Elgin Area Chamber reviews 2011 numbers

ELGIN — Numbers were on the menu Tuesday night for the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce’s 104th annual dinner. Those numbers, according to new chamber President Carol Gieske, include her being the first woman to head the Elgin business organization. She replaces Leo Nelson, who …

Gov. Pat Quinn on pension mess: ‘Everything is on the table’

Gov. Pat Quinn took his case for a budgetary crash diet directly to state lawmakers Wednesday, pushing a grim assortment of prison closures and spending cuts in a spending plan that he said wasn’t built around “budget fantasies” but rather “hard realities.” Pension reform must be done “in a way that’s meaningful, constitutional and fair to the employees,” he said.

Council moves forward with chamber partnership

ELGIN ­— At Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting, the city council moved along plans for continuing its partnership with the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce to provide economic development-related services for the city. The agreement for an effort known as the Economic Development Group …

Think winter is done for the season? Think again

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch in the Chicago area for Thursday night into early Friday. A developing storm system is expected to move into northern Illinois Thursday evening, first bringing rain that will quickly turn into wet snow that “may …

Kane County politics: nitty, gritty, downright dirty

Wednesday’s press conference inside the Caboose’s Bar and Restaurant at the Geneva train station concluded at about 4:45 p.m., so I rushed home to write the story on deadline.

But first I had to take a shower.

OK, so I didn’t really jump under the …

Elgin Chamber dinner looks at nunbers for 2011 business

ELGIN — Numbers were on the agenda Tuesday night as the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce held its 104th annual dinner. Those numbers, according to new Chamber President Carol Gieske, include her being the first woman to head the Elgin business organization. She replaces Leo …

The community college   and the American dream

On a quiet Friday morning at Elgin Community College, Jerry Sanders of Carpentersville was practicing starting an IV. Sanders, a nursing student, tied a blue band around the rubber arm on a table in one of the nursing classrooms in the community college’s new Health …

Attempted-murder charges from Elgin double-stabbing

ELGIN — Two Elgin youths have been charged with attempted murder, accused of taking part in a stabbing in a west-side parking lot Saturday night, police announced Wednesday. Police said the stabbing grew out of a fight involving about 17 people motivated by gang tensions. …

From Larkin High to really high up

Jeff Reynolds has seen some pretty amazing sights atop some of the world’s most remote and challenging mountains, often with just a few close friends. In March through May, the 1983 Larkin High School graduate and Elgin native — along with just four experienced mountaineers …

Man pleads guilty to 2010 fatal hit-and-run accident in Aurora

Rocio Garza of Elmhurst pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of leaving the scene of a fatal crash for the Dec. 12, 2010, accident that killed Robert Vincze of Aurora.

State waives No Child Left Behind standards

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois State Board of Education announced Tuesday it has completed a waiver to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. That waiver, approved by the state board, proposes using multiple measures to evaluate the nearly 4,000 public schools in Illinois, according to …

Noland can’t quite shake off Dem challenger Elenz in 22nd

As a two-term incumbent, state Sen. Michael Noland should have an easy time fending off his primary challenger, insurance broker Tim Elenz. Noland, D-Elgin, has a substantial fundraising advantage over the political newcomer from Streamwood, led in the only public polling of the race by …

ECC seeks to clear confusion about financial aid

ELGIN — There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, that most college students and their parents fill out each year. There’s the misconception that if you fill out FAFSA incorrectly once, that’s it …

Elgin police kill pit bull as it attacked neighbor’s dog

ELGIN — Elgin police said Monday that they killed a pit bull Sunday night after the dog allegedly attacked a neighbor’s dog. Police said the pit bull entered the backyard of a home in the 300 block of Fulton Street at about 6:30 p.m. and …

Sen. Durbin backs Senate transportation bill, not GOP House bill

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin says Republicans in the U.S. House should start over rather than push forward with a troubled bill on long-term funding for transportation.

He said Tuesday that the bill stands little chance of passing with so much opposition. Urban …