When Chicago police investigating reports of shots fired stopped a car that Shandra Kidd, 22, was riding in, she bolted. After an officer caught her, she stuck a gun in the officer’s chest and pulled the trigger. The gun didn’t fire. She tried again, but again the gun didn’t go off.

Hyperbole often accompanies eulogies, with humans’ unwillingness to speak ill of the dead often coloring their reminiscences. But in the case of Linda “Sparky” Mortimer, she was what people describe her as: welcoming, friendly, warm and genuine. And with her death on Monday, Nov.

It wasn’t exactly a GOP stampede at the Asian Elephant Preserve but it was awfully close on Nov. 22, as a quintet of elephants checked out the new surroundings of their spacious yard next to the Rifken Family Pachyderm Pavilion at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.

the season for branching out and trying something new, sweet, special and most likely once (as in once a year). Really now, who thinks to roast a turkey for six hours any other time of year than the late-month holidays? Apple pie? Frozen, maybe, but from scratch? Not so much.

Weekends  Without Bernie For the first three games of this season, the talk around the Syracuse University basketball team centered on the team’s deep roster and talented bench.

The annual Christmas tree lighting, featuring a local 55-foot Norway spruce decorated with energy-efficient holiday bulbs, takes place on Friday, Nov. 25, 6:30 p.m., at downtown’s Clinton Squ

Sure, the concert takes place just days after Thanksgiving, but it’s always Halloween whenever Alice Cooper visits the area, with his next show slated for Tuesday, Nov. 29, 8 p.m., at the Turning

Fall is a great time for enthusiasts of fresh and local food. Farmers markets are overflowing with tasty produce at harvest time and, if you’ve worked long and hard on your home garden, it’s time to reap the rewards. Fresh food is harder to come by once the last leaves fall and the frost sets in, but there are still a number of ways you can keep your commitment to eating locally alive year-round.

The blues-roots guitarist and vocalist brings his musical mastery to Upstairs at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que,.

The annual “Movie and a Cookie” fundraiser to benefit WCNY’s radio and television programming migrates this year to the spacious confines of Rome’s Capitol Theatre, 220 W. Dominick