JOLIET – A Bolingbrook woman accused of murdering her husband made her preliminary court appearance Monday. Michele A. Evans, 50, returned Judge Dave Carlson’s greetings of “Good morning,” but let her attorney Joel Brodsky do the talking – asking for a hearing to reduce her $1 million bond. “This is a case where we’re going to have a ‘self-defense’ defense,” Brodsky told Carlson. At 8:47 p.m. April 16, Michele Evans called police to her home in the 500 block of Bloomfield Drive in Bolingbrook. Officers found David Evans, 55, lying on the kitchen floor, according to Bolingbrook Police Lt. Carte ..read more

JOLIET – Darrell Williams had just done his duty as the human stop sign of the day at Laraway School. Everything had gone smoothly it seemed, which was good, since Williams was standing in the middle of Laraway Road in Joliet, holding back semitrailers lining the road both to the east and west of him by holding up a red stop sign as school buses pulled out to take students home for the day. But it did not go quite so smoothly. “That trucker wouldn’t let me cross,” Williams said as he got back to the school. One trucker, apparently impatient after waiting for the buses, drove through after the ..read more

JOLIET – The city of Joliet is buying Evergreen Terrace. The Joliet City Council voted Tuesday 7-1 to spend the $15 million needed to acquire the low-income, apartment complex at 350 N. Broadway St. Councilman Larry Hug was the lone dissenting vote, with council members John Gerl, Bettye Gavin, Jim McFarland, Terry Morris, Pat Mudron, Mike Turk and Jan Quillman voting in favor. The vote is the latest benchmark moment in a legal battle dating back to 2005, when Joliet first sued to gain eminent domain over the property that city officials contended had become blighted and crime-ridden because o ..read more

JOLIET – Business leaders urged the Joliet City Council to move ahead with the acquisition of Evergreen Terrace at a meeting Monday in which consultants outlined four options for what to do with the property. Those options ranged from doing nothing with 356-unit apartment complex other than try to run it better to spending up to $70 million for what was termed “deluxe” redevelopment. The council discussed other options, too, including going back to the owners of Evergreen Terrace to see if they still are interested in a settlement offered more than a year ago that would give the city some over ..read more

JOLIET – Joliet resident Sandy King and her family honored her son Nolan – who has chronic kidney disease – by walking in the Walk for Kidneys on Sunday to show the disease doesn’t just affect adults. As part of Team Nolan, King and her family decided to participate for the first time in the walk that raises money for the National Kidney Foundation to help others such as Nolan, 4, receive better treatment. According to the foundation, 26 million American adults have kidney disease. “There’s millions of people with kidney disease and they don’t even know they have kidney disease – it’s a silent ..read more

STERLING – The Clinton Symphony Orchestra will perform in Sterling’s Centennial Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4. The program will include Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings”, Shubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” and the overture to Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute.” In cooperation with Community State Bank, the orchestra will run a charter bus from Clinton, through Fulton and Morrison, to the Sterling concert location. Bus reservations are required and can be made at 563-219-8084. Adult tickets for $20 are available at the door of the concerts and all students are admitted free. For more inform ..read more

Guitar sculptures that have been on display in downtown Joliet throughout the summer will be auctioned off Wednesday. Proceeds from the auction could be used to fund a similar display in 2026, an anniversary year for historic Route 66 and the Rialto Square Theatre that is expected to attract additional visitors downtown. “We hope that we’ll be able to raise enough money to do this again in 2026,” said Priscilla Cordero, executive director for the Joliet City Center Partnership. CCP has been one of the main sponsors for “Ready to Rock,” the exhibit that featured artwork on 12 fiberglass guitar ..read more

JOLIET – Joliet City Council members, including two former opponents, said Monday they likely would support a renewed lease with the banquet operator at Union Station. The council will vote at a later date on a proposed 10-year lease with Bussean Custom Caterers, which has operated out of the former train station since 2001. The proposal got a favorable review from council members at their workshop meeting. Councilman Jim McFarland, who said previously that the lease should be opened up for other proposals, said he now favors working out another agreement with Bussean. “The only caveat that I ..read more

DIXON – Reagan Middle School Builders Club members helped the Rock River Garden Club clean up the Dixon river front for the United Way Day of Caring on Sept. 23. Day of Caring celebrates volunteerism throughout Lee County by bringing together teams from local businesses, schools, churches, civic groups and families to complete projects and make a significant impact on the nonprofit community. This year, the Day of Caring event had 75 volunteers from 14 organizations join to tackle projects in Lee County. The group was able to help at 12 sites completing a variety of projects. The group also pr ..read more

JOLIET – New chandeliers and sconce lighting have been added. Rooms have been carpeted and ceilings repaired. Bussean Custom Caterers has even expanded its Union Station banquet facility into the lower floor, where he hopes to add a bar. These are some of the improvements Bussean has made in anticipation of growing business now that brides-to-be won’t find vagrants sleeping on train station benches when they check out the historic building, which ceased operating as a train station last year. But Bussean’s lease with the city of Joliet, which owns Union Station, expired in December. And the Ci ..read more