Waukegan News: Waukegan vs. Grayslake

Will Waukegan beat Grayslake? Who has the better football team? How about basketball? I don't really follow sports but you can get full coverage from the Waukegan News Sun.

Last year, when Maine South's football team came to play at Waukegan, the financial gap between these programs could be plainly seen on the goal posts,

Peoria News: Bakers Square closes!

Peoria's Bakers Square closed after bankruptcy
1 hour ago
By NO DATA The Bakers Square Restaurant at The Shoppes of Grand Prairie is one of more than 50 of the chain's restaurants to close because of financial

Wow this is really sad that the Peoria Bakers Square has gone bankrupt. See the full coverage at the Peoria Journal Star.

Peoria News: Peoria football

How about some Peoria football?

This is Pekin's first season opener against a Peoria-area team since facing Woodruff in 1992. KEY PLAYERS: DUN: RB-LB-P Joe Cloud, QB Luke Sensabaugh. ...

Great way to start the football season watching local Peoria football team. See full coverage on the Peoria Journal Star.

Aurora News: Rush Copley

The Aurora Beacon News covers an interesting story about practicing for having babies at the hospital in Aurora.

BY CHRISTIME S. MOYER cmoyer@scn1.com AURORA -- An alarm rang out on the Labor and Delivery floor at Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora Tuesday. ...

Aurora News: Aurora swimmers vs. IMSA

Iillinois Math and Science Academy Swimmers will compete against Aurora, the Aurora Beacon News reports:

IMSA will battle perennial rival West Aurora twice this year and looks forward to three new teams on its schedule. Talbot holds the school record in the 200

Aurora man sex assault conviction

This guy is really despicable:

BY BEACON NEWS STAFF An Aurora man was convicted Wednesday in a 2002 sexual assault where he showed the victim a gun. A jury deliberated for less than three ...

This was reported in the Aurora Beacon News.

GOP Convention Stage

The Republican National Convention stage in St. Paul is a stark contrast to the lavish opulence of the two stages the Democrats set up in Denver.

From AOL:

By contrast, the Republican stage is a study in minimalism. It consists of a simple podium, only four feet above the convention floor, backed by a 50 ft. by 30 ft. video board. Asked about the contrast between the Republicans' set and the Democrats', Matt Burns, Director of Communications for the 2008 Republican National Convention, said that the simple design was not a deliberate attempt to contrast the Democrats. Burns said that the stage was designed to fit the personality of the party's nominee, Sen. John McCain.

"The stage reflects the humble nature of our nominee and puts him where he is most comfortable, close to the people."


Mr. Burns said that the stage is meant to evoke Sen. McCain's town hall meetings...

And National Journal:

If the Democrats' whiz-bang stage in Denver screamed American Idol, the Republicans' streamlined set in Minneapolis-St. Paul whispers American Bandstand. From a simple black platform just four feet off the ground, convention speakers will look out on a sea of delegates in red folding chairs that sit squarely on the arena's concrete floor. A single television screen behind the speakers will carry their faces to the nosebleed seats above, while black drapes behind the screen conceal the backstage area.

The sedate, almost plain $1 million podium was conceived of long before the Democrats unveiled their bells and whistles in Denver. Built in just six weeks atop the Xcel Energy Center's hockey rink, the podium is designed to focus attention on the candidate's message, said David Nash, the convention's executive producer. "With the economy the way it is, we thought it should be simple," said Nash. "It's not the time to be lavish, not when people are losing their homes."

The low, unencumbered platform will also bring John McCain closer to the crowd in a structure reminiscent of the town-hall meetings he has used, to general acclaim, on his campaign stops. Much as the in-the-round stage on the final night of the 2004 GOP convention made Bush's speech a relatively intimate affair, the 2008 stage gives McCain and the delegates a direct sense of each other. "You're just not going to have a lot of distractions," said Maria Cino, the president and CEO of the convention. "What you see is what you get."