By John W. Whitehead The U.S. Supreme Court will not save us. It doesn’t matter which party gets to pick the replacement to fill Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. The battle that is gearing up right now is yet more distraction and spin to keep
By Jason Crane The Montgomery Village Board discussed continuing the rebate of residential property taxes at the Village Board meeting Monday. The ordinance extends the property tax rebate that was put into place in 2014, following the passage of the non-home rule sales tax referendum. The original program was established
By John W. Whitehead Over the course of the past 30 years, the need to keep the schools safe from drugs and weapons has become a thinly disguised, profit-driven campaign to transform them into quasi-prisons, complete with surveillance cameras, metal detectors, police patrols, zero tolerance policies, lock downs, drug-sniffing dogs,
By Jason Crane At the Aurora city government City Council meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conferencing platform, the City Council listened to an update on research implementation of the Civilian Review Board. More than 60 recommendations from the Community Review and Recommendations are available at www.aurora-il.org/2175/CHANGE-Reform-Initiative. A listening tour
The residents of Aurora’s Fourth Ward will have a choice in February 2021 when they go to the polls to elect their next alderman. John Bell announced he is running for alderman of the Fourth Ward. Bell, who has lived and worked in the Ward for nearly a decade, seeks
Throughout history, the women of the world have united and have made enormous strides in their efforts to overcome oppressive practices and antiquated values and belief systems. From the Suffragist Movement 100 years ago to the more recent “Me Too” movement, women have played a pivotal role in the advancement
By John W. Whitehead You can map the nearly 20-year journey from the September 11, 20001 terrorist attacks to the COVID-19 pandemic by the freedoms we’ve lost along the way. The road we have been traveling has been littered with the wreckage of our once-vaunted liberties, especially those enshrined in
By Jason Crane At the Aurora city government Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conferencing platform, the City Council listened to four speakers, including Michael Childress, president of the DuPage Chapter of the NAACP. He said they are looking to begin a dialogue with like-minded elected
By Jason Crane The Montgomery Village Board received an update about the Village’s lead service line replacement program at the Village Board meeting Monday. Director of Public Works, Mark Wolf, said the Village recently completed the replacement of 106 known lead service lines to residential properties. Wolf said the project
September 3, 2020Dear editor; The sympathetic media coverage of Stephanie Kifowit’s so-called courage in “demanding” fellow Democrat speaker Mike Madigan’s resignation borders on the bizarre. Before we salute the brave and selfless Aurora State representative for standing up to the House speaker, perhaps her constituents and newspaper reporters should examine
By Jason Crane At the Aurora city government City Council meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conferencing platform, the City Council approved, after much debate, resolution 20-0431 to purchase 150 complete sets of personal protective equipment (riot gear) at $88,583.00 for the Aurora Police Department. The vote was 8-3 with
By John W. Whitehead “A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.” —Anonymous Have you noticed that the government’s answer to every problem is more government, at taxpayer expense, and less individual liberty? The Great Depression.
Robert J. O’Connor, alderman-at-large on the Aurora City Council, announced Wednesday, Aug. 26 that he will not be a candidate for reelection in the 2021 Spring elections. O’Connor is serving in his ninth term, first elected in 1985. O’Connor indicated that he has truly enjoyed his service on the Council
Mark Gaffino, four term Village Board trustee and lifelong resident announced earlier this week a run for North Aurora Village president. Gaffino said, “I am running for village president because I truly care about our Village. Having been born and raised here, it has become a part of my identity.
By Jason Crane At the Aurora city government Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conferencing platform, the City Council listened to two opposing opinions from Aurora residents. The discussion was for resolution 20-0431 to purchase 150 complete sets of personal protective equipment (riot gear) at
By John W. Whitehead Backyard gardeners, beware: Tomato plants have become collateral damage in the government’s war on drugs, especially marijuana. In fact, merely growing a vegetable garden on your own property, or in a greenhouse on your property, or shopping at a gardening store for gardening supplies, incredibly enough,
Beginning August 31, the DuPage County Community Based Testing Site (CBTS) will be open from 7 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, or until 600 tests are completed each day. The drive-through CBTS opened June 16 on the DuPage County Complex for anyone to be tested for COVID-19. The COVID-19
The DuPage County Board Tuesday, Aug. 25 approved $1.5 Million to provide low-income students with internet service. Under the agreement approved by the County Board on Tuesday, school districts will find appropriate vendors to provide internet service at no cost to low-income students, and all or some of the costs
Naperville Park District has canceled the Kite Fly event, which was scheduled for from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.Sunday, Aug. 30 at Frontier Sports Complex, due to the elevated COVID-19 positivity rate in Will County. Although this is an outdoor event, based on participations at previous kite fly events, the
Elected officials in the Aurora area serve guests, along with host staff members of the new Mora on The River in downtown Aurora Friday on Water Street as a part of three-day fundraiser for the STEM programs in School Districts 129 and 131 in Aurora.
