Performance venue plan raises many questions Regarding Mayor Turner’s “Ravinia West” plan for a gathering place, performance venue, and wintertime ice rink, I have a couple of questions: • Why build another performance space when we already have one – the Woodstock Opera House – which is continually underfunded and ignored by the city? • […]
The COVID-19 pandemic is the hallmark of change in my generation: we were not around for 9/11, too young for the recession of 2008, but perfectly of age for the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone is tired of hearing about it by this point, and we hope and pray to be at the end of it with […]
Casual conversation, especially among strangers, tends to center on things people have in common: the weather, family, holidays. Around Woodstock these days, another popular topic is our preferred routes for getting between the Square and Route 47. Do you use Judd Street? Calhoun? Dean to Kimball? We don’t mind telling you that we at The […]
When you rip up floors and tear out walls of an old building, you find surprises. They usually come in two forms: trouble or treasure. During recent interior demolition of the Old Courthouse and Sheriff’s House, employees of construction manager Bulley & Andrews of Chicago came up with a treasure or two. They found a […]
What is value of your vote? As the election approaches, I wonder the value of my vote? When all our elected individuals vote as the political party directs, what is the difference between candidates? In return for campaign financing and whatever else, they seem to fall in line. Maybe the answer is simply the unappealing […]
An hour was barely enough time for Woodstock Mayor Mike Turner to cover all of the topics he wanted to discuss in his recent State of the City speech at the end of his first year in office.The Independent counted at least two dozen projects, programs, and achievements the mayor touched on May 12 during […]
By Cheryl Wormley Congratulations, Woodstock North, Woodstock, and Marian graduates!Graduating from high school is a significant moment in each graduate’s life. It’s a time of celebration for each graduate’s family and for the entire community. Woodstock is blessed to have three high schools. That means three graduations. Woodstock North High School’s Class of 2022, which […]
Take a moment to look through these names: Ruth Whitfield. Katherine Massey. Roberta Drury. Margus Morrison. Pearl Young. Aaron Salter, Jr. Andre Mackneil. Geraldine Talley. Heyward Patterson. Celestine Chaney. Clementa Pinckney. Ethel Lee Lance. Susie Jackson. Tywanza Sanders. Cynthia Graham Hurd. DePayne Middleton-Doctor. Daniel Simmons. Myra Thompson. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton. Recognize any of the names above? […]
When it comes to life’s challenges, it seems we’re always facing one thing or another. These past couple of years, however, it seems we’ve had to deal with one thing and another. Our biggest challenges from COVID-19, of course, have involved our health and our finances. In the U.S. this week, the millionth American will […]
By Cheryl Wormley The talk of the town this past week has been the switch from sweatshirts to sweating. Last week as I was writing Declarations, the daytime temperatures were in the 50s. This week, temperatures in northern Illinois topped 90 degrees for four consecutive days, matching records set in 1949. Flowering trees like red […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
