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6/28 10am to 2pm (Sunday)
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By: Dana Rebik, Ethan Illers | WGN9
A proposed data center in the northwest suburbs is drawing residents to protest Wednesday evening.
Plum Farms, which stretches across 185 acres of land near Route 59 and Higgins Road in Hoffman Estates, could soon be home to the village’s third data center. It’s a project proposed by the company Karis Critical.
The possibility of the data center being built has area residents frustrated.
“It is incredibly close. My neighbors and I, we can walk down a hilly berm from some of their back yards,” South Barrington resident Dr. Laura Holmes said. “The people here have some idea that they’re closing us in.”
At a commission meeting held on June 3, residents said they were not given information about the scope of the project, so they filed a freedom of information request and said what they found was alarming.
“We feel like we’ve been totally ignored. The public hearings we’ve had are like political theater. It’s just a formality. They’ve already made up their mind,” Barrington Hills resident Amanda Pollard said. “They had all these plans up to 18 months ago even prior to the sale of the property. We found a letter from the village manager who basically guaranteed we can re-zone.”
According to a letter from Village Manager Eric Palm to Karis Critical Attorney Matthew Norton, in January of 2025, Palm said the village recognizes the benefits data centers provide for the community, saying the village will support zoning approvals and that staff will recommend its approval.
Residents said seeing this makes them feel left in the dark.
“It’s been very surreptitious,” Holmes said.
Residents also found detailed site plans on a Karis document, showing a five-building, 300 megawatt data center, ten times larger than the one Karis tried to build in Naperville, which was voted down earlier this year.
Report and video can be found here.
Related: “HOFFMAN ESTATES NOTICE OF (PLUM FARMS) PUBLIC HEARING JULY 6,” “‘Wrong project, wrong place’: Critics push back on rezoning plan for potential Hoffman Estates data center,” “Change.org Petition: ‘Deny Rezoning of Plum Farms In Hoffman Estates’,” “South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie shares an update on Hoffman Estates/Plum Farms Plan Commission meeting,” “Hoffman Estates plan commission rejects rezoning request for possible data center,” “Hoffman Estates Plan Commission rejects zoning change for new data center project,” “Hoffman Estates Plum Farm June 3rd Plan Commission Meeting Essentials,” “After being rejected in Naperville, company could build data center in Hoffman Estates,” “South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie posts information regarding June 3 Hoffman Estates (Plum Farms) Plan Commission meeting,” “(Plum Farms) NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 3,” “Hoffman Estates could see third data center campus with sale of Plum Farms property,” “Hoffman Estates approves sewer, water for development of 185 acres west of The Arboretum,” “Hoffman Estates approves tax incentive at routes 59, 72,” “District 220 lawsuit against Hoffman Estates, Plum Farms developers dismissed,” “South Barrington residents sue over Hoffman Estates development,” “Editorial: Listen to agencies that would feel consequences of Hoffman Estates development”
Posted in AI, BACOG, Cook, County, Data Center, Deception, FPDCC, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, News Media, Plum Farm development, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Resident Spotlights, School Districts, South Barrington, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Traffic, Transparency, Unions, Well Water Quality, WGN9 | Leave a Comment »
Residents of Hoffman Estates, Barrington Hills and South Barrington, including Christine Krzystofczyk of Hoffman Estates, protest the proposed rezoning of the 186-acre Plum Farms property at the corner of routes 59 and 72, immediately west of The Arboretum in South Barrington Wednesday. | John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
By Eric Peterson | Daily Herald
Residents of communities near the 186-acre Plum Farms property in Hoffman Estates Wednesday protested its proposed rezoning for industrial uses they consider a smoke screen for a data center.
Demonstrators from Hoffman Estates, Barrington Hills and South Barrington cited documents obtained through public records requests as evidence that inquiries about a plan for a data center at the northwest corner of routes 59 and 72 were shared with the village in early 2025
Hoffman Estates Deputy Village Manager Jon Pape confirmed landowner Karis Critical did submit such unsolicited concept plans last year. They were not reviewed by village staff as a formal development proposal would have been.
Doreen Gibrich, along with other residents of Hoffman Estates, Barrington Hills and South Barrington, protests the proposed rezoning of the 186-acre Plum Farms property on the corner of routes 59 and 72 Wednesday. | John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Mayor Bill McLeod emphasized the request before the village board at its meeting of Monday, July 6 is for a rezoning of the property without a detailed plan attached.
“A concept plan isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on,” McLeod said. “Formal plans are very involved. What’s on the table is rezoning.”
The village’s plan commission recommended against granting that request by a 4-2 vote on June 3. The village presidents of Barrington Hills and South Barrington have lent their voices to the opposition.
Article continues here.
Related: “HOFFMAN ESTATES NOTICE OF (PLUM FARMS) PUBLIC HEARING JULY 6,” “‘Wrong project, wrong place’: Critics push back on rezoning plan for potential Hoffman Estates data center,” “Change.org Petition: ‘Deny Rezoning of Plum Farms In Hoffman Estates’,” “South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie shares an update on Hoffman Estates/Plum Farms Plan Commission meeting,” “Hoffman Estates plan commission rejects rezoning request for possible data center,” “Hoffman Estates Plan Commission rejects zoning change for new data center project,” “Hoffman Estates Plum Farm June 3rd Plan Commission Meeting Essentials,” “After being rejected in Naperville, company could build data center in Hoffman Estates,” “South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie posts information regarding June 3 Hoffman Estates (Plum Farms) Plan Commission meeting,” “(Plum Farms) NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 3,” “Hoffman Estates could see third data center campus with sale of Plum Farms property,” “Hoffman Estates approves sewer, water for development of 185 acres west of The Arboretum,” “Hoffman Estates approves tax incentive at routes 59, 72,” “District 220 lawsuit against Hoffman Estates, Plum Farms developers dismissed,” “South Barrington residents sue over Hoffman Estates development,” “Editorial: Listen to agencies that would feel consequences of Hoffman Estates development”
Posted in AI, BACOG, Cook, County, Daily Herald, Data Center, Deception, EJ&E/Canadian National, FPDCC, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Mad Cows, Plum Farm development, Politics, Privacy, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, School Districts, Sears, South Barrington, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Traffic, Transparency, Unions | Leave a Comment »
People in Illinois lost more than $7.7 billion gambling last year. As lawmakers increasingly bet on gambling to pay the state’s bills, they have only spare change to treat compulsive gamblers.
By Casey Toner and Maggie Dougherty | Capitol News Illinois
This story is a collaboration between Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Answers Project.
Editor’s note: Some individuals in this story are identified only by first name and last initial at their request to allow them to speak openly about their addiction without fear of reprisal for actions taken when gambling.
CHICAGO — When Reeve L. was growing up, his babysitters were the horse tracks in Arlington Heights, Maywood and Stickney, where he’d watch his father bet for hours.
When his father won, life was good — or at least tolerable. But when his father lost, he’d beat Reeve and his mother, her so badly she’d be afraid to show up to work with her bruises. In his father’s life, gambling came first, family a distant second.
Reeve saw how gambling could ruin a man and his family, and it was the last life he wanted to lead.
And yet, after Illinois legalized sports gambling in 2019, Reeve saw a gambling promotion scroll across the bottom of a televised Cubs-Reds game offering a free $5 bet for new customers. A modest bet on the Cubs, his favorite team, cracked open the dam for Reeve, sending his life spiraling into the rapids of uncontrolled gambling for five years.
That first bet, placed with a few taps on his phone, led him to blow through about $450,000 in savings and $150,000 in loans. He drained the nest egg that he and his husband saved to buy a house. Along the way he alienated about two dozen friends and would have lost his husband had he not joined a local Gamblers Anonymous group, Reeve said.
If the state had stronger gambling guardrails in place, Reeve said, he may have never found himself falling headfirst into his father’s addiction.
“There’s a responsibility of the state to protect the people,” Reeve said. “I think there has to be a responsibility of the state to know how many lives are being destroyed, and not even that person, but the lives around them, the divorce rates, the people not going out and spending money at restaurants or anything that now is going to sports gambling. It’s a billion dollar industry — that money is being taken away from somewhere in Illinois.”
Gov. JB Pritzker expanded casinos and sports gambling in his first year in office and has encouraged people to gamble in Illinois casinos, building on more than three decades of elected officials dealing a favorable hand to gambling operators. Chicago, the last major holdout against slot machines, recently lifted its ban, setting the stage for possibly thousands of new machines to flood bars and restaurants.
The state raked in more than $2.6 billion in gambling tax revenues last year to help balance its budget, but that’s just a slice of the more than $7.7 billion that people in Illinois lost last year gambling at casinos, playing on regulated slot machines, betting on sports and buying lottery tickets. Of those losses, more than $4.1 billion went to sportsbooks, slot machines and casino operators.
Illinois collected over $1 billion in tax revenues from sports betting in the first six years of legalization
The state has also made over $6 billion in taxes from video gaming terminals since they launched in 2012, nearly $13 billion from casinos since the first licensed casino opened in 1991, and over $23 billion in lottery revenues since introduced in 1974
The state dedicates less than 0.1% of the revenues generated by gambling back to treating the addiction it causes; for every $100 the state collected from gambling last year, it devoted less than $0.06 to treatment. Nationally, problem gamblers have one of the highest rates of suicide; the National Council on ProblemGambling estimates one in five have tried to take their own life.
The state last assessed problem gambling during the pandemic when sports gambling had yet to be fully implemented, estimating 383,000 Illinois adults to have a gambling problem, and another 761,000 as being at risk of developing one, though some clinicians consider the estimates an undercount. Pritzker’s Department of Human Services plans to publish a second assessment in 2027 and plans to do so every five years.
Report continues here.
Posted in Capitol News Illinois, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Springfield, Taxes | 1 Comment »
A recent survey also shows that fully half of residents would move out of the state given the opportunity.
By Todd J. Behme | Illinois Policy Institute
Pocketbook issues concern Illinoisans significantly more than other issues and account for why so many would leave if given the chance.
More than half of Illinois voters polled cited high taxes as a top issue in a list of seven issues facing Illinois, according to a survey conducted for the Illinois Policy Institute.
Next was the economy, selected by 41% of respondents. That percentage has risen sharply in the past year, from 24% at the beginning of 2025 to 35% in the first quarter of this year. The percentage citing taxes fell from 58% in the first quarter.
Voter irritation with property taxes is high. Over 61% said they were somewhat or very dissatisfied with the value their community gets for those taxes. Fewer than 24% were somewhat or very satisfied.
Illinois is tied with New Jersey for the highest effective residential property tax rate. State residents pay the highest combined state and local tax rate in the country. Per-capita state and local taxes were in the top 10 in the country in fiscal 2023.
The resulting financial stress has more residents considering an out-of-state move. Just over 51% of poll respondents would leave Illinois if they had the opportunity, the highest percentage in the past six quarters. About 39% would stay — lowest since the beginning of 2025 — and about 10% were unsure.
Report continues here.
Posted in Commodius Maximus, Cost of Living, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Illinois Policy Institute, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Taxes, Unions | Leave a Comment »
Carpentersville Mayor John Skillman was one of five speakers Tuesday at the Northern Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s Mayors’ Breakfast held at The BRIX on the Fox in Carpentersville. | Gloria Casas/The Courier-News
By Gloria Casas | For the Naperville Sun
A new 270-unit residential subdivision on Randall Road, a new kayak kiosk on the Fox River and a blank slate for Spring Hill Mall site development are among the projects on the horizon for Carpentersville, East Dundee and West Dundee in the coming year.
The mayors or representatives of all three towns, joined by those in Gilberts and Sleepy Hollow, spoke Tuesday morning at the annual Northern Illinois Kane County Chamber of Commerce’s Mayors’ Breakfast at The BRIX on the Fox in Carpentersville.
CARPENTERSVILLE
Mayor John Skillman said one of the biggest initiatives on the horizon for his town is the new 17-building residential development being built off Randall Road north of the former Dominick’s grocery store.
“We’ve been talking about this for a few years,” he said. “This plan is part of the TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district, which was created last year (and) includes another 158 acres mostly on the western side of Huntley Road,” Skillman said.
Skillman also spoke about Habitat for Humanity’s Carter Crossing, 28 single-family homes off Kings Road, which is moving forward, and the upscale housing development planned for Huntley Road and Route 31, the developers of which have put up a fence in advance of construction starting.
“We’re excited about that,” he said.
Carpentersville is also working on a 22,000-square-foot expansion to the village hall and the police department, he said.
“It’s a long time coming,” Skillman said. “We needed a new village hall. The police department we’ve outgrown so we’re ready for that. It’s a big project for us.”
Article continues here.
Posted in News Media, Topics Of Interest | Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Area Council of Governments (BACOG) is scheduled to meet this evening beginning at 6:50 PM at the Tower Lakes Village Hall, 400 N. IL Route 59. Their meetings will include:
- 6:50 PM – Nominations
- 7:00 PM – Executive Board
Meeting agendas are not posted by BACOG, nor are minutes, but their website does state, “Copies of approved minutes for BACOG committee and executive board meetings are available upon request. Please submit requests by email to bacog@bacog.org.
Editorial note: 3 of 7 remaining BACOG members spoke in opposition to the potential rezoning of the 186-acre Plum Farms property at the June 15th Hoffman Estates Village Board meeting. One would hope BACOG as a group can resolve to oppose this proposed zoning change tonight.
Related: “HOFFMAN ESTATES NOTICE OF (PLUM FARMS) PUBLIC HEARING JULY 6”
Posted in BACOG, Hoffman Estates, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Plum Farm development, School Districts, South Barrington, Taxes, Unions | Leave a Comment »
The Daily Herald is printed at the Tribune printing plant Feb. 10, 2026, in Schaumburg. | Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune
By Robert Channick | Chicago Tribune
Three years after buying the Daily Herald printing plant, Tribune Publishing has added the storied suburban newspaper itself to an expanding Chicago-area portfolio.
The purchase closed Monday, putting the 150-year-old Daily Herald, the state’s third-largest newspaper, under the Tribune Publishing corporate umbrella, joining nearly three dozen daily and weekly suburban newspapers and the flagship Chicago Tribune.
“I think it’s a great fit for the Chicago Tribune Media Group,” said Par Ridder, publisher of Chicago Tribune Media Group. “It’s really maybe the crown jewel of our suburban coverage.”
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed, but Tribune Publishing has extended offers of employment to all Daily Herald employees, according to a published statement by Douglas Ray, chairman, publisher and CEO of Paddock Publications, parent company of the Daily Herald.
In May, Tribune Publishing struck a deal to buy the Daily Herald after waging a monthslong campaign — including taking out several full-page print ads in the Chicago Tribune — to convince the suburban newspaper’s employee owners to support the sale.
“We are pleased that ESOP participants voted by a substantial margin in favor of the sale to Tribune Publishing,” Ray said in an online statement Monday.
Report continues here.
Posted in Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, News Media | Leave a Comment »
Submitted by the village of South Barrington
The South Barrington Police Department announced plans for July Fourth traffic enforcement with a focus on impaired and unbuckled drivers. The safety campaign will run through July 6 to encompass summer weekends leading up to and after Independence Day.
“We’re asking all of our residents and visitors to celebrate Independence Day safely,” said Sergeant Lynch “It’s simple: If you’re driving, don’t drink or use cannabis or other impairing substances. Our officers will be working diligently to keep impaired drivers off the road and ensure everyone is buckled up.”
South Barrington will join the Illinois State Police and more than 200 local police and sheriff’s departments for the statewide effort.
To celebrate safely, designate a sober driver and don’t let friends or family members drive impaired. Other important tips include:
- Give your designated driver your keys before you go out.
- If you are impaired by alcohol, cannabis, or any other drug, call a taxi, take mass transit, use a ride-sharing service, or call a sober friend or family member to get you home safely.
- Use your community’s designated driver program.
- Promptly report impaired drivers to law enforcement by pulling over and dialing 911.
- Make sure everyone in your vehicle wears their seat belt. Not only is it the law, but it’s also your best defense against an impaired driver.
The “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over,” “Drive High Get a DUI” and “Click It or Ticket” campaigns are made possible by federal traffic safety funds administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The enforcement efforts are complemented by IDOT’s “It’s Not a Game” media campaign, which emphasizes the serious consequences of impaired driving and other unsafe driving behaviors.
Posted in Public Safety, South Barrington | Leave a Comment »
By The Editorial Board | Chicago Tribune
Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday signed into law a new state budget that modestly increased state spending on K-12 education and related costs.
Yet most headlines ignored a more consequential education narrative — not one of how much is flowing to classrooms, but how much money never makes it there in the first place.
Pritzker’s budget allocates nearly $10.8 billion for K-12 education.
It also includes $7 billion for K-12 pension costs.
In 2000, the state spent about $705 million on K-12 pensions.
That’s not a typo.
Even after adjusting for inflation, Illinois’ spending on K-12 pensions has skyrocketed by roughly fivefold since the turn of the last century, ballooning to nearly 10 times the raw dollar amount spent in 2000.
For every dollar Illinois spends on education, it spends another 65 cents on pension obligations. Imagine how much more schools could do with even a sliver of that money.
These numbers help explain one major reason why costs continue to climb even as Illinois’ student population goes down. New data show Illinois lost more than 100,000 public school students in just the five years since 2019, more than twice the rate of decline for the Midwest as a whole. The state educates roughly 206,000 fewer public school students today than it did in 2000.
Yet total education spending continues to grow, though not necessarily in the best way for current and future students.
Editorial continues here.
Posted in Barrington Education Association, Chicago Tribune, Cost of Living, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Illinois Federation of Teachers, Look For The Union Label, Overhead, Politics, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, Unions | Leave a Comment »
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