Mother Nature reigns supreme

As we huddled in the concrete stairwells of the Daily Herald Office Center during a severe storm warning the afternoon of Aug. 23, we had no idea of the devastation that would face us when we emerged.

Calls quickly poured in from photographers, reporters and citizens, documenting the damage.

Already, earlier rains had swollen the waters of the Des Plaines River until it spilled over its banks. That afternoon's strong winds and heavy rains felled hundreds of trees, snapped power lines and upped the ante for homeowners battling the rapidly rising tide of the river.

Massive efforts by officials and volunteers limited the flood damage, but suburban residents were forced to scale down their 21st century lifestyles in the face of widespread power outages that lasted for days and left them with spoiled food and flooded basements.

Cook County was among the ones to be declared a federal disaster area, clearing towns and residents to apply for money to help reimburse them for the mounting cleanup costs.

Here's a look at some of the other events that kept your communities in the news this year:

January

• From the time they moved into Des Plaines, they were either loved or reviled. The new rolling trash and recycling bins were called convenient by some, but others complained about where they would store the big containers and how they would be able to push them to the curb across snow piles.

February

• A new state law prompted by a Des Plaines crossing guard that increases the penalty for drivers who disregard crossing guards takes effect June 2008. Local legislators pushed for the law after hearing from crossing guard Andy Samborski in February.

March

• Arlington Park Racecourse agreed to build more housing for its workers, settling a lawsuit brought by a fair housing group and the U.S. attorney's office. The racecourse will construct a new building containing 48 units, each with 225 square feet of space, private bathrooms and air conditioning, said Jeffrey Taren, the attorney for HOPE Fair Housing Center Inc.

April

• Randhurst Shopping Center representatives presented plans to gut the first enclosed regional mall in the Chicago area, built in 1962. It's heading toward being converted into a mixed-use lifestyle center. Apartments, a hotel and retail stores will comprise Randhurst Village, which is expected to break ground next summer. Although Randhurst has seen recent success along its perimeter, with such stores as Costco, officials have acknowledged that the core is fading. While the anchor stores will remain, the malls 80 small stores will be gutted for the lifestyle center.

• After a bitter campaign, three Northwest Suburban High School District 214 incumbents won re-election. Alva Kreutzer, Bill Dussling and Bob Zimmanck bested their competitors by several thousand votes. Challengers, who took a conservative stance on what books should be on the district's reading list, netted backing from former Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis and conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly.

• A once-strong coalition of suburbs allied against expanding O'Hare International Airport expansion lost another member in April when Wood Dale left. Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, vice-chair of the Suburban O'Hare Commission, called the move "slimy." Des Plaines and Park Ridge previously had abandoned the group.

May

• Term limits Des Plaines voters backed in 1998 for the first time came into play as Aldermen Tom Christiansen, Dick Sayad and Tom Becker had to step down after serving two consecutive terms. An attempt to overturn the limits with a ballot question on Feb. 5, 2008, didn't get enough signatures.

• Des Plaines aldermen forced City Manager David Niemeyer out after four years in the job. In 2004, voters put the city manager in charge of day-to-day business and department heads. Aldermen questioned his performance under the change.

June

• The late Mayor Donald E. Stephens of Rosemont wasn't exactly known as a tree hugger. But he refused to allow one to be cut down when construction began on the Willow Creek Club fitness center 16 years ago, and after his death, people -- including his son Bradley -- began to see the mayor's image in the bark on that same tree.

• Authorities assert John Tomkins, a machinist and former part-time mail carrier, is the man who sent 17 threatening parcels to financial institutions across the country over the last two years, some signed with the moniker "The Bishop." The mailings included two dud pipe bombs sent in January from the Rolling Meadows post office. Though eight mailings were sent or received in the suburbs -- including from the Palatine post office and to addresses in Naperville and Barrington Hills -- officials say Tomkins has no known connection to the area. He was arrested on his way to work in Dubuque, Iowa, where he'd lived for the last 20 years.

September

• The Chicago Executive Airport, co-owned by Wheeling and Prospect Heights, went through a major shift when a series of important players resigned. Kevin Dohm, the chairman, resigned on Sept. 13 after others on the board questioned the work he had been doing with John Kennedy of Airport Corp. of America, an airport consultant. L. James Wylie, the vice-chairman, resigned a few weeks later. Dohm's resignation came a day before Prospect Heights Mayor Rodney Pace said he was leaving his job for medical reasons. Wheeling Village President Greg Klatecki had stepped down from that job earlier in the year, also citing medical problems. The mayors of the two towns appoint the chairman. Since then, tensions have continue to flare. Most recently, Prospect Heights sent a letter to Wheeling accusing the village manager of acting out of his purview. Manager Mark Rooney vehemently denied that and Wheeling fired back that two appraisals for land that Prospect Heights sold to the airport were kept under wraps, while two appraisals that were $4 million higher were used to set the price.

• Citing unspecified health issues, Prospect Heights Mayor Rodney Pace unexpectedly resigned in September, ending his five years in office. Shortly after, Alderman Pat Ludvigsen became acting mayor. Voters elected the 49-year-old Pace to his second term in April, when he defeated Kurt Giehler and longtime foil Gerald Anderson. Health problems weren't new for Pace, as he made an extended six-week hospital visit during his second year in office. He was first elected in 2003.

October

• Mount Prospect's sleek new downtown Blues Bar opened with a beat-up looking 1974 Mount Prospect police car, reminiscent of the famous "Blues Brothers" movie, on the second floor as the focal point. Other features include a music stage, a 16-by-9-foot television screen suspended above the bar and a two-story mural featuring famous Chicago blues singers. Meanwhile, Tod Curtis, who owns the building next door, which includes Ye Olde Town Inn, is suing Errol Oztekin, owner of the property, for damage to his property, and is wrangling with the village over his own development plan for his property.

November

• Teachers, signs at the ready, were prepared to strike Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211, but a last-minute settlement meant classes as usual for 13,000 students. The two-year deal in the state's largest high school district averted what would have been the first teachers strike in the system's history. Agreement followed months of sometimes bitter negotiations. Under the new contract, teachers will get base-raise increases of 3.25 percent for 2007-08 and a raise that is tied to the Consumer Price Index in 2008-09.

• With a six-year campaign, the Mount Prospect Historical Society raised the $150,000 needed to relocate the endangered 1896 Central School in Mount Prospect. Donors can expect to see the one-room frame schoolhouse rolling down the street to its new location sometime this winter or next spring. More than 650 families, businesses and organizations in 11 states donated.

December

• Bensenville, Elk Grove Village and St. John's United Church of Christ, which owns the 158-year-old St. Johannes Cemetery, lost a bid to have the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rule that removing graves for airport expansion violates religious protection laws.