SEPARATED BY A CENTURY 1918 flu killed 43 Oak Parkers Viewpoints. Page 23
In 2020 museum gathering COVID stories Page 6
W E D N E S D A Y
April 29, 2020 Vol. 40, No. 40 ONE DOLLAR @oakpark @wednesdayjournal
JOURNAL of Oak Park and River Forest
As economy collapses, D200 looks to build
Backyard marathon
Facing potential loss in funding, board says pursuing projects better than waiting By MICHAEL ROMAIN Staff Reporter
The economic slowdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic could bore a nearly $10 billion hole in Illinois’ budget over the next two fiscal years. The gap would likely mean steep cuts to local school districts. District 200 in particular faces a worst-case scenario of nearly $42 million in revenue losses through 2025 as a result of the COVID-19 recession, district officials said recently. Those prospects, however, did not deter the D200 school board from unanimously voting at a regular board meeting on April 23 to move forward, as scheduled, with $32.6 million of long-overdue capital See CONSTRUCTION on page 10
ALEX ROGALS/Staff Photographer
RUNNING IN PLACE: Anton Straughan ran a marathon to benefit Housing Forward and Beyond Hunger.
Beyond Hunger, Housing Forward benefit By JAMES KAY Staff Reporter
Oak Park residents Anton and Kirsten Straughan are no strangers to long dis-
tance running. However, running 1,310 laps in their backyard is a challenge they never faced until Beyond Hunger and Housing Forward combined for a fundraiser on April 26. The event raised over $18,000 in its first day and the money has already been split between the two organizations. Their goal was to hit $25,000 in donations but the link to the donations page is still live at justgiving. com. Search for Oak Park Backyard Family
Marathon. “We are thrilled with how the event turned out,” said Kirsten. “We were concerned about the weather and had some technology problems in the first couple of minutes but, besides that, everything went as planned. We’re hoping to get closer to our goal so we can give more donations to these amazing See MARATHON on page 11
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