North Riverside Historical Society makes it official

July 14 was a big day for the North Riverside Historical Society. Actually, it was the day for the society, which until then had been just a loose aggregation of local history enthusiasts with a sense of purpose but little direction. Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Governor signs Riverside law

Governor Pat Quinn recently signed into law two bills that could mean more money for local governments and police departments, and both of the bills had their origins in Riverside. Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Computer crash knocks out e-mail

Don't you just hate it when your e-mail is on the fritz for a couple hours? How about for a week? Tuesday, September 07, 2010

D95 gets in touch with itself

Brookfield-LaGrange Park School District 95 is in the process of wrapping up a year-long, roughly $150,000 investment in its technological infrastructure, one that should be completed this week, according to Superintendent Mark Kuzniewski. Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Four hired to do residency checks for RBHS

Four experienced investigators will conduct residency investigations at Riverside Brookfield High School this year in cases where the school administration suspects that students may not live within Riverside-Brookfield High School District 208. Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Plans unveiled for 8 Corners church

First reported 9/03/10 4:35 P.M. Web Extra! View a pdf of the church plans Brookfield residents curious about just what a proposed church/community center at Eight Corners will look like can find out at a pair of meetings scheduled this month. Friday, September 03, 2010

It's on: Dam removal begins this winter

First reported 9/03/10 4:30 P.M. The first phase of a project resulting in the eventual elimination of the Hofmann Dam on the Des Plaines River will break ground this winter after commissioners of the Cook County Forest Preserve District board voted unanimously on Thursday to give the $7.7 million effort its blessing. Friday, September 03, 2010

Hope for families of the missing

Web Extra! Photos and maps Nancy Spellman was 8 years old the last time she saw her uncle, Harry "Bud" Carlsen. In his late twenties and recently divorced, Harry was heading off to California to begin his life anew. He was an ace auto mechanic, Spellman remembered, a big man, and she looked up to him. Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Hope for long-delayed Riverside project

The long-awaited facelift for Centennial Park in Riverside and the streets that border it will have to wait a little bit longer. Interim Public Works Director Edward Bailey on Friday said that there's no date set for work to commence on the project. Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Federal mediator to help D96 contract talks

A federal mediator is being called in as the teachers union and the Riverside Elementary School District 96 negotiating committee attempt to hammer out the final details of a new contract. Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Komarek hosts program on schedule change

The administration at Komarek School in North Riverside will host a special "parent university" session on Thursday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of the school, 8940 24th St. Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Full-time or part-time super? RB board to decide by Oct.

Will Riverside-Brookfield High School District 208 have a full-time or part-time superintendent a year from now? Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Ain't nobody here but us chickens

There's lots of wildlife in Riverside - coyotes, foxes, raccoons, deer. Just part of living near a river and forest preserves. Riversiders expect them. Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Brookfield sticker crackdown coming in September

Brookfield residents who have not purchased vehicle stickers for their cars and trucks in the past two years will have to pony up in the next month or face additional fines. Starting some time this month, the village will begin sending out letters to the owners of vehicles without stickers. Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Less recess, more class time at Komarek

Students at Komarek School in North Riverside will have a half hour more of instructional time every day this year, the result of a key change in the teachers' contract, ratified by the District 94 school board Aug. 10. Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Raises curtailed in new D94 teacher contract

Teachers at Komarek School didn't give up just a half hour of their lunch period in the three-year contract approved by the school board on Aug. 10. According to the contract, teachers have agreed to have step raises frozen during the first year of the contract, and base-pay raises are frozen in the second year. Tuesday, August 24, 2010

RBHS wants tuition from non-resident students

Five students who attended Riverside-Brookfield High School last year will not be back this year after the school board determined that they did not reside within district boundaries. Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Riverside seeks federal grant to repave Burlington

Now that work to install a new water main along East Burlington Street in downtown Riverside has left the roadway a patchwork quilt of uneven pavement, the village has applied for federal funding to resurface the street. Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Riverside projects revenue shortfall in 2010

After starting the 2010 fiscal year with a budget projecting a $367,000 general operating fund deficit by year's end, Riverside faces an estimated $150,000 additional shortfall in revenues. Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Riverside phases in pension contributions

For the second straight year, Riverside trustees voted to withhold more than $35,000 in contributions to the village's municipal employees pension fund. The move will allow the village to use that money to fund operations in 2011. Trustees did the same thing last year in order to keep more cash on hand for expenses in 2010. Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Eleanor L. Kartje, 85, Retired hospital secretary

Brookfield resident Eleanor L. Kartje (nee Bailey), 85, died Aug. 21, 2010. Ms. Kartje was born on Nov. 25, 1924, one of five children in her family. She married Harold Kartje, who survives his wife, and worked as a secretary at LaGrange Memorial Hospital prior to retirement. Tuesday, August 24, 2010

New owner closes on Arcade Building

First reported 8/20/10 5:13 p.m. The next chapter in the history of the Arcade Building in downtown Riverside can start to be written now that a new owner has officially closed on the property. Friday, August 20, 2010

Federal purse opened by disaster declaration

First reported 8/20/10 3:54 p.m. Home and business owners who lost property or whose buildings were damaged in recent flooding - now that Cook County officially has been declared a disaster area - may start applying for assistance as of Aug. 20, by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 for the hearing and speech impaired. Friday, August 20, 2010

North Riverside red light camera goes live

Web Extra! North Riverside Police Chief Anthony Garvey has announced that the red light camera overlooking southbound traffic on Harlem Avenue at 26th Street went live on Aug. 16. Police instituted a seven-day grace period where offenders will be sent warning notices if they run red lights or make an illegal right turn on red. Thursday, August 19, 2010

Local bank selling branch office

First reported 8/18/10 4:52 p.m. First National Bank of Brookfield will sell its Naperville branch in order to consolidate its business at the flagship institution and "focus on our core customers in Brookfield," bank CEO Jan Schultz said last week. Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Mixed signals on local home values

Web Extra! See more real estate charts. While detached, single-family home values continued to dip in Brookfield and North Riverside during the first half of 2010, prices for homes in Riverside recovered slightly. Home buying activity also increased year over year in the first half of 2010 compared to 2009 in all three villages, although foreclosures and the sale of bank-owned properties continued to remain even or even accelerated. Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Church patron wants quick decision

The Brookfield Plan Commission could be weighing a proposal for a new church at the corner of Grand Boulevard and Maple Avenue as early as September, according to the woman who has spent more than $1 million assembling the land for the church over the past year. Tuesday, August 17, 2010

RBHS changing residency check firms

There will be a new firm investigating residency issues at Riverside-Brookfield High School this fall. Next week District 208 Interim Superintendent David Bonnette plans to recommend that the District 208 school board hire a new firm to conduct residency investigations at the school, replacing National Investigations, the firm that has handled residency investigations for the past two years at RB. Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Pension reform question on Brookfield ballot this fall

Brookfield voters won't have a tax referendum on the ballot when they go to the polls on Nov. 2. But they will be asked to consider a question asking elected officials in Springfield to reform the pension system for police and firefighters. Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Would aid investigations, deter crime, says police chief

Following on the heels of a brutal robbery and homicide at an Ogden Avenue liquor store in July, Brookfield's police chief has asked the village board to consider a law requiring certain types of businesses to install video cameras inside their stores. Tuesday, August 17, 2010