By Russell Lissau rlissau@@dailyherald.com Beth Gwaltney wasn't about to spend her summer bagging groceries at a local supermarket. The 16-year-old from Lake Villa wanted to work outdoors in the sun.

By Dan Gibbard, Chicago Tribune Sep. 20--Innovation can be a hard sell in the rigid world of steel, experts say, but a bridge that opened this month in a northern suburb uses a new alloy that state officials believe could become an industry benchmark.

LAKE VILLA, Ill. - It doesn't take much sleuthing to guess Rich Rosko's favorite holiday: He owns a Christmas tree farm, built a log cabin at a Wisconsin resort called Christmas Mountain Village and has owned pet reindeer for years.