Rachel Rodgers

Property tax dollars would go toward developing the districts - such as for infrastructure improvements to accommodate new businesses.

The boy was found unresponsive and naked in a ditch during the freezing morning.

Case numbers are starting to go down, but transmission levels remain high during the COVID-19 surge.

It’s the second year for the Chambers All In for Economic Recovery calling on legislators to provide relief to businesses.

The total program expansion will likely cost around $300,000, and the college is working with other community partners for funding.

This year marks the sesquicentennial of Dixon’s first public library.

A revised event proposal was presented to the City Council earlier this week to bring the first pride fest to Dixon.

“We’re getting very close to needing the additional staff to know that we’re covered,” Chief Ryan Buskohl said.

The board’s main concern has been having a manufacturing operation on land without an industrial zone or special-use permit to do so.

All counties are at high risk for transmission, and health officials continue to urge community members to become fully vaccinated, wear masks indoors and socially distance.

Demmer said that the state’s problems are too often addressed with higher taxes and more spending, and how “corruption and bloated government drain taxpayer dollars.”

Whiteside, Lee and Ogle counties are experiencing positivity rates higher than 20%.

The sober living home would house up to 16 residents, and the goal is to build an environment that encourages, promotes and sustains healthy recovery.

Redevelopment goals include capital improvements, site preparation, environmental remediation and stormwater management, redeveloping underused areas, streetscape and infrastructure improvements including utilities, and rehabbing existing buildings.

Here is a look back at stories the reporters and editor of the Gazette and Telegraph considered the year's most impactful stories of 2021.