■ Sav A Lot is coming to Austin PAGE 4
FREE Vol. 39 No. 40
October 8, 2025 ■ Also serving Garfield Park ■ austinweeklynews.com
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Loretto’s challenge
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The The women of Habitat for Humanity, page 3
Customs and Border Patrol agents detain a man following a car accident at the 2800 block of W. Congress Pwky. on Oct. 1 in Garfield Park
After a period of turmoil, trying to regain Austin’s trust By JESSICA MORDACQ Staff Reporter
In 2021, Block Club Chicago reported that Anosh Ahmed, former chief operating and financial officer of Austin’s Loretto Hospital, had provided Covid-19 vaccines meant for the surrounding community to ineligible recipients at Trump Tower in Chicago. The scandal revealed that Ahmed was funneling millions of dollars worth of hospital funds to his friends. That same year, Ahmed resigned and, last year, was charged with defrauding Loretto of $15 million. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Ahmed defrauded the government of about $300 million by using fake Covid-19 testing companies. Loretto’s former CEO George See LORETTO on page 9
PROVIDED
Border Patrol agent put man in ‘chokehold’ after West Side car crash, leaders say Neighbors question why federal agents pursued a theft suspect. Alderman calls agents, ‘thugs’
PROVIDED
By MICHAEL LIPTROT Block Club Chicago
West Side community leaders are demanding answers after federal agents detained a man following a car crash Oct. 1 in Garfield Park, with eyewitnesses saying an agent put the man in a
chokehold. At about 2:30 p.m., someone driving a white car in the 2800 block of West Congress Parkway hit a black car driven by a woman, police said. Chicago police responded to the scene, and officers learned See CHOKEHOLD on page 7
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