As the calendar flips into 2026, here are the stories we’ll be following in the months ahead:

Project Rock: A pedestrian bridge over the Rock River

A significant project the city of Dixon started in 2025 is the construction of a pedestrian bridge across the Rock River – known as Project Rock.

It’s the fourth and final phase of the city’s riverfront development master plan and will extend the multi-use path that runs west of Heritage Crossing with a pedestrian bridge over the Rock River using the old Illinois Central Railroad piers, construct an additional 2.8 miles of multi-use path and resurface just under a mile of Page Drive.

The $12 million development is expected to be completed in June 2026. The bridge is going to be a centerpiece of Dixon’s 2026 Petunia Fest celebration, which will coincide with the nation’s 250th birthday.

In fact, the Dixon Park District, the city and Discover Dixon have been awarded a $22,000 federal grant, one of 250 awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities through its Celebrate America! program for projects that will celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial anniversary this year. The new federal grant will be spent on multiple American flags around the city during the week of July 4, several enhancements to the pedestrian bridge and marketing for the 2026 Independence Day celebrations in Dixon.

Dixon Public School’s expense-reduction work

Dixon Public Schools District 170 administration is looking at ways to reduce spending. Superintendent Margo Empen told the school board Dec. 17 that recent cuts to federal funding along with several years of rising health insurance costs and decreasing student enrollment numbers are “causing us to take a more critical eye on what we do.”

She emphasized it “is not an overspending problem on behalf of the district.”

Empen said administration will present specific recommendations to the board at its Jan. 14 meeting before board members will be asked to vote on them at the Feb. 18 meeting. Those meetings begin at 6 p.m. and will be held at 1335 Franklin Grove Road in Dixon.

The district’s fiscal 2026 budget, approved by the board Sept. 24, estimates a $1.6 million deficit, which means it expects to spend that much more money than it expects to bring in. Fiscal 2026, for the district, began July 1, 2025, and ends June 30, 2026, according to the budget.

[ Dixon school board approves fiscal 2026 budget with $1.7M deficit ]

In the last two fiscal years, the district had a deficit. It’s expenses in fiscal year 2024 were $368,000 more than its revenues and in fiscal 2025, before its audit was complete, it spent about $1 million more than its revenues, district records show.

“We’ve got these reserves, which is great, but if we’re not increasing revenue streams, it’s like continually drawing out of your savings account with nothing to put in it,” Empen said.

If no changes are made, by fiscal 2028 “our operating fund balance will be down by $8.2 million,” Empen said.

Coloma Township financial woes

Former Coloma Township Supervisor Sindy Sotelo, along with almost the entire township board, abruptly resigned in February. After the emergency appointments of several board members, the board in March took a $75,000 loan from the road and bridge fund to cover payroll and general operating costs. That loan was repaid in September.

At the board’s Sept. 10 meeting, the board turned down an almost 10% property tax levy, which current Supervisor Kristine Dobbs said was needed to build up the township’s savings. Board members Becky Williamson, Brian Stillman and Donna Ackland voted no, saying the money was not needed after the sale of the former U.S. Bank building at 300-302 First Ave. in Rock Falls.

That building was purchased under Sotelo’s leadership in February 2023 for $250,000, with the plan of moving township operations there. But the building never legally opened as it needed several enhancements to meet building code requirements.

In total, the township invested about $457,000 into the building between the purchase, a line of credit taken out for renovations and property taxes, according to Whiteside County records.

The new board sold it for $528,000 to Pete Harkness of Harkness Enterprises Inc. on Aug. 19. That month, the township also received a full refund for the property taxes it paid, Whiteside County Supervisor of Assessments Robin Brands told Shaw Local.

With the money from the sale, the township paid off the credit line and the road district loan. That left $266,138, Dobbs said.

The Coloma Township Board on Dec. 10 voted 3-2 to approve a 43% property tax hike. That results in an estimated bill increase of $39 for a home valued at $171,408, according to the approved levy.

Without the tax increase, “We’re not going to make it. We’ll eventually run out of money,” Dobbs said at that Dec. 10 meeting. “I didn’t make the mess that we walked into.”

Sterling schools break ground on indoor multipurpose student center

Sterling Public Schools held a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 27 on a new indoor multipurpose student center designed to expand training and recreation opportunities for Sterling High School students.

The nearly $11 million project will be built in the southwest corner of the grassy area west of Roscoe Eades Stadium, near the site of the former SHS baseball field.

The new facility will feature three basketball and volleyball courts, a 60-yard turf field, a 4,000-square-foot weight room, an athletic training area, two baseball and softball batting cages, a golf teaching space, and new offices.

Superintendent Tad Everett told Shaw Local that construction would start in the next two weeks and is expected to finish in a year. He said SPS plans to hold an open house in October 2026.

District officials said the project is part of the SPS 2026-2028 Facility Plan and will be completed without raising the district’s tax rate. Funding will come from the 1% county sales tax, maturing bonds and private donations.

“This has been a 10-plus year conversation, and one that, as superintendent, I could not financially justify in the past,” Everett wrote in the district’s 2026–2028 Facility Plan. “That fiscal environment has changed, and we are now able to complete the entire SPS 2026-2028 Facility Plan with zero tax increase to Sterling Public Schools’ tax rate.”

The facility will not host games, but instead will serve as a dedicated training and practice space for students. It is expected to benefit a wide range of programs, including athletics, physical education, marching band, and special education.

SHS students involved in athletics, marching band or other activities would regularly use the new center. Students enrolled in physical education or special education programs also would use the facility.

Everett said the additional space will help alleviate scheduling conflicts at Musgrove Fieldhouse, which was built in the early 1950s and is currently shared by all co-curricular activities.

The center will also provide year-round access for students during inclement weather and include a 50-car parking lot east of the building, between the facility and Roscoe Eades Stadium.

Byrne & Jones Construction is heading the project, and Everett said construction is not expected to impact student activities.

Future of $31.5M wrongful death verdict delivered against Rock Falls

A Whiteside County judge has granted a request from a Chicago attorney asking for more time to file a post-trial motion in the wake of the $31.5 million wrongful death verdict issued in November against the city of Rock Falls and two Rock Falls fire officials.

Judge James Heuerman on Monday, Dec. 8, agreed to give the city of Rock Falls, former Rock Falls Fire Chief Cris Bouwens, and Rock Falls Fire Chief Ken Wolf until Jan. 12 to file the post-trial motion that could put them on the path to appealing the verdict issued in connection with the 2021 line-of-duty death of Sterling Fire Lt. Garrett Ramos.

In making the request in Whiteside County Circuit Court in Morrison, attorney Joseph A. Culig of firm Hinshaw and Culbertson LLP, serving as appellate counsel, asked that the original deadline of Dec. 15 be extended by 30 days. Heuerman moved the deadline to Jan. 12.

Attorney Michael Gallagher, the Chicago attorney who represents plaintiff Brittney Ramos, argued against the full 30-day extension, noting that Culig, whom he said had been retained by the defendants before the trial began, sat through the nine-day trial and the court has already touched on all the issues that came up.

He said Culig also has access to all court transcripts from each day of the trial.

Culig said he needed the extra time because he is handling a heavy caseload, and when combined with the length of the trial, the time required to review transcripts and to research and prepare a post-trial motion, as well as the holidays, the additional 30 days were needed.

Along with the extension, Heuerman also granted Culig’s request to put a stay on the verdict until the post-trial motion is filed. Once that is filed, the stay is automatically in place.

The action came a little over three weeks after the jury rendered the verdict. At a Rock Falls’ City Council meeting on Nov. 18, Rock Falls City Administrator Robbin D. Blackert said the amount owed is “far in excess of the city’s available insurance coverage” and that “the city will review all options in determining the best course of action.”

At the Dec. 2 Rock Falls City Council meeting, the council unanimously approved hiring a second law firm to represent the city and provide insurance coverage advice relating to the $31.5 million it owes.

Andrew M. Barrios of Reed Smith LLP in Chicago wrote in a letter to the city that he plans to handle the matter personally to ensure “efficiency and predictability.”

Ramos, 38, died Dec. 4, 2021, while fighting a house fire on Ridge Road in Rock Falls that had been reported by the home’s basement resident at 11:04 p.m. Dec. 3, 2021. Ramos arrived at the burning home at 11:21 p.m. as part of a Sterling fire crew assisting the Rock Falls Fire Department.

Ramos, who was fighting the fire while inside the home, was leaving the burning structure to replenish his air supply about midnight when he fell through a hole in the floor into the basement. At the time he fell, fire officials did not know the home had a basement.

Ramos was able to issue two mayday calls, but command officers did not know who was issuing them, where the firefighter was located or what the problem was. They initially identified another firefighter as the one they thought was missing; when he was found, no further work was done to make sure no one else had made the call, according to testimony.

About 30 minutes later, firefighters realized that Ramos had not been seen for a while, and they began searching for him. He was found in the basement in a room adjacent to the room where he fell.

Fire investigators said Ramos was not injured during the fall and had been walking around the basement to find a way out. They believe Ramos survived for about 17 minutes after he fell into the basement and died from asphyxia after running out of air. Firefighters recovered his body at 1:13 a.m. Dec. 4.

Brittney Ramos filed the lawsuit in December 2022, claiming that Bouwens and Wolf, who was a deputy chief at the time of the fire, showed a willful and wanton disregard that caused her husband’s death. The jury found that Bouwens and Wolf each were 50% to blame for Ramos’ death.