The top stories around the Chicago suburbs – Chicago Tribune

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There was no shortage of significant stories around the Chicago suburbs in 2022, including the mass shooting at the Independence Day Parade in Highland Park on July 4 that left seven people dead.

Here’s a look at the top Tribune stories from the Chicago suburbs in 2022.

A Lake Forest police officer walks along the sidewalk where people abandoned chairs, strollers and bicycles near the scene of a mass shooting along the Fourth of July parade route Monday, July 4, 2022 on Central Avenue in Highland Park. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Residents of Highland Park have felt deep pain and grief over the six months since a gunman opened fire, killing seven people and wounding dozens at the city’s annual Fourth of July parade.

As the year winds to a close, the city continues to come to grips with what occurred, how to grieve those lost and what, if anything, should be done to prevent future gun violence, in what is tragically one of the Lake County News-Sun’s top stories of 2022.

A memorial filled with dozens of bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals sits outside of the Kisliak home along Acacia Terrace on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, in Buffalo Grove. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

With three mass killings committed within its borders over the past year, Lake County experienced a dramatic increase in homicides in 2022.

As the year came to a close, the coroner’s office had recorded 44 homicides, with 10 pending cases likely to be classified as homicides as well. If that is the case, that would put the county on track for 54 homicides in 2022. Since 2018, the annual number of homicides has been in the 30s, with a previous high of 38 in 2020.

The unsettling homicide numbers made violence one of the Lake County News-Sun’s top stories of 2022.

The Hollywood Casino sits near the Fox River Monday Oct. 10, 2022, in Aurora. Hollywood Casino Aurora has announced plans to move near the Interstate 88 interchange. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune)

It was a busy year in Aurora in 2022, with Mayor Richard Irvin making a run for governor, a number of big development projects in the city, Hollywood Casino announcing a move from downtown to near Interstate 88 and many more stories making headlines.

>>Read the top stories of 2022 in the Aurora area

Lucy Westlake, 18, of Naperville captures a selfie at at the top of Mount Everest in Nepal on Thursday, May 12, 2022, which earned her the title as youngest American woman to reach Everest. (Lucy Westlake / HANDOUT)

Getting back to normal in Naperville meant 2022 was a time to celebrate major accomplishments, such as the Islamic Center of Naperville’s mosque groundbreaking or Lucy Westlake climbing Mount Everest. It also was the year to bid farewell to a piece of Naperville history in the razing of the Kroehler YMCA.

>>Read the top stories of 2022 in the Naperville area

Inside Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Palos Park, donations are readied for shipping to support the people of Ukraine. (Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church)

Reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, humanitarian aid efforts for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion and politics on the local and national level made headlines in the south and southwest suburbs in 2022.

Parishioners of Catholic churches receiving word of church consolidation and closings, and allegations of police misconduct in suburbs and settlements of significant lawsuits, were also among the major news events.

>>Read the top stories of 2022 in the Southland area

The two unlined ash ponds are seen in the foreground of the coal-fired NRG Waukegan Generating Station in Waukegan on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune)

Efforts to monitor and reduce the amount of ethylene oxide (EtO) spewed into the air in Lake County took a step forward this year, while local officials fought to reduce the danger from coal ash seeping into Lake Michigan contaminating drinking water along the shoreline.

A grant arranged this year by U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, will enable testing for EtO — a known carcinogen — to begin in 2023.

Candidate signs adorned the driveway on Deerfield Road at the Deerspring Pool early voting location in Deerfield. (Steve Sadin / Lake County News-Sun)

While predictions of a “red wave” shifting political power from Democrats to Republicans failed to materialize nationally, the “blue wave” which washed over Lake County in 2018 continued in November’s general election.

Between redistricting at the national, state and county levels — as well as what Lake County Democrats Chair Lauren Beth Gash called “quality candidates” — Democrats extended their majorities throughout the county making the election one of the Lake County News-Sun’s top stories of 2022.

Two signs on the front door of Norton’s Restaurant in Highland Park let diners know they must show proof of vaccination against COVID-19. (Steve Sadin / Lake County News-Sun)

COVID-19 mitigation efforts like mask wearing, social distancing, frequent hand washing and even receiving a vaccine booster faded away in Lake County over the past year as most people returned to their pre-pandemic habits despite the fact that the virus is still very much around.

Lake County went from a low to moderate risk of COVID-19 community spread in November, and remained there since, as the number of cases rose again making the coronavirus pandemic one of the Lake County News-Sun’s top stories of 2022, as it was the past two years.

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