Author: Fox Valley Magazine

A shooting in Elgin Tuesday left one person in the hospital and the shooter still at large. At approximately 2:30pm, Elgin police officers responded to the 100 block of North Gifford for a reported shooting. Officers located a subject with injuries who was subsequently transported to an area hospital. Officers eventually determined that the incident occurred north of Chicago Street. The affected streets were closed to all vehicle and foot traffic, and schools in the incident area were notified, including U-46 schools and the Elgin Academy. This is the 9th gunfire incident in Elgin this year. The incident continues to…

The city of Elgin has joined forces with seven other suburbs to fight a proposed merger between the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Kansas City Southern Railroad, a merger that, in the words of a coalition press release, will cause “significant adverse impact on the Coalition members’ communities.” “The ‘Coalition to Stop CPKC’ has been formed to do what it can to stop the plans of the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Kansas City Southern Railroad from merging and causing significant adverse impact on the Coalition members’ communities,” according to the press release. “The proposed merger in front of the…

According to an estimate by the Illinois Association of School Administrators, approximately 700 of the roughly 850 school districts in Illinois have adopted a mask-optional policy for students. The issue has been bitterly debated statewide for months, but Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order mandating universal masking in schools has prevented any deviation by local school boards. That came to an abrupt stop earlier this month when a Sangamon county judge issued a temporary restraining order effectively nullifying Pritzker’s order. That was followed by the legislature’s rules committee, JCAR, refusing to renew the enabling rules giving Pritzker the authority to issue the…

The Geneva School Board is seeking applicants to fill two vacancies arising from resignations. Early this month, Board Chairwoman Taylor Egan and Board Member Alicia Saxton both resigned, with Saxton expressing frustration with the decision-making of Superintendent Kent Mutchler. “It was very hard to sit back and constantly be blamed for every decision as a school board when we had very little to do with these decisions,” Saxton said, according to a statement provided to the Kane County Chronicle. To fill the vacancies, interested candidates are encouraged to submit their resumes to [email protected] and fill out the online application no later…

After two years of waiting, Paramount Theatre will launch its new BOLD Series next month, bringing a new, four-show subscription series and a new type of live theater – fearless, unexpected and thought provoking – to the heart of Aurora’s downtown entertainment district. The inaugural production is Sweat, Lynn Nottage’s acclaimed modern-day drama about life in an American Rust Belt town being battered by the constant threat of company shutdowns. Sweat is the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and a landmark achievement of American theater. Performances are March 9-April…

The Aurora Police Department is seeking assistance in identifying three men suspected of stealing merchandise from Macy’s in January. On January 14th, this suspect and two others were seen leaving Macy’s at the Fox Valley Mall with stolen merchandise around 12:35 p.m. The suspects were seen wearing the following: Suspect 1 (not shown) was a male wearing a yellow baseball cap, with dark long hair, wearing a North Face Hoodie, blue jeans and black Nike Air Force shoes. Suspect 2 (in photos) was a male wearing a black winter hat, diamond earrings, a black puffer jacket with a dark Polo…

Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser has charged a Rockford teacher and former Boy Scout leader with 2 counts of grooming a Kane County juvenile, along with one count of disorderly conduct. A person commits the offense of grooming when they attempt via electronic transmission to entice someone younger than 17 years old to commit a sex act. The 59 year-old man is accused of sending the victim direct messages via a social media application for a period six-month period commencing in September 2019. In the messages, the accused asked the victim to perform sexual acts, make a photographic record…

Hot on the heels of today’s ruling by the 4th District Appellate Court effectively vacating Governor Pritzker’s school masking mandate and throwing the issue back to local school boards, the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) wasted no time in making clear what it expects of Illinois’ public schools. IFT President Dan Montgomery issued the following statement after the ruling was announced: “The Illinois 4th District Appellate Court’s decision released late last night makes one thing clear: school districts are free to implement their own safety measures around COVID-19. And they should. Since the beginning of this pandemic, we have insisted…

In a stinging rebuke to Governor Pritzker’s school masking Executive Order, an appellate court today struck down the mandate on the grounds that since the legislature’s rules committee (“JCAR”) recently “objected to and suspended” the mandates’ renewal, “none of the rules found by the circuit court to be null and void are currently in effect.” However, the ruling explicitly left the door open to school districts to impose their own mandates. In referring to the temporary restraining order issued by a Sangamon county judge earlier this month, the court stated that it “in no way restrains school districts from acting…

The Aurora Police Department is looking for a 14 year-old female juvenile who ran away on Tuesday, February 15. Her name is Adelaida Yaxcal and she was last seen leaving her residence on the near east side of Aurora. If you have any information about where Adelaida may be, please call the Aurora Police Investigations division at 630-256-5500. If you see Adelaida, please call 9-1-1.