A severe summer storm with multiple tornadoes touching down in DeKalb County. The arrival of the vaccine. A return to in-person learning amid school board battles. A Chicago-based developer seeking to purchase hundreds of rental units in DeKalb. A changing DeKalb police force and the arrival of the world’s largest online retail giant.

These are some of the year’s biggest headlines:

The COVID-19 vaccine arrived

While the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine arrived Dec. 29, 2020, the majority of supply was distributed in phases throughout the nation, and DeKalb County, in 2021. First to those most vulnerable to severe cases or death from the coronavirus, including frontline healthcare workers and the elderly.

Northern Illinois University opened its Convocation Center doors to mass vaccination clinics hosted by the DeKalb County Health Department and the Illinois National Guard. Hundreds came through to get their shots.

In the early days of the vaccine’s distribution, pharmacies offered elusive appointments, with early rollouts frustrating seniors and others who said visits were hard to obtain. Shipments to DeKalb County were briefly cut back amid an uptick in demand statewide and not enough doses to go around.

Eventually as demand wained and supply increased, the vaccine was made available more and more people based on industry, and to schoolchildren as young as five.

Amazon paid $6.3M for nearly 59 acres of land slated for ‘Project Barb’ warehouse in DeKalb, records show

Online retailer giant Amazon recently paid $6.3 million for nearly 59 acres in DeKalb, the same land slated for a 700,000-square-foot warehouse that’s the centerpiece of a project city officials for months have only referred to publicly by its codename “Project Barb,” records show.

Amazon Property Tax Amazon.com Services LLC bought 58.65 acres at 1401 E. Gurler Road on Oct. 6, DeKalb County property records show.

The timeline for the build isn’t known, though city officials, who remain tight-lipped about the identity of Project Barb, have said the plan is for a fast development, which promises to bring in 1,000 new jobs and grow the city’s tax base.

According to submitted site plan documents for the warehouse, there will be approximately 535 parking spaces for employees and visitors, about 490 trailer parking spaces and 121 loading dock spaces.

Return of full time in-person learning brings with it school board, union controversy

It seems that for most, prioritizing the return of schoolchildren to classrooms full time was the goal for 2021, even as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.

School boards and school district staff throughout DeKalb County had to juggle ever-changing guidances from state and federal health officials during the months leading up to the start of the school year in August.

It marked the third school year which was impacted by COVID-19, as protocols for safety measures, testing, and quarantine strategies, as well as how to handle congregate sports settings, kept evolving.

As the first half of the school year closed out this month, districts saw hundreds of students in quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure, and with the arrival of the omicron variant, SHIELD testing -- a University of Illinois, non-invasive saliva test invention -- was also brought into DeKalb schools.

Like most school boards across the nation this year, elected officials faced the brunt of parent and student frustration for weeks on end, Debates dragged on over masks, quarantine and isolation measures and what to do if your child was out of school for days on end due to exposure.

The flip side to that frustration came via staff, facing bus driver and staffing shortages and burnout and ire from parents alike. In Sycamore, teachers’ unions have worked all school year so far without an updated contract. In DeKalb, where newcomer Superintendent Minerva Garcia-Sanchez took up her post in July, union leaders asked for COVID-19 sick leave that was “non-punitive”. A Genoa-Kingston school board member resigned in July.

A roundup of 2021 DeKalb County court and crime cases:

The DeKalb County Courthouse didn’t restart jury trials until halfway through 2021 amid the COVIUD-19 pandemic, when Darryl Jackson, 52, of the 300 block of Gurler Street in DeKalb, was found guilty on July 27 of attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault related to an Aug. 2019 incident at Fifth Third Bank in DeKalb.

Since that time, jury trials continue though court cases remain largely under the process of digital hearings via Zoom.

Several crimes made headlines throughout the county in 2021.

Sycamore businessman charged by feds in $3M kickback scheme with Wisconsin ex-hospital executive

In August, federal prosecutors charges Sycamore-based MorningStar Media owner Ryan Weckerly in a $3 million kickback scheme concocted with a former Wisconsin hospital executive, Barbara Bortner. Weckerly, 46, pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, tax evasion and aiding and abetting a false income tac return in front of a federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin on Nov. 4 to the charges. Bornter also pleaded guilty.

He is expected to be sentenced on March 15, and will be out on supervised release until at least then.

[ Feds charge Sycamore-based MorningStar Media owner in $3M kickback scheme with ex-hospital executive ]

Federal prosecutors say Weckerly took part in a five-year scheme to defraud Janesville, Wisconsin-based health system Mercyhealth out of $3 million. Prosecutors say that Weckerly, in partnership with Bortner, falsified tax documents and sent inflated invoices, shuffling large sums of money throughout multiple bank accounts for years.

Gun violence uptick in October includes shooting death of DeKalb man by police officer

A violent October in DeKalb saw the shooting death of DeKalb resident Kris Kramer , 33, at the hands of a DeKalb police officer in the middle of a domestic dispute after police said the man had threatened himself, a woman and officers with a “samurai sword” weapon.

Records showed Kramer had a history of police calls to his home in the 100 block of Tilton Park Drive, including an August incident when police said he threatened suicide and asked authorities “to shoot him,” records show.

Kramer’s sister and the mothers of his children say the 33-year-old at times had issues with alcohol and questioned his mental stability. They also questioned the police use of lethal force that ended his life.

The Illinois State Police were called in to investigate the shooting, and the officer who fired the fatal shot has been assigned desk duty.

The month also included four unrelated shootings, among them the fatal shooting Oct. 3 of 21-year-old Caeleb Dunlap-Milam of DeKalb. The man accused of his murder is being held in DeKalb County Jail on $5 million bond. Two more shootings on Oct. 15 and Oct. 17 left people injured.

A month prior, DeKalb-based New Hope Missionary Baptist Church hosted a community meeting with local leaders and police to discuss crime and safety amid a marked increased in shootings int he area.

[ Records: Kristopher Kramer asked police ‘to shoot him’ after recent 911 call. ‘He needed help, not bullets’ ]

Landlord, tenant changes to DeKalb’s largest rental properties

The latest in the ongoing saga between the City of DeKalb and once the city’s largest landlord, Hunter Properties, saw significant changes this year.

On Dec. 2, the City of DeKalb approved a $1 million incentive for a Chicago real estate company to purchase more than 400 Hunter Properties-owned units in the city, including Lincoln Tower, Hunter Tri-Frat, Hunter Ridgebrook and more than 100 individual units throughout the city – all currently owned by Evanston-based Hunter Properties.

City officials said the incentive was to encourage the sale of the properties from Hunter to Clear Investment Group LLC, amid ongoing code violation and safety disputes linked to the properties, and years of tenant concerns.

[ ‘We have a lot of work to do’ says Chicago developer ahead of Hunter Properties purchase ]

Part of the incentive includes a timeline outlined for the developer to take control of the properties within three months of the purchase, and complete renovations within a year from the date the first building permit is issued. The developer also would agree to own, maintain and operate the property for at least three years.

The City of DeKalb made moves of its own, approving in August a $1.18 million plan to purchase Hunter Hillcrest, a residential and commercial property at 1011 through 1027 Hillcrest Drive, also owned by Hunter Properties.

That’s per a settlement agreement the DeKalb City Council approved in April with Hunter Properties, initiating the sale of Hunter Ridgebrook, Hunter Tri-Frat, Lincoln Tower and Hunter Hillcrest to the City or another buyer.

Changes at DeKalb Police Department

2021 marked a big year for the DeKalb Police Department, coming off a 2020 fueled by social unrest and rallying cries for changes to policing across America.

The department welcomed David Byrd, a former colonel and deputy director of the Illinois State Police, to the chief position in May. Byrd is the department’s first Black top cop. He’s made changes in the leadership as the department undergoes a restructuring, adding a new division for community support services, to already existing patrol, investigations and records divisions.

The city’s first Citizens Review Board was also created, and new members of the first board will include a former city alderman, former DeKalb School District 428 administrator and a former member of the city’s Human Relations Commission, among others. The body, made up entirely of citizens, will be tasked with deliberating over police misconduct cases within the DeKalb Police Department.

The City of DeKalb in April also reached a settlement in the lawsuit with Elonte McDowell, who sued former police Sgt. Jeffrey Weese for $285,000. The lawsuit came after an Aug. 2019 arrest during which Weese placed his arm around McDowell’s neck, in what a forensic police doctor later called a chokehold during an Illinois State Police investigation.

Weese later resigned from the department in late 2020.

[ City of DeKalb settles $285K lawsuit with Elonte McDowell in unanimous council vote ]

In late summer, multiple tornadoes rip through rural DeKalb County in one night

Severe storms late in the summer in early August brought significant tornado damage to some areas, including rural Sycamore. Miraculously, no injuries or deaths were reported amid the rubble.

[ Sycamore resident recounts being 'in direct path' of reported tornado touchdown ]

Several tornadoes reportedly touched down Monday, Aug. 9, according to the National Weather Service, including four in DeKalb County and one each in neighboring Kane, Lee and McHenry counties. Of those seven tornadoes, three were categorized as EF-1, the second-lowest damaging twister, according to the weather service scale.

There was an EF-U tornado south of Kirkland, an EF-0 tornado somewhere between Creston and Esmond which tracked into DeKalb County just north of Malta, an EF-1 just northeast in Burlington in nearby Kane County. The fifth tornado, an EF-1 touched down in Sycamore, where on Monday night the National Weather Service said the heaviest damage was reported. There were also tornadoes in McHenry and Lee counties.

[ Photos: Severe storms bring reported tornado damage to Sycamore ]

Solar farm controversy

Another months-long debate in more rural areas of DeKalb County revolved around whether the DeKalb County Board should approve several requests for industrial solar farms, including two developed by a Texas-based company and one by Samsung.

It turned out much of the farmland being slated for the project was privately owned, spurring several farmers, including Jamie Walter of Whiskey Acres Distilling Company, to publicly support the plans amid controversy. Some residents spent months voicing opposition to the proposals, alarmed at the size and what they said was a misuse of farmland. Others, including county officials, heralded the property tax revenue the projects could bring and the positive environmental impact.

In November, the county board approved all three project, which will take up about 6,000 acres of rural land in the southern part of the county. There will be a 3,700-acre project called Owens Creek and a 1,800-acre project called Red Maple, both by Texas-based Leeward Renewable Energy; and a 643-acre project from Samsung called DK Solar.

[ Farmers defend their land use for solar energy ahead of DeKalb County Board vote ]

Roundup of some of our favorite uplifting stories from 2021:

Amid two years of pandemic reporting, the Daily Chronicle staff is pleased to be able to highlight some of the positive and uplifting stories to come out of the communities they cover. Here are a few of our favorites from 2021:

Dozens take part in DeKalb’s first Pride Month parade

DeKalb held its first Pride Month parade in June, followed by a film showing of “Love, Simon” at the Egyptian Theatre. The event was hosted by the theater, Safe Passage, DeKalb Public Library, Prism NIU, Queer-Oriented Rural Resource Network and the Northern Illinois University Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality.

DeKalb teen honors late nurse who died from brain tumor

The untimely death of a young traveling nurse from DeKalb was remembered by the legacy left from her neighbor, a recently graduated DeKalb High School senior who got creative in her mission to memorialize her friend and former babysitter.

In June, Angelina Terry, 18, painted a fire hydrant plug as part of the City of DeKalb’s Paint-A-Plug program to honor the life and legacy of late nurse Rachel Petersen, who died unexpectedly from a brain tumor days after her 25th birthday in September 2020.

Love at first sight: Queen Anne adopted from Tails Humane Society

After a two-month-old puppy named Queen Anne was stolen from DeKalb’s Tails Humane Society in January, a feverish social media search by the community at large and DeKalb police officers turned up the pup, who was found in good health.

Queen Anne later made her way to a foster home, and was later adopted by a family from Schaumburg.

DeKalb High School sophomore highlights Black womanhood while placing 6th at IHSA Speech State Finals

A poet and she did know it, DeKalb High School sophomore Unique Omodayo placed sixth for her poetry reading at the IHSA Speech State Finals in February, earning 19 medals and 11 tournaments to cap off her 2020-2021 speech season.

Omodayo, 16, earned accolades for her performances highlighting what it means to be a Black woman on DHS’s Forensics Team. She’s the team’s first state finalist in poetry since 2003 and only the third sophomore state finalist from DeKalb in the past 30 years.

‘Taco Bell Guy’ becomes local drive-thru celebrity

It’s not everyday you get a pop of positive spirit while in a fast food drive-thru line, but that’s just what Erik Poleate, of DeKalb, does best during his shifts at the Taco Bell and McDonald’s in Sycamore.

His energy taking customer’s orders has earned a local reputation for himself, and he’s known online by many as “The Taco Bell Guy.”

In response to his newfound fame, he said he’s just happy to put a smile on people’s faces.

[ ‘Taco Bell Guy’ becomes local drive-thru celebrity with acts of kindness, positivity ]

Meet Chubbs, a Genoa barn cat who found fame during COVID-19 pandemic

Though from a small town, a familiar face in Genoa has developed quite a following: among cat lovers, that is. Chubbs the cat, an area barn car who made a name for himself on social media groups within the past year, likes to wander the streets of Genoa greeting residents and welcoming pets.

He’s even inspired writing prompts in one local classroom.

Chubbs’ parents, including Marina Krueger, said he’s part of a barn cat littler at their home near Genoa’s city limits, and while he has a warm and welcoming homes, he enjoys meeting all the neighbors.

[ Meet Chubbs, a Genoa barn cat who found local fame during COVID-19 pandemic ]