery outside of Chicago for the planned expansion of O'Hare International Airport.

Appellate court halts grave removals near O'Hare

Several news accounts on the latest in the case:
WBBM-TV
Daily Herald
Chicago Tribune

Chicago begins moving graves at St. Johannes

Chicago has begun moving graves in the expansion project for O'Hare International Airport.
Here's the report from a local TV station.

More links to the O'Hare vs. cemetery case

Rather than link to each story individually, here is the Google news link with a host of those stories.
Here is a report on the case by The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty.
Here's an article from graveyards.com
I've also included a photo here from that graveyards.com site:

Airlines balk at O'Hare expansion plan

The proposed expansion of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, which has sparked an eminent domain case involving a cemetery whose land Chicago wants, has run into another wall of opposition: Two major airlines -- United and American -- oppose fee hikes linked to the plan.

Cemetery owners vow to continue fight against O'Hare project

Owners of a suburban Chicago cemetery under threat of a takeover for expansion of O'Hare International Airport say they expect to file an appeal soon of a judge's order allowing the "taking."
Among their issues are religious freedom -- it is a Catholic cemetery -- and the fear that another Burr Oak could happen. (Burr Oak is the Illinois cemetery where bodies were improperly buried. Here is a link to other items posted at this blog about that case.)
A concern here at WPTG is that one town (Chicago) is trying to take land from another (Addison Township) using eminent domain.

Update on O'Hare expansion (aka, eminent domain) project

Hree is the latest on the plans to expand Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. From the Chicago Tribune:

DuPage County Judge Hollis Webster ordered that the title of the 5.3-acre St. Johannes Cemetery in Addison Township be transferred from St. John's United Church of Christ to the city. She also ordered that Chicago pay the church $630,000 for the land, which stands between two segments of a new runway already under construction.

At the heart of this dispute is a controversial ruling by this same judge to approve Chicago's use of eminent domain for the project.
Here's where it could get interesting for observers of eminent domain cases. First, the Supreme Court's Kelo decision of 2005 broadly expanded eminent domain powers (interestingly enough, Pfizer, the main beneficiary of that ruling, has abandoned the project after uprooting so many people's lives). In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that land could be claimed from one private by a government entity and turned over to another private entity.
Now, here we have a judge ruling that one town can take land of another. One can only imagine that this case is far from over.

Judge OKs cemetery seizure for O'Hare expansion

Just found some reports on the Web about this case. A judge OK'd the seizure of about 6 acres for the expansion of O'Hare airport in Chicago.
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times

Cubs' fans final resting place

A columbarium set up to look like a part of Wrigley Field has opened at a Chicago cemetery. Here is one of the links with video.

O'Hare Airport expansion update

The Aero-News Network offers an update on the plans to remove graves in the area where authorities would like to expand Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The latest news is that family members of those buried there are petitioning the court to halt expansion plans. Here's a not-so-updated Web site about the controversy. Here's someone else's postings about the subject. And this Chicago Tribune article from late January offers some details about the overall expansion effort.