Here are some stories we’re expecting to make headlines in 2026 in DeKalb County (in no particular order):

Another big election year

Though 2025 brought a pause in election news, it’s gearing up to be another big year for voters to select who will represent them at local, state and federal levels. Ahead of the spring primary and November midterms, we’ll bring you detailed election coverage before you cast your ballots.

Readers should expect candidate questionnaires and virtual Q&A’s ahead of election season.

DeKalb County still needs new top employee

The search is still on to find a full-time candidate to serve as the county’s top government employee after a brief hire didn’t last very long in 2025.

At a December public event hosted by the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, DeKalb County Board Chairman John Frieders said he didn’t have any new information to share regarding the search for a new county administrator.

Derek Hiland, the county’s community development coordinator, has worked as the county’s interim administrator since his predecessor Brian Gregory left in 2024.

The DeKalb County Board appointed Corey Rheinecker as the next administrator on June 18, 2025, but at the end of July, Frieders announced that Rheinecker had walked away from the job offer.

Hiland remains in the role on an interim basis as the search continues.

Superintendent searches

The county’s two largest public school districts will get a new leader in 2026.

DeKalb School District 428 announced right before Christmas that they’d selected a finalist to replace outgoing superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez when she retires in June.

Billy Hueramo, the district’s director of teaching and learning for elementary education, was announced as the likely next superintendent. He was chosen out of a group of 25 professionals vying for the top administrator role, according to a news release.

District officials describe Hueramo as a trusted, intentional leader with a student-centered approach that creates strong relationships between district stakeholders. He said he was “incredibly honored” to be named a finalist for the superintendent position in his home district.

The District 428 board is expected to vote on whether to appoint Hueramo to the role in January.

In neighboring Sycamore, the search continues for District 427’s superintendent after the unexpected departure of Steve Wilder.

The details of Wilder’s departure remain limited to the public. Both Wilder and school board officials have told Shaw Local the decision to exit was made “mutually” and they’re limited on what they can say. Wilder worked as superintendent since 2020.

The school board hired a national search firm to help. The district was in the interview process heading into the holiday season, and should be poised to decide within the first few months of the year, documents show.

In the meantime, Nicholas Reineck is Sycamore’s interim superintendent.

Sycamore teen murder trial postponed to February

By the time teenager Hamza Khatatbeh goes to trial on adult murder charges, his former Sycamore High School peer Kaleb McCall, will have been dead for more than two years.

McCall was stabbed to death in 2023. Criminal proceedings for Khatatbeh, charged with murder in the killing, have been slowed as his lawyers sought first to keep the case in juvenile court and then for more time to review before presenting it to a jury.

Shaw Local has identified Khatatbeh publicly since he was charged as an adult and the case documents were unsealed.

Khatatbeh is now the same age as McCall, 17, when he was killed during an altercation on Sept. 7, 2023, near downtown Sycamore. Khatatbeh was expected to stand trial in November. That was postponed to January and now again to mid-February, court records show.

His defense lawyers, Brendon Brown and Jim Ryan, asked Associate Judge Stephanie Klein to postpone the trial so they’d have more time to review evidence in anticipation of a potential self-defense argument. The case is being prosecuted by Derek Dion of the Illinois Appellate Prosecutor’s Office.

If convicted, Khatatbeh faces at least 20 years in prison. In October 2024, Judge Joseph Pedersen ordered his case transferred from juvenile court. Khatatbeh has attended hearings mostly virtually from River Valley Juvenile Justice Center in Joliet, where he’s being held without release.

DeKalb County to get in on country’s 250th anniversary celebrations

As the United States prepares to mark 250 years in 2026, local celebrations also are in order.

On July 8, 250 years to the day after Philadelphia residents were first read the Declaration of Independence, Americans across the country will read the revolutionary letter. They will do so “together” through an event being led by America250 Hawaii, according to the organization behind American 250 events.

Interim DeKalb County Administrator Derek Hiland told the DeKalb County Board that they should expect county participation in that event.

Other events are in the works, but the Declaration of Independence read-along is the first to be announced by government officials. Hiland said the city of DeKalb has been meeting for about two months to work on DeKalb’s efforts for the country’s anniversary.

More details are expected to emerge before the summer.

Sycamore Fire Department’s new station to open

Construction of Sycamore’s newest fire station, which will serve as the department’s main hub, is expected to be completed this year.

City officials and dignitaries broke ground on South Prairie Drive in May for the new Fire Station No. 1. The build was expected to take about nine months, officials said at the time. The land for the estimated $10.5 million build was donated by Ideal Industries.

The new station will replace the aging 68-year-old fire station No. 1 at 535 DeKalb Ave., Fire Chief Bart Gilmore said.

Once the fire department moves, what will the city seek to do with the former station building they’ll be leaving vacant on DeKalb Avenue?

We’ll follow this story as it progresses.

DeKalb development

Several major developments proposed or approved for DeKalb remain in the works. Could more details emerge in 2026? We’ll keep a close eye.

Edged data center

A massive data center by Endeavour Energy doing business as Edged was given the green light to build on 560 acres of land annexed into DeKalb in December.

Construction could begin this year, with the first of the main buildings estimated for a 2027 completion.

Edged data center is expected to be built out over the course of multiple years. An estimated timeline shows the first building, at 980,000 square feet, would be built by the end of 2027. The second, at 515,000 square feet, by 2028, the third, at 980,000 square feet by 2030, and the fourth, 490,000 square feet, by 2032.

Project Midwest

Work is underway at the site of an estimated 1-million-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility off Peace Road and Fairview Drive in DeKalb. The manufacturer behind the build hasn’t yet been announced. No timeline has been set for such an expansion to date.

Fisk Avenue apartments?

After years of delays, a developer is expected to present his final plan to turn the long-vacant former St. Mary’s Hospital on Fisk Avenue in DeKalb into an apartment building.

In November 2022, Jon Sauser, doing business as Fisk DeKalb LLC, got City Council approval to rezone 145 Fisk Ave. in anticipation of gutting the century-old structure to build 32 apartments inside. But progress was slow and the plan has since expired.

Sauser will need City Council approval once again, according to documents released this week ahead of Monday’s DeKalb Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at 6 p.m. at the DeKalb Public Library, 309 Oak St.

New home for Safe Passage, domestic violence survivors

The county’s go-to resource for those suffering from domestic violence is expected to move this year.

Officials with Safe Passage Inc. invited lawmakers to join them in December for a groundbreaking at 217 S. Franklin St. Historically private about its address, staff have said data shows making Safe Passage’s shelter location known to the public removes barriers and improves access to those needing help.

The space is expected to open before the end of the year, staffers said.

Youth homeless shelter a go

Finalized plans for a new youth homeless shelter by Family Service Agency of DeKalb County have been greenlit. The facility, 220 College Ave. in DeKalb, will serve area youth ages 14 to 18 and be the first of its kind in DeKalb County. The shelter, once it’s up and running, will feature up to 16 beds and common spaces for meals, recreation, learning and counseling.

The build is currently underway.

Shaw Local reporters Camden Lazenby and Megann Horstead contributed.