Can you believe it...

As I write this there are fewer than seven days remaining in this incredibly long campaign season. I can only hope that voters will get a bit of a break before the next Presidential campaign season gets underway, but I'm not too optimistic. I would like to encourage everyone to vote, who ever you support get out there and exercise your right to be part of the decision. If you're reading this before Thursday of this week, remember you can vote early at various locations in whatever county you call home. I Early Voted for the first time ever this year and I suspect I will again; it means I won't have to make time during a work day and I get to make my voice heard. So however you choose to vote...whoever you choose to vote for and where ever you vote...do VOTE.

Here's what's going on in the newsroom today. Our morning anchor Bob Lorenz is on vacation through the end of this week, Gary Zidek will be there to get you started on both Thursday and Friday and I'll take you home. Tonight on Final Edition we have a couple of really interesting stories for you, especially in these final days of the campaign season. Gary talked with the resident scholar of the McCormick Freedom Museum about political polling and how the science
of polling has improved over the years. The discussion also touched on the critical swing states during this Presidential election. Meantime, you've probably gotten a mailer or two or seen advertising in opposition to the Illinois Constitutional Convention referendum. I talked with one of the people that hopes voters will support the ballot question. State Representative Jack Franks says the opponents of the referendum are lying to voters. It's Wednesday, so Final Edition will also have our weekly wellness segment. Be sure to join us tonight at six.

Here's what's coming up

Tonight on Final Edition, we'll update a couple stories we've followed in one case for several years and in the other for several months. The Naperville Riverwalk Commission is nearing completion on the first phase of re-habbing the oldest portion of the walkway. If everything goes according to plan, the Riverwalk's dandelion fountain should be working again by the end of this week. Just down the road from the Riverwalk, Edward Hospital continues to work on a project of its own. For more than five years, Edward has tried to get regulatory approval for a hospital in Plainfield. The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board controls what projects move forward and it has repeatedly rejected Edward's requests. Edward administrators aren't giving up though, we'll bring you a discussion on the latest incarnation of the hospital's plan to serve the quickly growing community.
We're also working on some interesting stories for Tuesday. Morning anchor/reporter Bob Lorenz is wrapping up a story on Dupage County's effort to help you protect yourself from identity thieves. Also, I talked recently with the county's economic development director for a closer look at the local economic picture. I'll also have a two minute review on Tuesday of the
unusually formatted film, Vantage Point. As always, if you've got comments or story ideas for us in the WDCB News room, please don't hesitate to call or write.

A day full of surprises

We've got quite a bit going on today in the WDCB Newsroom. Tonight on Final Edition, host Gary Zidek will bring you a story on the value of a college education and you'll also hear a local attorney who specializes in product liability lawsuits. This summer has prompted an increase in a particular type of liability lawsuit and you might be surprised what products are driving the increase. It's Thursday and that means the University of Illinois Extension's Richard Henscel will be on hand for our weekly segment "Greenside Up," and tonight Richard is joined by former Greenside host Sue Grupp. Looking a little further forward, you know to tomorrow, I think we've got some really interesting stories for our listeners. Undoubtedly you've heard about the nation's foreclosure crisis, but you might be surprised to learn 70 percent of people facing foreclosure NEVER contact their lender. The Illinois Treasurer's office has been hosting a series of public meetings this week to educate people about how to respond to the crisis. But the meetings aren't targeting people facing foreclosure, instead they're trying to reach out to the friends...families and churches of foreclosure victims. It's an interesting approach to address a problem that is affecting every part of Illinois. We'll also have a story on an airshow of sorts this weekend at the Dupage Airport. Wings of Freedom will bring a fleet of World War II era aircraft to the West Chicago facility. WDCB's Gary Zidek says among the planes on display will be a B-17, a B-25 and a P-51 Mustang. It's getting harder and harder to get an up close look at these aviation classics, we'll tell when and why they're on display in our newscasts throughout the day on Friday. Finally, the Dupage County Fair is underway, and you might be surprised to find out what organization is making its first ever appearance at the fair this week. So that's what we've got going on...how about you? If you can't pick up WDCB's signal on your radio...make sure to check us out on-line at www.wdcb.org. Thanks for listening and as always let me know if you've got a good story idea for us.

Let me know what you think...

I'm going to give this another try and hopefully I'll do a better job this time around. My plan is to spend some time each day talking about the stories we're working on here at WDCB. I'm also hoping that if people are out there reading this that they will suggest things that are going on in their life, family, community, etc. that could be good news stories. So here are a couple things that are on my list of possibilities.
---The Naperville Police Department is reminding residents to be "Streetwise" during the
summer months, not exactly something I associate with the suburban community, so we'll
see.
---It's been a week since several stingrays died at Brookfield Zoo, I'm gonna do a follow up to
see if there's a better idea of what happened and why
---I'm working on my "two minute review" of "Lions for Lambs"

I guess that's the Cliff's Notes version of what's on my "To Do List" (for now). Let me know what you think.