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Chicago police tonight rescued a man from the south branch of the Chicago River.

The man, believed to be in his early 20s, was rushed to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, a Fire Department spokesman said.

Aided by a police helicopter, the police Marine Unit worked for nearly an hour to rescue the man first spotted at about 6:45 p.m. in the river near the Turning Basin, in the 2800 block of South Ashland Avenue, officials said.

It wasn't immediately clear how or why the man entered the water.

--William Lee

 

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This Wednesday, God of War III director Stig Asmussen joins us live from the Game Developers Conference on our weekly podcast to take your calls.

God of War III hits Playstation 3s next week, so I'm sure you're bursting with questions for Asmussen. No problem, he will be on Kotaku Talk Radio this Wednesday at 11 a.m. Kotaku Time (that's 1 p.m. ET, 10 a.m. PT), giving you a chance to quiz him on everything.

Look for a reminder post about the podcast at 11:00 a.m. mountain time (1:00 p.m. ET) on Wednesday. The post will include call-in info so you can ask your questions. The show will be live a few minutes after the hour. If you're too busy, nervous, or shy to call in to ask your questions, you can always Tweet me during the show with them.

Subscribe to "Kotaku Talk Radio"...

A couple of new developer-centric tools facilitating the integration of the bluntly-named "Ultra-Precise Motion Controller" were released today via Steam, Valve Software's digital distribution service. Created by PC gaming peripheral-maker Razer and technology developer Sixense, the tools mark the latest endeavor born from the multi-year partnership between the three companies, which was announced back in January.

With or without motion control, these Left 4 Dead 2 zombies aren't likely to last long. Reve...

The day after a 16-year-old Joliet girl was killed and two other teen girls injured in a car crash, friends and classmates grieved, bid their farewells on a social networking page and comforted each other at school.

Emily A. Dukovac, 16, died at Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet on Monday night, about an hour after the Chevrolet Cavalier she was riding in rolled through a stop sign and was struck by a Ford F-150 truck.

A neighbor said Emily was an honor student at Plainfield High School's Central Campus, where she was a member of the pom squad. She was the only child of Mario and Pam Dukovac, said Karen Gura, who lives across the street from the girl's family.

"She was their everything," Gura said. "She was a wonderful girl. She was such a sweetheart, every mother's dream."

The crash occurred shortly after 5 p.m. in New Lenox, said Pat Barry, a spokesman for the Will County sheriff's office. The girls were headed east on New Lenox Road when their car was hit...

A South Side teenager pleaded not guilty today in the infamous fatal beating last fall of a Fenger High School student.

Authorities alleged Lapoleon Colbert, 19, beat and kicked Derrion Albert, 16, in front of a Roseland community center soon after the school day ended on Sept. 24. Colbert was the fifth teen to be charged in the attack, which was captured on video and sparked outrage nationwide.

--Staff report

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Decatur police have issued an Amber Alert after two young boys, one of them a 1-month-old infant, who were abducted this afternoon.

Authorities said that J-Amarcus Upchurch and Terry Antonio Smith were taken by two men in the 1900 block of East Cantrell Street at about 3:30 p.m.

They were last seen in a silver passenger car with the partial Missouri license plate U D G, turning on to a side road off Cantrell Street.

J-Amarcus is described as a 1-month-old African-American boy, wearing a blue one-piece jumpsuit, weighing 8 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.

Terry is a 4-year-old African-American boy about 3-foot-6, 60 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt and blue jeans.

The boys were taken by two African-Americ...

Acknowledging that as many as 20 million (of its 25 million players) "no longer [derive] pleasure from blowing up people hiding in the cockpit or on top of the crane," Modern Warfare 2's creators say new map help is OTW.

"Mapathy" is the name of this affliction, for which Modern Warfare 2 creative strategist Robert Bowling tweeted about 30 minutes ago that Infinity Ward researchers have found a cure. It's coming - to Xbox Live - March 30. That's all we know now. So, no pricing, nor PC or PS3 availability info yet.

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I've arrived in San Francisco and am on the scene for GDC. I only had one session today, which ended up being a little bit of a bust. This can happen at the Game Developers Conference for members of the press as the show is, primarily, for developers looking to learn.

Garnett took all the cool appointments. Well, I get to see Civilization V later in the week so I'm pretty excited about that. The show will hit its stride tomorrow as we run from session to keynote to demo.

Wish I was playing some BF:BC2...