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The recently announced Civilization V will use hexes in place of square tiles along with some major combat changes. The game was shown off at GDC 2010 and I got a look at the new UI, diplomacy, and combat running beautifully in Windows 7 and DirectX 11.

New Screenshots from GDC 2010

The new UI is streamlined, minimalistic, and functional. While every option isn't presented by default, all of the options are a click-away. Fans worried about a simplification based on Civilization Revolution should not fear. Notifications are also handled by an icon system. You won't have to follow laggy, s...

The Northwest Indiana Times reports: A fifth-grader in Lowell. Ind. faces expulsion and possible criminal charges for bringing a Bowie knife and a handgun to school today, officials say. Tri-Creek Supt. Alice Neal said the school district was notified by a parent that the fifth-grader was showing off a handgun and Bowie knife to children on Tuesday. The student's school bag was confiscated by the bus driver this morning, revealing the gun and knife inside. There was no ammunition and no one was hurt.

Get the full story: nwitimes.com

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The University of Illinois board of trustees voted today to give Richard Ringeisen, the retiring chancellor of the Springfield campus, a one-year paid administrative leave after he steps down Oct. 31.

The arrangement, in which Ringeisen will be paid $273,500 but not have any job responsibilities, is a change to what was proposed last week.
Under the former deal, Ringeisen would have kept his salary for 14 months while serving as a consultant to the president.

Ringeisen, 65, asked for the change, said spokesman Tom Hardy.

Credited with transforming the Springfield campus into a more traditional university, Ringeisen got a standing ovation at today's meeting in Champaign. During his near decade as chancellor, the number of students and faculty increased and the campus added many buildings. It also has been on the forefront of offering academic programs online.

In its vote on Ringeisen's new employment arrangement, the board decided...

A Mount Prospect school bus driver was nearly three times over the legal limit for alcohol after she dropped off about 50 children from an elementary school back to their homes Tuesday afternoon, police said today.

Betty Burden, 54, of the 1440 block of Park Drive, was arrested after police got a call from Vincente Ramirez, the transportation supervisor with Mount Prospect School District 57 around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Supt. Elaine Aumiller said Ramirez followed the woman on her route but claimed state law barred them from intervening.

"It's a tough administrative call," she said. "There were children on the bus during the time she was under the influence. Thank God nothing happened."

Ramirez reported that a co-worker had smelled alcohol on the...

Split/Second was one of my bigger surprises at E3 last year. I probably played the one airport track that was on demo a dozen times. The combination of arcade racing and screen-blurring speed with letting me blow up the environment to knock out the other racers completely got its hooks in me. I finally got to see and play some more of the game at GDC.

They turned me loose on a downtown circuit that looked like a mashup of any number of major U.S. cities--filled with tall buildings, freeways, and tight intersections on surface streets. Developer Black Rock has been at working tuning the different car types, and they let me use a supercar this time out. The difference was really noticeable when an explosion went off near me and I had to fight the shock wave in such a lightweight car....

The driver of a compact car that hit a light pole Tuesday night on Interstate 57 on the Far South Side, killing one passenger and ejecting a child, has been cited with driving drunk and may face other charges, police said.

The victim, a 34-year-old woman was in the front passenger seat of the compact car when the crash happened about 10:15 p.m., on I-57 just south of the Halsted Street exit, police said.

The woman, who has not been identified, was declared dead at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park at 10:24 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The car went out of control and crashed into a light pole, said Illinois State Police Sgt. Jason Lococo, reading from a report. It was a single-vehicle crash, he said.

The front-seat passenger was fatally injured, Lococo said. A child who was in the back seat of the car was ejected and landed on the grass near the car, he said. Details of the child's injuries weren't available.<...

In the hopes of offering more support to young people in state correctional facilities and their families, state officials announced Wednesday that the Department of Juvenile Justice is being folded into the Department of Children and Family Services.

As a result, the budgets of both agencies have been combined under the governor's new budget plan, said DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe. Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed 2011 budget for DCFS is listed at roughly $1.4 billion, which Marlowe said includes the funds for the juvenile justice agency.

"What these kids need is therapeutic treatment and services. DCFS is in a better position to get those services to them, and DCFS is also in a better position to get federal money to help pay for it through Medicaid planning," Marlowe said.

For more than three decades, the Illinois Department of Corrections had been responsible both for the state's adult convicts and for juveniles serving time in its facilities. But, in 2006, Illino...

Mayor Richard Daley signaled today that controversial recommendations for reforming the city's employee pension systems will be coming soon.

The announcement came more than two years after the mayor appointed a commission to of top financial managers to find ways to strengthen pension funds for the city, Park District, Chicago Housing Authority and City Colleges of Chicago.

"I expect these recommendations to come very shortly," Daley said. "We all recognize that the status quo will not work. . . . It's time to reform a system that isn't working for our city's budget, our city's taxpayers or for some of our employees, for that matter."

Read more on Clout Street.

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