A Sterling man was killed Thursday in a head-on crash near Polo, the Ogle County Sheriff's Department said.

Layton Britt wasn’t supposed to play in Thursday’s regional semifinals. Good thing for Bureau Valley he did. The Storm DH belted two home runs in his first two at-bats and senior ace Sam Rouse took care of the rest, pitching the Storm to a 5-4 win over Riverdale.

On the biggest stage of the season, several area girls track and field athletes shined bright on the blue track at Eastern Illinois University's O’Brien Field in Thursday’s Class 1A state preliminaries. The Sauk Valley will be represented in the state finals in 10 events.

Out of the eight Sauk Valley-area boys track and field teams that competed at the Class 1A Erie Sectional at Wayne Hein Field on Thursday, seven will have a representative at the IHSA Boys State Track & Field championships in Charleston next week.

The Newman baseball team grabbed an early lead and went on to defeat Pearl City 5-1 on Thursday in a Class 1A Newman Regional semifinal in Sterling.

Jimmy Amptmann gave the Sycamore baseball team the lead with a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth and the Spartans went on to hand Dixon its second loss of the year, 7-4, on Thursday.

Rock Falls police are looking for the person caught on surveillance video smashing nearly every large window of the former Dead Tree Tavern downtown.

The city is also planning a town hall inviting experts and community members to voice their opinions on sober homes.

Our weekly look at 5 Things to do in the Sauk Valley