Jeff Vorva
Times correspondent
Lockport native Bobby Gikas earned an Evans Scholarship for the class of 2017 and parlayed it into some recent fame at the University of Illinois.
He is the Illiniâs menâs basketball manager, a usually obscure position.Â
Because of COVID-19 concerns, the nationally ranked Illini are playing in near empty arenas with no bands or cheerleaders. So, Gikas provides some of the noise. He jumps around yelling encouragement to players and holds up signs. And he is getting noticed.
âHaving Bobby bring that juice, I think thatâs very important,â freshman player Andre Cubelo told the Champaign News-Gazette. âI love Bobby.â
Jeff Vorva
Times correspondent
Since it opened 10 years ago, the Tinley Park Convention Center has hosted everything from wedding receptions to civic expos to golf shows to punk rock concerts with acts including Naked Raygun and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.
Then came the pandemic, which largely idled the center until January, when it amped activity up. Â On Jan. 26, the 120,000-square-foot facility opened to provide thousands of COVID vaccines.Â
In a venture that includes the state, Cook County and the Village of Tinley Park, the Convention Center became the first mass COVID vaccination center in the state, set up in less than a week.
Whitlow action.jpg
Rick Whitlow glides in for a layup at Horton Field House during his Illinois State basketball career. Whitlow, the No. 15 scorer on ISU s career list, died early Tuesday at age 67. COURTESY ISU ATHLETICS
5 Questions with: Julie Dobski, Rotary District 6490 Governor
Name: Julie Dobski
With clubs and organizations not being able to meet, how are Rotary clubs functioning right now?
Rotary International encourages us to follow the guidelines set by the World Health Organization and our local health authorities, so most of the clubs in District 6490 are not holding in-person meetings. We are using web-based platforms to conduct our regularly scheduled meetings. But as Rotary connects people, it is important for our members to stay connected. Our virtual meetings should follow the same format as our in-person meetings, including protocol such as reciting the 4-Way Test, the pledge and invocation. And Iâm happy to say that attendance is positi
CALISTOGA â After enduring the shock of substantial damage and loss in the Glass Fire, Upvalley wineries are starting to rebuild amid numerous challenges. Not all of them are as tangible as replacing buildings.
Fairwinds Estate and Hourglass wineries on Silverado Trail in Calistoga are both in the process of drawing up plans to replace structures lost on their property.
But another challenge is to balance looking toward the future with healing from the past, and keeping the Napa Valley name and spirit alive.
âThere has always been a dialectic thread to our approach. Preserving the âold-school,â while embracing modernism. Trouble is you canât easily replace 160 years of history, patina and forest growth,â said Jeff Smith, owner of Hourglass Winery.