Dixon Deputy Police Chief Aaron Simonton was awarded at the Dixon City Council meeting Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, for saving the life of a man who was choking at an Elgin restaurant.

Whiteside County candidates had until 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 3, to turn in their nomination papers as they seek candidacy for the March 17 primary election.

The Mills & Petrie Memorial Library in Ashton will host a chess tournament for grades K-12 on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025.

The All-Western Big 6 Conference teams for football, volleyball and boys soccer were recently announced. Sterling had multiple athletes earn all-conference in each sport.

United Way of Lee County will host its biggest fundraiser of the year, the Girlfriend Gala, from 5-8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, at the Dixon Elks Lodge.

After a full-day’s work, a Whiteside County jury was seated Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, to hear a wrongful death civil case that could see the jury asked to award tens of millions of dollars to a Sterling firefighter’s widow and children.

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The jury hearing the Garrett Ramos wrongful death lawsuit began hearing testimony Tuesday, Nov. 4, in Whiteside County Circuit Court in Morrison. Ramos, a Sterling fire lieutenant, was killed in a December 2021 house fire in rural Rock Falls.

Sauk Valley Community College's newly emerged Theatre Club began due to growing student interest. Many students involved with the club come from high school theater backgrounds and were looking for an outlet to reignite that passion in the college setting. 

March 17 marks the 2026 primary, where Whiteside, Lee and Carroll county voters can pull a Democratic or Republican ballot to pick who appears on the ballot come November. All voters, partisan or not, can weigh in on referendum questions.