Those were among the highlights as the Aurora Police Department released final crime statistics for 2012 last week. 

Larry Bonds, a Vietnam War veteran from East Peoria is participating in the Greater Peoria Honor Flight. Photo by Wes Schmidgall.

PEORIA — Since 2005, communities throughout the United States have organized Honor Flights that allow veterans from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War to fly into Washington D.C. to visit national war memorials and monuments for free.

In years past, veterans in the greater Peoria area have traveled to airports in Springfield or Chicago to participate in Honor Flights. 

A group of local volunteers have organized the first-ever Greater Peoria Honor Flight that will be held June 4, allowing veterans to fly out of the General Wayne. A Downing Peoria International Airport for an Honor Flight. 

NORMAL — After a four-and-a-half month, nationwide search, the Illinois State University Board of Trustees selected Timothy Flanagan to be Illinois State University’s next president, on May 10. 

Flanagan will become the 18th president of Illinois State University, starting Aug. 15. He has served as president of Framingham State University in Framingham, Mass., since 2006, and will replace Al Bowman, who announced his retirement in December.

WCC to host Kendall Job, Resource Fair

Waubonsee Community College will host its second annual Kendall County Job and Resource Fair on Friday, June 7, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at its Plano Campus, 100 Waubonsee Drive. The event, which is free and open to the public, will provide job opportunities, resources and strategies for thriving in a challenging economy.

Not long ago – circa the mid-80s – the western boundaries of Aurora and Montgomery were vast swaths of open space, and not much else.

“We needed to do more with the land,” Fox Valley Park District trustee J.A. Lippold said at the time, “and make more ‘people-use’ of it.”

Jericho Lake Park had just been completed, with a modest sports complex alongside that featured a handful of soccer fields. But, other than weekend games, a few fishermen at the lake and occasional snowmobiles whizzing around in the winter, the area had a rural remoteness.

The Fox Valley Park District Board of Trustees last week approved a budget of $47.8 million for the 2013-14 fiscal year that represents a 13.3 percent cut over the previous fiscal year.

Executive Director Nancy McCaul outlined an “innovative balance of smart growth and new horizons” that will maintain the District’s current high standards with a fiscal eye to the future as well.

For more than two decades, Waubonsee Community College educated thousands of Aurorans at its downtown campus on Stolp Island. In June 2011, Waubonsee moved its downtown Aurora operations to a new 132,000-square-foot state-of-the-art campus across the Fox River at 18 S. River St. 

Thanks to a purchase agreement in the amount of $1.5 million with developer Gorman & Company, downtown Aurora will continue its renaissance with the introduction of a mixed-use residential/retail development at the historic former campus.

The Elgin Patriotic Memorial Association, in cooperation with the city of Elgin, will sponsor a variety of programs for Memorial Day.

Residents are encouraged to visit our local cemeteries during the Memorial Day period. 

At Bluff City Cemetery, over 500 flags honoring local veterans line the streets as part of the award winning “Avenue of Flags.” 

There are also more than 2600 smaller flags flying over veterans graves placed by local volunteers as part of the group’s “Adopt a Cemetery” program.

For further information, visit www.elginmemorialday.org

Peters bids farewell after 13 years, 72,000 degrees conferred

One president. Thirteen years. Seventy-two thousand degrees conferred. This is the legacy of Northern Illinois University President John G. Peters.

Earlier this month Peters presided over commencement activities for the last time, including a Friday evening Graduate School ceremony and three separate events on Saturday.

- Contributed by Jeff Long

I’ve always been captivated by rivers.

Rivers are lively and energetic, always moving forward, never idling. From placid to pulsating, their moods – and their surroundings – are intriguing and ever-changing.

The Fox River is a flowing example. So, too, is a long-lived tradition that’s celebrated on this waterway for more than half a century.

An old friend, the Mid-American Canoe & Kayak Race returns for the 52nd year. It’s reliable as the Fox River’s current – occurring every June on the first Sunday (June 2 this year).

And it’s always just a little bit different from year to year, hosting paddlers of all ages and abilities.

Former Northern Illinois University football players Sean Progar  and Jason Schepler have added their names to the list of 2012 Huskie seniors that signed with NFL teams this month.

Invited to try out during the San Francisco 49ers rookie mini-camp earlier this month, Schepler nabbed the last spot on the 90-man roster as a fullback, and inked a three-year free agent contract with the team. Progar officially signed a tryout contract with the Jets as an outside linebacker.  

Chicago and Chicago's western suburbs can add a beautiful, new outdoor concert venue to its short list of hot summer destinations with the grand opening of the RiverEdge Park Music Garden in downtown Aurora next month.  

Inspired by outdoor entertainment facilities in Chicago's Millennium Park and Northerly Island, and Milwaukee's Summerfest, the RiverEdge Music Garden is conveniently located at 360 North Broadway, just steps from Aurora's downtown business district, directly across from the Metra station, and on the east bank of the Fox River.