Sterling City Council

The Sterling City Council on Monday approved easements that will allow the Sterling Park District's Community Recreation Trail to make its way to Sauk Valley Community College.

Demolition of the downtown Sterling apartment building at 406/408 E. Third St., where a man died in a fire July 7, wrapped up Friday, but the fate of two of three other buildings involved still is up in the air.

The Sterling City Council voted Tuesday to establish a business development district to assist with the upkeep and development of Northland Mall. It includes an additional 1% sales tax.

A company with multiple community solar projects in Illinois and five other states is asking to build a 5-megawatt solar farm in a field at Locust Street/state Route 40 and Science Ridge Road, just outside Sterling’s northern city limit.

Demolition began Tuesday morning on the shell of a downtown Sterling apartment building destroyed by a fire July 7 that also took the life of a tenant.

The Sterling City Council held a public hearing Monday on a proposal to create a business development district – the city’s second – that would provide economic incentives to anyone looking to improve the Northland Mall site.

If all goes as planned, by about this time next year, Sterling will have a playground to envy all playgrounds.

The Sterling City Council agreed to provide $58,250 in ARPA funds for four programs and projects: for Sauk’s Impact Program, to install historic plaques and informational kiosks in the downtown, and to fight truancy.

The ATF National Response Team cleared the scene of the downtown Sterling apartment building destroyed by a July 7 fire that also took the life of a tenant, and it's back in the hands of its owner, Mihail “Mike” Mihalios, who must handle its demolition himself.

A Sterling fire engine that hit the 20-year-mark and was replaced by a newer model is serving a new purpose in Odessa, Ukraine, where it is helping the embattled republic fight the war with Russia.

The Sterling City Council on Monday unanimously approved a new three-year contract with its firefighters.

Grant funding will help cities address the economic, social and environmental challenges caused by blighted sites and stimulate economic opportunity and environmental revitalization in historically overburdened communities.

Sterling will pay $191,000 to install two futsal courts and a security system in Wallace Park.

Former Sterling Mayor Skip Lee, who couldn’t make his own retirement party May 1 because he was under the weather, is back in the pink and ready to give it another go.

Sterling swore in its first mayor of Latin heritage, and its second female mayor, at Monday’s City Council meeting.