News

“The Music Man” marching into RCHS

Published by admin on Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:38am

    The Reed-Custer Theatre Department will present a musical theatre classic as its spring 2019 show.
    Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” will march into the school’s auditorium for four performances in March. The show tells the story of Harold Hill, a traveling salesman who arrives in River City  posing as a boys’ band organizer. Not only does he sell instruments and uniforms to the townspeople, he also proposes to instruct new band members. His real plan is to skip town.

ESDA logs hundreds of hours in emergency response

Published by admin on Wed, 01/02/2019 - 10:33am

Braidwood’s Emergency Service Disaster Agency (ESDA) saw a year of growth and progress in 2018.
ESDA’s efforts in management, safety, and disaster response includes development of emergency plans, participation in disaster exercises, public awareness and education, and assistance to police and fire agencies.
Over the past year, ESDA brought on two new members, bringing current membership to eight volunteers.
ESDA’s fiscal year runs concurrent with the City of Braidwood, from May 1 through April 30.

Old holiday lights put twinkle in eyes of less fortunate

Published by admin on Tue, 01/01/2019 - 8:00pm

    Discarding old holiday lights the right way could mean that someone who can’t afford to purchase eyeglasses or hearing aids can get help to obtain those necessities.
    The Wilmington Lions Club, which sets up the Island Christmas Walk in the North Island Park, replaces a few sets of lights every year — they’re either switching to more energy-efficient LED light strings, or the old sets just don’t work.

Good-bye G&D, hello BTI

Published by admin on Tue, 01/01/2019 - 8:00pm

The tire shop at the corner of Baltimore and Main streets in Wilmington closed Friday, but will reopen next week with one new name and twice the integrity.
Gary Geiss, owner of G&D Tire and Alignment, suffered a heart attack in 2018. His doctor told him to make some changes. He decided to make a big one, and put his business up for sale.
“My doctor said I needed to get stress out of my life, so, this was part of controlling stress, and alleviating it,” he said. He sold the business to Joe Brown, owner of Brown’s Towing, and the deal is wrapping up this week.

Percentages and popsicle sticks

Published by admin on Tue, 01/01/2019 - 8:00pm

    The seventh graders at Wilmington Middle School learned that they might just be using what they learned in math class in real life.
    Right before school let out for the holiday break, seventh grade math teacher Rachel Druek invited her fiancé, Bryan Yergler, a project engineer for FH Paschn, SN Nielsen in Chicago, to host a bridge building challenge in her classroom. The challenge culminated a unit on unit rates, and also required the students to calculate percentages, the last two things they studied in class.

Wilmington adds eight new residences

Published by admin on Tue, 12/25/2018 - 8:00pm

    The city’s new home construction incentives are paying off, because new homes are being built here after several stagnant years. The building department issued 172 permits so far in 2018, including permits for eight new residences.
    Residential — As of last week, building inspector Rick  Smith had issued permits for the construction of four new single-family homes and one four-unit townhome. Their total construction value was $1,269,700. The average value of the single family homes was $217,425 while the townhome average was $100,000.

School District asks to levy $12.3 million

Published by admin on Tue, 12/25/2018 - 8:00pm

    The School District 209-U Board of Education approved its annual levy on Wednesday, Dec. 12, requesting more than $12 million in property taxes.
    The board held a Truth in Taxation hearing before approving the levy because it’s request is about 25 percent more than the $10.2 million it received from its 2017 levy, which taxpayers paid in 2018. The hearing is required of any taxing district increasing its request by more than 5 percent over the prior year’s taxes extended (billed).

City annexes more RidgePort land

Published by admin on Tue, 12/25/2018 - 8:00pm

    The Wilmington City Council annexed six parcels of land destined to become part of the RidgePort Logistics Center, as well as the financial vehicle that’s helping drive the development.
    All six are on the east side of South Kavanaugh Road and owned by the developers of the RidgePort Logistics Center — Adar RidgePort Industrial Partners LLC, as Elion Partners, the property owner.
    The council was obligated to accept annexation and assign each parcel I-5 industrial zoning, just as the developer was obligated to seek annexation and zoning.

District hires new music teacher

Published by admin on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 2:56pm

Students returning to school at Reed-Custer Middle School after the holiday break will have a new music teacher.

On Dec. 19, the school board approved the hire of Alex Paolone as the district’s new temporary full-time music teacher.

RCES principal Heather Faletti, RCMS principal Shane Traeger, and staff from the music department performed the interviews for the new hire, recommending him to the superintendent and School Board for approval.

Cops called to Morris on special assignment

Published by admin on Sat, 12/22/2018 - 2:55pm

The Braidwood Police Department was able to make the season a little brighter for some local families, thanks to generous donations and some volunteer time from the city’s officers.

On Friday, Dec. 21, the BPD participated in its first ever “Shop with a Cop” event.

Several families got to hitch a ride in a BPD squad car to Walmart in Morris, where Braidwood officers escorted the children and their parents through the store, picking out presents and finding a bit of Christmas cheer.