Hastert to be toasted twice by colleagues and friends
More than 1,000 well-wishers are expected to mingle at two pricey tributes to former U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert next week. The first, scheduled at 6 p.m. Monday at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, features WLS-AM 780 radio's Don and Roma Wade as masters of ceremony and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley as a special guest. A bipartisan contingent of lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, U.S. Reps. Melissa Bean, Judy Biggert and Rahm Emmanuel, are expected to attend.
The second, hosted by Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross of Oswego, will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Q Center in St. Charles.
Both events benefit the new J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy at Wheaton College, the Plano Republican's alma mater. Tickets to the Chicago event are $500 and tickets to the St. Charles dinner are $150.
Burns on a bus: You're not the only one Kevin Burns has been smiling at. The Geneva mayor and Republican congressional candidate this week launched an ad campaign featuring his mug and the slogan "Proven Leader, Problem Solver" on the side of Pace buses. The ads can be seen on buses traveling through Elgin, South Elgin, St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia and Aurora until the Feb. 5 primary election.
Burns and two of his GOP foes, state Sen. Chris Lauzen and dairy magnate Jim Oberweis, appeared on WLS-AM 780's "Connected to Chicago" at 8 a.m. Sunday. The next time they are scheduled to meet is Friday; the Geneva Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a breakfast with the candidates from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn in St. Charles. Register by noon Tuesday by calling (630) 232-6060. Cost is $20 for members and $30 for nonmembers. In addition to those three Republicans, Democrats Bill Foster, John Laesch and Jotham Stein are scheduled to attend.
Whooping cranes spotted: A pair of rare whooping cranes recently were spotted at the Sauer-Prairie Kame Forest Preserve in Sugar Grove. Drew Ullberg, the Kane County Forest Preserve's director of natural resources, likened the event to seeing a giant panda or California condor in the wild.
"It's something I've dreamed about for a long time," he said at Friday's meeting of the forest preserve commission's executive committee.
The birds stopped here Nov. 22 to Dec. 2 on their way to Florida. Official with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who had been tracking the birds, notified forest preserve officials. Adult cranes are white with a red crown and dark, pointed bill. They stand 5 feet tall.
In the 1800s there were thousands of whooping cranes in the United States, but that number dropped to about 16 in the 1940s due to loss of habitat. Now there are about 200, thanks in part to specialized rearing and release programs started in the 1980s. The birds have been on the endangered species list since 1967.
lsmith@dailyherald.com