By Nika Schoonover Illinoisans seeking to legally change the gender on their birth certificate will have an easier time under a new law signed by governor JB Pritzker last week. “Here in Illinois, we recognize that gender transition is a personal journey that doesn’t always follow a prescriptive medical path,
By Jason Crane The Aurora City Council is considering a development agreement with a developer for the purpose of facilitating the sale and redevelopment of the vacant Vargas (former Culture Stock) building, at 43 East Galena Boulevard, between Broadway and Stolp at the Tuesday, Feb. 21 Committee of the Whole
By John & Nisha Whitehead The government wants us to bow down to its dictates. It wants us to buy into the fantasy that we are living the dream, when in fact, we are trapped in an endless nightmare of servitude and oppression. Indeed, with every passing day, life in
By Nika Schoonover Governor JB Pritzker Friday, Feb. 10 signed 15 bills into law, tackling policy areas from tourism to prison reform and making it easier for those previously convicted of felonies to legally change their names. The laws passed the General Assembly in their recently concluded lame duck legislative
By Jason Crane The Aurora City Council received both a visit from congressman Bill Foster and $2,280,000 in Federal funding for the city of Aurora public safety technology project at the Tuesday, Feb. 14 City Council meeting. Congressman Foster said, “This funding will help provide holistic upgrades to the police
By John & Nisha Whitehead Step away from the blinders that partisan politics uses to distract, divide, and conquer, and you will find that we are drowning in a cesspool of problems that individually and collectively threaten our lives, liberties, prosperity, and happiness. These are not problems the politicians want
By Jerry Nowicki Governor JB Pritzker’s second-term legislative agenda will begin in earnest next week when he proposes his fifth annual State budget to lawmakers in the General Assembly. Although a governor’s proposal usually provides framework for the State’s annual spending plan, it rarely makes it through the General Assembly
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
