Village of Hodgkins attorney Pat Rogers announced at last night's regular village board meeting that the East Avenue road closure was going to last longer than originally projected.
According to Mr. Rogers, this current phase of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) project to reconstruct East Avenue would last at least three more weeks. Mr. Rogers said that crews encountered delays while installing the storm drains on the east side of the street.
IDOT previously scheduled East Avenue to be closed for approximately 1-2 weeks beginning March 21, 2024. The goal of the East Avenue project, according to an IDOT release is to "reconstruct and realign the existing intersections at East Ave. and Joliet Rd. and East Ave. and 55th St." IDOT is also installing modernized traffic signals, ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, improving drainiage, and resurfacing East Avenue" between 55th Street and Joliet Road.
In October 2023, IDOT released an anticipated completion date of late Summer 2024.
East Avenue intersection improvements at 55th Street and Joliet Road.
Construction News (City of Countryside)
The Village of Hodgkins is currently renovating the Paul G. Struve Public Works building, located at 8890 W 67th St. The project began last year with the demolition of the front portion of the building which housed offices and locker rooms.
The building was formerly the site of the Carlson Plywood company. After the village aquired the building two decades ago it was repurposed to house public works.
Construction is slated to begin in the coming weeks. Click here for more information about the Village of Hodgkins DPW.
The race was close and the Chicago Board of Elections has been counting ballots since the election over a week ago. Mrs. Burke was separated from her opponent, Clayton Harris III, by fewer than 1,600 votes.
Mr. Harris was endorsed by outgoing Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. Axios says that Mrs. Burke's victory signals "a rebuke" of Mrs. Foxx.
Mrs. Burke will face Republican Bob Fioretti in the general election in November.
Deputy Christina Musil, a deputy with the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, was killed last Thursday night, March 28, 2024 in a car crash while on duty.
The crash happened at approximately 10:40 P.M. at IL Route 123 near Perry Road, WSPY News reported. According to the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, Dep. Musil was parked in her squad car on the shoulder of the roadway. Her vehicle was struck from behind by "a Kenworth truck."
CBS News reported that driver of the truck, who works for an Indiana-based company, was arrested. Police are still investigating the cause of the crash.
Dep. Musil was 35 years old. She worked for the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office for five years. Dep. Musil previously served in the Army National Guard as a military police officer. She also served in Afghanistan in 2008-2009.
Funeral Arrangements are still pending.
The United States is working toward the implementation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), commonly called the "digital dollar." Kipplinger reports that the Biden Administration "detailed a broad plan for adopting a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the coming years."
A CBDC is not a cryptocurrency in the sense with which most Americans are familiar. Rather than being decentralized, anonymous, and unregulated, CBDCs are administered and controlled directly by the nation's central bank, the Federal Reserve.
Advocates want a CBDC for several reasons. According to Kipplinger, it will maintain America's influence in a world economic system that is steadily moving in the direction of the CBDCs.
Opponents of CBDCs cite civil rights concerns. CBDCs can be manipulated in ways other decentralized cryptocurrencies, physical cash, and other assets such as precious metals, cannot. CBDCs can be programmed to lose value to encourage spending, they can be tracked to monitor spending habits, or even frozed by the central bank so that they cannot be used.
Click here to read the White House's fact sheet.
Click here to read more about the digital dollar project.
It's been over a week since Election Day and still no winner has been declared in the Democrat primary race for Cook County State's Attorney
According to the Board of Elections, candidates Clayton Harris III and Eileen O'Neill Burke are separated by approximately 1,600 votes, Burke having the slight advantage.
The Board of Elections has been counting mail-in ballots since election night, a process which has slowly resulted in a shrinking lead for Burke. Chicago local news is now reporting, however, that the gap has apparently fixed. Despite this development, no winner has yet been declared.
Turnout for this primary was low. The city of Chicago logged approximately 20% turnout, while suburban Cook County saw approximately 17%.
According the the Chicago Sun Times, counting is anticipated to continue until the April 2nd deadline.
JB Prtizker made a video celebrating something called "Abortion Provider's Appreciation Day." As if it wasn't ghoulish and Orwellian enough to celebrate abortionists who help women exercise their "bodily autonomy," as he said, he also lauded abortionists for helping women make medical decisions about "their own bodies."
Democrats can't be this obtuse. They cannot possibly misunderstand the position of pro-life advocates. The problem isn't that women shouldn't be allowed to make medical decisions about their own bodies; the problem is that there is more than one body involved. This is something the Democrats refuse to acknowledge.
Human beings are human beings from the time of conception. That means that, from conception, we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. Among those rights are the right to life, to liberty, and to the pursuit of happiness. The fact that a human is located inside a womb, is physically and mentally underdeveloped, is unable to live on his own and can't protect and provide for himself is not excuse to allow the indiscirminate killing of these human beings without just cause.
That even goes for women who really want to exercise their bodily autonomy.
Abortion isn't a private decision. It involves at least two human persons. It isn't healthcare. It isn't a choice. It is killing a human being.
We Christians need to redouble our efforts to rid our country of this barbaric practice. We need to continue our work to help women who have had abortions cope, and to understand that there is forgiveness for this, and for all sins in or Lord Jesus Christ. Those women who are pregnant we must help and support in every way possible.
And we must pray. We must pray for our leaders: that they would fight to protect the lives and rights of all people, no matter their circumstance, and not matter how inconvenient. We must pray for the women of America: that they would embrace and protect the babies they carry inside them; that they would see life as the gift of a creative and merciful God who Himself came to earth and took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin, in order that He might live, suffer, and die on the cross to redeem mankind from sin and death; that they would resist the wicked propaganda that the godless Left, which pretends to champion women by giving them false autonomy and perception of power, but really diminishes and enslaves them. And, by counting as worthless the most vulnerable among us, they diminish the value and rights of all human beings.
To read more about abortion, go here.
The Law of God Is Good and Wise
There has been much disagreement in American Lutheranism concerning the role of the Law in the Church. Are Lutherans truly “weak on sanctification”? Should there be exhortation in preaching? Do real Lutherans believe in a third use of the Law? What is so bad about antinomianism? How far have we caved to the indulgence and lawlessness of the world? What does true Law and Gospel preaching look like?
These debates have troubled the Missouri Synod in recent years. Thankfully, we can look to the Scriptures and remember how our forefathers in the faith dealt with similar challenges. Over two days, April 12th and 13th, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Collinsville, IL we will learn about and discuss the Law of God. This conference is for both laity and pastors. Come join us for good theology, fellowship, and maybe even a little fun!
Speakers and Preachers: Pr. Benjamin Ball; Rev. John Hill; Rev. Dr. Scott Murray; Rev. Dr. David Petersen; Rev. David Ramirez; Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer; Rev. Joshua Scheer; Rev. Mark Surburg; Pr. Michael Walther; Pr. William Weedon; and, Rev. Todd Wilken
Learn more and register for the conference at:
https://yourgrandfatherschurch.org
Mario DePasquale, the former police chief of McCook, was sentenced last week to more than two years in federal prison after pleading guilty last year to conspiring with the village's former mayor to extort two businessmen out of tens of thousands of dollars.
DePasquale, 50, was sentenced February 21 to 27 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo.
DePasquale was charged in 2020 as part of a sprawling federal corruption probe that also ensnared his former boss, McCook Mayor Jeffrey Tobolski, as well as other suburban mayors and Democratic power players.
Taken from the DesPlaines Valley News