Sarge's Sports CUBS may sweep the Sox at Comiskey

From DA Detective: Boy cot McDonald's

Being the biggest doesn't necessarily yield the happiest customers, according to the American Consumer Satisfaction Index released Tuesday. Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp. received the lowest customer satisfaction ranking of any full-service or fast-food chain on the survey, with 73 percent satisfaction, up from 72 percent.
McDonald's, which serves 68 million customers around the world every day, has been a historically poor performer on the satisfaction index. The chain has shown significant improvement in the past decade, up from 61 percent satisfaction in 2002. Competitors Burger King and Wendy's have posted smaller gains over the last decade, but their ratings were still higher in 2011. Wendy's outperformed all burger rivals with a 78 percent rating, and Burger King remained at 75 percent.

Pizza chains dominated the survey of limited service chains, or those without table service. Papa John's was at the top of the heap with 83 percent satisfaction, followed by Little Caesars, with 82 percent. Pizza Hut brought up the rear at 78 percent.

Subway and Dunkin' Donuts debuted at 82 percent and 79 percent satisfaction. Dunkin's performance was good enough to beat Starbucks, which slipped to 76 percent from 80 percent the year before.

Full service restaurants took a beating. Red Lobster was the only chain to improve, to 83 from 82 percent. Outback Steakhouse held steady at 81 percent, while Olive Garden slipped to 80 percent from 82 percent, Applebee's debuted at 77 percent, and Chili's slipped to 76 from 79 percent.

Looking at the industry, the average household ate out three times per week during 2011, which is expected to remain unchanged this year. Trips to fast food restaurant increase slightly, to six trips per month in 2011 from five in 2010. Overall fast food satisfaction grew 1.3 percent in 2011, while full service restaurants slipped 2.4 percent, bringing fast food and full service a tie at 80 percent satisfaction.

The ASCI pointed to value offerings in fast food and improved quality perception at fast food chains, and lack of differentiation at full service chains, for the change.

Romeoville teen charged with intimidating witness

Bail of $100,000 has been set for a Romeoville teen charged with trying to intimidate another teen who linked him to a burglary, authorities say.

Marcus L. Hall, 17, of the 200 block of South Oak Creek Lane in the south suburb, has been charged with harassing a witness.

Hall confronted the teen on June 6 after learning she had implicated him while being interviewed by police about a residential burglary, according to Assistant Police Chief Steve Lucchesi. Hall hasn't been charged in connection with the burglary, according to Will County court records.

He is scheduled to appear at a July 9 preliminary hearing in Will County court on the charge, a Class 4 felony with a sentencing range of up to three years if convicted.

Hall remained in the Will County Adult Detention Facility in Joliet this morning.

Oak Lawn woman charged after spitting on officer

An Oak Lawn woman has been charged with battery after she spent her mile-long ride in an Oak Lawn squad car spitting on the arresting officer and cursing him authorities say.

Officers finally placed a "spit hood" on Tiffany N. Miller, 17, during the ride from Advocate Christ Medical Center early Sunday, according to Oak Lawn Police Division Chief Mike Kaufman.

As the officer prepared to place the hood on Miller, she "spit twice more, striking him on the top of the head and ear," and then laughed and said ‘Gotcha!" and called him a name, Kaufman said.

Miller eventually apologized, Kaufman said.

Police had taken Miller into custody around 1:35 a.m. Sunday at the hospital, where she spat on hospital staff and cursed them, Kaufman said. Miller, of the 7000 block of West 87th Street in Oak Lawn, remained in Cook County Jail this morning on $50,000 bail.

President Barack Obama will press Vladimir Putin over Russia's role in the Syrian crisis when they meet on Monday but appears to have little chance of persuading him to budge on Moscow's resistance to tougher U.N. action against Damascus

After a week of Cold War-style recriminations between U.S. and Russian diplomats, the talks at a Group of 20 summit in Mexico will test whether the two leaders can forge a working relationship and find common ground on Syria and other festering disputes.
Suspension of the U.N. monitoring mission in Syria over the weekend has put added pressure on Obama and Putin, meeting for the first time since the Russian president's re-election, to act decisively to keep the conflict from spiraling into civil war.
But with relations frayed and expectations low on both sides for progress on breaking the deadlock, the stage is set for an uncomfortable meeting in the Pacific resort of Los Cabos.
Diplomatic efforts will be further complicated by Obama's re-election battle against Republican Mitt Romney - who has called Russia "our number one geopolitical foe" - as well as questions on how far Putin might go in translating his anti-Western rhetoric into actual policy.
The hardened tone appears to mark the endpoint of Obama's "reset" of ties with Moscow, pursued with Putin predecessor Dmitry Medvedev and touted by the White House as a signature foreign policy accomplishment.
With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continuing his bloody, 15-month crackdown on the opposition, Obama and Western allies want veto-wielding Moscow to stop shielding him from further U.N. Security Council sanctions aimed at forcing him from power.
But Putin, a former KGB spymaster, is suspicious of U.S. motives especially after the NATO-assisted ouster of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi last year, and has offered little sign of softening his stance on Syria.
Though Washington has shown no appetite for a new Libya-style intervention, Russia is reluctant to abandon its Syrian ally, a longtime arms customer, and risk losing its last firm foothold in the Middle East, including access to a warm-water navy base.
Obama's aides say they are counting on other G20 leaders such as British Prime Minister David Cameron also to exert pressure on Putin. But Putin can expect solidarity from China, which has joined in blocking anti-Assad moves at the United Nations.
ANGRY RETORT
The seriousness of the rift between Washington and Moscow was underscored last week when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Russia of supplying Assad with attack helicopters. This drew an angry retort from the Kremlin.
"Some people are trying to spoil the atmosphere of these talks," said Yuri Ushakov, Putin's adviser on foreign policy.
He cited not only the arms sale accusation but also a proposed new bill in the U.S. Congress, the so-called "Magnitsky" law, that would target Russian human rights violators, legislation he called "anti-Russian."
Putin focused on another irritant in relations on Thursday, warning ominously of an "appropriate reaction" to U.S.-backed missile defense plans for Europe that Moscow vehemently opposes.
Obama may seek to lower the temperature, but he also wants to be assertive enough to avoid giving Republicans an opening to accuse him of being soft on Moscow at a time when he is already struggling to defend his record on the economy. At the same time, he faces criticism for not providing stronger leadership on Syria.
For his part, Putin will be in no mood for concessions that could be seen as weakness as he seeks to quell dissent at home with tactics that are drawing U.S. criticism. He also will be wary of making commitments to an American president whose future remains uncertain beyond the November 6 election.
On a personal level, there is reason to doubt whether "No-Drama" Obama and tough-talking Putin will click. Their body language will be dissected by the media for any hint of where the relationship is heading.
Their first meeting, nearly three years ago at Putin's dacha when he was prime minister, was by most accounts an awkward one, with Obama subjected to a long monologue of Russian grievances.
But Obama aides say the initial improvement in relations, which came after ties soured near the end of President George W. Bush's tenure, would not have been possible without Putin's behind-the-scenes support.
Los Cabos, where the broader summit will focus on the euro zone crisis threatening the world economy, will be a chance for both leaders to make their case. But no new ideas are expected.
Obama will urge Putin to use his influence with Assad to accept a transition modeled on Yemen's, in which an autocratic president was pushed out, U.S. officials say. Moscow has signaled its opposition to making Assad's exit a pre-condition.
The White House also hopes to placate a key Russian concern. "It's not our goal in Syria to eliminate Russian influence," U.S. deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters.
Putin is likely to push for an international "contact group" that would include Iran, which counts Syria as its only real ally in the region. The United States opposes any Iranian role.
Still, Obama will tread carefully with Putin on Iran. Russia is hosting the next round of talks between Iran and world powers this week, and Washington wants Moscow to do more to help pressure Tehran to curb its nuclear program.