Rockford, Winnebago County | featured news

BELVIDERE — Seven teachers have filed a legal complaint against the Belvidere School District’s Board of Education, arguing that local leaders didn’t take all the steps needed to determine whose heads would be on the chopping block during last school year’s budget cuts.

ROCKFORD — Vanessa Noonan may just be a first-year teacher at East High School, but she already has that golden sparkle in her eye.

INSIDE: Academy schedule

ROCKFORD — About three weeks after the Wall Street Journal published a story highlighting the area as No. 1 in the U.S. for underwater mortgages, Yahoo.com published a story Wednesday pegging Rockford as No. 2 of 10 cities that “may not make it back from the crash.”

ROCKFORD — Since Boylan Catholic High School’s 1960 conception, no nonsense sisters have been synonymous with strict disciplinarians at the city’s only Catholic High School.

Dixon will receive $40 million as part of a settlement with a bank and auditor it had accused of not doing enough to expose former Comptroller Rita Crundwell's scheme, Mayor Jim Burke said. The city also recouped about $10 million by selling off Crundwell's belongings, but it incurred $10 million in legal and other costs, he said.

Freedom Sings, an entertaining, informative performance that tells the story of the First Amendment through words and music, will perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 3 at Memorial Hall in downtown Rockford.

ROCKFORD — An alleged member of the Waco street gang was taken into custody Tuesday morning after police found him hiding in a closet at a home on Chateau Lane.

CHICAGO — Illinois officials have decided on a brand name for the new health insurance marketplace set to open Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — The financially struggling Postal Service is seeking a 3-cent increase in the cost of mailing a letter — and that would raise the price of a first-class stamp to 49 cents.

A weak weather system will move from Iowa into southern Illinois this morning. Nothing but a few high clouds will be seen here.