Monday, April 15, 2013
A tragedy far from Chicago hits home as DuPage residents check for family members' safety and express their horror; one Naperville resident tells of being in the Boston lockdown.
Here are some of our top DuPage County stories about the Boston Marathon explosions: West-Suburban Readers React to Boston Marathon Explosions—Our readers expressed sorrow, revulsion, relief for their loved ones, and some anger after Monday's apparent bombing in Boston; here's some of what they had to say. Naperville Witness: Boston 'Eerie' in Aftermath of Marathon Explosions—Naperville resident Isabella Von Der Linden and her sister remained in lockdown at a hotel Monday night just blocks away from where two explosions rocked the Boston Marathon earlier. Wheaton Native's Joy of Personal Best at Boston Marathon Turns to Horror, Worry—After posting her personal best at the Boston Marathon, Wheaton native Colleen Huml heard news of …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
County officials said that the amount of traffic caught them by surprise and hampered the ability of the public to access election results.
Officials for DuPage County are saying that the influx of traffic to their election results website, which crashed the page between 8 and 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, has been a wake-up call to necessary improvements, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to the paper, the problem was caused when the available bandwidth was exceeded; page views peaked at 15,000 within a few minutes, 5,000 more than the peak in the 2012 elections. "If you asked me 72 hours ago if the site would peak out 50 percent higher than a presidential election, I would've laughed," Robert Saar, the election commission's executive director, told the paper. "Everybody here had their eyes opened. We're disappointed that it happened, but I'm extremely confident that going …
Thursday, March 21, 2013
But moderate rankings in two other categories mean that the county ranks only sixth healthiest overall in the state, a new report shows.
DuPage County is the sixth healthiest of Illinois’ 102 counties and ranks first in three categories, according to a national study released on Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI). The study found that DuPage has the lowest rate of premature death, the best heath behaviors and the best clinical care of any county in Illinois. However, the rankings for morbidity (25th of 102) and physical environment (64th of 102) brought the county’s overall rank down to sixth, behind Douglas, Jo Daviess, Woodford, Mercer and Henry. “The County Health Rankings shows that how long and how well people live depends on multiple factors beyond just their access to medical care…
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
With three pedestrian fatalities in less than two weeks across a four-mile DuPage County stretch of the BNSF Railway, we wanted to know: how do we make it stop? Can we?
If you've noticed lately that Patch has been overrun with tragic stories about people being killed by trains along Metra's Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway, it's not because we just started reporting them—it's because there have been three in the past two weeks within a span of just a few commuter stops. First, it happened in Westmont on March 7, then in Hinsdale on March 18 and in Downers Grove on March 19. All three incidents involved a single person; all three were fatal, all three are still under investigation and none have been officially established as accidents or self-inflicted. We wondered if our readers had any idea how to make this terrible streak go away, and how to help ensure these things happen as infrequently as …
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
State Rep. Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst) wants to disband the Forest Commission, while Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Elmhurst) wants to get rid of commissioners' pay.
State Rep. Dennis Reboletti (R-45th) of Elmhurst last week sponsored HB 2481, which would dissolve the DuPage County Forest Preserve District Board and transfer the responsibilities of the Forest District to the DuPage County Board in 2016. In response late Friday, the DuPage Legislative Committee scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 26, to discuss the bill. "Before legislation of this magnitude is voted on in Springfield, I think it is important that all sides of the issue are explored," said Legislative Committee Chairman JR McBride in a prepared statement. "While I am open to the idea of a study to analyze a possible merger, I do not believe this bill has any merit until due diligence has been given on the subject." Reboletti …
Saturday, January 5, 2013
The unemployment rate fell from October 2012 to November 2012, and from November 2011 to November 2012.
The jobless rate in DuPage County dropped from 6.9 percent to 6.7 percent from October 2012 to November 2012, nearly a full percentage point lower than the county's 7.5 percent rate from November 2011. Unemployment rates in Illinois overall dropped slightly from October to November, to 8.2 percent, and are a full percentage point lower than in November 2011, according to new figures released last week. November local unemployment rates fell in 11 of 12 metro areas compared to last year, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Illinois Department of Employment Security. "The trend of falling unemployment rates across Illinois shows that our economy continues to improve," IDES Director Jay Rowell said. "The …
Monday, December 24, 2012
Patch catches you up on recent developments in notable DuPage County court cases.
Downers Grove: A Downers Grove man has pleaded not guilty to charges he sexually abused a 16-year-old girl in October and November. Brian Turner, 45, was arrested Nov. 24 and indicted Dec. 13 on multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse tied to encounters between Oct. 26 and Nov. 22, records show. Turner remains in DuPage County Jail on $100,000 bail with a hearing scheduled for Dec. 27. Elmhurst: The Chicago man accused of robbing a gas station in September wants a judge to throw out evidence in his case because police violated his rights. According to court records, Mario Williams, who has pleaded not guilty to armed and aggravated robbery charges, claims police unlawfully detained him and unlawfully seized evidence by stopping…
Monday, December 17, 2012
Patch covers happenings in major court cases, including those of a Darien man charged with killing a man dating his ex-girlfriend, a man convicted of hitting and spitting on a man at a gas station, and the Naperville man charged with the stabbing death of
Darien: The Dec. 17 hearing for Joseph Spitalli's arraignment in his murder case has been pushed back after a request for cameras in the courtroom was filed. Spitalli is charged in the November murder of a man dating Spitalli's ex-girlfriend. A motion has been filed seeking extended media coverage of Spitalli's arraignment. The judge set a Jan. 9 hearing on the media request, while scheduling the arraignment for Jan. 14, records show. Related posts: Darien: Ali Akel recently pleaded guilty to aggravated battery as part of a hate crime attack inside a Woodridge gas station in 2011. Akel was sentenced to two years of probation and 364 days of work release from DuPage County Jail, according to court records. He will also spend time in a …
Monday, December 10, 2012
Patch covers happenings in major court cases, including a former Wheaton man's charges of hiring a fellow inmate to kill two public officials and two others and a Naperville man's sexual exploitation trial.
Wheaton: A judge recently ruled that DuPage prosecutors used an improper tactic to bring a murder-for-hire suspect in for questioning. However, Judge George Bakalis decided the information obtained in the interview, and ultimately the charges filed against Gordon Vanderark, would have been no different if the tactic had not been used, records show. Vanderark is charged with trying to hire a fellow prison inmate to kill a DuPage County Judge and assistant state's attorney tied to a previous felony conviction that landed Vanderark in prison. Prosecutors used a confidential source to learn about Vanderark's plan and set up a "ruse" hearing on an unrelated issue to have Vanderark brought back from the Centralia Correctional Center. Once in …
Friday, December 7, 2012
Illinois state treasurer is using the anniversary to get the word out about lost military medals that need to be returned to their rightful owners.
Friday, Dec. 7, marks the 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. More than 2,000 American citizens were killed and another 1,000 were injured that day in 1941. It was the event that led the United States into World War II. Flags are displayed on homes and flown at half-mast on government buildings to honor those who died; government offices, schools, businesses and other organizations will remain open for business. Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford is unveiling an updated Operation Reunite Dec. 7 to coincide with Pearl Harbor Day. Operation Reunite is a program that links veterans and their families with any unclaimed military medals, awards and military artifacts that have been transferred to the treasurer’s Unclaimed Property …
Life.Is.Good
6:41 am on Tuesday, April 16, 2013
This is horrific! My thoughts are with everyone who was shaken by this act of violence. Is everyone from Elmhurst safe and accounted for? more ›