Tourism officials released 2018 local impact numbers this week indicating another year of growth for tourism in the Aurora Area of Illinois. Visitors to the Aurora Area spent $201.5 Million on lodging, gas, dining, and other travel-related expenditures in 2018, a 3.7% increase over the prior year, representing the fourth
Aurora mayor Richard C. Irvin joined more than 200 bipartisan mayors from across the Nation signing on to a letter from The United States Conference of Mayors to urge immediate action from the federal government on gun safety legislation. “Whether it is a horrific mass shooting or a teenager with
The city government of Aurora is seeking public input to complete its 2020-2024 Consolidated Plan. Each year, Aurora receives Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. CDBG and HOME funds are intended to create viable communities
First of two parts We are moving forward toward the 2020 election of the president of the United States. Many voters are calling this election one of the most important elections in our history. How will historians judge the choices we as voters make? Will our children, grandchildren, and great
By John W. Whitehead We’ve been down this road many times. If the government is consistent about any one thing, it is: It has an unnerving tendency to exploit crises and use them as opportunities for power grabs under the guise of national security. Cue the Emergency State, the government’s
Last of two parts The NAACP (National Association of Colored People) gathered two weeks ago in Detroit for its annual convention. Lauren Gambino, based in Washington, D.C., wrote a piece for The Guardian Weekly. She wrote how the NAACP convention urged presidential hopefuls not to shy away from being against
By Peter Hancock Democratic Party governor J.B. Pritzker Monday called on congressional leaders, particularly Republican Party members, to push for strong federal gun control laws, including universal background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines. “Remember, it takes leadership in Congress,” Pritzker said. “It is usually the Republican leaders who
Friday, it was announced that State senator Tom Cullerton is being indicted by federal authorities on 41 counts of embezzlement charges. The Villa Park Democratic Party member is accused of receiving a salary and benefits for more than three years from the Teamsters Union without doing any actual work. Upon
By John W. Whitehead “Adolf Hitler is alive and well in the United States, and he is fast rising to power.” —Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of the Treasury, on the danger posed by the FBI to our civil liberties Despite the finger-pointing and outcries of dismay from those
First of two parts The NAACP gathered in Detroit this week and leaders urged presidential hopefuls prior to the Democratic Party presidential debates earlier this week and for its own convention, not to shy away as Donald Trump fans the flames. Lauren Gambino writes for The Guardian Weekly in Washington:
The Ten Commandments for 21st-Century America: “I am The Donald thy President, which have brought thee out of the land of liberalism, out of the house of Obama. “Thou shalt have no other President but me. “Thou shalt not make any graven image or any likeness of anything, unless it
Legislation introduced by State representative Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, to give taxpayers the opportunity to elect the Aurora Public Library (APL) Board was signed by governor J.B Pritzker Friday, July 26 and is now law. “For the first time in Aurora, local voters will have the opportunity to choose who is
Governor JB Pritzker has signed a measure into law sponsored by State representative Keith R. Wheeler, R-Oswego, to remove the statute of limitations on prosecuting sexual assault offenses and thereby give law enforcement and prosecutors the ability to conduct an investigation and bring charges against a suspect without a time
By John W. Whitehead “But these weren’t the kind of monsters that had tentacles and rotting skin…they were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep, so banal you don’t recognize them for what they are until it’s too late.” —Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
By John W. Whitehead “Since when have we Americans been expected to bow submissively to authority and speak with awe and reverence to those who represent us? The constitutional theory is that we the people are the sovereigns, the state and federal officials only our agents. We who have the
How do you persuade a populace to embrace totalitarianism, that goose-stepping form of tyranny in which the government has all of the power and “we the people” has none? You persuade the people that the menace they face, imaginary or not, is so sinister, so overwhelming, so fearsome that the
“The freedom to speak without risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation.” —Justice Neil Gorsuch We live in an age in which “we the people” are at the mercy of militarized, weaponized, immunized cops who have almost absolute discretion to decide who
By Jerry Nowicki – A pair of bills aiming to address the State’s teacher shortage passed the Illinois Senate Thursday, May 30. Both bills were sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat. The first, House Bill 2078, raises the minimum wage for teachers to $40,000 by the 2023-2024
Here are provisions in Senate Bill 609, passed this session by the General Assembly which will expand legal gambling: • Six new casinos authorized in Illinois, in Waukegan, Danville, Rockford, South Suburbs, Williamson County, and Chicago. • New casinos can be land-based; existing riverboat casinos allowed to change to land-based.
