Author: Paul Stukel

Update: New details are slowly emerging from yesterday’s police-involved shooting that left an Aurora man hospitalized in critical condition. According to reporting from WGN News, the subject is a 21-year-old man who, according to his family, suffers from mental illness. According to the report, the man was shot four times in his driveway – in the leg, stomach, arm and eye. According to an announcement posted last night, the Aurora Police Department is currently investigating an officer-involved shooting at a residence in the 900-block of Colorado Avenue. Preliminary investigation shows officers were dispatched to the residence for a report of…

Update: According to a report from the Kane County Coroner, the man found deceased by Elgin polices officers on Saturday died of “a stab wound.” The coroner identified the man as Chavell Fisher, a 37-year-old male from Elgin. Toxicology samples were collected and sent to a forensic lab for analysis. The Kane County Coroner’s Office is working with the Elgin Police Department in the ongoing investigation of the death. While responding to report of a battery early Saturday morning, Elgin police officers came across a man lying on the ground, deceased. At approximately 2:18 a.m. Saturday, officers responded to the…

Let’s start with the good news: For the 13th consecutive year, the New York Yankees failed to even get into the World Series. That’s about it, I’m afraid. In this year of tribulations, ground war returned to Europe courtesy of Vladimir Putin and the Delta Variant created yet another wave of social media epidemiologists, “advancing” science 280 characters at a time. Roe v Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, prompting yet another massive run on Handmaiden Tale outfits, p*&Sy hats and bad constitutional takes on social media. The dread hand of fascism and the death of democracy were discerned…

Welcome to our latest edition of Fox Valley Magazine’s 4 FOR THE WEEKEND where Rudolph’s nose is an allegory for mass automation! So let’s get to it, starting with….. And Speaking of Industrialization… ..we’ve got the Polar Express, a train to the North Pole. I mean, whatever happened to flying reindeer as Santa’s primary mode of transportation? It’s mechanization despoiling the ways of nature, exploitation of the working class (what kind of labor contract do elves have, for heaven’s sake), tyrannical patriarchy…. Oh, sorry. We thought were writing a dissertation for our sociology doctorate. Polar Express looks really fun! Click…

Welcome to our latest edition of Fox Valley Magazine’s 4 FOR THE WEEKEND where Black Friday involves nunchucks. So let’s get to it, starting with….. Let There Be Light Of all the Christmas events in the Fox Valley every year, we kinda have to tip our hat to St. Charles for sheer glitz. The annual Electric Christmas Parade is Vegas-worthy in its bright displays and wired vehicles. True, other venues have similar parades, but nothing quite on the scale of St. Chuck. So head on out and check it out. Click here for more. Ok, We Know What You’re Thinking……

Welcome to our latest edition of Fox Valley Magazine’s 4 FOR THE WEEKEND where we actually recognize the holiday between Halloween and Christmas. So let’s get to it, starting with….. We Made It! Last week, we promised the last Halloween/Pumpkin Fest events until next year. And here we are! Look, nothing wrong with Halloween/Pumpkin Fest activities. We love Halloween, and we can live with pumpkins. But it does get a little oppressive, you have to admit. So let’s start this one off with a little theatre… Click here for more. Ok, We Know What You’re Thinking… …this is a Halloween…

Welcome to our latest edition of Fox Valley Magazine’s 4 FOR THE WEEKEND where Winter is Coming. Enough said. So let’s get to it, starting with….. Gangsters Have More Fun Chazz Palminteri is an American original. There’s really no other way to describe him. At a young age growing up in the Bronx, Chazz saw a man killed by a mobster. He denied seeing it when asked by the police, and thus began a strange quasi-father/son relationship with the killer, while continuing to deeply revere his own father. Upon that experience he wrote and performed “A Bronx Tale,” an extraordinary one-man…

The Wall Street Journal recently posted a scathing indictment of K-12 education in Illinois, drawing on research by conservative Illinois thinktank Wirepoints. The article and research show a perverse form of “equity” in Illinois schools: across the racial spectrum, nobody can read. Below is part II of Wirepoint’s report, slightly abbreviated. For part I, click here. Illinois’ educational-industrial complex How does Illinois’ education system remain intact given its many failures? The answer is simple: it’s designed to self-perpetuate. A weave of labor laws, hundreds of districts, generous salaries, constitutionally protected pensions, powerful superintendents and even more powerful unions ensure the…

Update: Metra announced today that if a railroad freight workers work stoppage moves forward on Friday, all lines servicing the Fox Valley except the Milwaukee District West (Elgin) will cease operations late Thursday evening. “If the work stoppage occurs, there will be no service Friday on the BNSF, Union Pacific North, Union Pacific Northwest and Union Pacific West lines. Both BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad, which own and operate the lines, have communicated that they will begin curtailing service after the evening rush hour on Thursday, Sept. 15 in preparation for the potential work stoppage. “The following BNSF trains…

(Full Disclosure: This article is about my daughter.) Geneva native Caroline Stukel likes to run. She also likes to help people. In October, she will combine these passions by running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on behalf of Chicago Hopes For Kids, a charitable organization based in Chicago that provides comprehensive support to Chicago students and families experiencing homelessness. This support takes the form of literacy support, homework help, cultural enrichment opportunities, field trips and personalized mentorship. Stukel discovered Chicago Hopes after returning to Chicagoland after a year in Alaska. She volunteered to be a mentor and ended up…