When is a truck stop not a truck stop? Woodstock found out in early 2020 when the City Council, in a 5-2 vote, cleared the way for a 4,500-square-foot Thorntons convenience store with gas station and car wash at the former Shop Fresh shopping center at Route 47 and Irving Avenue. Then-Mayor Brian Sager insisted […]
In a divided vote, the Woodstock City Council this week approved early plans for a “truck stop” in the city. Council members voted 5-2 for a redevelopment agreement with Graham Enterprises to build what developers promised would not look like a truck stop that you would find along an interstate highway. Members Lisa Lohmeyer and […]
People might believe Woodstock has a gambling problem. Some would think 143 video gambling terminals in town – one for each 179 residents of Woodstock – are too many. Others could argue it’s not enough, since we see gambling license holders paying thousands of dollars a year for permits and per-machine fees to the city […]
One year after lifting the lid on video gambling permits in Woodstock, the city has not been swamped with requests. But a few more local businesses are offering gambling terminals than would have been allowed before the City Council eliminated the limit of 25 in July 2021. Since 2017, Woodstock ordinance had limited the number […]
No “video gaming cafés” will be approved in Woodstock, according to revised licensing rules approved by the City Council. But nobody seems to know exactly how to define such a business. Like the definition of obscenity made famous by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, city officials say they will know a video gaming “café” […]
Passing legislation has often been compared to making sausage: No matter what the end product looks like, you probably don’t want to know everything that’s in it. That’s pretty much the perfect description of the “penny per push” bill that emerged from the Illinois General Assembly on the final day of the fall veto session […]
Members of the Woodstock City Council were not exactly sure what they did in an emergency meeting Sunday afternoon. They just knew they had to do it. “It’s a do or die moment,” City Manager Roscoe Stelford called it. After about 40 minutes of discussion, the council voted 5-0 to enact a “penny per push” tax […]
Woodstock is joining other McHenry County towns in a rush to beat a midnight Sunday deadline to enact a “penny per push” tax on video gambling machines. The City Council is scheduled to meet in a special emergency session at 4 p.m. Sunday in City Hall to consider legislation passed Thursday on the final day […]
Mixin Mingle’s request for a video gambling license has been formally postponed until city officials revise the city ordinance regarding all such permits. The event venue at 124 Cass St. has a liquor license, which is required before obtaining a gambling permit. The City Council first considered the gambling permit at its Aug. 17 meeting, […]
At its July 20 meeting, the Woodstock City Council changed the city ordinance to make it easier to increase the city’s limit of 25 video gambling licenses. At its next meeting, Aug. 3, the council increased the limit to 27 to accommodate gambling permits for two businesses that had not opened despite having been granted […]
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.
