Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 133
The Plainfield Wrestling Club just accomplished something that is unprecedented for them. They participated in an IKWF statewide tournament. "IESA is the wrestling you do through grade school and junior IKWF is club wrestling," said president Ryan Weber. "Our club is a non-for-profit that concentrates on building good athletes, strong students and getting them ready to compete at a high level." The club that has been around since 1974 is utilized by members that start as...
In a spirited gesture to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., hundreds of volunteers congregated to perform service projects throughout the city of Joliet. Projects included making blankets out of plastic bags for the homeless, Valentines for veterans, taking down Christmas decorations, painting and updating community buildings. "I never really get to do community service like that," said volunteer Libby Voss. "I was excited that I had the chance to do...
Every 92 seconds an American is sexually assaulted. On top of that, one out of every three women are survivors of sexual violence. Those staggering numbers are something Downers Grove South senior student Therese Malinowski wants to put to an end. Because one of Malinowski's friends were sexually assaulted in middle school, she created a sexual assault database in order for Illinois colleges and universities that is named Project Dandelion. "Since my friend was sexually assaul...
Thirty-three-year-old Ashlee Catalani and her boyfriend Ponciano Vargas, 40, were charged with six crimes in connection with the Dec.1 beating of Catalani's ex-boyfriend. The couple was charged with aggravated battery, criminal trespass to a vehicle, two counts of criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to a residence and battery. At approximately 5:14 p.m., officers responded to the 4300 block of Timber Ridge Court to an unwanted intoxicated subject. "Vargas beat up...
At 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 21 at the Downers Grove Recreation Center, the 'Mother Son Gym Jam' will be open for those who want to participate. The two-hour event will have many fun and entertaining activities for mothers and sons to enjoy. "We've been doing this event for many years as a long time partnership with the Downers Grove Junior Women's Club," said Director of Community Engagement and Marketing Dawn Hartman. "It's really is just a great time for moms to connect with their...
As February soon approaches and the great high school basketball teams start to pull away from being labeled as good, Joliet West seems to be a part of that great category. The Tigers (15-2, 10-0), under coach Jeremy Kreiger seem to have a different mojo than last year. This year, the Tigers last lost came against the No. 1 team in the state of Illinois, Curie. With a veteran roster, led by University of Toledo commit Jamere Hill (20 points), the Tigers confidence is at an...
Winning streaks are hard in sports, especially when that streak is at 13 consecutive games. That is what the Joliet West (19-3, 9-1) basketball team has done so far in the 2019-20 season. "One thing about this girls is that they're both very intelligent on and off the court," said coach John Placher. "It's starting to get really fun here watching these kids play." In the Tigers most recent 73-45 victory against Plainfield North (12-10, 5-5), senior guard Jazz Evans led the way...
For those that love to sing, a rehearsal at Eagle Pointe Elementary School was on display for the Spectrum Youth Singers group. This young group of vocalists in Plainfield helps children in grades four through eight to find their voice, grow and have fun while singing choral music in front of audiences and at many different kinds of events. "We are a community children's and youth choir for boys and girls," said Director Oksana Rodak. "We offer quality music education and...
Recently, from Dec. 16 through Jan. 2, the Woodridge Police Department partnered with the Illinois Department of Transportation [IDOT] and law enforcement across the state of Illinois for the 2019 holiday “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign. In those couple weeks, law enforcement officers showed more attentiveness and zero tolerance for impaired driving, seatbelt violations and other traffic violations. “The Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over is really in conjunction with th...
With the departure of seven seniors from the 2018-19 Minooka roster, there's been no secret that they have been struggling this year. The Indians (3-15, 0-8), hold five sophomores on their varsity roster, with many being contributors. In their most recent game against Plainfield East (6-12, 2-6), the Indians couldn't sustain their small momentum pushes as they fell to the Bengals 56-52. "We had to dig ourselves out of a hole in the early part of the game which really hurt us,"...
For the first time in at least 15 years, Westmont and Lisle going head-to-head was not considered a conference match up. This time around, the Sentinels (5-11, 1-3) got the best of the Lions (7-8, 4-0). "It's a good learning experience for us because we have a lot of young guys on our roster," said Westmont coach Craig Etheridge. "Earlier in the year we were really struggling to finish games, so for us today it was nice that we made some good defensive plays and finished the...
For the last 21 years consecutively, the Suenos-Latin Jazz Quartet has performed at the Downers Grove Public Library. Stylistic music encompassing Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Flamenco, Fusion and other music is what is performed, and they're led by Steve Hasimoto. Hashimoto, from the age of five, started playing music and said he never felt right if a day went by where he wasn't making different types of music. Originally a trumpet player, Hashimoto then moved on to be a guitar and...
Romeoville Mayor John Noak was recently reappointed to serve on the National League of Cities (NLC) Transportation and Infrastructure Services Committee. "This is one of the two associations for municipalities on the national level," Noak said. "It is our national association." For this specific committee, Noak will oversee along with other members to have the responsibility for developing NLC's federal policy positions on issues involving transportation, that includes...
A years difference in sports can change a lot, especially when it comes to records. Last year, Joliet West finished its season three games below the .500 mark. So far this year, the Tigers are 14-3, with a 5-1 record in conference play. "Overall we have been playing really good basketball," said coach John Placher. "All the girls I have this year have a full year of varsity experience which really helps us a lot." The three losses so far this year have come from a combined 21...
With the departure of last year's star Annaliese Griffin to Aurora Christian; Plainfield Central has had to find new ways to win ball games. This year, led by senior point guard Kachae Donald, the Wildcats (8-9, 3-2) have yet to find consistency. Recently, in the first game of the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase at Benet Academy, the Wildcats suffered a 78-44 defeat to Barrington. "We're still trying to figure out what is going to be our strengths and weaknesses," said...
Helping others is something that Anthony Maland has always been interested in doing. A senior at Joliet West High School, who was recently featured on WGN Morning News, is the founder of his own nonprofit organization called Recycle Rhythm Incorporated. "I was nervous at the start [to go on WGN] but as soon as it started I knew that God was on my side and he was with me through the whole entire thing," Maland said. At the age of three, Maland started off his passion by...
In order to fully understand what Absolute Integrated Health (AIH) provides in terms of services, the company provided a free lunch and learn for any company that was interested to attend. With many services provided for a healthy lifestyle for patients, AIH provides pain management, physical therapy, chiropractic care, allergy testing, soft tissue therapy, stem cell therapy, botox, diagnostic testing, hydro massage therapy and more. "We basically deal with a bunch of...
Not many teams jump out to a 23-7 lead in the first quarter against Benet Academy. At the Redwings (15-2, 1-0) own shootout, the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase, they fell to Dowling Catholic (IA) 69-58. "I said to our team if we could keep Caitlin [Clark] to 20 points, I thought we would be ok," said coach Joe Kilbride. Clark, who will be playing basketball next year in Iowa City for the Hawkeyes, scored 36 points and was just to much to handle for the Redwings. Per usual,...
Downers Grove North High School Athletic Hall of Fame will be inducting three new members into its prestigious group this upcoming weekend. At 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 11 at Downers Grove North in the Purple Gym before the boy's varsity basketball game, Jack Brady, Gabrielle Sims and Madeline Sims will all be forever enshrined into Downers Grove North. "This event happens every year," said Athletic Director Denise Kavanaugh. "Downers Grove North takes a lot of pride in our...
Recently, the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Illinois American Water Firefighter Grant Program. This grant that was awarded is for the purpose of the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District to purchase "The Safety Challenge" fire prevention program. This program will be utilized at local school districts to make sure every home will have working smoke detectors and alarms because of the grant. "It's a grade school fitness program...
In the Chicagoland Invitational Showcase at Benet Academy, Bolingbrook defeated Milwaukee King 76-62. The Raiders (11-5, 0-0) came into the 2019-20 season much healthier than a year ago, as well as being more upperclassmen dominant, as they only have two sophomores on varsity with the rest juniors and seniors. With senior forward Treasure Thompson, who will be playing in Baton Rouge for LSU next year, coming back from a torn ACL against Plainfield Central a year ago, the...
In a recent move by Will County Clerk Lauren Staley Ferry, voter registration cards are redesigned to save money for taxpayers. "Honestly, we have just been looking for ways to make things more efficient in our office since I started," Ferry said. "When we took a look at the voter registration cards, we simply noticed they were two per page and talked it through so we could streamline the information a little bit more." The new cards, which have already been in the process of...
It's no secret that with the loss of Noah Ferrell, Mike Salter and Ikenna Okeke due to graduation in 2019, the Romeoville Spartans (5-3, 3-1) had some questions marks coming into the 2019-20 season. So far, the Spartans have impressed. In a recent game against Plainfield East, senior guard Keedan Foster dropped a game-high 26 points en route to a 61-48 victory. "When we came out at halftime we had to make sure we tightened up our defense," Foster said. "We understood that if...
The Chicago Area Clean Cities Coalition (CACC) recently announced its 2019 Leadership Award winners at its annual December meeting and reception. One of the awards just happened to go to the city of Downers Grove. "We selected the village for its wide array of environmentally friendly technologies that it is using to reduce emissions," said Joe Koenig of Chicago Area Clean Cities. "This year, the village began using its first plug-in electric hybrid vehicles." Being selected...
A Downers Grove annual event, "Merry and Bright: A Victorian Christmas" again came to the Downers Grove Museum campus this holiday season. In what was a free family event that included historic sights and sounds of Victorian Christmas traditions, between 300 and 400 visitors showed up to celebrate the annual event. From 1835 until the 1930's, the Blodgett family owned the Downers Grove land, which is now a museum. This year, in the 1892 Victorian house, Santa stopped by for a...