Village Voices - We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks

“What Are You Hoping For?” As our nation and the rest of the world is engrossed in this coronavirus epidemic, I’d like to offer perspective, encouragement and hope. We don’t know what the fina...

Now, before anybody gets mad and starts sending us nasty emails about how we are being too flippant regarding the Quarantine and that our April Fool’s issue was in poor taste … I see part of my...

I have now seen my wife more in the last week than I did in the last three months. (That’s not necessarily a good thing, I tend to fray nerves.) As the Coronavirus Quarantine drags on, everyone...

Today I’m going to continue on the theme of overcoming the Fear Factor. I think there is more fear and uncertainty out there now than there was even last week. People are genuinely scared. We faced...

Living in our little corner of Northwest Illinois, not much really makes a big impact on our everyday lives. Sure, we might have a storm come through, and seasonal flooding can be a royal pain in the...

Fear and Panic The world is a mess. I don’t have to tell you. There’s pandemic panic, there’s financial turbulence with the stock market, people are still digging through the rubble in...

Residents across Illinois will soon begin receiving invitations to fill out the 2020 census forms. Mandated by the United States Constitution, the census is a count of the United States population...

And it came to pass. There’s a guy in our church who says his favorite line in the Bible is: “And it came to pass.” He said it reminds him that whatever he is going through in life, it too...

Normally, I try not to make use of any of the jokes floating around on the internet. Few of them tickle me like real life situations, and most people have already heard them and passed them on to...

You may have seen that we recently alerted the public to a very serious concern with funding law enforcement training in the State of Illinois. Without intervention by the Illinois legislature, the...

Members of the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association are sounding the alarm about a recent policy change that releases non-citizen felons who have served their sentences back into Illinois communities...

There is a young man in our congregation who is in the military and was deployed to Afghanistan. We decided we were going to send him a care package from home a couple times a month. A family in our...

I’ve known Terry Whalen for a long time. As partners in the newspaper, we get on each other’s nerves a lot, but we’ve been friends from the get-go and that may never change. Now, Terry loves...

In his second Budget Address to lawmakers, Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled a proposal that seeks $1.6 billion in new spending and makes some funding for priorities like education, health care and public...

It had been a long day – making the delivery of our paper throughout the region at local post offices, not to mention the rack box locations, and while I no longer had Speech practice to worry about...

There was a new preacher in town in need of a lawn mower. Someone in his congregation heard about it and brought him over one that was well used. When it came time to cut the grass, the preacher got...

A group of bipartisan lawmakers have introduced a new amendment to our state’s Constitution that would take the process of drawing legislative districts out of the hands of sitting lawmakers....

A couple of years ago while shirt shopping I stumbled across a pair of shoes that were on sale. I don’t really like shopping so when I absolutely have to go, I try to get it all done at once so I...

I’m having a hard time this year, and I’m trying to put my finger on it, so bear with me for a bit here. Every February things get intense throughout the region for one major reason – the IHSA...

Months before Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton cut to the front of line to be one of the first in Illinois to purchase legal marijuana on January 1st, plans were already in the works by the Pritzker...

What’s In A Name? A Rose, by any other name, would still smell just as sweet. OK, my apologies for going back into teacher mode during the unit on Shakespeare, but the reason for the quote popping i...

The first $50 million of the $420 million dedicated to statewide broadband Internet expansion was released during the week, along with information about how to apply for the grants. Applicants for...

By now the Super Bowl is ancient history as is the hysteria around it. I hope it’s not too late to comment on it one last time - but - here goes. Going on my own instincts and observations, it...

Governor J.B. Pritzker painted a rosy picture in his first “State of the State” address January 29, but Senate Republican lawmakers say a greater emphasis should have been placed on rooting out...

(Forgive me if I’ve told this one before) … But … one dark night outside a small town in the midwest, a fire started inside the local chemical plant, and in a blink of an eye it exploded into...