At a time when the city of Aurora has been tightening its belt, laying off employees and asking its unions for concessions, 12 executive employees have received promotions and pay increases, according to finance documents released last week.

Update: The deputy coroner who took the Kathleen Savio death call testified in a Will County courtroom today that state police Crime Scene Investigator Robert Deel told him there was nothing "we need to be looking for here," prompting him to abandon the suspicious death protocol.

The Kaneland teacher's union has decided it will not renegotiate the final year of a three-year contract. KEA President Linda Zulkowski said 75 percent of its membership voted not to reconsider terms of the contract.

School District 308 plans to announce $3.3 million in personnel reductions on Wednesday, according to Oswego Superintendent Dan O'Donnell. During Monday's School Board meeting, O'Donnell told an auditorium filled with dozens of employees and parents that a separate announcement would be made about personnel cuts, but he did not elaborate.

Opponents of the proposed relocation of Navistar International Corp. to Lisle continued this week to press the DuPage County Board to revoke its approval of the project. Three of the project's foes addressed the board Tuesday, tackling issues including public health, taxpayer burden and corporate integrity in stating their case against the planned redevelopment of the former Alcatel-Lucent property on Warrenville Road in Lisle.

Stacy Peterson hatched a plan to blackmail husband Drew Peterson with the murder of his previous wife, a Wheaton attorney said Monday. Harry Smith, the lawyer who represented Drew Peterson's third wife, Kathleen Savio, in their divorce, said fourth wife Stacy called him and requested he represent her when she dumped Peterson herself.

The DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management will monitor the incoming winter storm and assist local municipalities through its Emergency Operations Center, activated at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Budgets for units of government all over Illinois are being slashed to make accommodations for the worst recession since the early 1980s, and Indian Prairie School District 204 is no exception.

The reports of our blizzard may have been greatly exaggerated. The bigger concern for Wednesday morning are high winds that could result in snow-covered roads throughout the region.

The combination of the snowstorm that has socked the East Coast and the storm that is expected to bring as much as 13 inches of snow to the Chicago area over the next two days has led already to the cancellation of more than 500 flights at Chicago's airports.

Naperville area cancellations are summarized, including school closings and canceled programs.
Police have released surveillance photos that show the man who robbed a Chase Bank branch here last week. At 5:55 p.m. Feb. 2, the Chase Bank at 130 S. Batavia Ave. was robbed by one man. Police said the man did not show a weapon or imply he had one. Afterward, he ran east.

Kendall County could save more than $300,000 by re-funding the bonds it passed to pay for the new courthouse.

Rob Russell has conceded victory to his Republican primary opponent Don Kramer in the election for the Kane County sheriff's nomination. In an e-mail, Russell congratulated Kramer on winning the nomination and praised him for running a clean, issue-based campaign.

West Aurora High School students are turning a popular Valentine's Day fundraising event into a way to do their part to help those devastated by last month's earthquake in Haiti.

A Kendall County Board candidate continues to question whether another candidate's company has failed to pay property taxes on land in the county.

The Obama Administration will spend $78.5 million on a multijurisdictional "unparalleled effort" to stop Asian carp from taking over the Great Lakes.