During the Aurora City Council meeting, July 14, mayor John Laesch welcomed members of the Aurora Advisory Commission on Disabilities, Weston Bridges, and the Fox Valley Special Recreation Association to accept an official proclamation, declaring the month of July as Disability Pride Month in Aurora.
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker signed 31 new laws on Friday as he continues evaluating measures passed in the spring session, including bills banning certain ingredients from cosmetics and correcting the State’s property tax laws. Access to birth control Senate Bill 3341 allows minors to receive birth
By Ben SzalinskiCapitol News Illinoisbszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com An Illinois House committee will investigate actions by Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, following her indictment on 10 federal charges this week. A group of 11 House Republicans filed a petition on Friday to create a special investigating committee, a sparingly used process laid out in
The Aurora City Council has approved a new, comprehensive ethics Ordinance that creates a $1,500 cap on campaign donations from businesses or entities that are doing business with the City. The Ordinance builds off Aurora’s 2019 Ordinance, enhancing ethics safeguards around local elected officials. Key reforms from the Ordinance include
July 12, 2026Dear editor; Iran has shown it could destabilize the industrial world’s economy at will by closing the Strait of Hormuz, despite the bluster of president Donald Trump and secretary of war Pete Hegseth. Regardless of the lives lost and the billions of dollars spent, Iran’s leaders feel they
The DeKalb County Local Emergency Planning Committee Meeting will be 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 20, at 1826 Barber Greene Road, DeKalb. More volunteers are sought to be on the DeKalb County Local Emergency Committee. —Frank Beierlotzer
The City of Aurora government’s Water Production Division has discovered elevated levels of lead in drinking water in some homes. Between January 2026 and June 2026, the City of Aurora’s Water Production Division collected 100 samples of water and analyzed them for lead. More than 10% of the samples collected
By John & Nisha Whitehead While Americans remain transfixed by the political circus—cheering for their preferred party, jeering at the opposition, obsessing over every manufactured outrage and waiting for the next spectacle—the Surveillance State continues its steady march forward. The government is watching. It watches where you go, whom you
By Maggie DoughertyCapitol News Illinoismdougherty@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker signed artificial intelligence legislation modeled after similar bills in California and New York Monday, July 6, furthering a push for a State-driven national framework in lieu of federal regulations. “Congress and the president ought to be passing similar legislation, but they’ve so
The Kane County Office of Emergency Management is asking residents and businesses that experienced uninsured property damage during the severe storms that impacted the County July 2–4, to complete a storm damage self-assessment survey. The information collected will help local and state officials assess the extent of the damage and
By Naomi TaxayMedill Illinois News Bureaunews@capitolnewsillinois.com Earlier this year, administrators at Lake Zurich High School confronted a growing challenge facing schools nationwide: students using artificial intelligence to create sexually explicit images of their classmates. After reporting the matter to police, the district launched a series of student and family education
Happy 250th birthday to us! For me, it would have been more joyous if it didn’t happen during Donald Trump’s reign. Imagine how big and spectacular it would have been under any other president. Big promises from Trump. He spends 86 million on his Great American State Fair with no
By John & Nisha Whitehead What exactly did Americans celebrate this Fourth of July? Two-hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all people possess inalienable rights, we now live under a government that increasingly behaves as though rights belong to the government to distribute, restrict and
By Ben Szalinski & Brenden MooreCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com Governor JB Pritzker signed more than 60 bills since June 26, including new laws to increase transparency around rental fees and give some drivers an alternative to having their license suspended. Rental transparency House Bill 3564 bans so-called “junk fees” charged by
DuPage County government received two 2026 Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo), recognizing the Crisis Recovery Center in the health category and the County’s comprehensive approach to addressing food insecurity in the human services category. The awards honor innovative, effective county government programs that strengthen services for
Representatives Bill Foster (D-IL) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) led Members on the House Financial Services Committee in calling on the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins, to explain what oversight, guidance, and investor protections are in place as brokerage firms begin allowing AI agents to make
Musings: •The Sins of Donald J. Trump (chapter 21). He has: Attempted to establish a $1.8 billion “slush fund” for the purpose of rewarding the rioters of January 21, 2021 who claimed they were innocent of the charges against them; Welcomed white South African “refugees” while excluding refugees from other
By Molly A. WallaceMedill Illinois News Bureaunews@capitolnewsillinois.com President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” severely impacted two of Illinois’ most economically vulnerable groups: The hundreds of thousands of Illinoisans set to lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food assistance this year and the small farmers who are losing them as
By Nikoel HytrekCapitol News Illinoisnhytrek@capitolnewsillinois.com The overturn of Roe v. Wade four years ago has wrought numerous changes for Illinois’ abortion ecosystem, turning the state into a destination for tens of thousands of people across the United States who need abortion services. Rising costs and a growing number of abortion
Mayor of Aurora, John Laesch (far right in photo) honored Aurora Central Catholic High School’s Track and Field team for capturing multiple Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State championships in late May. Saturday, May 23, student-athlete Cecelia Hilby broke a school record, running the 800-meter dash in just 2:11.53, earning
