Sterling News

And on Sunday, Amboy, Bureau Valley, Fulton, Morrison, Oregon, Polo, Prophetstown, Rock Falls and Sterling will give big send-offs to their graduates.

STERLING – Jobless rates were down in the Sauk Valley area in April, according to data released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

STERLING – Members of a multistate check-forging and burglary ring who investigators say are responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank fraud also broke into several Sterling businesses and stole payroll and other checks, Mendota police said Thursday in a news release.

The Whiteside County Board on Tuesday approved, 21-3, a request to rezone the school building from residential to industrial.

STERLING – Just as the sun was coming up April 4, Jordan Young spotted a column of smoke as he drove down East LeFevre Road near Platt Park.

STERLING – You can now run and play basketball at Westwood Sports Center, which was damaged in a fire last week.

STERLING – A 15-year-old Chadwick boy remained in serious condition at a Rockford hospital Monday after being struck by a train on the railroad bridge over Elkhorn Creek around 7 p.m. Friday.

STERLING – Lawyers are interviewing witnesses and taking depositions in a wrongful death lawsuit filed after two Sterling detasselers were electrocuted in summer 2011, they told a Winnebago County judge at a status hearing last week.

Newly seated Mayor Everett Pannier, after a brief closed session at the end of a relatively short City Council meeting, announced Monday that he would not renew the city administrator's contract.

Illinois State University Athletic Director Gary Friedman unexpectedly resigned Monday with three years left on his contract, saying the job wasn't a good fit for him.

"Old-fashioned things," the Glen Ellyn woman says, like her dad organizing family camping trips, playing songs on the organ and singing in his distinct Irish tenor.

And starting with the graduating class of 2015, students who will be juniors next year, the school will not assign a class ranking, either.

Firefighters use Dixon and Sterling fire department's ladder trucks to access windows at Washington Elementary School in Dixon during joint training exercises Saturday.

MILLEDGEVILLE – A 15-year-old boy was in serious condition at a Rockford hospital Sunday after he was struck by a train on the railroad bridge over Elkhorn Creek on Friday night.

But his role goes beyond the legal realm. He performs bookkeeping tasks, drafts the budget, and prepares the monthly minutes for airport board meetings.

DIXON – Cobblestone 51 likely will be open by Wednesday at 117 N. Galena Ave., the former Little Angelo's site, owner Josh Burkhalter said.

STERLING – Parts of Westwood Fitness and Sports Center are expected to reopen Monday, a week after a fire forced the building's evacuation.

Juanita Madrigal, 54, of Rock Falls, a licensed clinical professional counselor, treats abused children, as well as individuals, couples and families, at Isaiah Counseling Center in Sterling.

Last year, more than 30,000 pounds of food was collected by letter carriers in Rock Falls, Sterling and Dixon.

SPRINGFIELD – The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, citing “gun-related tragedies” and the state's debate over concealed carry, emphasized in a memo to judges throughout Illinois this week that the state must be notified when they determine a person has serious mental health concerns.