Five Hinsdale Fire Department paramedics have been selected as the second runner-ups for the prestigious 2012 Dr. Joseph Hartmann Award of Excellence. Don Newberry, Andy Smith, Tom McCarthy, Doug Niemeyer and Michael Karban were honored for their response to an incident last year in which a man collapsed while marching in the village’s Fourth of July parade.

Patti Saltiel of Willowbrook used a sudden death in her life as a reason to become a better person, and a better mother for her children. She’s lost more than 60 pounds since Jan. 1, 2011 — the day she found out her only sibling, her 54-year-old sister Cathy, had died suddenly.

Thomas M. Sarwark, a 2009 graduate of Hinsdale South High School, was killed late last week when his car collided head-on with a semitrailer truck on Interstate 55, according to media reports.

The Clarendon Hills fitness studio is currently hosting an “Ultimate Fit Program,” in which two teams of five individuals vigorously train for 12 weeks, attempting to lose as much weight as possible. Fitness Werks will soon crown an individual champion and a winning team, donating a lump sum to charities of their choice

A Justice man has pleaded not guilty in relation to a drunken driving case that killed a Darien man last month.

Hinsdale South High School junior Lia Benes recently accomplished what less than 1 percent of her peers did. She earned a perfect ACT composite score.

In February, the Hinsdale Central Chess Team competed at the Peoria Civic Center in the largest chess tournament in the U.S. The Red Devils won their first six matches, defeating highly ranked teams from Illinois Math and Science Academy, Nequa Valley and the defending champion, Whitney M. Young. This weekend, the players compete in nationals.

Her dad would say, "It was her heart," but a then-6-year-old Sara Klepacki never could understand how a disease claimed someone so close to her so fast.

Meredith Sweeney of Hinsdale (Dartmouth College '14) placed second in the 200-yard backstroke at the Division 1 2012 Ivy League Championships at Harvard University on Feb. 25, up two places over her 2011 conference finish.

At a time when science and math scores are the lowest they’ve been in the U.S., students at Clarendon Hills Middle School are proving just how much enthusiasm still exists in the science lab.

Darien VFW Post 2838 is doing its part to help in the relief efforts for those in downstate Illinois affected by the storms and a EF4 tornado earlier this week.

To Hinsdale resident Ernie Mrozek, 58, though, he said his main goal as the new president of St. Rita of Cascia High School in Chicago will be to make sure every student there has the same great opportunities and experiences he had when he was a student.

From September through May, Hinsdale Music Club members are responsible for putting on a music event each month and hosting meetings to discuss music and upcoming productions. “It’s an educational and performance club,” said club President Lynn West of Westmont. “It’s a music study club, so the performances are to demonstrate a topic.”

In 1937, Joe Luecke called up a girl from high school to ask her if she wanted to come watch him play basketball. She said she couldn’t because her mother was making her go to church. “My older sister said, ‘Hey, I know a girl who was next to my locker, Violet Anderson, and she’s pretty nice. Why don’t you give her a call?’” Joe said. “I asked, ‘How do you know her?’ and she said, ‘Everybody knows Violet Anderson.’”

As Ginny Richardson puts it, her entire world is matchmaking.

“It’s blank newspaper pages, and stories I know about for our clients,” said Richardson, president of Hinsdale-based Ginny Richardson Public Relations.

And with her side project based on community service, the Free Speech Speakers Bureau, it’s the same concept.

“I just feel it is an extension of that matchmaking — a speaker and empty podium,” Richardson explained.

Free Speech, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, helps community organizations acquire speakers for free. More than 500 Chicagoland groups have participated thus far, with more than 150 speakers on the bureau.

Although both the services and speakers are free — Richardson charges a minimal lifetime joining fee for speakers — the incentives for both are endless, she said. Many of the speakers are entrepreneurs and business owners who can then market themselves or their businesses in a different way.

“It feels good to do something for nothing,” Richardson said. “This community has been really good to me.”

Darien Police Sgt. James Borsilli, who actively served the department for the last 24 years, died of complications with cancer on Sunday.

A substitute teacher who lives in Hinsdale has been charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against a student from Carl Sandburg High School, where he also was a freshman basketball coach.

Six thousand yards of swimming a day. A minimum of 14 hours a week in the pool. Four thousand, four hundred calories a day and three claps before each race.

To celebrate National Blood Donor Month, Adventist Lab Partners Blood Center, 121 N. Elm St., Hinsdale, will raffle off a 47-inch flat-screen TV in January. Any qualified donor of blood, platelets or double red cells is eligible to enter the raffle.

Hinsdale Center for the Arts has funds available for regranting to support arts programs throughout its service region, including all of DuPage County and portions of western Cook County as well as High School District 204.