Tim Weik News Today

The Sun-Times spoke with Freeport residents to gauge what’s on their minds days before Tuesday’s election, and their responses were fittingly diverse for a blue-leaning city in a blood-red county. Patty Tricker worries that Democrats are “all too happy to let criminals roam free.” But Gary Jakubowski fears Trump’s persistent lies about the 2020 election: “It’s un-American. It’s scary.”

The United Way of Northwest Illinois started the Small Town Heroes campaign in 2016 as a way to acknowledge the unsung heroes in northwest Illinois.

Jane Lethlean Special to The Journal-Standard FREEPORT — Spring-like temperatures made a workday pleasurable as volunteers descended on Little Cubs Field on Saturday morning for a spring cleanup day, ridding the historic park of remnants of leftover winter to create a new year of baseball at the replica of Wrigley Field. A new American flag was hung and division pennants were placed. While some washed windows, others raked the ball diamond, stained dugout benches and replaced rotting boards...

Jane Lethlean Special to the Journal-Standard FREEPORT — Nearly 140 people were treated Sunday to a history lesson and Tim Connors portrayal of Benjamin Franklin, thanks in part to a bad case of pandemic hair. It was 1706 when historical figure and one of the founders of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, was born. But Connors brought Franklin to life via an online re-enactment over the weekend for a unique history lesson via Zoom. Connors first portrayed Franklin 20 years ago in t...