Our Blog

Today’s front-page story of USA Today (1/9/2013) focuses on the ongoing failures of the Boeing Dreamliner aircraft that was touted as the next generation aircraft. Several mishaps and problems have caused experts, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), to investigate the Boeing 787. The latest two incidents came earlier this week when a fuel tank leaked Tuesday on a 787 Japan Airlines Dreamliner while on the ground at…

With the federally mandated retirement age looming for many pilots, some experts are predicting that the United States may be facing a pilot shortage soon. Thousands of new rules for pilots regarding training and rest are kicking in this year, so some say the shortage of pilots may be coming as early as 2013. One of the new rules requires co-pilots to have as many flight hours as captains in the cockpit. With the mandatory…

The flu season certainly is upon as we read headlines of area hospitals handling an “explosive” outbreak of the illness that apparently still hasn’t peaked. The Chicago Tribune reported Saturday, Jan. 5, 2012, that one Chicago-area hospital fired a part-time nurse for refusing to get a flu shot. The critical care nurse at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove told the press that she was fired in December after the hospital instituted the flu…

Authorities in Vancouver, Canada, have joined with Oregon officials in the aftermath of the deadly bus crash that left nine people dead and dozens more injured. The tour bus crash occurred Sunday (Dec. 30, 2012) about 10 a.m. as it returned from a nine-day western tour that last stopped in Las Vegas, Nevada, before returning to Vancouver, Canada, the area where some of the passengers resided. Other passengers were exchange students from South Korea or…

News video of a tragic scene in Oregon’s ice and snow tells the story – nine people are dead and three dozen more injured following a bus crash Sunday morning off of a mountainous highway in the state’s northeast corner. Steep slopes and ice made the rescue effort even more difficult as paramedics and ambulance companies from the region tried to make their way to those in the tour bus that had rolled down the…

Pamela Sakowicz Menaker is an accomplished journalist, attorney and educator but ask her of what she is most proud and she will say her three children. As a single mother, Pam has taken great pride in juggling her career with motherhood. Her three adult children are well on their way to success: Michelle is Showbiz Shelly in the morning on B96 radio in Chicago (WBBM, 96.3 FM) for the past seven years, Elise is launching…

View Winter 2012 Newsletter (PDF)

Robert Clifford and Kevin Durkin Obtain $112 million of record $180 million Verdict in Federal Court in St. Louis Robert A. Clifford and Kevin P. Durkin, partners at Clifford Law Offices, led the trial team that obtained a record $112 million verdict on (Friday, June 1, 2012) on behalf of two men who were burned in a grain elevator explosion in downstate Illinois owned by ConAgra Foods. Also part of the trial team was Brad…

View Summer 2012 Newsletter (PDF)