Daily Herald editors offer brief thoughts on suburban topics in the news.

It's (almost) here

Canada geese are migrating northward, sandhill cranes won't be far behind, and the first spring greenery - willows, snowdrops and even crocuses - are taking advantage of this week's thaw. Rejoice that winter soon will be in the rearview mirror (and then get ready to pull spring dandelions).

New tollway board

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his Illinois tollway board appointees will bring "a new wave of transparency and accountability," a relief after revelations of politically motivated hiring and contracts under the previous board. We wish he had appointed a member from Lake County, since the tollway is in the midst of a $25 million study of the very controversial Route 53 extension there.

Closing credits

News that West Chicago's Cascade Drive-In may have shown its last movie has lots of folks feeling melancholy. The theater, which has operated since 1961, blended nostalgia with good prices on first-run movies and often attracted long lines of traffic. If the curtain really is coming down on the Cascade, it will be missed.

Standing up for softball players

Marie Marcum wasn't about to let the dis go. The 9-year-old Bolingbrook girl was taunted with "Hey, there's always softball" when she missed a target at an electronic game, so she wrote a letter that prompted the manufacturer to create new recordings for the machine. Softball pro Jennie Finch called Marie "a game-changer." And that's how you throw like a girl.

Leadership team salute

They are volunteers, always among the first to go where the need is in their schools, communities and houses of worship. This week, the Daily Herald honored 40 high school students on our 2018-19 Leadership Team. Another 99 students were honorable mentions. Their selfless efforts have led to impressive accomplishments. We are so proud of them.

Using your voice

If you see something, say something. Have these words become so commonplace that we ignore them? As members of a community, it is our job to look out for each other and recognize when a situation doesn't feel right. And then say something. The more we use our voice to speak up, the more it encourages others to do the same. We are all in this together.

Keeping an open mind

In Sunday's Daily Herald, we will present the final in a series of stories on Proposition 23, which abolishes conferences in favor of districts for high school football beginning in 2021. What this series has proved more than anything is that keeping an open mind while the IHSA works to develop the new process would be a good thing.

Orchestrating her replacement, Part 1

If State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi of Elmhurst believed in democracy, she would have resigned from the College of DuPage Board soon enough after her legislative appointment last July that her replacement would have been chosen by the voters on April 2 rather than by the board.

Orchestrating her replacement, Part 2

If the College of DuPage Board believed in transparency, it would have solicited applicants for Mazzochi's seat rather than handpicking unsuccessful legislative candidate Heidi Holan of Glen Ellyn without an apparent process.