Free Republic

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — President Joe Biden will be making his first presidential trip to Illinois Wednesday with a planned stop in Crystal Lake. The visit is also the first time a sitting president has ever stopped in Crystal Lake — a town with a population of about 38,000 located in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. "We are thrilled and proud that President Biden has chosen our community as his first visit to Illinois as President," said Kristina Zahorik, chair of the Democratic Party of McHenry County. "We are excited the President is highlighting our great Community College and...

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. — Sources tell WGN the body of Andrew “AJ” Freund, a 5-year-old boy missing from Crystal Lake, has been found. Earlier Wednesday, investigators returned to the family home and removed several items, including a shovel, a mattress, two lawn bags and a large bin. The family dog was also removed from the home by Animal Control officials. Meanwhile, the FBI, McHenry County Sheriff’s deputies and Crystal Lake police were at a rural area in Woodstock about 15 minutes from the house. The Crystal Lake Police Department will hold a news conference regarding the case at 1 p.m.,...

In a stunning display of ignorance, the Illinois State Senate just voted 43-12 in favor of the resolution to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment. What makes this vote even more enraging is that Republicans Pam Althoff (R-Crystal Lake), Jason Barickman (R-Pontiac), Mike Connelly (R-Wheaton), Karen McConnaughay (R-West Dundee), Chris Nybo (R-Hinsdale), Sue Rezin (R-Morris), and Tom Rooney (R-Palatine) voted with Democrats on this partisan resolution.

A woman who live-streamed herself and a trio of friends abusing a mentally disabled man and taunting him with racial insults was sentenced to probation Friday after spending nearly a year behind bars. Brittany Covington, 19, had been held at the Cook County Jail without bond since January, when she and co-defendants Tesfaye Cooper, Jordan Hill and her 24-year-old sister Tanishia Covington were arrested on kidnapping and hate-crime charges. The plea deal prosecutors made with Brittany Covington makes her the first of the four to be released, though she will remain on probation for four years and is barred from...

The student who said he was attacked, eighth-grader Omid Babakhani, 13, said he was walking with a friend to his locker when a familiar voice behind him said, “Hey, Persian,” then, “Do you want to fight a black man?" Crystal Lake School District 47 Superintendant Kathy Hinz said the incident happened in the school hallway as the boys were walking out of lunch. She said there is supervision at all times in the lunchroom and in the hallways.

CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (AP) -- Among the items on the City Council's agenda seems a simple matter: Whether to give rowers a permit to have a boat race this summer on a small man-made lake. But because the rowers are gay - participating in something called the Gay Games - what would normally be a mundane debate about parking and street closures is instead a heated battle between those who see the event as a threat to their small-town way of life and those who see such views as simply small-minded. On Tuesday, the City Council was scheduled to discuss...

CRYSTAL LAKE - David Treadwell's day had been fairly normal before the full-grown female deer walked into Target at about 2:20 p.m. Monday. Treadwell had stopped at the store to use the ATM and had parked in the fire lane. "Who thinks they're actually going to use the fire lane while you're at the ATM," Treadwell said. "It was pretty crazy." The Crystal Lake man did not notice the 4-foot-tall deer standing in the vestibule until he heard a blood-curdling scream. The deer had spooked a woman holding a baby. When the woman screamed, the deer ran through a second...