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Archive for June, 2021

A variety of local entertainment scheduled this weekend

Posted in Entertainment, Topics Of Interest on June 25, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Music Hill

The Presbyterian Church of Barrington presents Music on the Hill Saturday night.

Music on the Hill: 7 p.m. Saturday, June 26, at Presbyterian Church of Barrington, 6 Brinker Road, Barrington Hills. Free outdoor concert featuring the Old Town Bluegrass Boys. www.pcbarrington.org.

Barrington Classic Car Show: Noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 26, at Cook and East Lake Streets, Barrington. View classic cars on display from noon to 4 p.m. Food, adult refreshments and live music on the VIP Patio until 10 p.m. with a $10 donation. 21 or older to enter VIP Patio. barringtonchamber.com.

Long Grove Strawberry Festival: Noon to 11 p.m. Friday, June 25; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 26; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, June 27, in downtown Long Grove. Strawberry-infused foods and drinks, live music, carnival and family entertainment. $5; free for kids 9 and younger. Free admission before 2 p.m. Friday. longgrove.org/festivals/strawberry-fest-2021.

Greek Fest 2021: 4-8 p.m. Thursday, June 24, and noon to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday, June 25-27, at St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church, 133 S. Roselle Road, Palatine. Drive-through offering authentic Greek dishes. stnectariosgoc.org.

Deer Park Art Show: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 26, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 27, at Deer Park Town Center, Rand Road and Deer Park Boulevard, Deer Park. The show features juried artists showcasing and selling fine art and crafts. Timed reservations encouraged. Free admission and parking. shopdeerparktowncenter.com.

Dundee Fireworks/Concerts in the Park: 7:30-9 p.m. Saturday, June 26, at Meadowdale Park, Besinger Drive and Maple Avenue, Carpentersville. Concert by Shout Out. Fireworks between 9 and 10:30 p.m., depending on the weather. Rain day: 9 p.m. Sunday, June 27. Food trucks and food and drinks sold by the Dundee Township Lions Club. Proceeds will benefit the community. Free. www.wdundee.org.

More options can be found here.

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Illinois drivers on July 1 will face automated computer checks for liability insurance twice a year. Failing to get insurance after the state sends a warning letter could end in a $100 fine.

Posted in Accidents, Community Alerts, Crime, IDOT, Illinois Tollway, Public Safety on June 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Insurance

As many as 1.5 million uninsured Illinois drivers will have something new to worry about starting July 1: computers, twice a year, will try to catch them.

On July 1, the Illinois Secretary of State will begin using a vendor to check the insurance status of all drivers in Illinois in an effort to reduce the number of uninsured drivers. The computer checks will be twice a year and most drivers won’t even know about them, unless the computer can’t find a driver’s insurance info.

Then a warning letter is generated stating their license plates are being suspended.

After the warning letter, uninsured drivers will be required to obtain insurance and a $100 fine will be imposed to reinstate the plates.

If the state sends the warning letter and a driver does have insurance, the driver must contact their insurance agent, provide them the reference number from the warning notice and the agent must then resolve the matter with the state.

Illinois has about 8.5 million drivers, and estimates between 1.2 million and 1.5 million don’t have the required liability insurance. The Illinois Secretary of State estimates the random checks can reduce that by several hundred thousand.

Read on here.

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Barrington opening Dreamway Trail with ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday

Posted in 220, Barrington High School, Fundraisers, School Districts, Topics Of Interest on June 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

A ribbon-cutting and community walk will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, to celebrate the newly refurbished “Joe Kelsch Sr. Dreamway Trail,” a bike and pedestrian path that runs alongside the restored Flint Creek from Langendorf Park to Barrington High School.

The project recently was chosen to receive the prestigious Governor’s Hometown Award as well as an American Public Works Association Award due to the collaborative and partnership efforts of the Village of Barrington, the Barrington Park District, the Barrington Community Unit School School District 220, and area conservation-oriented nonprofits and volunteers.

The gathering will begin at 10 a.m. near the Langendorf Park Splash Pad, where representatives from the involved governments and organizations as well as volunteers will honor the family of the late Joe Kelsch Sr., for whom the trail is named.

Following the ribbon-cutting, the community is invited to walk the 1.5-mile trail.

The trail is named in Kelsch’s honor to memorialize his persistent vision within the Flint Creek Watershed. More than 25 volunteers gave 1,250 hours of their time to support the project. It also was supported by a $516,000 Illinois Environmental Protection Agency grant.

“This project truly highlights what can be accomplished through the hard work and passion of dedicated volunteers and also illustrates the tremendous value of intergovernmental partnerships, Village President Karen Darch said. “We are very grateful and honored to have been chosen for this award, and we thank all those volunteers who have worked so hard to see this project come to fruition.”

Source

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Barrington farmers market open for the season, set to run Thursdays through October

Posted in Entertainment, Topics Of Interest, Uncategorized on June 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Barrington FM

The Barrington farmers market opened for the season June 17, 2021 in downtown Barrington. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

The Barrington farmers market opened for the season last Thursday, with to a steady patron turnout at Park Avenue and Cook Street.

The market, which started in 2000 by the Barrington Village Association, a homeowner’s group of residents residing in the village’s downtown area, opened this year with 20 vendors.

Margaret Myren, a farmers market manager, said she believes that, historically, 250 to 500 people come through the market each week.

“We’ll have people coming with families. We’ll have elderly couples coming through, groups of friends, people coming out from their lunch in town, and they’ll walk over here to see what’s here,” Myren said.

At the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic last year, most businesses were ordered closed by the governor or were able to operate under limited circumstances. But farmers markets in Illinois were classified as essential businesses and allowed to operate.

“We found out in the last year how important our local food sources are,” Myren said. “You want your children to learn that carrots don’t come from the grocery store, they come from the ground.”

Read more here.

The Barrington Farmers Market website can be found here.

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Parents raise concerns about continuing mask mandate in Illinois schools

Posted in 220, 300, Board of Education, His Master's Voice, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, School Districts on June 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

220 Phone

A growing number people no longer need to wear a mask when venturing out in Illinois.

But as students return to school this fall, many may still be required to wear masks. Parents are rallying to change that, protesting and creating Facebook groups to get rid of the mask mandate.

The Illinois State Board of Education still is working on guidance for the next school year and is working to address the concerns of educators and parents as quickly as they can, Illinois Superintendent of Education Carmen Ayala said during a meeting Wednesday.

Currently, Illinois is following the guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommended in May that “schools continue to use the current COVID-19 prevention strategies,” which includes masks for the unvaccinated.

COVID-19 vaccines are available only to those 12 and older under emergency-use authorization from the federal Food and Drug Administration. The vaccines continue to undergo large scale trials before receiving full approval from the FDA.

“The state of Illinois has put undo harm and pressure on our children,” Marsha McClary, a parent in Barrington Unit District 220, told the ISBE during its meeting Wednesday.

McClary and other parents told the board students should not be forced to wear masks in school this fall as COVID-19 rates plummet as more Illinoisans become fully vaccinated.

McClary said she is a member of an Illinois parents union, with more than 7,000 members on Facebook, that talks about how the state has pressured students during the past school year.

Read more here.

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Editorial: Cook County property taxes rose 3 times the rate of inflation. You good with that, voters?

Posted in Cook, County, Politics, Property Taxes, School Districts on June 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Property Tax Inflation

Residents of Cook County don’t need to be told that they shoulder a heavy property tax burden. Illinois has the second-highest real estate property taxes in the country, and property taxes in Cook County rose at three times the rate of inflation from 2000 to 2019.

But here’s a revelation: The taxes people pay every year understate the extent of the ultimate obligation. Last year, Moody’s Analytics concluded that Illinois has a bigger public pension debt than any other state, amounting to a crushing $25,000 for every man, woman and child living here. Cook County, too, has huge unfunded pension liabilities — and between 2009 and 2018, they more than doubled.

Want to guess who is on the hook for covering most of those obligations? That’s right: Property owners.

A new report by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas looks at the tax burden in a new way. Her office calculated the total government debt and allocated a share of it to each property on the tax rolls. This is illuminating because not all properties bear the same burden, even if their value is comparable.

As the report says, “Local governments set the levies, or the overall amount of taxes to be collected, in each of their districts. How much of that overall levy is paid by any one individual property owner is determined by the value of their property, relative to the value of all the property within the taxing district.”

The lowest level of debt to property value is in Inverness, an affluent village in the northwestern part of the county. Pappas puts its debt load at less than 7% of its total property value. The heaviest weight, meanwhile, falls mostly on “less thriving areas with predominantly minority populations and less broad tax bases,” the report says. Homeowners in Riverdale, which is 94% African American and has a median annual household income of less than $34,000, pay taxes that are 2½ times higher than those in Inverness, where the typical family’s income exceeds $180,000.

Read the full Chicago Tribune editorial here.

Editorial note: The Inverness Police Department started patrolling the streets of the Village on May 1, 2009 with a non-union force made up of veterans from other regional departments.

Related: “Pappas unveils new online tool to weigh government debt burden on individual property owners”

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As parents call for action, Barrington School District 220 board plans to address mask mandate at next meeting

Posted in 2021 Elections, 220, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, His Master's Voice, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts on June 22, 2021| 1 Comment »

220

Barrington School District 220 board members, most not wearing masks as they met in person June 15, heard calls from four parents and a student to drop requirement for students to wear masks when school resumes for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Monika Casey was the first of nine speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting. The speakers, including four parents and one student, called on board members to lift what most called the “mask mandate,” which is the requirement that has been in place for all students, vaccinated or not, to wear masks in school, including during the present summer school term.

The use of face coverings – or masks – became a public health requirement as part of addressing the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“It’s a critical topic among several with respect to the negative and permanent impacts on our children,” according to Casey, who said she has been district parent for 15 years. “I urge lifting the mask mandate…at today’s meeting.”

Board members didn’t take any action on the mask question at this week’s meeting but did agree to take it up at the July 13 one, although there was no clear agreement on whether the issue would be on the agenda then for discussion or as an action item.

Board members are hopeful that by then the district will have received updated guidance on mask usage from the Illinois State Board of Education. Outgoing Superintendent Brian Harris has said that, as school chief, he is bound to follow ISBE guidance on the matter, as well as guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Lake County Health Department – unless a majority of school board members direct him otherwise.

Read more here.

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FPCC reminds equestrian to renew licenses and tags

Posted in Animal Welfare, Barrington Hills Park District, Commercial Horse Boarding, Equestrian Commission, Horse Boarding, Riding Club of Barrington Hills on June 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »

FPDCC

Dear Equestrian Patron,

Your current annual equestrian rider’s license (membership card) and equestrian tag are scheduled to expire on June 30, 2021. Membership cards must be with the rider and tags must be worn on the horse at all times
while riding on FPCC trails.

2021-2022 Equestrian License and tag will be available for purchase starting May 24, 2021. Upon completion of the purchase, both the membership card(s) and horse tag(s) will be mailed to the address provided. Please allow 1-2 weeks’ processing time for FPCC staff to mail your membership card and/or tag(s).

You may apply:

  • Online: fpdcc.com/equestrian
  • Email: permits@cookcountyil.gov
  • USPS Mail: General Headquarters at 536 N Harlem Avenue in River Forest, IL 60305
  • Office: The permits counter at the Forest Preserves General Headquarters is open on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 9 am – 3 pm. An appointment is required and can be booked online.

As COVID-19 regulations change, please refer to our website for the most up to date FPCC regulations.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Permits, Rentals and Concessions Department (PRC) at 800-870-3666 option 1. Thank you for your continued support of the Forest Preserves of Cook County.

Sincerely,

Permits, Rentals and Concessions

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About to plant a tree or shrub? Wait it out until fall

Posted in Going green, Topics Of Interest on June 20, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Drought

Trees and other plants may struggle to survive if they are planted during the hot months of a drought year like this one, unless they are very carefully watered all summer.

If you have been planning to plant or transplant a tree or shrub this year and haven’t gotten around to it, consider waiting until fall.

“Even in a normal year, summer is not the best time to plant or transplant,” said Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist at in the Plant Clinic of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “And this year we’re in a drought.”

Planting in summer has extra risks, because the heat makes soil and plants dry out faster. As the temperature rises, water evaporates more quickly. In this drought year — one of the driest on record — rainfall is not likely to provide enough water for plants.

“At this point, homeowners might be better off waiting until late summer or early fall to purchase or transplant trees or shrubs,” she said.

Plants are mostly water, and they need a steady, reliable water supply to survive. Between 80% and 90% of the weight of any green plant consists of the water that fills its cells. Even a mature tree, with its woody trunk and branches, is about 50% water.

In summer, plants cool themselves by allowing water to escape through tiny holes in their leaves, taking heat with it. The water that evaporates needs to be replaced in order for the plant to keep functioning.

Read more here.

For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or plantclinic@mortonarb.org).

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Illinois EPA warns people to be cautious of Cyanobacteria in lakes, streams

Posted in Animal Welfare, Community Alerts on June 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »

blue-green algae

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is warning residents keen on recreating in the water to look out for cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, in Illinois’ waters, which can be toxic to humans and pets.

IEPA Public Information Officer Kim Biggs says Children and the elderly are most susceptible to ill effects from the algal bloom.

“Symptoms from exposure can be as mild as just a rash or hives to gastrointestinal issues, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea,” she said. “Individuals who may be recreating on the water, for instance like tubing or something like that, could potentially inhale droplets could also experience some coughing and wheezing.”

There are multiple ways the algae can enter a person’s system, including skin contact, ingestion or inhalation, according to Biggs.

“That’s why we do suggest that you wash off with soap and water after you get out of the water, especially don’t eat without washing hands with soap and water after being in lake or stream water because you could ingest that way, but it could also be accidental ingestion just from taking in water from being underwater or other activities that you’re doing on the water,” she said.

After swimming in a lake or river, pets should also be washed, as they can ingest it through licking their fur, Biggs pointed out.

Read more here.

Related: “Illinois health officials warning of toxic algae’s effect on pets after dog deaths reported in other states” – 2019

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