Downtown Oak Park is getting closer to having a hotel, as the village board, following recommendation by the Zoning Board of Appeals, granted a special-use permit.

Two local state senators are among the leading candidates to succeed the retiring John Cullerton as the president of the Illinois Senate. Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) and Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) spent last weekend on the phone, calling colleagues trying to line up support for their respective bids to become the leader of the state Senate.

A planned hearing on a proposed 174-unit senior housing development on Madison Street has been delayed until December after the developer failed to fully comply with a legal requirements.

With the impending expiration of the Madison Street and downtown Oak Park Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, almost all Oak Park taxing entities are planning for additional property tax revenue that has until now been diverted for economic development efforts.

Earlier this month, the District 200 Board of Education unanimously approved a three-year, $242,201 contract for Supt. Joylynn Pruitt-Adams.

A new history course will debut at Oak Park and River Forest High School in the fall of 2020 and it's not your typical elective.