ROCKFORD Rockford City Market will return downtown for its 12th season with more vendors and a larger footprint than ever before.
The annual outdoor event featuring local businesses and creators will welcome patrons back to 116 N. Madison St. on May 21.
On Friday, Rockford City Market and Rock River Development Partnership representatives held a news conference to discuss what s new this year and how the market plans to rebound after the pandemic caused last year s attendance to drop to about a quarter of what it was in 2019.
On opening day this year, patrons can expect to see 54 vendors ranging from restaurants and local farmers to crafters and retailers. There eventually will be 59 vendors, and 61% or 35 vendors are either owned by minorities or women.
ROCKFORD Officials ushered in a new era for the City Council on Monday, bidding farewell to two long-serving aldermen and two others who didn t seek reelection while welcoming five new members.
Among those leaving City Council were Venita Hervey, D-5, who served for 12 years, and Ann Thompson-Kelly, D-7, who served for 20 years.
Mayor Tom McNamara said both were fierce advocates for their wards who pursued and won significant investment in infrastructure that included the reconstruction of South Main Street and West State Street.
McNamara said Hervey was known for her tough questions on the floor of council chambers that made us better and Thompson-Kelly set an example for other aldermen to follow.
ROCKFORD U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos on Monday laughed off Republican suggestions that she will leave Congress after a decade of service because she is worried she might lose an election.
During an interview at the Register Star News Tower, Bustos noted she has won seven straight elections two for East Moline City Council and five as congresswoman representing the sprawling 17th District, which stretches from south of Peoria to the Quad Cities to parts of Rockford and the state line.
Despite it being an area that leans Republican and voted for Donald Trump, Bustos remains unbeaten. And she will retire undefeated from her congressional career in January 2023 following the completion of her fifth term.
BUSTOS’ EXIT AND THE REMAP DUCKWORTH’S DUCKS IN A ROW SCHOOL BOARD HEAD-TURNER
Presented by Illini for Affordable Rx
Happy Monday, Illinois. That Food and Wine magazine would rank New Jersey s pizza No. 1 is a complete abomination.
TOP TALKER
Rep. Cheri Bustos’
surprise announcement Friday that she won’t seek re-election in 2022 further endangers Democrats’ chances of holding on to the House, and it creates new intrigue into how Illinois lawmakers will redraw congressional maps.
Now in her fifth term in Congress, Bustos is a close friend and ally of House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. The two are known to talk almost every day. So that, coupled with news that Illinois will lose one of its 18 seats in the House, chips away at Illinois clout.
Wall St. Journal editorial…
After this week’s release of decennial Census apportionments, the 2022 redistricting battles are underway. If you’ve been reading the press, you know what to expect: Republicans will gerrymander relentlessly to squeeze more GOP House seats out of red and purple states, while Democrats will model high-minded good governance and draw maps without regard to politics.
OK, maybe not exactly. The post-2010 liberal zeal for nonpartisan map-drawing seems to be abating in places where Democrats are in power. See how the political winds are blowing in two blue states, Illinois and New York, that each lost a congressional seat in the latest Census count.