Looking back at 2025
Last year our stories were read more than one million times.
The year 2025 was eventful, though not easy, for many in far northern Illinois. From opening restaurants to lowering the flag, from house fires to police chases, hundreds of stories caught our attention, read more than one million times last year by our neighbors in Rockton, Roscoe, and South Beloit, including 250,000 people farther away.
Veteran reporter Jean Seegers began the year with compassionate coverage of a domestic murder-suicide on her own street, Harrison Court in Roscoe.
The year saw settlements and (finally) payments for the 2021 Chemtool disaster in Rockton. Neighbors praised our coverage of missing claims and solutions for the problem. We even received awards from the Illinois Press Association (for Best Investigative/Enterprise Reporting) and the Northern Illinois News Association (for Best Watchdog Reporting). The series includes three dozen stories so far.
We celebrated many new businesses this year. We watched a Roscoe family restaurant open, a barbecue restaurant close, and a coffee shop open and close. After 24 years, Poison Ivy Pub gained new owners.
In early January, an 8th grade Roscoe Middle School student fell ill while on a Caribbean cruise with his family. Ashton O'Banion was transported by air ambulance to Madison but did not survive.
After the murder of Charlie Kirk, a Hononegah student drew attention for reporting a delay in lowering the flag to half staff at a football game. Seventeen year old Kennlee Ray later started a Turning Point USA student club at Hononegah. Principal Chad Dougherty, who said the delay had been caused by a communication breakdown, added, "I am very appreciative of our student who rightfully advocated for it."
Our readers care deeply about what happens in the three or four small towns where most of us live. Almost every week, the best-read story is our death notices for Rockton, Roscoe, South Beloit, and Shirland, published every Monday.
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