Author: princetonmays

DePUE — Times change. People change.
As a result, after almost 200 years, it’s possible the name of a stream in eastern Bureau County soon will change, too.
Negro Creek, an 11-mile-long body of water, was named after the area’s first Black settler built a cabin in 1829 at the creek mouth on the Illinois River at the east edge of DePue.
With 1,650 residents located 50 miles upstream from Peoria, DePue might be one of the most racially diverse communities of its size in Illinois. But even back in the day, when use of the creek’s name or its variations was common, it grated on some ears.
“When we were kids, we’d hear people say that and it’s one of those things where you give a look like, ‘Wow, OK,'” DePue resident Charlie Klinefelter said. “I’m sure everybody said it that way and we let it go by the wayside.
“You get a little bit older and it’s like, ‘That’s not how it should be said.'”
Almost a decade ago, Klinefelter was part of a pursuit to change the creek name. That effort, which included a Facebook page dedicated to the cause, didn’t succeed.
“I found that movement primarily used social media to gain support,” said Amy Urbanowski, a former Bureau County resident behind the current effort. “The arguments devolved and got really nasty. I decided to do it more in an old-school way.”
With Klinefelter’s help, Urbanowski secured support from the Bureau County Board and from the Peoria branch of the NAACP, among other organizations.
Alterations in the national mood also might be assisting, given the social and racial protests since George Floyd’s murder by police in 2020 in Minneapolis.
“Given the time that we’re in, I couldn’t see it not being changed,” said the Rev. Marvin Hightower, who leads the Peoria NAACP.
Said Urbanowski: “More things have been brought to light about how racism plays a huge role in our society, and a lot has happened since 2012.”
Urbanowski forwarded her research, the endorsements and other evidence to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The federal agency is responsible for approving new names or name changes.
During a meeting this month or next, the federal board is expected to consider Urbanowski’s request to change the name of the creek, from Negro to Adams. The latter is the surname of that Black pioneer in a county where the population is 96% white, according to recent U.S. Census figures.
Although Adams’ first name appears lost to the ages, Urbanowski believes the renaming is far from a lost cause. Even if some Bureau County residents believe it’s much ado about nothing.
“Changing the name of the creek is important,” she said, “because it’s good to reflect on how the names of towns and villages are all historically and respectively named after people, not their race.”
Urbanowski is a speech pathologist for an elementary school district based in Evanston, a northern suburb of Chicago. But originally she is from Ladd, a village located just east of the creek.
Just west of Ladd is a bridge that features a plaque emblazoned with the creek’s name. There is little other obvious evidence of the name, although it also appears on some county maps.
In April, Urbanowski was visiting her family in Ladd when she heard somebody refer to Negro Creek by using a racial slur. Klinefelter said his daughter, who is Black, heard the same creek-related slur years ago in school.
“It just broke my heart and kind of lit a fire in me,” Urbanowski said. “I know I had to do something to change it. I decided I needed to do it the slow, right way. The social-media route did not work the previous time.”
Urbanowski contacted the Bureau County Historical Society, visited area libraries and pored over old texts and maps. She also contacted Tom Dobrich, a DePue resident who is a member of the county board.
Dobrich was superintendent of the Ladd school district when Urbanowski was a student there. He agreed to bring the name-change proposal to the board for an endorsement. It has no authority to change geographic names.
The board heard Urbanowski’s presentation during its meeting Aug. 10 in Princeton.
“I said, ‘What?’ I never heard a creek being named that,” said Marshann Entwhistle, the county board chairwoman. “I don’t know if people living in the county really knew it existed. If they did, they didn’t pay any attention.”
Urbanowski and Klinefelter addressed the board. Klinefelter said he had prepared remarks, but when it came time for him to speak, he did so from his heart.
“I just told people, ‘What if you put yourself in the position of somebody of color? How would you feel?'” he said. “‘You guys have a opportunity of kind of changing history here. It’s a history that moves forward in a positive way.'”
With no discussion and by voice vote, the 26-member board endorsed the name change.
“It took a lot of guts for them to make that decision,” Klinefelter said. “I started crying when they approved it. It was a great day to be a resident of Bureau County.”
Meanwhile, in trying to bolster her case at the federal level, Urbanowski sought hometown help. She found an ally in her father, Mike Urbanowski, who over the past three decades has served 20-plus years on the Ladd Village Board, including his current term.
The elder Urbanowski, 68, has no personal history with the creek.
“I grew up in Peru,” he said. “But I married a Ladd girl.”
His daughter asked him to seek the board’s endorsement to change the name.
“I think it would be a good thing for the area,” he told the Journal Star.
On the same night his daughter addressed the county board, Urbanowski asked the village board to support a switch to Adams Creek. That prompted a municipal debate between the values of racial sensitivity and historical preservation.
Trustees, who had not previously discussed the matter, largely supported the idea. But not Frank Cattani, the village president of Ladd, who also is Mike Urbanowski’s brother-in-law.
During the meeting, Cattani evoked memories of fishing and playing on the creek as a boy. 
“Let’s not change history,” he said. “Let’s try to learn from it.”
Cattani did not explain what any such lessons might involve. Instead, he said the creek officially had carried a similar-sounding racial slur in its name until the mid-1960s, and many people still refer to the waterway as such. In doing so at the Aug. 10 meeting, he twice used that word.
In the audio recording of the meeting, provided by the village in response to a Journal Star Freedom of Information Act request, it is unclear whose voices are whose, aside from Cattani’s. But one trustee asked Cattani: “You truly can’t believe that a racist slang like that is the appropriate name?”
“I can’t change what they’re calling it,” Cattani replied. “I’m telling you what the name is: Negro Creek. What’s ‘negro’ mean? It means ‘black,’ not ‘Black person.'”
The name-change endorsement carried 5-1. Cattani did not vote, as the village president votes only to break ties.
In following days, his use of the slur sparked headlines — such as “N-word used by village president in public debate” — in media in north-central Illinois and the Quad Cities.
Cattani did not return a Journal Star telephone message left for him weeks ago with the village clerk.As for his suggestion that the creek once officially carried an N-word reference, Negro Creek is the name used at least as far back as 1885.
Ambivalence regarding the name change wasn’t restricted to some public officials in Ladd.
Wendy Rockey has resided near the creek for almost two decades. She views the push as a waste of time.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” Rockey said. “It’s what it’s always been (called), and too many people look at it the wrong way. It’s just a name.”
Rockey works at a business along Fourth Street, the main east-west drag in DePue. On a recent weekday morning, the business and the street were free of activity.
About one block south is the DePue school. During the late 1980s and early ’90s, Dobrich was high school boys basketball head coach of the DePue Little Giants, a position Klinefelter now holds.
Of 365 students enrolled in the DePue school district in 2020, 81% were Hispanic, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. White students accounted for about 13%, Asian students for 1.6%, Black students for 1.4% and American Indian students for about 1%.
Figures from the 2020 U.S. Census aren’t available. But in 2010, Hispanic residents accounted for about 55% of the overall DePue population. White residents represented about 42%, Asian residents about 2% and Black residents 1%.
Hispanic and Asian immigrants — predominately Laotians, in the latter case — came to DePue to work on nearby farms that grow and process mushrooms, among other crops. Earlier immigrants worked at a zinc smelter and at a phosphate fertilizer plant in town.
That 950-acre long-closed location is contaminated with arsenic, cadmium, copper and zinc, among other elements. It’s been designated a federal Superfund site. Remediation is ongoing.
Negro Creek is located east of the old zinc smelter/fertilizer plant. Amy Urbanowski and others look upon the stream renaming as remedial, but Rockey doesn’t concur.
“Maybe it is offensive to some people, just because of the name. I don’t know,” she said. “I think people make mountains out of molehills. Somebody didn’t like it, they stirred the pot and now they’re making a big deal. I don’t care.”
The case for the change now is in the care of the federal geographic board, which is based in Reston, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C.
According to board research staffer Jennifer Runyon, her organization is in the process of verifying the Bureau County Board vote. The federal board also contacted its Illinois counterpart, which offered no opinion.
If the change to Adams Creek is approved, all parties will be notified, according to Runyon. The federal board’s database for official names will be updated. The new name will be used on future editions of federal maps.
That’s all good with Hightower, who said he wouldn’t be surprised if other racially insensitive geographic names exist around central Illinois.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, streams called Big Negro Creek and Little Negro Creek flow in Warren County, south of Monmouth and about 60 miles west of Peoria.
“It’s not just renaming a creek for the sake of renaming it,” Hightower said. “It’s because of the history tied to the name. It’s what comes along with it and what it really means to Black people.”
Said Urbanowski: “I think it’s important to show the kids in our community that words matter. It’s time to evolve as a community and be more respectful with how we speak, and understand that word is loaded with violence and trauma and pain.”
As for older Bureau County residents who always have known about Negro Creek, Klinefelter said their minds aren’t likely to change. But if the creek name does, future generations will be his focus.
Time keeps flowing like a river, after all.
“I’m hoping 20 years from now, people will forget what it was called,” Klinefelter said.

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Schools around the region opened in person this fall. But across Pennsylvania, hundreds of candidates are now running for school board seats backed by Paul Martino.
Like many parents, Paul Martino was frustrated when his children’s Bucks County school district announced it would start virtually last year despite broad support in his community for in-person instruction.
As a venture capitalist, he also saw an opportunity.
“It was an execution failure. It wasn’t a COVID issue,” said Martino, 47, who has a fifth and seventh grader in the Central Bucks School District. “School administrators were just scared and didn’t attack the challenge. I’m not saying everyone’s gonna be built like a Silicon Valley CEO … but once you work with people like that and an unforeseen challenge comes in front of them, they solve the problem.”
Schools around the region opened in person this fall. But across Pennsylvania, hundreds of candidates are now running for school board seats backed by $500,000 from Martino — who says he wants to ensure those closures don’t happen again.
His “Back to School PA” effort, which Martino says has given $10,000 to 50 local political action committees, appears to be unprecedented in Pennsylvania’s school board elections — and marks a significant infusion of cash into typically lower-budget races.
It’s also infuriating Democrats who view the effort by Martino, a longtime GOP donor, as funneling money toward mostly Republican bids to gain traction on local boards while schools have become the center of a culture war. Around the country, conservatives angered by pandemic restrictions and former President Donald Trump’s loss last year have zeroed in on school board races as places to grow the party and take back some local control.
» READ MORE: School board meetings turn tense with debates over critical race theory and masking
But on both sides, school boards had already garnered increased attention and tension this year, with campaigns that have become not only highly partisan, but, at times, highly personal. Candidates and supporters have framed the contests as a battle for the future of education controlled by one extreme or another.
“We truly see the future of our country is at stake,” said Vicki Flannery, the cochair of Montgomery County Moms for Liberty, one of 14 chapters of the national conservative grassroots group that sprouted this year. “We’re fighting against indoctrination.”
Colleen Guiney, chair of the Delaware County Democrats, sees that fight resulting in upheaval. “Someone with a lot of money decided to sprinkle it around the state of Pennsylvania to begin to build a bench of people … they can in the short term enact anti-science policies,” Guiney said. “And in the long term disrupt our education system.”
The influx of money to local races in a state with no campaign contribution limits is something observers are closely watching. A typical school board race, depending on the district’s size, will cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to up to $10,000 to run, strategists said. An infusion of $10,000 per slate could fund the type of campaign literature needed to boost name recognition and get votes.
In Philadelphia’s suburbs, Martino’s money is fueling a lot of races in largely Democratic areas where Republicans have struggled to run competitive races in recent years. The four collar counties include 29 districts where political action committees backing slates of candidates each received $10,000 checks each from Martino’s group.
Montgomery County GOP Chair Elizabeth Preate Havey said this year brought more candidates interested in running, several dozen of whom now have the boost of Martino’s financial backing.
“I’m hoping we see some victories here that will wake up these Democrats who are used to not being challenged,” Havey said. “Are we going to see sweeping victories? I don’t know, but the enthusiasm and quality of the campaigns is something I’ve not seen in many many years.”
A graduate of North Penn High School in Lansdale, Martino attended Lehigh and Princeton Universities. He founded Bullpen Capital, a Silicon Valley venture fund, and lives with his family in Doylestown but spends about a week each month in California.
A self-described “hardcore Republican,” Martino has given thousands to GOP candidates over the past decade, including Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senate hopefuls David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia. He gave $5,800, the maximum allowed, to Kathy Barnette and Jeff Bartos, both Montgomery County Republicans running for Senate.
» READ MORE: Now that Pa. has a school mask mandate, has the rancor subsided? It has not.
He also poured $25,000 into a PAC that ran a 2019 attack ad setting fire to a picture of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and has donated to conservative activist James O’Keefe — describing himself as playing a “mentor role” to the Project Veritas founder, who has targeted liberal groups in undercover videos.
Despite his political views, Martino insists his interest in school boards isn’t partisan and says his group hasn’t taken positions on hot-button issues like critical race theory or masking.
Backing 50 slates of up to five school board candidates, Martino calls says his donations are funding members of a “big tent” that includes a Black progressive political action committee in Harrisburg intent on keeping schools open because of the impact closures have had on urban districts. Also funded are multiple Republican candidates campaigning against critical race theory, some of whom have voiced fringe viewpoints, including that masking can damage kids’ brains and contribute to youth suicide rates.
And while Martino characterizes the PAC funding as about transparency and open schools, he also said he sees it as an ongoing effort to counter Democratic-backed unions and “perpetual sources of money on the other side.”
”I think there is a life after Nov. 2 for this, to kind of get a national group together to even the playing field,” he said.
The Pennsylvania State Education Association — the union whose political action committee is recommending 116 candidates in 36 of the state’s 500 districts — says it doesn’t comment on election spending beyond what it discloses in its campaign finance reports. Those reports include spending in support of state candidates, in addition to school board candidates.
But a spokesperson for the PSEA, the state’s largest teachers union, said its PAC was “not spending anywhere near $500,000″ on the school board races.
“When you think about the two PACs, one is being funded by teachers and bus drivers and cafeteria workers. And then you have a rather large check on the other side,” said PSEA spokesperson Chris Lilienthal.
Jonathan Kassa, a Democrat running for reelection on the North Penn School Board, said in his district GOP challengers backed by Martino have brought “toxic politics to the local level.”
» READ MORE: How are schools deciding to close due to COVID-19 cases? It all depends.
“What used to be a civil conversation in North Penn is now tilted toward a national swamp,” said Kassa, who ran unsuccessfully for state legislature last year.
In the Avon Grove School District in Chester County, a school board member found himself the subject of an online ad one might mistake for a network TV spot in a bigger-money race. Produced by a Martino-supported PAC, the spot featured an ominously voiced narrator and accusations of “Marxist agendas.”
Martino says he’s funding a grassroots effort, not pushing a top-down agenda.
“If me writing a check to a concerned parent in Carbon County is leading to toxic national politics, then there’s something much more broken than the writing of that check,” he said.
As a newly formed PAC, Back to School PA has not yet had to file campaign finance reports. Neither have most of the new committees it has backed — making it difficult to confirm Martino’s donations or how much additional money is coming in.
But Martino isn’t the only donor to Back to School PA, which he founded as an expansion of the Keeping Kids in School PAC started by Hatboro-Horsham mother Clarice Schillinger for the May school board primaries. (Schillinger is now executive director of the Back to School group.)
The group has received $50,000 from the Commonwealth Children’s Choice Fund, a pro-school choice PAC that donates to Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers. Martino said Tuesday it had also received money from local business owners and “technology industry veterans” — bringing its reported spending on school board races to $600,000.
» READ MORE: Who wants these jobs? This year has proven that being a school board member is truly thankless. | Michael Smerconish
And Martino, who has railed against accusations he’s the front man for a dark money group, given he was the PACs lone funder for some time, has signaled there’s more interest.
“If we are going to continually be slandered and defamed with false allegations of dark-money … we might as well take 3rd party funds from organizations that share our goal for in-person education,” Martino said in a statement.
Jessie Bradica, a North Penn mother of three, is running on the GOP slate against Democrats who are part of a 9-0 board majority. “It meant everything, to be honest,” said Bradica, of Martino’s contribution. “We had no money.”
Bradica started paying closer attention to her school board during last year’s closures and began to suspect political motivations for its decisions. She also became concerned schools were pushing political messages on students.
Bradica, who was criticized for attending the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C, said this race is about more than the current moment.
“There’s no guarantee that schools are going to stay open,” she said.
Kassa, one of the Democratic incumbents, called the Back to School opposition a “campaign of vengeance” and questioned what its candidates wanted to achieve.
“We’re back to school,” he said, later asking: “What would you have done differently?”
But the contrast between public and private schools, which opened in person last year, continues to sting for parents like Anna Moreland, a Radnor mother and college professor who described herself as a lifelong Democrat but is one of the leaders of a Martino-backed PAC supporting Republicans challenging Democrat incumbents on the board.
“Am I still angry about that? You bet I am.” She also felt the board’s focus on dropping the Raider mascot and name was “utterly tone deaf” in light of pandemic challenges.
Board president Susan Stern, who is seeking reelection, said Radnor was first among districts in Chester and Delaware counties to resume in-school learning in September 2020. And she said the board had tackled the mascot issue on top of the pandemic, not instead of it — accusing opponents of misrepresenting the priority given to the matter.
“It’s a real shame that we have to spend money in a local race countering this misinformation,” Stern said. Of the opposition, she said, “It’s GOP money and the playbook is exactly the same all around the country.” She did not specify how much her slate would spend on the race, but said it was from local sources and friends and family.
» READ MORE: New superintendents take over suburban Philly districts in challenging time for school leaders
Moreland said Martino’s $10,000 represents “a fraction of our overall funding,” which is also coming from individual donors.
Some races are also drawing outside Democratic interest. Turn PA Blue, a Pennsylvania-based Democratic PAC, has sent out fundraising emails on behalf of several Democrats running in the suburbs. The national Working Families Party, a left, pro-labor group, is backing a slate of candidates in Central York, where a controversy over banned books recently erupted. The Republican slate in York is backed by a Martino-funded PAC.
In Central Bucks — the state’s third-largest district and home to some of the most heated debates over pandemic policies — the national Democratic Party has made school board races part of its $1.5 million turnout operation, also focused on a highly competitive district attorney’s race in the swing county. The national 314 Action Committee, a PAC that supports Democratic doctors and scientists running for office, threw its support behind Mariam Mahmud, a pediatrician and mother of four running there.
“There’s been so much tension, so many voices speaking out against good science practices, against safety and inclusion,” Mahmud said, citing anti-mask stances by Republicans running for the board. Several GOP candidates and their Martino-backed PAC did not return requests for comment.
Whether Martino’s intention or not, his network of hyperlocal PACs fits in with a national Republican strategy, said Kimberly S. Adams, a political science professor at East Stroudsburg University.
“This is about people who feel they’re not being heard and they want to have some power and they want to control the narrative of what’s taught in their schools,” said Adams, who has consulted for Democrats.
The danger with national partisanship seeping into school board races, Adams said, is that neither side finds ways to meet in the middle and the focus shifts away from students’ needs.
“This will be just like at the national level: two competing sides, whether charter versus public, face masks versus no face masks, vaccines versus no vaccines,” Adams said. “What is best for the kids in these school districts will become secondary because we’re not able to compromise.”

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MILAN, Ill — Update
Julie Bowser, 54, died on Wednesday, September 22, according to her sister, Lisa Bowser.
Milan police reports say Julie was assaulted on Friday, September 17, and suffered brain injuries from the attack.
An autopsy by Peoria County Coroner’s Office is underway but is not complete.
Lisa has set-up a GoFundMe page in memory of Julie. 
“Julie was taken from us in an unspeakable way,” reads a post on the GoFundMe page. “Loved by so many, she will be remembered and missed forever. She leaves behind her three children and eight grandchildren.”
Original
An incident Friday, September 17 sent one woman to the hospital, where she was listed in critical condition. 
Investigators say it happened at Pine View Apartments in Milan, Illinois.
According to reports, police have arrested one man, 39-year-old Ward Davis, after the woman was found with head injuries and bleeding on the ground outside of the apartment building. Court documents say that Davis forcefully struck her in the head multiple times with a blunt object, causing extensive brain injuries. 
Online court records show that Davis was arrested and charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, a Class 3 felony.
The injured woman is 54-year-old Julie Bowser. She’s only lived at Pine View Apartments since June, according to her family, and she has three children and eight grandchildren. Bowser’s family tells News 8 she is receiving comfort measures, end of life care at a hospital in Peoria, as of Monday, Sept. 20. 
Charlie Locke has lived at Pine View Apartments for six years and said it’s usually a quiet place. He described it as a bit of a “bachelor’s pad” where everyone looks out for one another. He said Bowser made a point to introduce herself to everyone when she moved in. 
“Whenever I talked to her in passing, she was kind of always smiling, jovial, happy,” Locke said.
Locke was the one who called 911 on Friday morning. He said he had gone outside and seen smoke, and discovered a gas can was on fire in the facility’s laundry room. It was after he removed the can that he saw Bowser lying unresponsive on the ground, 20 feet away from her apartment door. 
“It didn’t look like a fall, it looked like something had happened to her,” he said. “And now I was kind of on nerve and jittery. I didn’t know who was around.”
While he waited for help to arrive, he sat with Bowser and tried to reassure her. 
“My whole thing was just stay by her and keep an eye out, because I didn’t know if there were other people around, if this was isolated,” Locke said. “Just trying to talk to her, letting her know, ‘Julie this is who’s talking to you right now. If you can, you know, just stay with me until helps coming.’ But the labored breathing that she was having, her body was struggling.”
Locke said this was between 10:30 and 11 in the morning, and almost everyone else living at the site was sleeping or at work. When police arrived, Locke said he pointed them toward Davis, who also lived in the apartment complex. He had seen Davis and Bowser together before, and he knew that Davis was awake because Davis had asked him for a cigarette an hour before. 
“I basically, he made small talk, 30 seconds or a minute, kind of in passing small talk with this individual,” Locke said.
Authorities say their relationship is currently unknown. An investigation is ongoing, and police had not yet said what led up to the attack. 
Locke said he and many of the neighbors are unsettled, and he wishes he could have done more. 
“There might have been cues, you know, to this, that may or may not have prevented this,” he said. “I don’t know, you know, if she felt comfortable enough coming to any one of us and said, ‘Hey, I feel uncomfortable around this guy. All day long, he’s doing this doing that.’ Any little bit of information that would have had any one of us other guys here, you know, at least looking out for her.”
Ward made a first appearance in court and was held on $250,000 bond. A preliminary hearing has been set for October 5 at 8:30 a.m. 
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CIProud.com
by: Janie Bohlmann
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Illinois lawmakers are working to approve congressional redistricting maps, which could change who represents the area people live in.
Bradley University Professor Brad McMillan said the current draft is visually offensive. The Princeton Gerrymandering Project grades congressional maps and gave Illinois the overall grade of an “F.”
McMillan said the draft splits 42 counties and ignores typical geographic boundaries. He said it also pits urban areas against rural areas.
“This map is clearly designed to connect urban areas, and you know, create districts that lean democratic, and then put the few remaining Republican members of Congress in extremely large rural districts that have no metropolitan base,” said McMillan.
McMillan believed the proposed maps do not serve the best interest of the people of Illinois and could divide the state.
“This should be about good government and about representing communities the best way possible, and when you have these incredibly large districts, it’s going to be hard for a member of congress to travel those distances and serve those communities,” said McMillan.
The Illinois General Assembly Redistricting Committee meets Wednesday. McMillan expects a congressional map to be passed soon.
Copyright 2021 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — A local non-profit that mentors inner city kids is giving back so families can celebrate Thanksgiving properly.
Antwaun Banks, CEO and founder of Product of the Project, said the group is hosting a Turkey Drive on Saturday, November 20 to uplift the community.
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The average daily temperature in Illinois is almost two degrees Fahrenheit warmer since the onset of industrialization, according to a top climate scientist.
Dr. Don Wuebbels, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois and former White House expert on climate science, discussed the key findings of the newly released Illinois Climate Assessment at Bradley University on Friday.
By Certified Executive Chef Mark Shoopman, CEC, CFBE
Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin and the melted butter together. Next whisk in the milk followed by the eggs and maple syrup. Now add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until smooth. It is okay if it is a little lumpy so do not over mix. If it appears too thick, you can add a little more milk. Preheat a griddle over medium heat and coat it with vegetable oil. Spoon ¼ cup portions of the batter onto the griddle and sprinkle evenly a teaspoon of the diced apples into each pancake. Cook until they begin to bubble on the top and golden brown on the bottom, about 1-2 minutes. Flip and continue to cook for 30 seconds. Remove from skillet and serve immediately. Top with softened butter and garnish sundried cranberries and candied pecans. Present with warm maple syrup.

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WGN-TV
by: WGN Web Desk, Glenn Marshall, Judy Wang, Associated Press
WOODRIDGE, Ill. — A confirmed tornado touched down in Woodridge late Sunday night as severe storms left significant damage and power outages in its path across the southwest suburbs.
At least five people, including a woman who was listed in critical condition, were hospitalized in Naperville, where 16 homes were left “uninhabitable” and dozens of other homes were damaged when a reported tornado touched down after 11 p.m. Sunday, said city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche.
The National Weather Service confirms “damage consistent with an EF-3 rating.”
Very serious damage out here in Naperville on 77th. One vehicle turned upside down, the side of a garage ripped off and another car in a front yard. More details on @WGNMorningNews pic.twitter.com/fXBKfSzoGj
Video showed several large trees downed and damage to homes and vehicles in the path of the storm. Some gas leaks were reported in Naperville, and crews went door to door shutting off lines, she said.
More storm damage has surfaced from Naperville forwarded to @Skilling. Thankfully the owners are safe and unharmed. #ilwx #weather #Tornado @WGNNews @MikeJanssenWX @MorganKolkmeyer pic.twitter.com/WsuydXcQm2
A tornado touched down east of Route 53 between 83rd Street and 75th Street at approximately 11:30 p.m. Sunday night in Woodridge.
Officials in the nearby village of Woodridge said a tornado touched down late Sunday and a damage assessment was underway. There were no reports of significant injuries in the community, but people were urged to avoid the area due to downed power lines and trees.
Governor JB Pritzker released a statement Monday morning, saying, “Last night’s tornadoes in the suburbs near Chicago were a reminder to prepare ahead of time for severe weather. I’ve reached out to local officials in the tornado’s path to offer all available state resources to assist residents and help overcome damage. State emergency officials are on the ground coordinating with local first responders. My prayers are with those who were injured or lost property.”
Last night’s tornadoes in the suburbs near Chicago were a reminder to prepare ahead of time for severe weather. I’ve reached out to local officials in the tornado’s path to offer all available state resources to assist residents and help overcome damage.
Village officials said the tornado traveled east to the Lemont Road area of Woodridge before dissipating. There are currently no reports of significant injuries from the Woodridge storm.
The area contains several downed power lines and fallen trees as village officials warn residents to avoid the area.
Extensive damage was witnessed in Naperville from a rotating storm with winds that reached speeds of 104 miles per hour.
A home in Naperville near 77th/Ranchview. Heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/1aFZj1EPNW
Near the confirmed tornado, severe storms left significant property damage to Naperville, Burr Ridge and Darien.
NAPERVILLE: Area of Ranchview Dr/Princeton Cir

-About 12 homes w/ significant damage
-4 people transported to the hospital, 1 w/ critical injuries
-Gas shut off to homes impacted, no active gas leaks pic.twitter.com/IZ1UnvXUBm
Major debris on a home near Janes/Evergreen Lane pic.twitter.com/qNzK0AaQg5
The National Weather Service of Chicago said there was at least one confirmed tornado Sunday night, with several other locations of a rotating storm.
The agency will survey the damage later, with the confirmed tornado potentially being the region’s most damaging in six years.
The threat of wind damage remained for a few hours as the line of storms moved over northern Illinois and into northwestern Indiana, forecasters said. The severe threat was declared over at 2 a.m. local time.
The general area where the tornado occurred is highlighted on this map, with other locales where there was rotation and/or damage shown too. The southwest suburbs tornado could end up being the first strong tornado (EF-2+) in the metro counties since 2015 (Coal City). #ILwx #INwx pic.twitter.com/FRyWobxh4j
The severe weather has caused power outages across the area. ComEd reports 61,000 customers, mostly in DuPage County, were without power — that number is now down to 14,000.
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CHICAGO — A dozen children got their COVID-19 vaccines Friday at Cook County Health as the city doubles down efforts to increase vaccination rates ahead of the holidays.
Getting a shot is not typically what a child looks forward to, but for 11-year-old Stella, it was a proud moment to roll up her sleeve and get her first dose.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A prosecutor investigating accusations that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo groped a woman has asked a judge for more time, saying the criminal complaint filed last week by the local sheriff was “potentially defective.”
The request from Albany Country District Attorney David Soares throws the high-profile case in turmoil a week after Cuomo was accused in a criminal complaint filed by the local sheriff of committing a misdemeanor sex crime.
WILL COUNTY, Ill. — Will County authorities announced the “prime suspect” in a deadly shooting at a Halloween party in Joliet Township is in custody.
The Will County Sheriff’s Office said the 18-year-old, who WGN News is not naming because he has not been charged in direct connection with the shooting, was taken into custody Wednesday.  He is being held on a $1 million bond on unrelated charges.

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Caden Pierce, a versatile 6-5 wing for one of the state’s top teams, committed to Princeton on Monday.
Another Glenbard West star is off the board.
Last week Braden Huff committed to Gonzaga. Shooter Bobby Durkin and big man Ryan Renfro both recently committed to Army. This week Caden Pierce, a versatile 6-5 wing for one of the state’s top teams, committed to Princeton.
With double digit Division I offers after a solid and ultra-productive spring and summer with his high school team and the Illinois Wolves on the club circuit, Pierce ultimately chose the Ivy League school over Loyola-Maryland and St. Thomas in Minnesota.
Pierce admitted he was torn a little going into his official visit to Princeton, possibly even “leaning another way” at the time he took the visit in late September. But the official visit turned the tide in his recruitment as everything became more clear. He became more comfortable, familiar and was impressed with all that Princeton had to offer.
“Once I got on campus at Princeton, I fell in love with it,” said Pierce. “I spent a lot of time with the guys on the team and felt like I fit in really well with them. I watched them practice a little bit and felt like my game would fit well in that system. They are a talented, skilled group.”
What also stood out to Pierce was coach Mitch Henderson’s ability to develop players and how he believed the veteran coach was the right coach for him and his growth as a player.
“When I watched how coach Henderson coaches and how he prides himself on player development, I thought it would really benefit me,” said Pierce. “I think I’m just starting to scratch the surface of the player that I will hopefully be, and I think he would be the one to best develop me as a player.”
Then there is always the academic piece of Princeton and an Ivy League education. Pierce says that also played a big part in his decision as he searched for the right blend of basketball and academics.
“Going to Princeton isn’t a four-year decision but a lifetime decision,” said Pierce. “The connections and networks I establish at Princeton can set you up for the rest of your life.”
Pierce is the quintessential basketball Swiss Army knife. He fills a stat sheet, can direct an offense in a pinch and is a difference-making defender who is always given the task of stopping the opposing team’s best player.
But his greatest attributes go beyond the numbers and being able to play multiple positions. Pierce’s toughness and winning pedigree can also be measured by how he plays and how much he wins.
Pierce helped lead the Hilltoppers, who went 16-1 this past season, to an unblemished summer that included going unbeaten at both the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout and Ridgewood Shootout. He was instrumental in helping lead the Illinois Wolves to an Under Armour Association title.
Now he will join a Princeton program that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and is coming off a 14-13 season a year ago.
But his immediate goal is to win two state championships as a senior at Glenbard West –– in basketball and golf.
Pierce, a two-time all-conference golfer in the West Suburban Silver, was part of a IHSA fifth-place state finish as a sophomore. This year the Hilltoppers have advanced to the IHSA State Finals this weekend after Monday’s qualifying sectional round.
The two-sport star believes golf has impacted his play on the basketball court in a positive way.
“I definitely think my mental game has improved a ton in basketball because of golf,” Pierce points out. “I just feel like when you are out on the course, you are in your own bubble, not talking to many people, competing in a different way. I think it’s teaching me patience and how to stay focused, especially when you aren’t playing the greatest. You stay focused and make the most of that moment.”
Pierce is ready for a big moment, whether it’s on the green this weekend or with a game on the line next March in state tournament play.
“I’m hoping to be put in that situation,” Pierce said with a laugh about the possibility of a pressure-packed putt or shot. “It would be pretty cool to have a putt on the line to win a state championship. I think it’s similar to shooting that free-throw with the game on the line.”

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Brian Goodwin, Evan Marshall, Jimmy Cordero and Jace Fry become free agents
Josue Mendoza Barrera crashed a minivan into the back of a Dodge Charger on Aug. 3 in the 4500 block of West Armitage Avenue, Chicago police said.
A look at the five best games in the second round.
Majestee Hale was shot around 7:15 p.m. near 153rd Street and Lexington Avenue, authorities said.
An annual gathering for picking fall mushrooms in the Rock River valley was different this year and so were the finds of mushrooms.

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MyStateline.com
FREEPORT, Ill. (WTVO) – A 17-year-old is accused of killing a Freeport man.
Freeport Police said that Nyiquell Pendelton shot Marcus Price back on May 15. He was taken into custody Thursday afternoon, and is charged with nine counts of murder.
Investigators said that 19-year-old Prince was shot and killed during at drive-by at State Av. and Franklin St. A 23-year-old man was also shot and survived.
At the time of the shooting, police said that it was believed to be gang related.
Pendelton is being charged as an adult, and his bond has been set at $1 million. He is currently being held in a juvenile detention center.
Copyright 2021 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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At least 66 people shot in Chicago over Labor Day weekend  Bloomington Pantagraph
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  /  
November 2, 2021
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10:53 p.m.
Good morning, it’s sixth week. The leaves are falling! 🍂 
You can read our digital edition here.
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The University reported 39 news cases with 194 close contacts for the past week. As of Friday, the campus-wide positivity rate is 0.43 percent.
New congressional districts proposed by Illinois Democrats would split Hyde Park into two districts. In addition, Democrats will receive a significant advantage over Republicans in Illinois’s congressional delegation as a result.
In coffee news, Fairgrounds Craft Coffee and Tea will open a storefront in Campus North in early 2022.
On October 15, the Black Panther Party Cubs (BPPC) announced the launch of an official application for city historic landmark status for the “Hampton House.” The Maywood property was civil rights activist and former Illinois Black Panther Party (BPP) Chair Fred Hampton’s childhood home.
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In Grey City
Editor Laura Gersony writes in:
Grey City remembers civil rights leader Timuel D. Black, whose 102 years were spent on the front lines of justice in Chicago and beyond.
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In Viewpoints
Editor Gage Gramlick writes in:
Columnist Jennifer Rivera argues that the University’s refusal to provide reasonable accommodations for sick students endangers the entire community.
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In Arts
Editor Gabi Garcia writes in:
“In a sense, one does not encounter ‘Bad Art Friend’ so much as one is made rudely aware of its existence,” writes Arts reporter Wahid Al Mamun as he explores the various phenomena behind the virality of the controversial *New York Times* piece.
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In Sports
Editor Finn Hartnett writes in:
Powered by third-year middle blocker Ellie Alden, women's volleyball is enjoying an impressive start to the 2021 season.
Sports reporter Dheeraj Devarajan examines what went right and what went wrong for the White Sox in the 2021 MLB season.
The University's longest-running debate club provides members a sense of community in and out of the discussion room.
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In Podcast
Editor Isaac Krakowka writes in:
The podcast team discussed this past week of news involving events on campus, local politics, Halloween weekend, and the COVID-19 update.
The independent student newspaper of The University of Chicago since 1892.
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Built & designed by Euirim Choi ’19.
Built & designed by Euirim Choi ’19.
© 2021 The Chicago Maroon.

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There is something going on every weekend in November at Bureau County Fairgrounds in Princeton. 
For information on any of these events see www. bureaucountyfair.com

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