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The Bourbs Daily
Monday, August 17, 2026 ☀ 79°/67° — Mostly Sunny
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Editor's Note
Good Monday morning, Kankakee County. Dale here. August 17th. The second week of school is officially underway, and the first-week novelty has officially worn off. The alarm that felt almost exciting last Monday? Today it's just an alarm. But here you are, out the door anyway. That's the job. That's the week.
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View all news articles →
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📅 Out & About in Kankakee County
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Quiet Monday for events -- the calendar's mostly village board and committee meetings. Momence Public Library has a kids' craft session at 4, and karaoke's running at Jailhouse Rock in Kankakee tonight if you're still up at 7. Save some energy for Friday, when Rockin' on the Square kicks off in Manteno.
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★ Featured
4:00PM
Momence Public Library - Read & Make
Momence Public Library
Momence Public Library runs its Read & Make session at 4pm -- a free craft and activity hour built around that week's book pick for kids. About the only thing on the calendar today besides village board meetings.
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Plan ahead
Clear Friday evening for Rockin' on the Square -- Manteno's free outdoor concert series returns to The Square on 2nd from 7 to 9:30pm. See event
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See all 8 events on BradleyIllinois.com →
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📜 Dale's Corner
Two-a-Days
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Every year in early August, the same ritual begins at high school football programs across Kankakee County: two-a-day practices, the official start of football season. Players show up before 7am for the first session, go home through the midday heat, and come back in the late afternoon for a second. For two weeks, football is the job. The practice has been modified over the years by heat protocols and safety requirements — the days of full-contact work in August heat with no water breaks are mostly gone. But the basic structure remains, because there's a significant amount of physical and strategic work to do before the first game. For families in the county with kids in fall sports — football, soccer, volleyball, cross country — late August is already in the school year rhythmically even before the buses start. The season has started. The schedule is on the refrigerator. The county's social calendar has begun to orient around Friday nights in a way it doesn't any other time of year.
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Dale's Rule #90: The second week of anything is the honest one. The first week you're on your best behavior. Week two is where the real character shows up.
— Dale
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🏛 This Week in Local Government
What your boards just did — and what they take up next.
Tonight's Bourbonnais Village Board meeting (5:30 PM) carries some unusual freight for a third-Monday session. A new officer will be sworn in — Patrolman Joshua Reel, the department's second hire this month — and a proclamation honoring K-9 Knight, whose sacrifice in the line of duty will be recognized by the board.
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Bourbonnais · Village Board of Trustees
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WHAT HAPPENED Mon, Aug 3 Minutes →
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✅ All votes 5-0 (Trustee Toepfer absent): RES 26-1648, RES 26-1649, ORD 26-2557 all adopted |
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Patrolman Thomas Martin sworn in — joins from Kankakee PD after 10 years; force now at 27 sworn officers (full capacity: 29) |
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ORD 26-2557 (surplus property sale) — passed same night via rule suspension |
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MEETS TONIGHT — ON THE AGENDA Mon, Aug 17 · 5:30 PM Agenda →
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Patrolman Joshua Reel sworn in — second hire in August; force approaching full capacity of 29 |
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⚠️ PROCLAMATION 26-395 — Honoring K-9 Knight's 'service and sacrifice' — 'sacrifice' language signals line-of-duty death or serious injury |
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PROCLAMATION 26-398 — Celebrating visit of Charlotte Montel, Consul General of France (Chicago) — diplomatic recognition of Bourbonnais French heritage |
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Manteno · Village Board
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WHAT HAPPENED Mon, Aug 3
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✅ CONFIRMED: Gotion fire brigade MOU passed UNANIMOUSLY — Trustee Mike Barry confirmed Gotion signed. |
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🔴 Village Administrator LaRocque SUSPENDED without pay (5 days) — Mayor LaMore alleged LaRocque added 4 agenda items without her knowledge |
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Four items stripped from agenda: Cainkar motions (Old Business A, B), Klein Thorpe engagement (New Business B), Lee's Rental & Greene Forensic payments (New Business C, D) |
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MEETS TONIGHT — ON THE AGENDA Mon, Aug 17 · 6:00 PM Agenda →
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Finance Committee at 5:00 PM — Harbor House $36,840 donation on agenda (domestic violence shelter expansion) |
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LaRocque returns from suspension before tonight — further personnel or agenda disputes possible |
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Aug 12 special meeting already concluded: $367,125 in bills passed 4-0 (including Lee's Rental $1,095, Greene Forensic $12,270.92) |
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Bradley · Village Board
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MET — OUTCOMES NOT YET POSTED Mon, Aug 10
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⏳ FIFTH DELAY: Used car dealership SUP (260 N. Bradley Blvd) continued AGAIN — per Shaw Local Aug 11. Board indicated approval likely once grease trap installed. |
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Water park contracts (R-08-26-01 SWPPP grading, Q-08-26-01 $9.75M credit line) and R-08-26-02 (Fire Station #2 generator) on agenda — no coverage raised concerns; presumed… |
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Minutes not posted as of Aug 16 scrape |
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Mon, Aug 24 · 6:30 PM Agenda →
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⚠️ WATCH: Used car dealership SUP at 260 N. Bradley Blvd — fifth attempt; board signaled approval pending grease trap installation; Sebastian Corona agreed to meet with… |
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Agenda not yet posted as of Aug 16 scrape |
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Kankakee · City Council
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MEETS TONIGHT — ON THE AGENDA Mon, Aug 17 · 7:00 PM Agenda →
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Development agreement with Laffey's Tiny Tap, Inc. (new business) |
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Class E liquor license at 555 S. West Ave |
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Hydroelectric dam relicensing — $88,847 Stantec Consulting contract for FERC process |
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Kankakee County · County Board
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MET — OUTCOMES NOT YET POSTED Tue, Aug 11
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Meeting occurred August 11, 2026 |
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ZBA Case #26-06 (Sunrise Farms A1→RE rezoning, Aroma Township) — vote unconfirmed |
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ZBA Case #26-07 (text amendments to 8 zoning code sections) — vote unconfirmed |
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Tue, Sep 8 · 9:00 AM Agenda →
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Next regular County Board meeting — September 8 |
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No special meetings announced |
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See all board meetings →
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🎓 This Week in Your Schools
School boards and parent groups — decisions made, and what is on deck.
School starts this week almost everywhere in the K3, and the boards have already been busy. Bradley-Bourbonnais approved a balanced tentative FY27 budget last Monday — a $200,522 surplus on about $35 million, plus $23 million going into the renovation and new field house — after a $256,000 hole in the education fund closed up when the state released its funding numbers on August 7.
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BBCHS SD 307 · Board of Education
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WHAT HAPPENED Mon, Aug 10 Agenda →
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Balanced FY27 budget approved in tentative form — about $34,995,695 in revenue against $34,795,173 in expenses, a $200,522 surplus, with roughly $23 million more going out… |
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The education fund flipped from red to black in two weeks. |
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The district's business official warned the number will move again before the final vote — Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax revenue is expected to take another… |
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Mon, Sep 14 · 6:00 PM Agenda →
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The FY27 budget hearing is at 6:00 p.m., and the board votes on the final budget right after — this is the meeting where the number becomes real. |
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Twelve PRESS Issue 122 policies come back off 30-day review for adoption, among them 2:230 Public Participation at School Board Meetings and 7:30 Student Assignment and… |
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The August 10 minutes are due on this agenda, which is when last week's consent-agenda hires and resignations become part of the public record. |
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Kankakee SD 111 · Board of Education
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MET — OUTCOMES NOT YET POSTED Mon, Aug 10 Agenda →
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Two contract renewals were up for a vote: Rise & Thrive Wellness for art therapy services, and Gaggle, the platform that monitors student accounts for safety concerns. |
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The board was also asked to authorize payment of a fine tied to a Statement of Economic Interests filing. |
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The consent agenda carried another round of recalls for employees cut in the spring reduction in force, along with an administrative appointment, licensed and support staff… |
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Mon, Aug 24 · 7:00 PM Agenda →
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First day of school in Kankakee is Monday, August 17 — staff came back August 13, and the board holds a retreat on August 22 before this meeting. |
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The agenda has not been posted. The portal says it is "currently under revision," which is unusual this close to the date. |
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The August 10 minutes are due here, which would put last meeting's contract renewals and RIF recalls on the record. |
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Bourbonnais SD 53 · Board of Education
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Tue, Aug 18 · 7:00 PM Agenda →
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First board meeting of the school year is Tuesday night — and note the date, because it is the third Tuesday, not the fourth. |
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It lands in the middle of the district's opening week: teacher institute days run August 17-19 and students come back Thursday, August 20. |
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The board has not met since June 23 and held no July meeting, so this is its first business since spring. |
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Bradley SD 61 · School Board
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MET — OUTCOMES NOT YET POSTED Thu, Aug 13 Agenda →
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The board met Thursday night at 7:00 at the district office — its first meeting of the 2026-27 school year — preceded by a 7:00 a.m. Executive Committee meeting on Monday… |
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We cannot tell you what was on it. SD 61's BoardDocs portal lists the meeting but will not load the agenda for us, and the district does not post agendas anywhere else. |
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SD 61 handles policy reviews on a 30-day cycle under Old Business and takes up pay rates, staffing and contracts under New Business, so those are the usual places to look… |
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Thu, Sep 10 · 7:00 PM Agenda →
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Expected, not confirmed. September 10 is SD 61's standing second-Thursday slot, but the district publishes no board calendar and nothing is posted yet. |
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Treat the date as provisional — two meetings this year (April 16 and July 16) slid to the third Thursday instead. |
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Expect a 7:00 a.m. Executive Committee meeting the Monday before, which is how SD 61 has run every month this year. |
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Manteno CUSD 5 · Board of Education
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Tue, Aug 25 · 6:30 PM Agenda →
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Manteno's board meets the week after school starts — its first meeting since June 16, and a Tuesday, which is how this board actually meets all year. |
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The rest of the 2026-27 slate, all Tuesdays: September 29, October 27, November 17, December 15, then January 26, February 23, March 16, April 27, May 25 and June 22. |
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The agenda folder for August 25 is up on the district site but is still empty — the agenda PDF had not been posted as of Sunday night. |
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Bourbonnais Elementary PTA
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COMING UP — ON THE AGENDA Tue, Sep 1 · 7:00 PM
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The PTA that covers all five BESD 53 buildings meets the Tuesday after Labor Day. |
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There is a Google Meet link on the PTA's home page if you cannot make it in person — one of the few parent groups in the county that offers it. |
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The rest of the year, all 7:00 p.m. at the BUGC multi-purpose room: October 6, November 3, December 1, February 2, March 2, April 6 and May 4. |
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See all school board meetings →
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⛽ Cheapest Gas in K3 Today
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Gas Depot
— 400 North Dixie Hwy, Momence
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$4.04
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Casey's
— 417 W Walnut St, Watseka
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$4.05
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Phillips 66
— 750 W Walnut St, Watseka
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$4.05
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Prices sourced from GasBuddy and may be inaccurate or out of date — always confirm at the pump.
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