RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside $1.00
Vol. 35, No. 20
May 13, 2020
PPopcorn to go Cl Classic Cinemas offers ta takeaway concessions PAGE 13 PAG
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Riverside cancels Independence Day events, but mulls substitutes PAGE 3 New COVID-19 deaths reported in Brookfield, Riverside PAGE 8
Off-campus college learning not exactly ideal Pandemic upends language immersion, primary source research, in-person journalism By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
Local college students had their studies abruptly altered this year, suddenly forced to leave their campuses and return home this spring as universities shut down and switched to remote learning in the wake of the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. Leanna “Lulu” Keen had a longer trip home than most. The 21-year-old University of Illinois junior from Brookfield was spending the semester in Barcelona, Spain, on a study abroad program. Keen, who is double majoring in Spanish and economics, was taking classes at the Universitat de Barcelona and enjoying her first trip to Europe. Her semester was supposed to run from January to June. By mid-March she had already visited Portugal, Paris and Vienna and was looking forward to trips to Switzerland and Mallorca. “I loved it. I got to travel a little bit,” Keen said. But in February as the pandemic hit Italy, she began to realize that her time in Spain could be cut short. “Once we heard about the whole Italy situation, I honestly knew it was just a matter of time until it reached Spain,” Keen said. See COLLEGE LEARNING on page 12
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
SQUAWK THE WALK: Jim Vonesh, accompanied by his wife, Tara, and his children, Jaden and Alia, parade down Herrick Road in Riverside during one of his recurring “sax walks” on May 7.
Musician takes his show on the road, locally Jim Vonesh’s ‘sax walks’ have become a stay-at-home hit
By BOB UPHUES Editor
Everyone loves a parade, but perhaps none more than Riverside resident Jim Vonesh, who for the past month, when
the weather cooperates, becomes a oneman marching band, bringing hot sax to the village’s neighborhoods. “I had done the sax walks a few times several years ago,” said Vonesh, a father of two and veteran musician
who moved to Riverside in 2012. “I started doing them regularly (1-2 times a week) after the shelter-in-place thing started. See SAX WALKS on page 16
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