2025 look ahead: News stories we’re watching for in 2025

Here are some DeKalb County news stories we expect to make headlines in 2025.

Dr. Leroy A. Mitchell Elementary School to open in DeKalb in August

A new elementary school for DeKalb students is expected to open in time for the 2025-2026 school year this fall.

Named the Dr. Leroy A. Mitchell Elementary School, a groundbreaking was held April 11 at the site, 1240 Normal Road.

The 70,000-square-foot school, expected to cost about $33 million, will serve 450 to 500 kindergarten through fifth-grade students. The school will feature music and art classrooms, a STEAM classroom for science, technology, engineering and art education, spaces designed to accommodate services for special needs students, outdoor learning and innovation pods, and staff spaces to hold restorative conversations for student discipline.

DeKalb District 428 school officials have said a new elementary school was needed to help offset growing student populations and ease teacher-student ratios.

Maurice McDavid, formerly DeKalb High School Dean of Students and a DeKalb native, has been named principal of the new school.

DeKalb elementary school redistricting on the horizon

Along with a new elementary school, conversation has turned to early stage discussion about redrawing elementary school boundaries in DeKalb.

If approved by the school board, new lines could mean grade school students could go to a different school in the fall. Preliminary discussions at the school board level haven’t entered any final decision. DeKalb School District 428 officials have said redistricting could help accommodate student levels at the new elementary school.

The school district plans to host multiple public community conversations about the boundary maps to invite parents and the public to weigh in. The next community conversation on boundaries is planned for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at DeKalb High School, 501 W. Dresser Road. A second will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at St. Paul Episcopal Church, 900 Normal Road.

New fire stations in DeKalb, Sycamore meant to address 911 response efficiency for residents

Two of DeKalb County’s largest municipalities are continuing plans this year to build out their fire departments.

DeKalb Fire Chief Mike Thomas has said the city’s fourth fire station, 1130 S. Malta Road, could be service-ready by April.

Thomas said a new fire station was needed to improve 911 call response times for south side city residents, and alleviate stretched resources pulled from the department’s three other stations.

Fire station talks also have continued in neighboring Sycamore, though at a slower pace.

Sycamore city officials have said a new main fire station is needed to replace the city’s central one at 535 DeKalb Ave. Sycamore Fire Chief Bart Gilmore told city officials that the aging station does not have a reliable AC and heating system.

The new fire station, expected to cost about $10.5 million in the city’s fiscal 2025 budget, will be built on about 6.3 acres of land donated by Ideal Industries south of the corner of Borden Avenue and South Prairie Drive, Sycamore.

Municipal elections to start with DeKalb mayoral primary

A candidate for DeKalb mayor has triggered a primary election on Feb. 25, with a single race on the ballot.

The catch? No one’s name will appear, according to the DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. Instead, DeKalb city voters will see an oval and a line meant for a mayoral write-in candidate. Voters will need to fill in the oval and write in a name for their preferred candidate.

Only one person has filed to be a write-in candidate for that primary before the filing window closed Dec. 18, County Clerk Tasha Sims said: DeKalb resident Linh Nguyen. Nguyen’s name was removed from the city’s ballot in November after the city’s electoral Board ruled she filed her paper’s outside of the allowable window. Her mayoral campaign has fought to appeal that ruling in court, however. That appeal will go before a DeKalb County judge Jan. 30.

“I am not asking for special treatment,” Nguyen said to Shaw Local News Network in December. “I’m asking for the law to be upheld. How can you put a price on a functioning democracy? We have laws to protect people’s choices at the ballot box and defend our democracy.”

Three other DeKalb residents have declared their intent to run for DeKalb mayor, and as of right now, they are the only names who will appear on the April 1 ballot: incumbent mayor Cohen Barnes; 7th Ward Alderman John Walker; and newcomer Kouame Sanan, an IT employee at Northern Illinois University. If Nguyen’s primary race is successful, her name also will appear on the April ballot.

Only registered voters in the city of DeKalb will be eligible to fill out a ballot for the February primary.

Consolidated spring elections could bring new leadership in schools, city halls

On the heels of an “unprecedented” DeKalb mayoral primary, the spring 2025 Consolidated Election also could see new leadership in many DeKalb County area cities and townships.

Candidates for mayor and City Council in DeKalb city will face off in multiple contested races, which could see elected a new mayor if incumbent Cohen Barnes is unsuccessful.

In Sycamore’s Mayor Steve Braser is seeking reelection unopposed. Clerk Mary Kalk also seeks reelection unopposed. Newcomer Ron Dancey is among those vying for a spot on the Sycamore City Council.

In public school district elections, Sycamore voters will see a familiar question on their ballot once again this spring. The Sycamore School District 427 school board voted to send a failed referendum back to the ballot box, again asking residents to weigh in on boundary lines for school board members. The second-round referendum will ask voters if the school district can hold at-large elections, enabling anyone living in district boundaries to run for any open seat on the board.

For Sycamore school board elections, six candidates have filed for a spot.

In DeKalb, almost a dozen residents have filed for four open seats in the spring election. All four sitting members who’s seats are up for reelection declined to run again, records show.

Roundabout work along high-traffic DeKalb County roadway could begin in 2025

While major work planned along Plank Road could take years, one aspect could begin in 2025, DeKalb County Engineer Nathan Schwartz has said.

Installation of a roundabout at the intersection of Lindgren and Plank roads, a $2.5 million endeavor, could begin as early as 2025, and finish the following year.

The roundabout, which Schwartz said could cost the county about $500,000 after grant funding is applied to the project, also would feature a sidewalk and lit pedestrian crossing sign to connect the neighborhoods on the opposing sides of the intersection.

A longer phase, the realignment of a 3-mile stretch of Plank Road away from Moose Range Road, could cost millions and take take years.

Multiple high-profile violent criminal cases head to trial in 2025 in DeKalb County

Multiple high-profile criminal cases, some that have been pending in DeKalb County court for years, are expected to head to a jury trial this year.

Sycamore double murder trial to convene more than 8 years after Wilson killings

The first is one of the longer-pending cases in Sycamore. The trial will be presided over by Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick. A 12-person jury is expected to hear the case of Jonathan Hurst, now 55, charged with 12 counts of first-degree murder, home invasion and burglary. He was arrested in Ohio in February 2020 and charged almost four years after mother and son Patricia A. Wilson, 85, and Robert J. Wilson, 64, were found beaten to death inside their home at 16058 Old State Road.

Jury selection is expected to begin the week of Jan. 20, with the trial to kick off the morning of Jan. 21. Prosecutors with the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office are expected to bring forth dozens of witnesses. Hurst’s defense lawyer, Chip Criswell of the Public Defender’s Office, has not said whether his client, who faces a life sentence if convicted, intends to testify in his own defense.

Some of the Wilson family also is expected to offer testimony when the trial convenes, more than eight years after their loved ones were found killed. Hurst was living in Chicago at the time of the Wilson’s deaths and has denied being in Sycamore. Authorities have alleged DNA evidence proves he was inside the Wilson home.

Man charged in DeKalb teen’s killing heads to trial

The murder trial of Timothy M. Doll, now 30, is expected to convene March 3 in front of Circuit Court Judge Philip Montgomery. Doll is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of DeKalb High School freshman Gracie Sasso-Cleveland, 15, who was found dead by police a day after her mother reported her missing.

The body of Sasso-Cleveland, 15, was found by DeKalb police inside a dumpster next to Doll’s College Avenue apartment May 7, 2023, according to court records. A registered sex offender when Sasso-Cleveland was killed, Doll could face extended sentencing of 20 to 120 years in prison if convicted of first-degree murder.

Doll is represented by Special Public Defender Andrew Nickel.

Trial date set for DeKalb man charged in DUI deputy death

A spring jury trial could determine the fate of a DeKalb man charged with driving under the influence of drugs and causing a crash that killed DeKalb County sheriff’s deputy Christina Musil, 35, in March 2024.

Musil, a mother of three and an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, was on duty when her patrol car was rear-ended by a commercial truck driven by Nathan P. Sweeney, police allege.

The trial for Sweeney, 44, is expected to convene at 10 a.m. June 23 in front of Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick. John Kopp, Sweeney’s defense lawyer, also has requested that the jury trial take place outside of DeKalb County.

Buick hasn’t yet ruled on Kopp’s request. She’s expected to hear arguments and considerations on the appeals at Sweeney’s next hearing, set for 10 a.m. Feb. 8.