Our View

There is no need for further delay in passing a concealed-carry law in Illinois.

Gasoline prices shot up around Memorial Day and have stayed around $4 a gallon ever since.

Thumbs up: To the DeKalb Public Library for securing its seventh consecutive Big Read grant. The $15,000 award from the National Endowment for the Arts will fund a series of events surrounding “True Grit” by Charles Portis. The1968 novel is about a young girl seeking revenge for her father’s murder. We can’t wait to see what fun the library and the other members of the steering committee (Altrusa International of Sycamore/DeKalb, Kishwaukee College Family Literacy program, DeKalb School District 428 and Northern Illinois University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) have in store for us.

It’s the least we can do.

Wanted: A governor with the ability to maneuver necessary legislation successfully through the General Assembly with little or no help from legislative leaders.

We print the names and contact information of our area’s federal lawmakers on this page each Monday for a reason.

Thumbs up: To the organizers of Ladies Night Out. The annual event started almost a decade ago to raise money for cancer research, and once again, brought plenty of pink to downtown Sycamore on Thursday. It featured local businesses, a pink firetruck, firefighters clad in pink and, of course, cancer survivors. This year’s proceeds will benefit Kishwaukee Community Hospital, The Cancer Center at Kishwaukee Community Hospital and the local American Cancer Society chapter. If you weren’t able to make it out Thursday but want to donate, you can send cash or checks payable to “Ladies Night Out” to D&D Jewelers, 303 W. State St., Sycamore, IL 60178; or NB&T, 230 W. State St., Sycamore, IL 60178.

On the new plan for the expansion of the DeKalb Library and the renovation of the existing building, library officials are emphatic about three points:

If robins are a sign of spring, community festivals are a sign of summer – and summer officially is arriving in DeKalb County this weekend with the eighth annual Malta Days festival.

A recent study of Illinois bike trails by the group Trails for Illinois concluded that they are used by hundreds of thousands of people each year.

The state legislative session that ended Friday was an abject failure, one that demands a new approach to solving Illinois’ public pension crisis.

Thumbs up: To the first media photos taken of court proceedings at the DeKalb County Courthouse in generations. On Tuesday, a Daily Chronicle photographer shot photographs from a hearing for those accused of hazing in the death of NIU freshman David Bogenberger. Reporters also captured audio and video recordings of the proceedings, all without compromising the dignity and order of the courtroom. Courts are public spaces, and public access to the state’s justice system will only increase the public’s familiarity with and trust in the system.

The park districts in both DeKalb and Sycamore see a need to repair or replace their public pools. If they were to team up and combine their resources, it seems they could do something bigger, better, and hopefully cheaper than what they might build individually.

It has a pretty simple name: the Road Fund.

Thumbs up: To locally grown food. Eating local produce is easy during the summer months, and considering that we live on some of the most fertile farmland on Earth, there’s no need to eat food that’s trucked in from somewhere else if you don’t have to. Farmers markets will be opening in coming days, with today marking the opening of the Genoa farmers market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Main and South Genoa streets. The Genoa market is open the fourth Saturday of each month through October. DeKalb’s farmers market will open for the season from noon to 6 p.m. June 6 and continue every Thursday through Sept. 29 at Van Buer Plaza at north Second and Locust streets. In downtown Sycamore, the farmers market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays