Batavia to welcome new year with fireworks display

Batavia will ring in the new year and start the celebration of the city’s 180th birthday with music and a mini fireworks display Tuesday, Dec. 31 at the Riverwalk in downtown Batavia. The event will begin at 9 p.m. and will include a performance by the Batavia Community Band, refreshments, a 50/50 raffle, and other attractions.

Forest preserve to offer winter birds program

The Forest Preserve District of Kane County will offer a program about winter birds at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 28 at the Creek Bend Nature Center, 37W700 Dean St., St. Charles. The 90-minute program is designed for ages 10 and older. Admission is free, but registration is required. For more information or to register, call 630-444-3190 or email programs@kaneforest.com.

Library to welcome author

The Aurora Public Library will welcome Matt Hanley, author of “True Tales of Aurora” at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 4 at the library’s Eola Road Branch Library, 555 S. Eola Road, Aurora. Hanley will discuss his book, share writing tips, and take questions from the audience. For more information about the program, call the library at 630-264-3424.

Forest preserve to host scavenger hunt

The Forest Preserve District of Kane county will host a family-oriented scavenger hunt at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 27 at the Bliss Woods Forest Preserve, 5S660 Bliss Road, Sugar Grove. The program is free, but registration is required. For more information or to register, call 847-741-8350 or email programs@kaneforest.com.

In case you missed these items:

• The Batavia Chamber of Commerce recently named James Hanson its 2013 Batavia Citizen of the Year and will honor him Jan. 23 at the chamber’s annual awards event. Hanson, 88, served as an alderman and had a hand in planning the city’s downtown redevelopment effort in the 1960s and 1970s. Hanson volunteered with several community organizations over the years and remains active at the Batavia Depot Museum and at Batavia’s Calvary Episcopal Church. For more information about Hanson’s selection for the award and the chamber’s awards ceremony, go to www.bataviachamber.org.

• Shaw Media, publishers of the Kane County Chronicle, announced Dec. 23 it will purchase The Herald-News in Joliet from Sun-Times Media. The purchase is expected to be completed in early January. Shaw Media, based in Dixon, publishes several daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois, including The Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake and The Daily-Chronicle in DeKalb.

• Officials at Waubsonsee Community College in Sugar Grove said the college’s campus in downtown Aurora is up for sale again after the developer slated to buy the property stepped away from the purchase, according to a Dec. 22 report in The Beacon-News. The transaction was expected to be completed in January. The college will soon begin marketing the building, which is located a 5 E. Galena Blvd., according to the report.

• While most Americans were preparing to celebrate Christmas, the Postal Regulatory Commission quietly approved price increases for the U.S. Postal Service on Dec. 24, hiking the cost of a first-class to 49 cents, up from 46 cents, effective Jan. 26. The decision amounts to a 6 percent increase for most mail, according to a report in The Chicago Tribune. The magazine and direct mail industries opposed the increase, arguing it would drive consumers away from the postal service, cause layoffs and harm the national economy.

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