The Herald News

The University of St. Francis will celebrate Founders' Day on Sept. 8 to honor the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate who founded the institution in 1920 and continue to sponsor the university.

A woman went to court last week to get an order of protection because she said her boyfriend threatened to burn down her home. Four days later, her house was gutted by fire, and the boyfriend suffered severe burns while allegedly inside torching the place.

Of Joliet Grade School District's 19 schools, only four made adequate yearly progress on a state test.

Two new teachers and a social worker were introduced to the Channahon School Board. The board welcomed junior high social worker Molly Rafter and sixth-grade teachers Ted Martin and Shannon Bartels.

Just like in the early 1900s, fun-seekers will be drawn to the west bank of the DuPage River next weekend as a new downtown festival kicks off its inaugural year.

The American Cancer Society announced that Harrah's Joliet Casino & Hotel Senior Vice President and General Manager Darren VanDover will chair the society's first annual Will County Pink Ribbon Ball.

A local man pushed, punched and suffocated his girlfriend before threatening her at gunpoint after she had the temerity to ask about the women's photographs she found on his cell phone, police said.

A team of students from Wilmington High School have completed scientific training at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, W.Va.

A live bat trapped in the bedroom of a near West Side Joliet apartment tested positive for rabies Aug. 24, and five people at the residence have been advised to begin post-exposure rabies treatment.

The Towne Center Splash Park was never meant to be a Slip 'N' Slide. The village earlier this month was forced to close the newly installed park shortly after it opened because the concrete became too slippery when wet.

When teacher Steve Stefanski toured schools in South Africa this summer, he noticed the large class sizes, lack of chalk and the barbed wire. Stefanski, who teaches economics, world history and U.S. history at Romeoville High School, visited the KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa as part of a 16-day study tour sponsored by the Council for Economic Education through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Left, right, left, right, left ... Feet kept in rhythm as "Stars and Stripes Forever" blared from a portable stereo in the courtyard. Small feet moved up and down, knees bouncing upward. Larger feet kept time, too, not moving quite as far or fast.

About 30 residents attended a community work session Monday night at Mokena Elementary School to brainstorm on ways to persuade voters to approve a property tax increase for Mokena School District.

Eight Minooka police were honored with a departmental citation Tuesday night for their parts in the capture of suspected murderer Lawrence Coffee in May.

The 150th anniversary of the Lockport train station will be celebrated with a September ceremony hosted by the city and the National Railway Historical Society.

An audience gathered Saturday at the place where a deadly tornado cut a path exactly 20 years earlier, a place to remember lives lost, lives changed, a community brought together, and a community rebuilt. The commemoration ceremony began at 3 p.m. on the west side of the DuPage River south of Lockport Street. The tornado passed through here, from the northwest to the southeast, around 3:30 p.m. Aug. 28, 1990.

After two years of vacancy, the Heartland Corporate Center has a new tenant.

Donna Buckley has retired from her position as treasurer for the village of Minooka. Buckley has been with the village for 18 years.

Through Grundy County Sheriff Terry Marketti, Operation MOMS Cookies Inc. received a little extra "dough" during the most recent Morris Cruise Night held Aug. 14 in downtown Morris.

Turn it down, Bolingbrook. That is the word after the village board this week OK'd harsher penalties for those playing excessively loud music in their cars.