{"id":5540,"date":"2014-10-31T14:30:15","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T19:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=5540"},"modified":"2014-10-31T15:00:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-31T20:00:49","slug":"ailing-anchor-phil-ponce-much-better-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/10\/31\/ailing-anchor-phil-ponce-much-better-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Ailing anchor Phil Ponce feeling \u2018much better now\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Phil<\/a>

<\/a> Phil Ponce<\/p><\/div>\n

Veteran Chicago public television newsman Phil Ponce is expected back on the air Monday after several days in the hospital for treatment of chest pain and a cyst in his liver.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil is grateful for everyone\u2019s good wishes and asks that the public not send cards or letters,\u201d according to a statement from WTTW-Channel 11,<\/a> where Ponce hosts the flagship nightly news program \u201cChicago Tonight.\u201d \u201cHe emphasizes that he is perfectly fine and is looking forward to getting back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ponce, 65, had been \u201cfeeling some discomfort\u201d Wednesday before he moderated a live U.S. Senate forum between Democratic incumbent Dick Durbin and Republican challenger Jim Oberweis, a spokeswoman for the Window to the World Communications station said.<\/p>\n

Still feeling pain in his side and chest that radiated to his right shoulder, Ponce called his doctor, who sent him to the emergency room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the spokeswoman said.\u00a0Tests showed a benign cyst in his liver, which was drained.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil feels much better now, and may be released from the hospital as early as today,\u201d she said Friday. \u201cHe expects to be back to his normal on-air schedule on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ponce succeeded the late John Callaway as host of \u201cChicago Tonight\u201d in 1999. After a four-year break while Bob Sirott hosted the show, Ponce returned to the top job in 2006.<\/p>\n

A native of East Chicago, Indiana, and a graduate of Indiana University and the University of Michigan Law School, Ponce previously was a reporter for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2 and a national correspondent for \"The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer\u201d on PBS.<\/p>\n

Two of his three children have followed Ponce into broadcast journalism. Son Dan is a news anchor at Tribune Media WGN-Channel 9, and son Anthony is a news anchor and reporter at NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veteran Chicago public television newsman Phil Ponce is expected back on the air Monday after several days in the hospital for treatment of chest pain and a cyst in his liver. \u201cPhil is grateful for everyone\u2019s good wishes and asks that the public not send cards or letters,\u201d according to a statement from WTTW-Channel 11,... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5540"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5544,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5540\/revisions\/5544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}