“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.

Kane County Health Department (KCHD) Director Barbara Jeffers requests that residents limit activities that could spread COVID-19.

“Yesterday, the State of Illinois announced the highest number of new cases identified on a single day in the entire pandemic,” said Jeffers.

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.

Region 9 has seen troubling increases in both the 7-day rolling average test positivity rate and new hospital admissions for COVID-like illness (CLI) over the past two weeks.

IDPH places a county at the orange ‘Warning’ level when at least two of the eight main indicators used to evaluate COVID-19 disease transmission show increased spread. Each county is regularly assessed to determine whether it is meeting or exceeding each indicator target.

All ballot styles for McHenry County are available at all early voting centers with voters able to choose the site most convenient for them.

In Huntley, voters may vote early at the Huntley Park District offices at 12015 Mill Street, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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.

Registered participants may drop off tires smaller than 48 inches in diameter from 9 a.m. – noon on November 7 at the McHenry County Division of Transportation, 16111 Nelson Road in Woodstock.

Participants must wear a mask and maintain social distancing and are responsible for unloading tires that are to be recycled.

Solid Waste Manager Kelli Boeckmann said the event is a good opportunity for residents to reduce the potential for mosquito harborage on their property.

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.

“We cannot have our bouncies, like our pumpkin jumper or inflatable train,” said Liz Halat from Tom’s Farm Market in Huntley.

Cafe dining is outside only. And for chilly days to come?

“It does get cold, and we will provide extra seating in our greenhouse,” said Halat.

Enhanced sanitation is a sign of the season at Goebbert’s Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard in Pingree Grove.