HCS Food Pantry Extends Hours to Help Flood Victims

HCS Family Services in Hinsdale will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday after it experienced a distribution increase earlier this week.

The food pantry at HCS Family Services in Hinsdale will be open an extra day this week and stay open longer hours to address an increased need after last week's extensive flooding in DuPage County. The HCS pantry will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, according to a release from the family services organization located in Hinsdale's Memorial Hall, 20 E. Maple St. Typically, the pantry is open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only until 12:30 p.m. "The pantry itself was not affected by the flooding, but is being inundated this week with requests for food," the release reads. "In fact, Monday of this week, the food pantry experienced a 45 percent increase in distribution, staying open an extra two hours to meet …

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Dispatches from DuPage: Stories of the April 2013 Flood

Rescues, disasters, bravery, irony—from a mass evacuation to the finding of a floating body to a governor's visit, the stories of a storm from DuPage County.

Much of DuPage County was underwater by Thursday afternoon due to a rainstorm that dropped more than half a foot of water on some areas. Patch has been tracking some of the biggest and most interesting stories from the storm: Body Found Floating at Graue Mill  The historic Graue Mill on the border of Hinsdale and Oak Brook was utterly swamped when Salt Creek rose in the heaviest rain anywhere, but the floodwaters brought something even darker: a dead human body. DuPage officials are currently trying to identify it and as of Friday afternoon, no more information is available. Lisle Neighborhoods, Nursing Home Evacuated Some of the worst flooding in all of DuPage happened in Lisle, where the Four Lakes community along the DuPage River—and …

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Marathon Explosions’ Aftershocks Echo Across DuPage

A tragedy far from Chicago hits home as DuPage residents check for family members' safety and express their horror; one Naperville resident tells of being in the Boston lockdown.

Here are some of our top DuPage County stories about the Boston Marathon explosions: West-Suburban Readers React to Boston Marathon Explosions—Our readers expressed sorrow, revulsion, relief for their loved ones, and some anger after Monday's apparent bombing in Boston; here's some of what they had to say. Naperville Witness: Boston 'Eerie' in Aftermath of Marathon Explosions—Naperville resident Isabella Von Der Linden and her sister remained in lockdown at a hotel Monday night just blocks away from where two explosions rocked the Boston Marathon earlier. Wheaton Native's Joy of Personal Best at Boston Marathon Turns to Horror, Worry—After posting her personal best at the Boston Marathon, Wheaton native Colleen Huml heard news of …

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After Election Night Website Outage, DuPage Pledges Improvements

County officials said that the amount of traffic caught them by surprise and hampered the ability of the public to access election results.

Officials for DuPage County are saying that the influx of traffic to their election results website, which crashed the page between 8 and 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, has been a wake-up call to necessary improvements, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to the paper, the problem was caused when the available bandwidth was exceeded; page views peaked at 15,000 within a few minutes, 5,000 more than the peak in the 2012 elections. "If you asked me 72 hours ago if the site would peak out 50 percent higher than a presidential election, I would've laughed," Robert Saar, the election commission's executive director, told the paper. "Everybody here had their eyes opened. We're disappointed that it happened, but I'm extremely confident that going …

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We’re (Partially) No. 1! DuPage Has Lowest Mortality, Best Health Behaviors and Best Clinical Care in Illinois

But moderate rankings in two other categories mean that the county ranks only sixth healthiest overall in the state, a new report shows.

DuPage County is the sixth healthiest of Illinois’ 102 counties and ranks first in three categories, according to a national study released on Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI). The study found that DuPage has the lowest rate of premature death, the best heath behaviors and the best clinical care of any county in Illinois. However, the rankings for morbidity (25th of 102) and physical environment (64th of 102) brought the county’s overall rank down to sixth, behind Douglas, Jo Daviess, Woodford, Mercer and Henry. “The County Health Rankings shows that how long and how well people live depends on multiple factors beyond just their access to medical care…

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Earth Hour: DuPage Officials Encourage Residents to Share Conservation Tips Through Social Media

Elmhurst's former mayor is chairman of DuPage Environmental Committee.

DuPage County officials are encouraging residents and businesses to participate in Earth Hour from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23, and to share conservation tips through its Facebook page. “Earth Hour represents our commitment to lessen our environmental footprint beyond this hour of conservation,” DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said in a prepared statement. “Social media is a great way to interact with residents and to gauge how many of them plan to participate in Earth Hour. The site will also provide eco-friendly tips that all of us can use throughout the year, not just during Earth Hour.” The county has participated in Earth Hour for the last several years by turning off non-essential campus lighting and powering down …

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Readers React: Can Anything Be Done about Metra/BNSF Fatalities?

With three pedestrian fatalities in less than two weeks across a four-mile DuPage County stretch of the BNSF Railway, we wanted to know: how do we make it stop? Can we?

If you've noticed lately that Patch has been overrun with tragic stories about people being killed by trains along Metra's Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway, it's not because we just started reporting them—it's because there have been three in the past two weeks within a span of just a few commuter stops. First, it happened in Westmont on March 7, then in Hinsdale on March 18 and in Downers Grove on March 19. All three incidents involved a single person; all three were fatal, all three are still under investigation and none have been officially established as accidents or self-inflicted. We wondered if our readers had any idea how to make this terrible streak go away, and how to help ensure these things happen as infrequently as …

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BP

4:35 pm on Saturday, April 13, 2013

Bet the greedy low life railroads love the Mary ---heck they can payroll her under their hired gun to cover greedy low life rear branch. The country is rail-locked with no way to get around the tracks ---railroads do nothing to stop it or put in extra security which is MURDER by mental health infected railroad barons who think anybody gives a damn about how much of the $$$ they worship they have.   more ›

Brinkmeier, Hardek of Elmhurst 'Highly Recommended' for Associate Judge Vacancy

Seven of the 18 candidates for Robert G. Kleeman’s former spot come as “highly recommended” by the DCBA.

The Judiciary Committee of the DuPage County Bar Association has issued its recommendations for candidates for the DuPage County associate judge vacancy that was left when Associate Judge Robert G. Kleeman was elevated to Circuit Judge.  According to a DCBA release, the 16-attorney committee evaluates judicial candidates based upon the following criteria: The “highly recommended” candidates are: The other 11 candidates are Audrian T. Anderson, Thomas F. Downing, Kevin A. Halverson, Ann M. Lamperiello-Perez, Gregory J. Martucci, Sean M. McCumber, Stephen E. McLean, Ronald D. Menna, Jr., Kevin H. Millon, Margaret "Peggy" O'Connell and Ann Celine O'Hallaren Walsh.

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Jim Court

2:15 pm on Saturday, March 16, 2013

Alan, I wonder if I should call the Police or just put the signs back but when I left this morning my signs were up and when I returned they were torn out of the ground and bent.No, it was not the wind. I hope this election does not turn that petty and negative.   more ›

DuPage DUI Arrests: Feb. 24 Edition

Here's a look at DUI arrests in DuPage County towns Feb. 7-20.