Public Input Sought in Woods Creek Watershed Plan

A stakeholders meeting will be held from 9 to 100 a.m. on Tuesday, May 22 at the Algonquin Village Hall, 2200 Harnish Drive in Algonquin.

Area government officials are looking for the public's input on ways to address the degrading water quality of Woods Creek Watershed. The Woods Creek Watershed drains approximately 9 square miles to Crystal Creek. Large portions of the watershed include subdivisions of homes, commercial/industrial centers, farmland, gravel mining operations, area schools, and recreational facilities primarily in the villages of Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, and city of Crystal Lake, according to a village of Algonquin press release. The watershed also contains streams, lakes, wetlands, and upland prairies, savannas, and woodlands. Stakeholder Meeting Tuesday The village will hold a stakeholder meeting on Tuesday, May 22 from 9 a.m. to 11 at Algonquin …

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Excavation Work for Western Bypass to Begin Monday

The Illinois Department of Transportation will begin the extensive excavation and earthwork needed to construct the long-awaited Western Bypass.

The first steps toward building the long-awaited Western Bypass should, weather-permitting, start Monday, state transportation officials said. Extensive earthwork and excavation will begin in the area north of Algonquin Road and west of Illinois 31 to prepare a rough outline of the new bypass route, an Illinois Department of Transportation press release states. The $70 million project would re-route traffic away from the downtown Algonquin area — and in particular, away from the intersection of Route 62 and Route 31 — in an effort to reduce congestion. The grading work should not disrupt traffic and will cost about $4.9 million, the press release states. The primary contractor is Ryan Incorporated Central, of Janesville, Wis. The work is …

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Bernotas Middle School Advised To Wait On Sign Issue

Crystal Lake City Council members table school’s request for an electronic sign.

Lori Sorensen, principal of Crystal Lake’s Bernotas Middle School at 170 N. Oak Street, took the advice of City Council members who told her to wait until Mayor Aaron Shepley was back in town before having the council vote on a proposal to put an electronic sign in the front of the school. The sign needed the the support of five out of seven council members Tuesday to be approved. The supermajority was needed because of a negative recommendation by the city's Planning and Zoning Commission. Two members of the City Council, Carolyn Schofield and Brett Hopkins, voiced opposition to having an electronic sign on school property in a residential neighborhood. “They are a distraction,” Schofield said. “You can’t text or talk on a cell phone in a…

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NTSB Releases Initial Report into Fatal Plane Crash

Few new details were released in the report about the crash that occurred across from the Lake in the Hills Airport on May 3.

A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed few new details surrounding the cause of a fatal plane crash in Crystal Lake in recent weeks.  Hugh Scott Clark, 65, of Lake Forest, and Paul San Filippo, 82, of Grayslake, died in the crash, according to the Northwest Herald. The report released by the NTSB confirmed San Filippo was piloting the Beech S35 Bonanza, which he owned, at the time of the crash at 3:15 p.m. May 3. The plane went down in a marshy gravel pit on the east side of Pyott Road, across the street from the airport.  The plane took off from the Lake in the Hills Airport, according to the report. Witnesses reported the plan flying low to the ground "in a very steep bank." A witness said the airplane …

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Poll: Should Gay Marriage Be Legal?

President Barack Obama said that he supported gay marriage this week, while Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.

  Gay marriage came to the forefront of the 2012 presidential campaign this week. President Barack Obama said on ABC's Good Morning America that he personally supported gay marriage. "You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently," Obama said in the interview with ABC. Obama's support for gay marriage came one day after North Carolina passed an amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, the Huffington Post Reported. Republican …

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RB

7:59 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012

Marie: I hope you get some clear answers, that was a good question. My experience is that the religious right feels that the Government should support them in their effort to implement laws based upon religion. I guess it's similar to the Taliban and Islamic law. Of course the Taliban may take it further with the whippings, beheadings and bulldozing of centuries old relics but, it's a slippery …   more ›

Grafton Township Board Pulls Supervisor's Credit Cards

Board votes to take Supervisor's credit cards used for township business and cancelling them, The Northwest Herald reports.

Kirk Speaks, Walks on Video

Senator releases video thanking citizens and showing his rehab effort.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Highland Park) released a video Tuesday thanking the citizens of Illinois in his own voice for their support during his rehabilitation from a stroke suffered Jan. 21 and three resulting surgeries. Kirk left the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Friday to continue his recovery from the stroke at the home of family members. Earlier: Kirk Heads Home From Rehab Center “I want to thank everyone especially for the patience they have given me to recover from a big stroke," said Kirk. "(And also) to the people of Illinois for granting me the honor to represent them in the United States Senate. I cannot wait to get back to work to vote to spend less, borrow less and tax less to fix our economy." Kirk made it clear in the video …

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