Daily Herald's Year in Photos
Seventh-grade math teacher Stephanie Girod puckers her lips to kiss a 6-week-old hereford hog to reward students at John T. Magee Middle School Middle School in Round Lake for raising money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
From left, Jake Tripp, Kyle Knauer and Michael Pulio react to a missed shot by Kyle during the ever popular Fish Toss as part of camp invention's recess remix at Cotton Creek School in Island Lake.
Bob Chwedyk | Staff Photographer
Looking like he's holding on for dear life due to extreme high wind gusts, Danny Burke, 8, of Schaumburg rides the white caps of Busse Lake as he, his dad and brother get some fresh air.
Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer
Fourth grader Danielle Howard nervously watches fellow fourth grader Kallie Cabanban spell the word croquette in the final round during the spelling bee at Robert Crown School in Wauconda. Howard eventually won the bee on the word Clementine.
Gilbert R. Boucher II | Staff Photographer
Alicia Cibula, 24, and Cindy Scariano, 37, of Barrington scouted out their spot with a thousand others starting at 6 a.m. to see Oprah kick off her 24th season in downtown Chicago.
Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer
Abby Aldrich, 4 of Naperville makes a mud angel during Friday Fling Mud Madness by the Naperville Park District along the Riverwalk.
Bev Horne | Staff Photographer
D-Day veterans listen to Taps as they mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day at Cantigny Park in Wheaton.
Bev Horne | Staff Photographer
A buck makes its way through the forest Wednesday at the Lakewood Forest Preserve near Wauconda. The rutting season has begun and herds of deer are more abundant in the area through the fall season.
Gilbert R. Boucher II | Staff Photographer
Dundee-Crown's Nick Torres is enveloped in fog during a football game against Elgin at Memorial Field August 28.
Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
Grant's Jack Kramer, right, finds himself in a mixed up spot during the 119-pound wrestling match against Luke Gaeth during a wrestling meet at Libertyville High School.
Paul Valade | Staff Photographer
A stray beam of sunshine from a skylight illuminates Eric Vonderhar, 14, as he sings during the last day of vacation Bible school at St. Patrick Catholic Church's Crane Road location in St. Charles Friday.
Rick West | Staff Photographer
This soybean looper was photographed with a compact camera in macro mode. The caterpillar will become a large moth according to Jill Stites, with the Lake County Forest Preserves in Deerfield.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Guests mourn the loss of John W. Keyes III during his funeral at St. James AME Church in Elgin. Police say the 17-year-old was killed by a woman who intentionally drove her car into him at the Burnham Wing Schoolhouse Apartments in Elgin.
Rick West | Staff Photographer
An elderly woman is carried out on a dining room chair by firefighters after a fire broke out at the apartment building at 201 Cook St. in Libertyville.
Steve Lundy | Staff Photographer
10-year-old Vinnie Dinh of Mundelein shows a little fear over his opponents move during the fall chess club at Fremont Public Library in Mundelein.
Steve Lundy | Staff Photographer
A gold finch eats from a large sun flower in the Circle Garden at the Botanical Gardens in Glencoe on Aug. 13. Gold finches can be seen eating on just about everything growing in the Circle Garden and the path southeast of the English Gardens.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Teresa Adams, left, Vinnie Medina and Elfredo Sproul, all of North Chicago, celebrate after the swearing in of Barack Obama as President during the Black Chamber of Commerce of Lake County luncheon.
Gilbert R. Boucher II | Staff Photographer
Convicted murderer James Degorski's mother Patricia Degorski closes her eyes after family members of his victims walk past her during a break in the murder trial.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
A rodeo clown has to jump the fence to avoid a charging horse during the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Lake County Fair Rodeo in Grayslake.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Naperville North players jump for joy after a play against Naperville Central during a girls volleyball game.
Bev Horne | Staff Photographer
Sgt. James Rachal of Joliet is welcomed home by his family at Streamwood High School Monday as Illinois National Guard Soldiers from Company B, 1st Batalion, 178th Infantry based out of Elgin come home from a one-year tour of Afghanistan.
Rick West | Staff Photographer
Wheeling's Bridgette Gray, with the game net around her neck, celebrates winning the 4A sectional championship 57-39 against Lake Zurich at Barrington High School.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Master Sgt. Matt Harman of the National Guard waves to neighbors on his way home to his Algonquin home Monday after a year in Afghanistan.
John Starks | Staff Photographer
Hundreds of students, family members and friends attended a candlelight vigil at NIU's Martin Luther King Commons on the anniversary of the 2008 killings on campus.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
A couple manages to smooch under a coat during a light drizzle on Vail Avenue and Campbell Street in downtown Arlington Heights.
Bob Chwedyk | Staff Photographer
While her brother played softball on a nearby field recently, 22-year-old Stephanie Walton of Fox River Grove walked under a clear sky and full moon with Marciano, her black Labrador retriever, on a ridge in Lions Park in Cary.
John Starks | Staff Photographer
Spring Brook Elementary School kindergarten students get an opportunity to learn about our planet in the Earth Balloon portable classroom in the school gym in Naperville.
Tanit Jarusan | Staff Photographer
Contestants line up for the "presentation of candidates in swimsuits" during the Miss McHenry County Queen 2009 pageant at the McHenry County Fair in Woodstock on August 5.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
Rolando Cruz shows the tattoos of his children on his chest. Cruz was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the 1983 kidnapping, rape, and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico in DuPage County and later acquitted.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Head coach Brian Aversa fights back tears as he stands with Tom Malewig during a pre-game ceremony at Kaneland High School honoring Jeff Malewig, who died in a December car accident with classmate Blake Denton.
Rick West | Staff Photographer
As names are called out family members place flowers and remembrance items into a casket in the memory of their children at Fox Valley Volunteer Hospice's memorial walk and service at Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin May 2.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
Longtime Driscoll Catholic High School science teacher Eileen Valentino, center, reacts after the announcement Tuesday that Driscoll will be closing at the end of this year.
Bev Horne | Staff Photographer
People reach out to touch their heroes as fifty Delta Company 1/178th Infantry soldiers from the Woodstock-based National Guard return Thursday to the Woodstock Square after a year in Afghanistan.
John Starks | Staff Photographer
An investigator wearing orange prison pants and shoes is talking on a cell phone, left, as Rolling Meadows police in the northwest parking lot of the Meijer store take a picture of the car that Robert Maday was being transported in.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Round Lake Beach Emergency Management Agency member Denise Jackson keeps a watchful eye on a storm rolling in over the Beach Fest this year.
Paul Valade | Staff Photographer
Brandon Volker of Auburn, Nebraska pulls a steer with one boot still in his saddle during the steer wrestling competition at the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Lake County Fair Rodeo in Grayslake.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Andrew McGuiness decides to cool off in front of a fan as seniors packed into the hot gym at Lake Zurich High School before commencement exercises.
Steve Lundy | Staff Photographer
A Grant varsity cheerleader crashes through the arms of other cheerleaders and lands head first on the sidelines during the game with Antioch in Fox Lake.
George LeClaire | Staff Photographer
Traci Lundell of Elmhurst looks the other way as the hands of RN Denise Kransberber injects her with the H1N1 vaccine Friday at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
Paul Michna | Staff Photographer
Kindergartner Nicholas Paraskevas gets a high-five from fourth grade teacher Carrie Cioni during the Make-a-Wish walk-a-thon at Patton Elementary School in Arlington Heights.
Joe Lewnard | Staff Photographer
Taxi driver Alinur Mohamud takes a break from his job to pray at sundown facing east as waits for patrons at the Arlington Heights train station.
Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer
In typical nine-year-old behavior, Taylor Radtke spends some time jumping on her bed on April 25 in her Johnsburg home before being told to stop by her mom.
Brian Hill | Staff Photographer
Kindergartner William Brown meets his mother, Julia, after his first day of class at Grace McWayne Elementary in Batavia on August 26.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
Grayslake Central's Kelly Silver makes a diving catch in left field during their 6-0 win over Grayslake North in the regional semifinal Tuesday at Grayslake Central High School.
Steve Lundy | Staff Photographer
Firefighters work the scene of a house explosion on Lake Shore Drive in Gages Lake as debris lies scattered about the street.
Paul Valade | Staff Photographer
Senators speak to one another on the floor during the impeachment hearings of ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich in Springfield.
Mark Welsh | Staff Photographer
Exhaust plumes become dreamlike as they meet with air temperatures near ten below zero during early evening rush hour on Route 72 in downtown West Dundee last January.
John Starks | Staff Photographer
Peg Sennett, left, has relocated and opened her Barker Shoppe Dog Grooming Salon after fire damaged the downtown Antioch business in November. The shop is set up in the rear of Kathi Thompson's Hairaphernailia.
Paul Valade | Staff Photographer
Naperville North soccer players, left, are stunned as they lose to Hinsdale Central in the second overtime, 2-1, during the girls soccer Class 3A Supersectional in Lisle.
Bev Horne | Staff Photographer
It's a near escape for Heidi, a nine month old hamster, as her owner Mindy Mate, 15, of Batavia gives her a tiny push in her rolling ball when the lid pops off. Swift actions by Mindy kept her inside the ball before she could get out.
Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
2008 Little Mr. Algonquin contestant Logan Bazdor takes a relaxed approach to Sunday's Little Miss and Mr. Pageant on the last day of the 49th-annual Algonquin Founders' Days festival.
John Starks | Staff Photographer
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