In the News
Naperville officials are celebrating the completion of improvements to the Eagle Street gateway along the Riverwalk in the city’s downtown.
As part of the $3 million project, access between the Riverwalk and the lower walkway was improved with two grand staircases and a wheelchair-accessible ramp. It also added native plantings to help highlight the colorful Landforms sculpture.
The Association for Individual Development, Hesed House, and The Neighbor Project hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 14 to celebrate the start of construction on new Permanent Supportive Housing in Aurora.
The event brought together community members, partners, and leaders from across local, county, state, and federal levels.
Officials at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in Geneva are expressing relief that the government shutdown has ended and funding for the essential SNAP food assistance program is secured for the next year or so.
But they also warn that daunting challenges remain, and that demand for their services is growing at a pace they say they will ultimately be unable to keep up with, as demand for food assistance remains “incredibly high.”
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) is leading an effort to ask the Financial Stability Oversight Council to weigh the financial risks of a speculative “bubble” around the artificial intelligence sector.
Foster told us this week he was growing “increasingly concerned about the collapse of the AI bubble.” The letter, Foster said, will ask FSOC to publish a report and convene a working group to study the phenomenon.
Tina Ruiz isn’t sure how she will be able to pay bills and keep food on the table if Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are not restored.
Ruiz, a Kane County resident, said she had received emails and letters about SNAP getting cut off and also saw it watching TV.
She said she Friday had not yet received November benefits – the same day the Supreme Court paused a lower court ruling ordering full funding of SNAP.
Tina Ruiz has been turning more to food pantries to provide food for her family recently. The 58-year-old Kane County resident is currently without access to SNAP.
She is eating more soup these days.
“Ramen noodles, things like that,” she said. “Things that the pantry gives us.”
At least for now, despite the uncertainty associated with the federal government shutdown, local agencies are continuing to accept applications for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
“Right now, we are still able to serve clients – at least until mid-December – thanks to some carry over funds and state funding,” said Michelle Allen, the executive director of the Will County Center for Community Concerns.
The 2025 corn and soybean growing season ended as it started — ideal conditions — along with the usual and unusual challenges sandwiched in between.
Crystal Williams, Pioneer agronomist in DeKalb, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties, recapped the northern Illinois growing season.
Planting began ahead of schedule.
The 28-mile Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was the product of a monumental feat of engineering that reversed the flow of the Chicago River, but no one can deny it is saddled with a rather unpleasant name.
A coalition of nonprofits, government bodies, elected officials, businesses, and residents has decided it's time for a name change for the canal — and the public can vote on the name through Friday afternoon.
The Eagle Street Gateway project, which broke ground in March of this year in Naperville, is finished and open to the public.
A key goal of the project was to improve accessibility between the upper and lower paths along the Riverwalk.