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The Southwest Observer is commemorating its one-year anniversary, kicked off by the annual South Side Irish Parade.

West Beverly native and professional journalist Michael Fielding and Web designer Steve Delmont joined nearly 120 other entrants in the 30th annual South Side Irish Parade, marching proudly down Western Avenue before more than 250,000 onlookers March 9.

It may have been her disarming charm and pop culture sensibility that kept more than 1,000 people in their seats at the Shannon Center at Saint Xavier University Tuesday night to hear former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speak about her views on current world affairs, but what they really arrived for were the blunt opinions of the sharp Wellesley grad who would become a feisty adviser to lifelong Democrats, including presidential hopefuls Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.

Just about anyone could have been invited to be the inaugural presenter at Saint Xavier University

A chilly wind and overcast skies served as the setting Wednesday morning for a final goodbye to William Grant, the Chicago firefighter who was killed Friday when a school bus collided with the fire truck he was in while he and three other Chicago firefighters were on a call.

The procession from Blake-Lamb Funeral Home in Oak Lawn to Christ the King Church in Beverly headed east on 103rd Street through Grant's home neighborhood of Beverly. From Milwaukee to Detroit, fellow firefighters joined the procession as it passed hundreds of school children, parents who had bundled up their infants against the 50-degree temperature and longtime residents of a neighborhood that has mourned his passing but celebrated his life in these last several days.

Along the route, which stretched from 103rd Street and Cicero Avenue to the church at 9235 S. Hamilton Ave., thousands said their final goodbyes to a man who served his family, his neighborhood and his city.