Jonah Nink

BATAVIA — Students, parents and faculty members took to the podium to address racist, homophobic and transphobic experiences at Batavia Public Schools during the public comment portion of the Dec. 21 school board meeting. “When I first started attending JB Nelson [Elementary School] in fourth grade, I was often made fun of,” Batavia High School senior Kristina Baker said. “Many teachers and students will often belittle Black students quite frequently.” Baker said multiple racially charged inci

Cook County sheriff's police are investigating two burglaries and one attempted burglary in Glenview and Des Plaines Sunday. At 4:26 a.m., police responded to an alarm call from a gas station in the 600 block of Greenwood Road in an unincorporated area near Glenview, where they found the station's glass front door had been shattered. Footage from the gas station's security camera showed an unidentified individual smash in the glass door with a pry bar, after which they and a group of individua

Deaf and hearing-impaired children from the Aurora area had a chance to share their Christmas wishes this week with a Santa Claus who knows sign language. Santa joined about 60 students, parents and teachers for pizza and gifts during a Thursday party at Luigi's Pizza in Aurora. The Aurora Noon Lions Club organized the event. "This is an annual event that the kids and parents and teachers from the schools around here look forward to," said Allan Benson, an Aurora Noon Lions member. Underneath

BATAVIA – Batavia’s 2nd Ward Alderman Leah Leman received an email from a resident of Batavia’s Georgetown townhouse complex who was reportedly tailed by a coyote while walking his dog. “At the end of November in the evening he was out walking his dog and when he returned back to his house, there was a coyote right near his front porch,” Leman said. “The dog growled, but the coyote didn’t turn and run. It just kind of stood there.” No injuries were reported, but Leman decided to present the st

Coverage of the Chicago Park District Public Budget Hearing and Board of Commissioners meeting on November 10th, 2021.

Batavia Public School District 101 awarded a contract to Lite Construction, Inc., to improve bleachers and replace lighting at Bulldog Stadium during its school board meeting on Nov. 16.

Coverage of the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education meeting on October 27th, 2021.

City Council meeting coverage for the City Bureau Documenters program.

Despite county-wide shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the volume of 911 calls received in Cook County in 2020 increased by 8 percent from 2019, according to data from the Cook County Emergency Telephone Systems Board.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which by late October of this year had surpassed 300,000 confirmed cases in Cook County alone, made Election Day unlike any other for those working at the polls.

University of Illinois hospital nurses, joined by members of SEIU-73 Illinois Nurses Association, continued their strike for a new contract with the university this morning outside of UIC’s Student Center East. The strike began over the weekend and is planned to continue until a new contract is written.

A total of 1,730 Chicagoans died of opioid-related overdoses in 2020, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner.

According to Bloomberg, over 110,000 restaurants across the country have closed due to the pandemic. Nearly 90% of all full-service restaurants in the survey reported a decline in sales. Photo by Kevin Dooley

ST. CHARLES – Mixology, an upscale salon and spa that recently opened over the summer, has been enjoying great success in its first months of operation, according to ownership. “We’re definitely doing above what we thought we’d be doing,” said Phoebe Falese, the owner of Mixology. Mixology is a salon and spa that offers a wide variety of services, including everything from your basic hair and nail work to full body massages. “My biggest thing is consistency, and going above and beyond for cus

ST. CHARLES – The Greater St. Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted its annual Tourism Reception on June 15 at Club Arcada in St. Charles. The reception serves the dual purpose of celebrating the bureau’s accomplishments, while also giving a peek into its plans for the upcoming year. The theme for this year’s event was “Creating the Path for Experiential Travel." “Tonight is a time of celebration as we reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and continued successes of the bureau. It’

ST. CHARLES – The St. Charles Park District hosted a grand reopening ceremony for Fairview Park on July 26. The ceremony celebrated the completion of a renovation at the park with a ribbon-cutting and free refreshments. “It was due for a replacement,” said Laura Rudow, deputy director of the Park District’s Parks Department. “But we thought let’s really try to go above and beyond with this one.” The project began in September of last year, with the Parks Department working closely with residen