DOWNERS GROVE - Following a successful Thanksgiving dinner, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Downers Grove will serve its first free Christmas Eve dinner to community members. The church has served free Thanksgiving Day meals since 1985, and the pandemic forced the church to adjust serving meals under COVID-19 restrictions. But despite the limitations, 291 community members took part in the dinner. Catherine Tecktiel, congregation member and coordinator for the meal distribution, said this year’s Thanksgiving Day dinner had the largest turnout the church has ever seen and expects to see even ..read more

As Advocate Aurora hospitals start to receive precious deliveries of COVID-19 vaccines, the system's infectious disease expert and a nursing leader held a virtual town hall Wednesday to answer questions about the historic vaccination effort. Dr. Robert Citronberg and Jane Dus, regional chief nursing officer, led the Q&A session. Here is a sampling of their responses. Q. How safe and effective is the vaccine? A. Clinical trials show the vaccine developed by Pfizer and the German company BioNTech appears 95% effective. Pfizer did not report any serious safety concerns. "After looking ove ..read more

DUPAGE COUNTY – The DuPage County Health Department on Wednesday received its first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine from the Illinois Department of Public Health. “This is the day we’ve been waiting for since the pandemic began. The vaccine brings new, tangible hope to DuPage County as we receive the first of many shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine,” said DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin.  “We have been preparing for months with our local health systems to distribute approved vaccines for emergency and critical care staff,” said Sam Tornatore, DuPage County Board of Hea ..read more

The DuPage County Health Department on Wednesday reported 387 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in the county, with 10 deaths: 2 men in their 60s, 2 women in their 70s, 1 man in his 70s, 2 women in their 80s, 2 men in their 80s and 1 man in his 90s. It was the second consecutive day that infections dropped. On Tuesday 427 were reported, which was the fewest single-day cases reported since Nov. 20. However, the 10 deaths were the most in a single day since Dec. 12. The county now has seen a total of 54,574 coronavirus cases including 858 deaths, according to the health department ..read more

A Hinsdale man and his daughter were killed Tuesday in a one-car crash when their vehicle veered off an interstate highway in North Carolina and struck a tree. Robert D. Pickering, 59, and his daughter Kendall, 15, were traveling southbound on Interstate 85, 1.8 miles south of Kannapolis, approximately 25 miles northeast of Charlotte, when their vehicle traveled off the road on the right and struck a drainage ditch, according to Trooper Ned Moultrie of the North Carolina Highway Patrol. The patrol responded to the fatal collision at 6:49 p.m. on Tuesday evening. Moultrie said that after the ..read more

States and major cities across the country will now receive only about half of the COVID-19 vaccine doses that were originally expected to come from the federal government next week, Gov. JB Pritzker said in a press conference given Wednesday afternoon. Federal authorities initially communicated that 8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine would be distributed next week, but Pritzker said he learned this morning that members of the federal government's Operation Warp Speed had lowered that number to 4.3 million doses. The following week's distribution has also been reduced from 8.8 million dos ..read more

DOWNERS GROVE – Students in Community High School District 99 will return to school for two mornings and two afternoons a week in a hybrid learning schedule when the second semester starts Jan. 5 – if conditions allow. That sticking point was a topic of vigorous debate Dec. 14 at a four-hour school board meeting, where the plan was presented. Most students at Downers Grove North and Downers Grove South high schools have been in fully remote learning since Nov. 2, and all students have been in remote learning since Nov. 30. The district in October had returned students to school for two half ..read more

The DuPage County Health Department on Tuesday reported 427 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in the county, with 2 deaths, 2 women in their 80s. It was the fewest single-day cases reported since Nov. 20. The county now has seen a total of 54,187 coronavirus cases including 848 deaths, according to the health department. The recovery rate among DuPage County cases as of December 8 was 97.2%. The West Suburban region (DuPage and Kane counties) has seen two consecutive days under 12%. The region's positivity rate decreased to 11.6%. Currently, 19.7% of medical/surgical beds are ava ..read more

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 7,359 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 117 additional deaths on Tuesday. The seven-day rolling average of Illinois’ positivity rate decreased to 8.6%. The state received the results of 92,922 COVID-19 tests in the 24 hours leading up to Thursday afternoon, for a total of 11,962,010 tests.  Illinois has seen a total of 863,477 cases of the virus, and 14,509 people have died since the pandemic began.  As of Friday, Illinois had 4,965 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, a decrease of 146 patients over yesterday's updat ..read more

GLEN ELLYN - Glen Ellyn Village President Diane McGinley will step down effective Jan. 1, she announced at Monday’s Village Board meeting. “I have worked alongside remarkable people including village staff, regional and school leaders, business owners, volunteers, faith groups, friends and neighbors. Together working to make Glen Ellyn a better place," McGinley said at the meeting. The Village Board at its Dec. 14 meeting approved Trustee Craig Pryde as president pro-tem from Jan 1 through April 30. The board will appoint an acting president at a future meeting to complete McGinley’s term ..read more