Dixon Public Schools will kick off a new transitional kindergarten program at the start of the 2025-26 school year. The program was developed in response to kindergarten students’ increasing behavioral issues at Washington Elementary School that parents and staff described as “violent.” Those issues quickly became overwhelming for the staff and the situation was brought to the school board’s attention at an emotional meeting Oct. 16, 2024.
A former DeKalb County Board member and a former DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy are accused of defrauding the federal COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program in multiple charges filed in DeKalb County Court. Savannah Ilenikhena and Bartholomew Ilenikhena, a married couple, were each charged and indicted on one count of loan fraud and one count of theft of between $10,000 and $100,000, court records show.
Residents of an Elburn neighborhood came away from a recent Village Board meeting relieved that their property taxes weren’t set to go up $2,000 to $3,000 a year. A notice sent out by the attorney for homebuilder Lennar Homes to residents of the Fox Pointe subdivision had announced a public hearing about the establishment of a Special Services Area for the subdivision. Many of the residents said the notice was vague and confusing and about 30 of them showed up to the board’s public hearing July 7.
It was 2018 when the Rev. Warren Dorris, a former Joliet City Council member, told the City Council that Love’s offered him $100,000 to stay silent about the truck stop planned for his neighborhood. Last week, Diane Matter, another neighbor of the truck stop expected to open in 2026, told the council that she got the same offer.
Of all the pieces of the legacy Patricia and Wayne McCarty left behind, perhaps the Bradley couple’s most memorable impressions were the ones involving wheels – whether it happened to be three wheels or four. Every morning, regardless of the weather, Patricia would ride to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on her trademark yellow tricycle, the same bike her kids and grandkids have fond memories of riding in the rear basket when they were young.
Oswegoland Park District Executive Director Tom Betsinger was charged with attempted reckless homicide after allegedly attempting to run over a person with his pickup truck in Yorkville, colliding into several other vehicles in the process. Thomas K. Betsinger, 50, of Montgomery, was charged on July 13 with an aggravated assault felony, a criminal damage to property felony, one count of attempted reckless homicide, two additional counts of aggravated assault, and one count of driving under the influence of alcohol.
With the exception of the four years he spent in the U.S. Navy, Danny Kakazu has been a staple at The Breakers bar and restaurant near Crystal Lake for more than 60 years. That is, until Sunday. Kakazu started working at the iconic eatery along Route 14 in April 1964, when he was a teenager. Aside from his stint in the military, during which he served in Vietnam, he’s been a staple at The Breakers ever since. But Sunday was his last day on the job at the establishment that touts itself as Illinois’ oldest tiki bar.
A driver was charged Tuesday in connection with a crash that killed a Princeton man on Thanksgiving weekend near Ottawa. He was using a handheld cellphone, prosecutors allege. Daniel P. Olson, 56, of Manville was charged Tuesday in La Salle County Circuit Court with four charges – two felonies and two misdemeanors – all filed after an investigation into the Nov. 29 crash north of Ottawa that killed David A. Camp.
