RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside $1.00
Vol. 35, No. 2
January 8, 2020
Top competition Nazareth, Fenwick girls battle tough foes PAGE 15
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Overnight parking online portal goes live PAGE 3
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D96 approves eLearning days PAGE 8
Decision puts red-light ticket revenues in jeopardy
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SEASON’S LEAVING
Comptroller won’t collect unpaid fines for towns with cameras By BOB UPHUES Editor
The village of North Riverside is about to lose about $1 million annually in red-light camera ticket revenue that has been collected in the past through the Illinois Office of Comptroller. On Jan. 6, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza announced that her office “will no longer assist municipalities in collection efforts for fines for red-light camera tickets, a system that is both unfair to low-income Illinoisans and the subject of a federal corruption probe.” According to a press release issued by Mendoza’s office, her office will cease collecting red-light camera fines effective Feb. 6. “As a matter of public policy, this system is clearly broken,” Mendoza said. “I am exercising the moral authority to prevent state resources being used to assist a shady process that victimizes taxpayers.” Mendoza was referencing what appears to be a wideranging probe into political corruption involving state, county and local legislators and their ties to the red-light camera company SafeSpeed LLC. See FINES on page 11
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
Brookfield resident Carlos Manzilla, of Brookfield, takes advantage of some decent weather to take down the icicle holiday lights from the roof and gutters of his Hollywood Avenue home on Saturday, Jan. 4.
Warm temps drew record Holiday Magic crowds Brookfield Zoo recorded its busiest December ever By BOB UPHUES Editor
Unseasonably warm temperatures last month, especially around Christmas, led to the busiest December in
the history of Brookfield Zoo and the most visitors ever on days when the zoo has hosted its Holiday Magic festival of lights event. Sondra Katzen, director of public relations for the Chicago Zoological
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Society, said 244,808 people attended the zoo in December, about 18 percent higher than the previous December attendance record of 206,669, back in See ZOO on page 11
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