Posted in Barrington Area Library, Entertainment, Property Taxes on September 29, 2023| Leave a Comment »
“You really autumn know about our fall fest! Enjoy storytelling and light refreshments, paint a pumpkin, play mini golf, snap some pix, and join in seasonal crafts and activities for all ages. Just drop in! All activities and refreshments available while supplies last. Free and open to all!“
10 AM – 3 PM | 505 N Northwest Hwy, Barrington
Posted in Barrington Area Library, Entertainment, Property Taxes on September 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Autumn officially begins on Sat, Sep 23, 2023, at 1:50 AM here in Barrington, and if you’re looking for a way to celebrate, we’ve got a few seats left for Sunday’s performance by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra String Quartet! Relax and enjoy beautiful, fall-inspired music – the concert is free and all ages are welcome. Sunday, Sept 24, 2 PM.
Register online to reserve your place here. Seating is limited, but drop in attendees may be admitted if seats remain open at show time.
Posted in Barrington Area Library, Community Alerts, Ethics, Politics, Property Taxes, Taxes on September 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Barrington Area Library
“ORDINANCE NO. 2023-4 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING LEVY OF AN ADDITIONAL TAX FOR THE PURCHASE OF SITES AND BUILDINGS, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF BUILDINGS, FOR THE RENTAL OF BUILDINGS REQUIRED FOR LIBRARY PURPOSES AND FOR THE MAINTENANCE, REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS OF THE LIBRARY BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT WHEREAS, Section 35-5 of the Illinois Public Library District Act of 1991, (75 ILCS 16/35-5), authorized the levy of an additional tax of .02% of the value of all the taxable property in the District, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, for the purchase of sites and buildings, for the construction and equipment of buildings, for the rental of buildings required for library purposes and for the maintenance, repairs and alterations of the library building and equipment: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Library Trustees of the BARRINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT, Lake, Cook, Kane and McHenry Counties, Illinois, that they hereby determine to levy an additional tax of .02% of the value of all the taxable property in the District, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, for the purchase of sites and buildings, for the construction and equipment of buildings, for the rental of buildings required for library purposes and for the maintenance, repairs and alterations of the library building and equipment.
ADOPTED this 11th day of September, 2023, pursuant to a roll call vote as follows: AYES: Carr, Cunningham, Lucas, McGrath, Miller, Ordway, Prigge NAYS: None ABSENT: None APPROVED by me this 11th day of September, 2023. ATTEST: /s/ Carrie Carr President /s/ Anne Ordway Secretary Published in Daily Herald September 15, 2023 (4605392), posted 09/15/2023”
Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Area Library, Barrington Education Association, Commodius Maximus, Deception, Elgin Community College, Ethics, Fox River Valley Libraries, Harper College, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on July 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Some Illinois Republicans want public libraries in the state to withdraw from the American Library Association.
Public libraries have been a hotly debated topic in recent months. Illinois became the first state to essentially ban book bans after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law limiting taxpayer-funded grants to libraries that don’t follow the ALA’s policies on prohibited materials.
“We refuse to let a vitriolic strain of white nationalism coursing through our country determine whose histories are told,” Pritzker said. “Not in Illinois.”
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, said the governor’s comment is a false narrative of the left because there was never any talk of banning books.
“Nobody is banning anything,” Wilhour told The Center Square. “I have yet to see one of these books that is not still available to be sold and purchased. That’s a book ban. This isn’t a book ban, this is about age appropriate.”
School districts around the country have debated the age appropriateness of books such as “Gender Queer,” which includes images of the main character’s legs covered with blood; blood on the main character’s underwear from an occurrence of menstruation; a blood-covered tampon; a toy vibrator that led to “my first orgasm” as well as two illustrations of young people engaged in oral sex.
Wilhour is part of the Illinois Freedom Caucus, which is calling on public libraries in the state to withdraw from the Chicago-based ALA after their new president proclaimed herself to be a Marxist.
The Freedom Caucus said in April 2022, Emily Drabinski wrote in a Twitter post “I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary. I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity! And my mom is SO PROUD I love you mom.”
Read more here.
Related: “The fine print of Illinois’ ban on book bans,” “Pritzker signs law stripping libraries that ban books from state funding,” “Bill blocking libraries from state funding if they ban books clears General Assembly”
Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Area Library, Barrington Education Association, Fox River Valley Libraries, Organizations, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on June 14, 2023| 3 Comments »
As Illinois implements more requirements on local libraries in order to access state tax dollars, some are questioning whether state government is overstepping its boundaries.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed a first-in-the-nation law that restricts state tax dollars for local libraries that don’t follow certain guidelines from a national group. House Bill 2789 requires state libraries to adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights if they want to receive state grants.
According to the ALA, material cannot be removed from the shelves for partisan or personal reasons. Supporters say the guidelines make clear that people have access to even controversial material while opponents say the law takes away control from locally elected library and school board members.
State Rep. Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, told The Center Square that the decision on what books are suitable for children should be left up to the parents.
“This measure encroaches on parents’ rights,” Niemerg said. “In my mind, it’s parents that have an obligation to raise their children, not the public education system, not the government.”
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, whose office manages taxpayer-funded grants for libraries, spoke at the bill signing alongside Pritzker in Chicago and said parents still have the final say on what their children will read.
“Parents still have the right and the responsibility to restrict their children, and only their children’s access to library resources,” Giannoulias said. “In other words, you get to decide what’s right for your children, but you don’t get to make that decision for anyone else.”
More here.
Related: “Pritzker signs law stripping libraries that ban books from state funding”
Posted in Barrington Area Library, Property Taxes on April 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Exactly as it was posted an hour ago:
“The Library will be closed on:
Thursday, April 27 (Staff Training In-Service Day)
In addition, the drive-up book return at the Main Library will be closed on:
Wednesday, April 26, and Thursday, April 27, from 7 AM to 4 PM.
Need to return materials? Arrive after 4 PM, or use a nearby drop box like the ones at BMS Station or Barrington High School, or simply wait a few days – we no longer charge overdue fines!
We’ll let you know when the concrete work is complete. Thank you for your understanding.”
Posted in Barrington Area Library, Crabtree Nature Center, Entertainment, FPDCC, Going green, Topics Of Interest on April 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Amro Rajab, 8, of Hoffman Estates makes bubbles during the Cook County Forest Preserve Earth Day play day at Crabtree Nature Center in Barrington Hills. – Joe Lewnard | Staff Photographer, 2022
Earth Day is Saturday, April 22, with Arbor Day soon to follow on April 28. A variety of suburban events offer opportunities to learn about the environment, get tips on going green, volunteer or just enjoy the outdoors. Check out our list:
Earth Day, Nature Play: Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Crabtree Nature Center, 3 Stover Road, Barrington Hills. Play, plant, paint and pretend. Celebrate Earth Day with family-fun nature activities. Free. Call (847) 381-6592 or email Crabtree.NatureCenter@cookcountyil.gov.
Earth Day Celebration: 10 a.m. to noon Friday, April 21, at Barrington Area Library, 505 N. Northwest Hwy., Barrington. For children. Enjoy crafts and a game and view a documentary film about our planet on the big screen. Drop in. balibrary.org.
Earth Day Celebration: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 22, at Randall Oaks Zoo, 1180 N. Randall Road, West Dundee. Learn what you can do to help the Earth with educational activities, games, and a craft. Zoo admission is $5 for residents or $5.50 for nonresidents. Children 1 and younger and U.S. military with ID are free. dtpd.org.
Earth Day Community Shred Event: 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 22, at Baird & Warner, 1557 S. Randall Road, Algonquin. On-site shredding truck. Electronic recycling: computers, cellphones, radios, ink and toner, DVD and VHS players, video game consoles, cameras, camcorders. No TVs or monitors. facebook.com/bwalgonquin/.
Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale: Saturday, April 29th, at Morton Arboretum, 4100 Route 53, Lisle. One of the largest seasonal plant sales in the Chicago region. It offers thousands of carefully chosen plants, and expert Plant Geniuses are available throughout the sale to answer questions and suggest plants. Already sold out on April 27-28. Some timed entries still available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 29. Tickets at mortonarb.org.
Find more here.
Posted in Barrington Area Library, Entertainment, Topics Of Interest on April 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The DVD service, which still delivers films and TV shows in the red-and-white envelopes that once served as Netflix’s emblem, plans to mail its final discs on Sept. 29.
Netflix is poised to shut down the DVD-by-mail rental service that set the stage for its trailblazing video streaming service, ending an era that began a quarter century ago when delivering discs through the mail was considered a revolutionary concept.
The DVD service, which still delivers films and TV shows in the red-and-white envelopes that once served as Netflix’s emblem, plans to mail its final discs on Sept. 29.
Netflix ended last year with nearly 231 million worldwide subscribers to its video streaming service, but it stopped disclosing how many people still pay for DVD-by-mail delivery years ago as that part of its business steadily shrank. The DVD service generated $145.7 million in revenue last year, which translated into somewhere between 1.1 million and 1.3 million subscribers, based on the average prices paid by customers.
Shortly before Netflix broke it off from video streaming in 2011, the DVD-by-mail service boasted more than 16 million subscribers. That number has steadily dwindled and the service’s eventual demise became apparent as the idea of waiting for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver entertainment became woefully outdated.
But the DVD-by-mail service still has die-hard fans who continue to subscribe because they treasure finding obscure movies that are aren’t widely available on video streaming. Many subscribers still wax nostalgic about opening their mailbox and seeing the familiar red-and-white envelopes awaiting them instead of junk mail and a stack of bills.
“Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote in a blog post about the DVD service’s forthcoming shutdown.
More here.
Posted in 220, Barrington Area Library, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, BOHICA, Commodius Maximus, DARCHED, Deception, District 220 referendum, Elections, Ethics, His Master's Voice, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on April 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »
A group of conservative challengers lost in the Barrington 220 school board race, which saw only a 17% voter turnout.
Katey Baldassano, one of the challengers, said the race decided the majority on the school board. Baldassano ran on a slate with Leonard Munson and Matt Sheriff, and they were hoping to tip the scales toward a conservative majority on the board.
“It was pretty consistently a 4-3 split on pretty much every issue,” Baldassano told Lake County Gazette. “But now it will be 5-2. So much more one way. If two of the people in my slate or a different challenger that was not on my seat had won, then there could have been a shift in the majority the other way.”
Baldassano said she thinks they “had a super strong core team and a super strong group of supporters.”
“It’s hard to imagine a group of candidates that did more to meet people and get our message out there than we did,” Baldassano said. “It would be really hard to imagine that. I guess at the end of the day, just the voter turnout was pretty abysmal across the state. And I guess based on the voters, the people who voted sent a message for what they want for our community and it wasn’t what we were pitching, even though we do think that more represent the community as a whole. But if the people don’t vote, then they can’t expect change. They are going to expect more of the same. Or things to get worse and that they’re going to get what they asked for.”
Baldassano’s slate is grateful to their supporters, and they hope “that people will keep speaking out for what they especially want for their own kids.”
“Because at the end of the day, the parents are the most important thing in raising their kids,” Baldassano said. “And if we aren’t happy, then we need to advocate for what’s best for our kids because they’re the ones that are the end user of the system and they deserve a really great education. I hope that people keep fighting for that.”
Read more here.
Posted in 220, Barrington Area Library, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Elections, OP/Ed, Politics, Property Taxes, Resident Spotlights, School Districts, Unions, Village Board, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on April 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Related: “Choose wisely at the polls,” “Two term District 220 Board of Education member Angela Wilcox endorses Katey Baldassano, Leonard Munson, and Matt Sheriff for 220 Board,” “Endorsements: Munson, Baldassano and Sheriff for CUSD 220 Board of Education,” “District 220 Board of Education candidates Katey Baldassono, Leonard Munson and Matt Sheriff share their vision,” “Parents at top-rated school expose pornographic books in IL school library (DISCRETION ADVISED),” “The District 220 Policy Committee has a lot on their plate tomorrow,” “Who’s minding Leah and Barry’s campaign finances,” “What 220 voters need to know continued, including our recommendations,” “What 220 voters need to know,” “220 Parents call BS!”
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