After the sun sets at night, it always rises the next morning. That’s why Herscher native Mike Janssen looks forward to his next opportunity rather than dwell on his recent layoff on Monday as a weatherman at WGN TV. He’s already looking to defend his grand champion prize at the Squeals Showdown barbecue competition in July in Herscher as part of the 50th annual Corn Bowl.
Brake Parts Inc. has permanently closed its McHenry operations, and 389 employees there will be or have already been laid off, according to documents filed with the state. The company filed its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity on Tuesday.
An Ohio, Illinois, volunteer firefighter has been charged in Lee County with felony arson, accused of setting a grass fire Friday in the Green River State Wildlife Management Area that burned 700 acres. Trent W. Schafer, 21, of Kasbeer, is charged with one count of arson, a Class 2 felony, in connection with the 5-alarm fire that firefighters from nearly a dozen departments fought throughout Friday, according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Four former Oswego High School students filed a lawsuit in Kendall County Circuit Court on Wednesday alleging years of grooming, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct by a former Oswego School District 308 teacher and coach, along with systemic failures by the district to protect students.
In their second day of deliberations, jurors on Friday found a teenager guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of 17-year-old Sycamore teenager Kaleb McCall. Hamza Khatatbeh, now 17, was 15 and a sophomore at Sycamore High School when he stabbed McCall in the chest during a fight in the parking lot outside Old National Bank in downtown Sycamore on Sept. 7, 2023.
During a student-led walkout protesting federal immigration arrests Monday, three students from East Aurora High School were taken into custody for allegedly resisting an officer, obstructing and improper walking in the roadway, according to an Aurora Police Department release. But videos of a skirmish between police and protesters – including one appearing to show an officer running at and tackling a person – have one state senator and some residents questioning the police’s tactics.
Hundreds of high school students took to the streets of Joliet to protest the actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in what appeared to be part of a nationwide student walkout on Friday. Local school districts addressed the possibility of student walkouts Friday as part of a national movement organized on social media.
The Starved Rock Foundation has a new president: 25-year-old Matthew Klein took over the roll on Jan. 15, succeeding Pam Grivetti. Klein has experience with the foundation, a history with Starved Rock and a love for the park. “I am excited,” Klein said. “I am ready for the challenge of being the president of the foundation.”
