By Jason Crane The Aurora City Council applauded and honored the first-ever Mr. and Miss Black Aurora at the Tuesday, Feb. 7 Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting. Mayor of Aurora, Richard Irvin, presented a proclamation to Mr. Black Aurora, Peter Eta, and Miss Black Aurora Charitee Cocroft. The city
By John & Nisha Whitehead That the police officers charged with the beating death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols are black is a distraction. Don’t be distracted. This latest instance of police brutality is not about racism in policing, or black-on-black violence. The entire institution is corrupt. The old guard, made
By Jerry Nowicki Sustained higher-than-predicted State tax revenues have in recent months given lawmakers a level of budgeting flexibility that is, at least in modern times, without precedent in a State with a reputation for perilous finances. For the current fiscal year and the one prior to it, that’s led
By Peter Hancock The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced Tuesday, Jan. 31 that Elgin-based School District U-46 superintendent Tony Sanders will become the next State superintendent of education. Sanders, 53, will succeed Carmen Ayala, who announced in November 2022 that she would retire effective January 31. ISBE reported
By Peter Hancock A temporary restraining order that partially blocks Illinois’ new assault weapons ban from being enforced will remain in place after a divided State appellate court panel’s ruling Tuesday, Jan. 31. The restraining order was issued Jan. 20 by Effingham County Circuit Judge Joshua Morrison, but it applies
Voters of the Aurora 6th Ward are invited to attend an online forum at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 8, featuring the candidates running for the 6th Ward alderman in the primary election. Five candidates are on the February 28 Primary Election ballot: Incumbent Michael B Saville, Matthew J Orr, Nicole
With the forecasted frigid weather over the next week, the City of Aurora will activate its centrally-located overnight temporary warming center for one week to provide a safe, warm space for those in need.The Aurora Transportation Center, 233 N. Broadway, will open as a warming center each night from 7
By Peter Hancock Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Monday filed a petition asking an appellate court to vacate a temporary restraining order that was issued late Friday Jan. 20 to block enforcement of the State’s recently-passed assault weapons ban. Raoul’s office filed the petition in the 5th District Appellate Court
By Jason Crane The Aurora City Council unanimously approved the appointment of James Birchall as chief Public Facilities officer and Derrick Winston as director of the Public Facilities Department at the Tuesday, Jan. 24 City Council meeting. Lama Norbu Samdup of the Buddhist Studies and Meditation Center in Aurora led
The League of Women Voters of Central Kane County will be host to a hybrid forum Thursday, Feb. 16 featuring candidates running in the April 4, Consolidated Election for seats on the Geneva Park District Board, the Geneva School District 304 Board, and for a seat on the Geneva City
By John & Nisha Whitehead In this age of ubiquitous surveillance, there are no private lives: Everything is public. Surveillance cameras mounted on utility poles, traffic lights, businesses, and homes. License plate readers. Ring doorbells. GPS devices. Dash cameras. Drones. Store security cameras. Geofencing and geotracking. FitBits. Alexa. Internet-connected devices.
Rotarian Joe Yen, left, presents Gabriel Bradford a speaker gift at the Rotary Club of Montgomery meeting Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Montgomery Village Hall. The Rotary Club sponsored Bradford’s attendance to RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) in 2022, a weekend getaway for youth leaders. Each year thousands of young people
By Hannah Meisel A trio of gun owners and a firearms retailer in southeastern Illinois have filed the first two lawsuits in what’s expected to be a flurry of litigation against the State’s new law banning the sale and manufacture of assault weapons in Illinois. Democratic Party leaders who pushed
Tuesday, Jan. 17, 16 DuPage-area State legislators who represent the vast majority of the County in the General Assembly released an open letter to the public in response concerns raised by residents following the DuPage County Sheriff’s pronouncement that he would not enforce the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which was
By Jason Crane The Aurora City Council listened to details for a proposed $1.2 million grant for the IT Department for the installation of 32 cameras and 21 license-plate reader systems at the Tuesday, Jan. 17 Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting. The cameras and license-plate reader systems would be
By Nika Schoonover In spite of Illinois efforts to smoothly integrate electric vehicles into State economy, a new report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is warning of a potential steep decline in transportation revenue in the process of electrification accelerates. The primary issue is motor fuel taxes, which
By John & Nisha Whitehead How do you trust a government that continuously sidesteps the U.S. Constitution and undermines our rights? You can’t. When you consider all the ways “we the people” are being bullied, beaten, bamboozled, targeted, tracked, repressed, robbed, impoverished, imprisoned and killed by the government, one only
By Peter Hancock On the first full day of his second term, governor JB Pritzker Tuesday, Jan. 10 signed a bill banning the sale, distribution, and manufacture, of high-power assault weapons, .50 caliber rifles and ammunition, and large-capacity magazines, while still allowing those who already own such weapons to keep
By Peter Hancock Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin will left the Illinois Statehouse Tuesday, Jan. 10 for the last time as a State legislator. After a bruising 2022 election cycle in which House Republicans lost five seats, Durkin did not seek another term as leader of the caucus. But
By Jason Crane The Aurora City Council unanimously approved plans for the creation of a new City department at the Aurora City Council meeting, Tuesday, Jan. 10. City of Aurora government officials explained plans for the creation of the new department, Public Facilities. The department will be comprised of existing
