A man was critically wounded during a New Year’s Day shooting on the near East Side of Aurora, police said.
At approximately 6:52 p.m. Wednesday, Aurora police officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert in the first block of North Anderson Street, according to a press release from the Aurora Police Department.
When they got to the scene, officers found a man suffering from gunshot wounds, officials said.
Aurora Fire Department paramedics transported the man to a local hospital for treatment of critical injuries, according to the release. No other injuries were reported during the incident.
Detectives from the Aurora Police Department’s Investigations Bureau responded to the scene and began investigating the specific circumstances of the incident, police said. Evidence technicians also responded to the scene to identify and collect forensic evidence from the shooting, according to the release.
The investigation into the incident remains active, police said. Anyone with information is asked to call the Aurora Police Department’s Investigations Division at 630-256-5500.
Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at 630-892-1000 or via the group’s website at www.p3tips.com/135. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest of felony crime offenders and the capture of felony fugitives.
North Central College is headed to its fifth national title game in six years.
On Sunday, the Cardinals face off against the University of Mount Union Purple Raiders from Alliance, Ohio, in the Stagg Bowl at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston. The Naperville team goes into the NCAA Division III national football championship with a perfect record and a decisive 66-0 win against the Susquehanna (University) River Hawks in a Dec. 21 match played on their home turf at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.
The Cardinals arrived in Houston Thursday night, according to Clark Teuscher, North Central’s sports information director.
“We’re very much locked in game week mode right now,” said Teuscher, who is traveling with the players and staff. “I know that everybody’s excited to get to Sunday and get on the field.”
In 2019, the Cardinals won their first-ever national title
. They returned to the championship in 2021 (the 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic), losing 57-24 to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. The team was back on top in 2022
, pulling out a 28-21 victory against Mount Union.
The Cardinals tried for their third title in 2023. However, their efforts fell short
, losing by a point to the State University of New York Cortland. Coming off last year’s loss, the Cardinals are determined to secure a win Sunday, Teuscher said.
North Central College defensive back Brayden Garrigan completes a play in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoff football game in Naperville on Nov. 30. (James C. Svehla/Naperville Sun)
“Fixing that result from last year (has) definitely been a part of the conversation, and it’s been among the goals for this year,” he said.
Especially for the team’s 38 fourth- and fifth-year seniors, this year’s story has been one of redemption. How last season ended is also part of the reason why a few graduate players decided to come back for another year, Teuscher said.
“They wanted to finish the job,” he said.
Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli, who graduated from North Central in 1991, said he thinks the loss against SUNY-Cortland was a wake-up call for the Cardinals, who have gone on to have an undefeated 2024 season.
Wehrli attended almost every home game this season, he said. As he looked ahead to Sunday’s game, Wehrli exuded confidence on behalf of his team.
“North Central is well-positioned,” he said. “They’ve just got offensive and defensive dominance nationally.”
Before last year’s Stagg Bowl, Wehrli got into the competitive spirit by challenging Cortland Mayor Scott Steve to a friendly mayoral bet. They decided that the mayor of the town with the losing team would wear the rival team’s jersey to a city council meeting. Wehrli upheld his end of the bargain.
This time around, he’s holding off on any friendly wagering but his competitive edge is as alive as ever.
“My bet is that we’re going to come away with a real nice win on Sunday,” he said.
The Cardinals are due to return from Houston Monday afternoon, which happens to be students’ first day back to school after the winter holidays. That means the team will have a bustling campus to come back to after their championship game.
“Hopefully, that puts us in a position to celebrate with our students on campus,” Teuscher said. “But of course, our team has to get the job done on Sunday first.”
The House voted mostly along party lines Friday to adopt a rules package that protects newly reelected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) from a potential ouster.Why
The city of Aurora will soon be getting new digital roadside signs at no cost, but the signs will display advertisements alongside messages from the city.
Community Digital Displays, a company which currently has these signs in 15 other suburban communities across the Chicago area, will build, maintain and operate digital signs that feature the city’s branding, according to a presentation given by company representatives at the Dec. 17 Aurora City Council meeting.
The City Council approved a 20-year agreement with the company at that meeting.
Instead of paying rent for placing the signs on city property, the company will instead let the city place community messages on the signs for free. Aurora will get at least one of every eight advertising slots, which each last for 10 seconds at a time.
Most of the other slots will be sold as traditional advertisement to national corporations, Aurora-based small businesses or nonprofits, which will get a discount, company representatives said at the meeting.
The first sign to be constructed will be at the Aurora Municipal Airport and will be a unique design. If the city were to build this sign itself, it would cost around $250,000, according to a staff report included with the meeting’s agenda.
The airport sign is planned to be 30 feet tall and 27 feet wide with a 9-foot by 18-foot digital display, renderings of the sign show.
Other signs are set to be placed at “gateways” into the city, although their exact location and number was not decided at the meeting. Their design is set to be smaller than the airport sign, with a total size of just under 12 feet tall and 15 feet wide with a 6-foot by 12-foot digital display, renderings show.
These signs would normally cost the city around $100,000 each, according to the staff report.
All of the digital advertisements will be static images with no flashes or movement, according to Community Digital Display’s Bill Przybylski.
He said the city will be able to use the signs for community events, Amber alerts, severe weather alerts and more.
In addition to constructing, maintaining and operating the signs at no cost to the city, the company will also not charge for art or design work for the city’s community messages on the digital display, Przybylski said.
Beyond the benefits to the city, the signs will also benefit local businesses by providing an alternative advertising source, which specifically could help out “mom and pop” businesses, he said. The company also partners with local chambers of commerce to help the local community, he said.
A number of aldermen had concerns about the signs, including with their size. Alds. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, and Bill Donnell, 4th Ward, both said the signs were almost billboard-sized.
Some aldermen were also concerned about the placement of the “gateway” signs, since the number and locations of these signs had not yet been determined.
Originally it was proposed that the mayor’s office would choose the location of the signs, but after a lengthy discussion, aldermen voted 7-5 to require the location of the signs be approved by the City Council Building, Zoning and Economic Development Committee, with the option for aldermen to appeal the decision to the full City Council.
Ultimately the Aurora City Council voted 9-3 to approve the agreement with Community Digital Displays. Alds. Mesiacos, Donnell and John Laesch, at-large, voted against it.
Mayor Richard Irvin recused himself from the discussion. He said that, although he did not have a conflict of interest, he would recuse himself to avoid the appearance of one.
