The meeting drew no public comments, either in-person or via email, which is unusual over the past months as the district has been reacting to changes in health metrics. Outspoken parents on all sides of the issue, along with staff members concerned about the impact on their own health, have occupied hours at the beginning of previous meetings, urging the board to either reopen all schools and school activities or maintain remote learning.

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The decision by the board was prompted by a disagreement between Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois High School Association, a non-governmental body that schedules and coordinates interscholastic sports for high schools across the state.

In late October, Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health—citing the most recent spike in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state—labeled contact sports, like basketball and wrestling, as “high risk” for the spread of the coronavirus, canceled winter sports events, and pushed the season to spring.

“We’re just finishing phase one, and phase one is the addition,” said Doug Cataldo, library spokesperson. The parking lot has been paved and striped in the past week, and If construction stays on schedule, the addition could be occupied by spring of next year. That won’t be the end of the project, however, only the middle, as the second phase involves renovations to the existing library building.

Because of requirements set by the state to keep the tents from turning the outdoors into the indoors, the dining experience inside a tent won’t be warm and cozy but still will require parkas, hats and gloves.

The latest restrictions will kick in at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and would be in place for at least 14 days. The period could be longer, depending on whether the virus spread among people in the counties can be brought within the limits set by the state.

The first person in line — a woman wearing a colorful facemask and a hat that read “Hold My Drink, I Gotta Pet My Dog” — didn’t want to give her name but arrived about 6:45 a.m. for the 9 a.m. start of testing. She came early, she said, “because everybody heard on the news about people waiting for hours for the test.”

The district’s elementary schools had returned to a hybrid schedule of in-person and online learning on Monday, and the district’s middle schools and Huntley High School were slated to start a hybrid schedule on Nov. 2.

In a letter to parents, Superintendent Scott Rowe said the district “will do an adaptive pause from hybrid learning” at least through Friday, Nov.

The village has already okayed $300,000 for the first phase of engineering plans for the roadway. Kreutzer Road is now two lanes for about 6,500 feet east of the entrance to Walmart.

On the same day McHenry County government warned that rises in coronavirus metrics soon could signal more severe restrictions on businesses and restaurants across the county, School District 158 scaled back plans presented just last week.

In a plan approved by the village board, Woodstock Hotels Inc. will spend $11.5 million building a four-story, 100-room hotel on property along Route 47 next to Walmart. The convenience of having a hotel in town will have to be enough for the village for the first five years after the hotel opens near the end of 2021. The board voted to rebate to the hotel operator up to $2.9 million in taxes to help offset the cost of building the business.

Doctors, parents, grandparents, health officials, and village officials are hoping kids can find some fun again this Halloween by trick-or-treating responsibly while parents monitor their safety.

The grants from the state are focused on businesses in what is referred to as disproportionately impacted areas (DIAs) —identified in McHenry County as the Harvard and Richmond areas —or heavily distressed industries, such as movie theaters, performing arts venues, concert venues, indoor recreation facilities and amusement parks.

Plenty, if the word is gaming, meaning gambling, and placed on a sign for all the world to see on a business on the edge of downtown Huntley.

That’s what Michael Skala, manager of Goodfella’s Beef, found out Thursday when the village board of trustees turned around his proposal for sign changes on his few booths and carry-out restaurant in the Huntley Court strip mall along Route 47 just north of Coral Street.

Skala is in the middle of expanding his beefstand into the space formerly occupied by Honey Fluff Donuts, space that will allow him to realize the potential granted by the village in August, 2019, when the board approved a Class A liquor license and a video gaming license for the location.

With a nod to the coronavirus, the fest is moving from its normal location at Deicke Park to the confines of RocHaus, a music venue in West Dundee. While RocHaus won’t be open to the public, the three nights of live music will be livestreamed via the Huntley Fall Fest’s Facebook page.

“We were hoping to have the fest as normal…but that’s not the case,” said Bryant Haniszewski, chairman of the Huntley Fall Festival Foundation, a 100% volunteer organization.

The Village of Huntley will hold an election on April 6, 2021, for village president and three trustees. The seats are currently held by Mayor Charles Sass, and trustees Ronda Goldman, John Piwko, and JR Westberg.

Beginning Thursday, Village Clerk Rita McMahon has petitions available for potential candidates at the clerk’s office in the village hall, 10987 Main St.,