Free Republic

A newly unsealed federal complaint accuses a Downers Grove man of threatening to kill federal immigration officers and other public officials while stockpiling a small arsenal of weapons and ammunition marked with the names of political figures. .. The FBI says Stover used Bluesky and Facebook accounts to repeatedly post violent rhetoric from February through July 2025, including explicit calls to kill Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “on sight.”

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. (Gray News) - A special education teacher is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy at school during a tutoring session. According to the Downers Grove Police Department, Christina Formella, 30, sexually assaulted the boy in a classroom at Downers Grove South High School during a tutoring session before school in December 2023. Formella worked there as a special education teacher and soccer coach. The boy’s mother discovered the alleged sexual assault when she looked through a text message thread on her son’s phone and reported it to police on March 15. Formella was taken into custody...

A DuPage County judge has ordered a full recount of the November race for DuPage County auditor, ruling there are enough ballots in question to potentially overturn the results. "Any in-precinct ballot that is not initialed shall be deemed defective and not counted," Judge Craig R. Belford wrote in a written ruling Wednesday. According to the initial count, incumbent Republican Bob Grogan lost to Democratic challenger William "Bill" White by 75 votes, 233,121 to 233.046. Grogan sought a recount, claiming in court filings that an election judge at a Downers Grove Township polling place failed to initial all ballots as...

Officials and visitors assembled for an Illinois tollway board meeting Thursday morning were out in record time. That wasn't because of a light agenda. Rather, the absence of board directors meant the agency didn't have enough for a quorum. Six directors are required, and only four were there at 9 a.m. when the meeting was supposed to start. Board members present were Chairman Robert Schillerstrom, the Rev. Corey Brooks of Chicago, David Gonzalez, the mayor of Chicago Heights, and Craig Johnson, Elk Grove Village mayor. Director Earl Dotson arrived shortly after the meeting was canceled. The board has been short...

Submitted by the Illinois Tollway. Downers Grove, IL - The Illinois Tollway is partnering with the Morton Arboretum to enhance aesthetics and expand tree canopy coverage along the tollway system as part of its efforts to increase environmental benefits and sustainability. In recognition of the new effort, the Tollway will celebrate Arbor Day on April 29 by giving away 15,000 tree seedlings to customers at the Tollway’s Downers Grove headquarters and at tollway oases. In partnership with the Morton Arboretum, the Illinois Tollway develop a systemwide landscape master plan for trees, shrubs and other native plantings on Tollway property. The...

(CBS) – Corey Brooks, the “Rooftop Pastor” from Chicago’s South Side who endorsed Republican Bruce Rauner for governor, now has a paid appointed position with the Rauner administration.Gov. Rauner’s office on Friday announced Brooks, senior pastor at New Beginnings Church, will be a director on the Illinois Tollway Board, the Downers Grove-based authority that controls toll roads.Brooks was among a group of African-American religious leaders in Chicago who backed Rauner, a wealthy businessman, over incumbent Democrat Pat Quinn, saying Democrats had taken black political support for granted.The tollway appointment would seem an odd fit for Brooks, a social crusader who...

In their first response since the case sparked a national race debate months ago, lawyers for Midwest Sperm Bank this week pushed for the suit's dismissal because they said Illinois law does not recognize damages or extra costs associated with raising a healthy child. In her lawsuit, filed last fall, Jennifer Cramblett said she became pregnant in December 2011 through artificial insemination with sperm donated by a black man instead of a white donor as she and her same-sex partner had intended. Cramblett said she learned of the alleged mistake five months into her pregnancy, when she called the sperm...

Charges pit free speech against highway safety Attorney to work pro bono on pair's defense By Jennifer Golz Staff writer A Downers Grove man believes he is being prosecuted for his political views - and an area attorney has taken his case pro bono. Jeff Zurawski, 39, of Downers Grove and Sarah M. Hartfield, 45, of Naperville were initially charged with disorderly conduct for displaying a banner that read "Impeach Bush and Cheney - LIARS" on May 6 on the Great Western Trail above Interstate 355. But more charges were brought against the two war protesters last week in DuPage...