By Cheryl Wormley I haven’t written a “This and That” column for sometime. It’s the headline I use when I have a couple of subjects I want to share with you. Last week, my husband, Jim, and I were in Steamboat, Colo., with our son Matt’s family. I’m grateful for my Woodstock Independent e-subscription and […]
Woodstock should feel good about the recent hirings of two new executive directors for city government as the City Hall organizational chart was officially restructured. Paul Christensen, the city’s director of Finance, was named executive director of strategy and planning. Danielle Gulli, president of the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry since 2015, was […]
By Cheryl Wormley A dear mentor and friend of mine and of hundreds of young 4-H members and Home and Community Education members died last week. Just two weeks ago, she celebrated her 90th birthday. I met Nancy Moore when I was a young Kendall County 4-H’er and she was a University of Illinois Extension […]
By Lou Ness Liberty. Freedom. Rights. Today, we toss these words around like so much confetti at a New Year’s Eve celebration. Suddenly after the 2020 election, COVID mandates, rising gun violence, abortion, and other significant issues, those words have been used like assault weapons, depending on where they are being aimed. In all the […]
We don’t have to accept gerrymandered districting I was very dismayed by the tone in “Saying goodbye to our U.S. representatives” (The Independent, Dec. 15). Let’s call congressional redistricting what it actually is: gerrymandering. That word is never even mentioned in the article. The science of gerrymandering attempts to influence election outcomes by drawing very […]
That special something that makes Woodstock something special was on display for much of 2021. Amazon Prime had a film crew in town for much of the summer to transform the city into Farnsworth, the fictional setting for a sci-fi series, “Lightyears,” starring Oscar winners J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek. Local folks took the opportunity […]
By Cheryl Wormley One of the traditions at The Independent – for more than 30 years – is compiling a year-in-review paper the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. That’s the paper you’re reading right now. Staff members, especially Larry Lough and Sandy Kucharski, identified what they believe are the top news stories and sports accomplishments […]
By Peter Hancock Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnews illinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Minimum wage workers in Illinois will see a boost in their hourly pay to $12 an hour starting Jan. 1, while tenants in affordable housing units may keep their pets. Those are just some of the more than 300 new laws that take effect in […]
By Clement Clarke Moore ’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds; While visions of sugar-plums danced […]
Back in September when I photographed the filming of Toyota’s holiday TV commercial in Woodstock, I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, but a tiny portion of the Square was mysteriously alight with wreaths, red bows, and snow. I could almost believe it was mid-December when the sun had set, the Square was engulfed in […]
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.
