Category: News
Hobart Plan Commission postpones meeting on fill permit for Amazon site
The Hobart Plan Commission has rescheduled to 6:30 p.m. Feb. 5 a meeting regarding a proposed fill permit request on 605 acres eyed by Amazon for its future data center site.
The plan commission, which had scheduled the meeting for Thursday, postponed the meeting because of some legal technicalities regarding the availability of documents, Hobart City Attorney Heather McCarthy said.
McCarthy said there were some citizens who came to the planning department to review documents related to the proposal, and they weren’t available in hard copy due to some issues with the department’s printer.
Those documents, related to the proposed fill permit, are now available in the planning department, she said.
“Some citizens came to the planning department and couldn’t get hard copies, so it’s not compliant with the law,” McCarthy said.
The Feb. 5 meeting, which is also the regularly scheduled plan commission meeting, will be held at the Hobart High School auditorium, 2211 E. 10th St., she said.
The petitioner listed on the request for the fill permit on the property located south of 61st Avenue, east of Colorado Street and north of 69th Avenue, is Tuhaus LLC and the property is referred to as Hobart Tech Park.
The engineering firm listed on the proposal is Langan Engineering and Environmental Services.
McCarthy said this proposed fill permit, if approved by the plan commission, is for moving dirt only.
Angelita Soriano, a spokesperson for the No Data Center group, said she was one of the citizens requesting the fill permit documents, which were unavailable to her in printed form.
“This is why I believe it was tabled,” Soriano said of the rescheduled meeting.
She has also requested other documents, including a site plan, from the city that she has yet to receive.
“I have two or three open records requests that are going on for two to three weeks,” Soriano said.
Soriano, one of four residents who have filed a lawsuit against city officials in opposition to data centers in Hobart, was one of hundreds of remonstrators who on Jan. 7 packed Hobart High School auditorium.
The pleas from dozens of residents who asked the Hobart City Council to table or to delay action on resolutions that would deliver Amazon’s data center to the city fell on deaf ears.
The city council went forward and approved three resolutions, including a contribution of $47 million to the city by Jan. 31, allowing Amazon Data Services to proceed with its data center plans at 61st Avenue and Colorado Street.
Hobart Mayor Josh Huddlestun, before the city council meeting, called the $47 million upfront cash the city is poised to receive from Amazon “record-breaking.”
“Hobart secured the largest publicly known upfront cash payment ever for a private development on private land in the country. The developer (Amazon) will pay $47 million in community enhancement payments. These dollars are not part of the levy and not part of any TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district. They go straight to the city and can be used to serve the whole community,” Huddlestun said.
Because of this agreement, Hobart does not have to raise its income tax and that means the city can fix roads, improve drainage, invest in parks, invest in its youth, and keep public safety departments strong without putting more pressure on residents, he said.
“This really should be celebrated,” he said.
Huddlestun said the cash is crucial to the city in part because of Senate Enrolled Act 1, the state law that cut property taxes.
“Those cuts will significantly reduce revenue for cities across Indiana. We prepared early because we did not want to lay off employees or cut the services you depend on,” he said.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Aurora to financially support city-connected fiber network
Aurora will be giving financial support to OnLight Aurora, a city-connected organization established to manage the city’s fiber network, amid ongoing budgetary issues at the organization.
Mayor John Laesch has previously said that OnLight was nearly $1 million in debt after failed attempts to bring internet service to residents’ homes and “unregulated debit card expenses for marketing purposes” that took place before he took office. The city-owned fiber network managed by OnLight stretches for over 60 miles and provides internet access to city government facilities as well as other institutions, nonprofits and businesses in Aurora.
The Aurora City Council on Tuesday approved a measure giving OnLight Aurora $80,000, which will either be a loan or a grant depending on the results of some upcoming strategic planning.
The money is expected to help the organization catch up on outstanding bills and give it a small amount of operating cash for the near-term, according to Aurora Director of Fiscal Integrity and Operations Management Brian Caputo.
In September, Laesch said that OnLight Aurora was losing $27,000 each month, a large part of which was because of debt payments. The organization got into that financial state, he said at the time, in part because of three failed attempts to bring internet service through city fiber to residents’ homes, including one that ended up costing over $110,000 in legal fees.
There was also roughly $337,000 in “unregulated debit card expenses for marketing purposes” since 2018, which included cash withdraws, sponsorships, airfare, lodging, limos or car services, restaurants and bars, “adult entertainment clubs” and political contributions, among others, according to Laesch’s presentation to the Aurora City Council last year.
Those formerly in charge of OnLight have disputed claims made by Laesch about what the organization spent money on, and also said he was overreaching in his power as mayor in order to target those associated with former Mayor Richard Irvin’s administration.
OnLight is no longer running a large monthly operational deficit due to efforts by the organization’s volunteer director, Austin FitzCorbett, Laesch recently told The Beacon-News. FitzCorbett separately said that the organization is still losing around $5,000 per month, and that expenses can’t be cut much more considering around 70% of the money OnLight spends each month goes towards loan repayments.
The $80,000 recently approved by the Aurora City Council won’t pay off all of OnLight’s outstanding bills, he said, but the city’s financial support will help to “keep the lights on.”
His top priority is to pay overdue bills from the companies that provide OnLight with critical technical services, as without these services the network would not function for some or all customers, according to FitzCorbett.
He said that his other priorities include staying current on loan payments to the bank, maintaining active litigation defense for existing cases and preserving other important services that are crucial since OnLight does not actually have any paid staff.
For example, the organization is currently more than 200 days overdue on some invoices from Scientel, the company that provides OnLight with 24/7 network operations, monitoring, help desk and corrective maintenance services, FitzCorbett said.
“They’ve been very patient and helpful despite the circumstances,” he said in an email last week.
The Aurora City Council voted 9–2 to approve the $80,000 payment. Voting against were Ald. Jonathan Nunez, 4th Ward, and Ald. Shweta Baid, 10th Ward. Ald. Keith Larson, at-large, and Mayor John Laesch both left the council chamber during discussion and did not vote on the item as they are both on OnLight’s board.
Ald. Mike Saville, 6th Ward, said it was a very important issue to get OnLight back on track so that it can fulfill its mission of operating the city’s fiber network for the benefit of those who need it. But like other aldermen, he said he was concerned that the organization may soon be back asking for more money.
This may not be the last time the Aurora City Council is asked to approve funding for OnLight, Caputo said at a past meeting, and Laesch told The Beacon-News that it will take more than this $80,000 to stabilize the organization.
Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, said she was initially hesitant to support this initiative because it was presented as a “black hole.” But, as she learned more, she realized there could be a “good outcome” if the situation can be brought under control.
“I’m hoping before you have to come back again we have some better news,” Smith said. “I will be supporting this, with hesitation, in hopes that we can make this into a positive, functioning business that will benefit our city.”
Another issue discussed at Tuesday’s meeting and past meetings was that OnLight’s Board of Directors has few members beyond those reserved for city officials. The organization is currently looking for new board members with backgrounds in finance or accounting; telecommunications, networking or infrastructure; law, governance or public administration; economic development or community engagement and nonprofit leadership or board service, according to the organization’s website.
More information about OnLight, including an application to join the Board of Directors, can be found at: www.onlightaurora.com/
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
New OIG data portal details misconduct patterns among CPD officers, crews
In recent decades, some of the Chicago Police Department’s most notorious scandals were perpetrated by officers assigned to the same team or unit, including Jerome Finnigan of the special operations section and Ronald Watts of the public housing unit.
But it took extensive searches to connect individual accusations and see wider patterns. It might take years for the actions of CPD officers working together to come to light in lawsuits that often resulted in millions of dollars in settlement payments, thrown out convictions and the tarnishing of the reputation of the department.
This week, the city’s Office of Inspector General offered the public a shortcut. It published an interactive data portal that allows anyone to see which CPD officers are most often accused of misconduct and identifies which other officers faced accusations related to the same incident.
Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the Tribune that the visualized data “opens the door to tremendously powerful insights” to both members of the public and the Police Department.
“Chicagoans have long known it to be true that in a Police Department where a great deal of good work is being done every day by the men and women wearing the uniform, there have, for a long time, been these clusters of officers, these groups of people, who generate more than their fair share of harm,” Witzburg said.
“If this tool had been available to the department decades ago and somebody had looked at the cluster of misconduct around the (Jon) Burge crew or the (Reynaldo) Guevara crew or the Watts crew and had simply said, ‘We can’t have this group of people work together anymore,’ it would be hard to overstate the potential there to mitigate future harm.”
The data goes back to 2000, encompassing thousands of internal misconduct complaints, and will be continuously updated as pending investigations are brought to a close, Witzburg said.
A Tribune review of the data portal showed, for example, that in recent years a team of officers assigned to the Near North (18th) District, covering River North, the Gold Coast and Lincoln Park, was the subject of more complaints than any other in the city. The allegations mostly concerned illegal searches of civilians and their property.
Records made public last week by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability show the agency sustained allegations against at least one of those officers last year, and CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling agreed with COPA’s recommendation that he be suspended.
That officer — who was the subject of 23 complaints in just the last three years — remains assigned to desk duty in CPD’s alternate response section, the typical landing place for officers awaiting disciplinary action.
OIG’s new data visualization portal shows that another Near North District officer was co-accused of wrongdoing in nine of those 23 instances. CPD staffing records obtained by the Tribune show that officer remained on street duty in the same district as of Jan. 1.
The city’s federal consent decree requires CPD to develop an early intervention system to identify patterns in officer misconduct complaints, though that system has yet to come to fruition.
Tuesday, during a status hearing in the ongoing consent decree, Snelling said the department’s 22 district commanders will soon face heightened scrutiny for officer misconduct allegations and the subsequent investigations into those claims.
“When we’re doing these investigations, we want to get them done as quickly as possible because if there’s a sustained finding (of misconduct), we want to be able to apply training or discipline as quickly as possible,” Snelling told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer.
City data shows the number of complaints received by CPD internal affairs has steadily ticked up each year since at least 2020. That year, during the initial outbreak of COVID-19 and a summer of widespread unrest, internal affairs received 4,000 complaints. Last year, BIA received a little more than 5,300 complaints.
The OIG’s new database is the latest public-facing portal to allow for inspection of CPD misconduct records. The office already maintains a portal to search for the number of complaints filed against a given officer.
Final summary reports authored by COPA are made available at the conclusion of an investigation, and CPD regularly publishes complaint intake documents to the department’s Accountability Dashboard. Moreover, data detailing the overall number of complaints is made available by the city on a rolling basis.
In November 2015, around the same time as the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video, the Citizen’s Police Data Project published years of records detailing CPD officer misconduct.
Still, Witzburg said, there is a “yawning gap between something being theoretically publicly available and meaningfully publicly accessible.”
“The transparency work that we do for transparency’s sake really is animated by that idea that where things have gone wrong, we all benefit tremendously from sunlight,” she said, “and the foundational notion that information about the government belongs to the governed.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/15/cpd-misconduct-patterns/
Driver killed in head-on with school bus in Manhattan; children checked at hospital
The driver of a passenger car was killed Thursday morning after a head-on collision with a school bus on eastbound Manhattan-Monee Road, just west of School House Road in Will County.
Illinois State Police are investigating the deadly accident that took place at 8:17 a.m. and closed all eastbound and westbound lanes until nearly 1 p.m., police said in a news release.
The Manhattan Fire Protection District responded to the scene at about 8:25 a.m. and evaluated the school bus driver and 10 children who were on the bus, a news release from the fire district said.
Due to the severity of the accident, all children and the driver were taken to the hospital for precautionary measures, but no major injuries have been reported, according to the fire district.
Manhattan Elementary District 114 officials also responded and assisted with care and contacted parents. The students’ ages or grade levels were not released.
“Families of the students involved were notified as soon as information became available and were kept informed throughout the response,” a statement from District 114 said. “All students were evaluated at the scene by emergency medical personnel and, out of an abundance of caution, were transported to Silver Cross Hospital for further evaluation.
“At this time, we can confirm that all students have been released from the hospital and are now with their families.”
The identity of the driver of the passenger vehicle has not been released.
“Our hearts are with everyone impacted by this tragic incident,” District 114 Superintendent Damien Aherne said in a statement. “We are grateful for the swift response of our first responders and our school staff, whose priority was ensuring the safety and well-being of our students. We will continue to provide support to our students and their families during this difficult time.”
The crash is still under investigation, Illinois State Police said.
A cause of the crash has not yet been released.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/15/school-bus-crash-manhattan-illinois/
Kevin Trudeau, onetime infomercial pitchman, paid $2.3M for River North condo
Kevin Trudeau, the author and onetime weight-loss, health and financial infomercial pitchman, last year paid $2.285 million for a three-bedroom, 4,200-square-foot condominium on the 50th floor of a 56-story River North tower.
Dating back more than two decades, Trudeau’s conspiracy theories and false claims about certain health-related issues have prompted a host of actions by the Federal Trade Commission and by federal courts in Chicago. In 2007, a federal judge in Chicago found him in contempt of a prior court order regarding false claims made in a weight loss book, followed by a judgment against Trudeau for $37.6 million. He later was sentenced to a decade in prison on a contempt of court conviction.
Now 62, Trudeau has been out of federal custody since 2022, and filings in federal court indicate that he has fully paid off the government’s penalty. In River North, the condo he bought in May was first listed in 2020 for $3.695 million. It underwent more than four years of price cuts before its final reduction in February 2025, to $2.395 million.
Features in the unit include 11-foot ceilings, three bathrooms, three balconies and a kitchen with exotic wood cabinetry, a pantry, high-end appliances, a baking center and a six-burner gas cooktop. The condo also has an office with space for two, a living room with a fireplace and a primary bedroom suite with two large closets, a fireplace and a bathroom with a double vanity. The purchase also includes two parking spaces.
Real estate agent Michael LaFido of LPT Realty represented Trudeau in his purchase. He declined to comment on his client’s behalf.
The condo had a $54,927 property tax bill in the 2024 tax year. It also has homeowners association dues totaling $4,074 per month.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/15/kevin-trudeau-river-north/
DNC Launches Massive Voter Registration Effort Ahead Of Midterms After GOP Makes Gains
DNC Launches Massive Voter Registration Effort Ahead Of Midterms After GOP Makes Gains
Authored by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Jan. 13 announced a new voter registration initiative it said will be its largest financial investment in registration, launching first in Arizona and Nevada as Democrats look ahead to the 2026 midterm elections.
The program, called “When We Count,” is built around a paid, part-time youth fellowship and a series of national voter registration pushes.
The DNC said it will train hundreds of young supporters to register tens of thousands of new voters, with early work focused on what it called priority congressional districts in the two states. The committee described the effort as a seven-figure investment but did not specify the exact amount in its announcement.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin framed the launch as an early move to shape the midterm landscape and expand the party’s organizing pipeline.
“The midterms are here, and at the DNC, we refuse to let anybody else dictate this election season—we’re setting the tone,” Martin said.
He said young people have told him they want to be involved and want leaders “who actually show up for them when it counts.”
The DNC is pitching the initiative as both an electoral program and an organizing training effort. In its announcement, the committee said it is making voter registration a top nationwide priority this cycle and argued that “partisan efforts are essential to reversing recent registration trends, winning in upcoming cycles, and training the next generation of Democratic organizers.”
Martin’s statement also cast the initiative as a response to Republican success in the field of voter registration.
“Our answer is simple: We’re going to register voters, train organizers, empower young people, and make sure they have the tools to shape their future.”
Party officials on a press call Tuesday also referenced their growing gap in partisan voter registration nationally, noting states like Florida, which had about 1 million more registered Republicans than Democrats in 2024, and Pennsylvania, where Democrats’ registration advantage has shrunk from about 1.2 million in 2008 to fewer than 200,000.
The DNC said the new program is “specifically targeting non-college youth,” calling that population “historically overlooked by traditional voter registration efforts.” The committee said it found that nearly 60 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are not enrolled in college and said the new focus is meant to register young supporters “where they live and work.”
The committee also tied the decision to start in Arizona and Nevada to both competitiveness and demographics. It said the program will begin in battleground congressional districts in the two states, saying that closing registration gaps there “could determine control of the House in 2026.”
The DNC pointed to “fast-growing populations of Latino, Black, and [Asian American and Pacific Islander] voters” in Arizona and Nevada and described that as an opportunity to engage voters the party said it “lost ground with in 2024.”
The DNC said the fellowship will be the core of its 2026 strategy. Under the plan, fellows will receive weekly training and support from the DNC’s national organizing program and will be tasked with registering Democrats in targeted House districts. The first cohorts are expected to begin in spring 2026 in Arizona and Nevada. The committee said it plans to train more than 100 fellows across the two states to register tens of thousands of new voters.
The party also said it will run four national voter registration weeks of action in 2026—across the spring, summer, and fall—leading up to the midterms. Those pushes are expected to involve fellows, state parties, coordinated campaigns, student Democratic groups, and volunteers. The DNC said it will provide toolkits, training, merchandise, and surrogates, and plans to promote friendly competitions between states.
The committee described the Arizona and Nevada rollout as a starting point it hopes to expand. It said the initial work will lay a foundation to scale the effort and register hundreds of thousands of voters nationally “in 2026 and beyond.”
In late September 2025, Martin announced the national party was shifting more resources into year-round organizing and partisan voter registration while increasing monthly support for every state party.
In a Sept. 30, 2025, recorded conversation with former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, Martin said the party had launched a partisan registration drive in which Democrats had stepped back from direct voter registration for roughly two decades after the 2002 McCain–Feingold campaign finance law.
That law meant national parties could no longer use unlimited donations to pay for voter registration or other party-building, according to Cornell law. Parties could still run registration drives, but they had to pay with money raised under the normal per-donor limits and publicly report the spending.
Martin and Harrison said limits on how national parties can fund party-building work pushed more registration activity to nonpartisan nonprofits that can register voters but cannot promote a party or candidate. Martin said the DNC has since developed a strategy that allows party staff and volunteers to register voters while also talking about Democratic candidates—a strategy it is now putting to use with this week’s announcement.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 01/15/2026 – 15:40
Homewood-Flossmoor High School closes due to power outage
Homewoof-Flossmoor High School moved students Thursday to a remote learning due to a power outage.
The outage affected lighting and emergency systems, the school said in its announcement. All staff also worked remotely for the day.
In an update posted later in the day, the school said power was restored and all athletic competitions would proceed as scheduled, though many practices and other activities were canceled.
The school also reminded students to bring technology home with them in case of unexpected school closures.
elewis@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/15/homewood-flossmoor-high-school-power-outage/
Judge: Feds can’t allege gang ties in trial of Chicago man accused of putting bounty on Gregory Bovino
Days before a high-profile trial, a federal judge Thursday barred prosecutors from bringing in evidence that a Chicago man charged with putting a bounty on Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino’s head had ties to the Latin Kings.
In her order, U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow said that without direct evidence showing Juan Espinoza Martinez was a member of the Latin Kings himself or that the street gang had instructed him to disseminate a murder-for-hire order, simply implying he had an “affinity” for the gang would be prejudicial.
Lefkow did rule, however, that the cooperating witness in the case can testify to what he understood “LK” and accompanying emojis to mean in text messages he received from Espinoza Martinez.
The judge’s ruling is a significant blow to the prosecution, which had hoped present testimony that Espinoza Martinez had an “affinity” for the Latin Kings and that text messages he sent to associates calling for Bovino’s killing were backed by specific knowledge he had of the gang’s activities.
“The relationship of the defendant to the Latin Kings stems from the language that he used himself,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Minje Shin said at a pretrial hearing last week. “What we must prove is whether (Espinoza Martinez) intended that a murder-for-hire occur. That absolutely bears on whether his relationship with the Latin Kings is real.”
Prosecutors also had planned to possibly call a gang expert to educate the jury about the Latin Kings, their territory and other customs.
Espinoza Martinez, 37, who has lived in Chicago for years but is not a U.S. citizen, is charged in an indictment with a single count of solicitation of murder for hire, which carries up to 10 years in prison.
A jury trial is set to begin before Lefkow on Tuesday and is expected to garner national attention as protests continue to roil Minneapolis following the killing of a woman by an immigration agent there.
According to the charges, Espinoza Martinez told a law enforcement source after an immigration agent shot a woman in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood on Oct. 4 “that he had dispatched members of the Latin Kings” to the area of 39th and Kedzie in response to the shooting.
A day later, the source showed a screenshot to law enforcement that had been sent to him by Espinoza Martinez depicting a conversation Espinoza Martinez had with an unknown individual, according to the complaint. In that conversation, Espinoza Martinez allegedly said, “lets get some guys out here bro.” The other person wrote back, “Let one of us be in front with the (green gun emoji),” the complaint stated.
The law enforcement source also shared Snapchat messages that Espinoza Martinez had sent him saying, “2k on information when you get him” and “10k if u take him down,” according to the complaint.
The message also stated “LK on him,” which was a reference to the Latin Kings, the complaint alleged.
Included in the message was a photo of Bovino, the Border Patrol “commander at large” who has been the public face of Midway Blitz in Chicago and similar operations in other cities across the country.
When Espinoza Martinez was originally charged in October, authorities alleged he was a “ranking” member of the Latin Kings, meaning some sort of leadership position.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security and Bovino himself have held the case up as a prime example of the violence that immigration officials were facing, including death threats allegedly coming from street gangs and even international cartels.
Espinoza Martinez’s lawyers, meanwhile, have said that not only is he not a high-ranking Latin King, but he has no gang affiliation at all, and no prior criminal history. The father of three and volunteer youth sports coach was arrested at the construction site where he was working long hours to support his family, his relatives and lawyers said.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/15/bounty-gregory-bovino-trial/
Naperville’s Tasting deVine Cellars now named Barrel & Heritage to better reflect what it offers
After 20 years in Naperville, Tasting deVine Cellars is reinventing itself.
The tasting room lat 21 W. Jefferson Ave. started off exclusively selling wine from Lynfred Winery, the oldest family-run wine producer in Illinois, but about five years ago added beer and whiskey to its lineup. Now, it’s expanded to include mocktails and is seeking city approval to do tequila tastings.
The business is also changing its name to Barrel & Heritage to better reflect what the tasting room has to offer.
“The thought process was, after years of being called Tasting deVine Cellars, that does not really help us sell whiskey and tequila at this point, plus wine and beer sales are at one of the lowest levels in history,” said Nicholas Janettas, a manager at Barrel & Heritage.
Overall revenue from U.S. wine sales in 2025 was $74.3 billion, down from $75.5 billion in 2024, according to a Silicon Valley Bank report, part of a trend that started in 2020. Fewer members of the “Boomer” generation are drinking wine and those that do are drinking less of it, the report said. Younger generations do not appear to be replacing the older cohort in wine consumption, the report said.
John Beckman, a manager at Barrel & Heritage, speaks in front of the Liquor Commission at the Naperville Municipal Center on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. Barrel & Heritage is waiting for approval from the Naperville City Council to start selling tequila at their location. (Carolyn Stein/Naperville Sun)
It’s a similar story for craft beer. Industry trade group Brewers Association wrote in a December report that for the second consecutive year, the number of breweries that closed in 2025 outpaced the number that opened. In a midyear survey from July, the Brewers Association also estimated there was a 5% decrease in the volume of craft beer produced year-over-year.
And on top of all that, Americans appear to be drinking less in general.
According to a 2025 Gallup poll, a record-low 54% of Americans reported that they consume alcohol. It was the third consecutive year the poll found a decline, and for the first time, a majority of Americans said they believed drinking in moderation — one or two drinks a day — was bad for their health.
Janettas said that while Barrel & Heritage’s alcohol sales have stayed relatively consistent, it’s important to stay on top of the trends for long-term survival.
“Spirits and cocktails and things like that are kind of holding their own. So moving forward, we just thought obviously the name would be a little bit more unique and it would help us kind of transition as well into this new period of time,” he said.
The tasting room’s landlord also told the business last year that he wanted to the change the building’s exterior, Janettas said. Since they were already considering new signage, a rebrand seemed to make sense, he said.
With the new Barrel & Heritage sign now up and a new glass doorway installed, they’re planning to update the interior with new paint and decor.
“I think 20 years ago, maroon and mustard was a little bit more in,” Janettas said of the colors used for Tasting deVine. “We’re going for a little bit lighter, like a little bit more of a cream color. And then hoping to brighten up the space a little bit naturally with the paint color since we are set below street level.”
After considering hundreds of possible names, Barrel & Heritage — referring to the barrels used to store and age wine, tequila and whiskey and the heritage of wines and whiskey made in the Midwest — made sense.
“Our whiskeys are primarily, 99%, all from the Midwest, some smaller distilleries throughout the Midwest that don’t get as much recognition as some of the larger ones from Kentucky and throughout the world,” Janettas said.
That includes whiskeys only sold at Barrel & Heritage.
“There’s one from Whiskey Acres, which is a distillery in DeKalb. They’re the first estate grown distillery in Illinois … one of their selections is only available here, was not even sold at the distillery,” Janettas said.
“We have an extremely popular whiskey from Red Line Whiskey Co. that is finished in a Brazilian oak called amburana. This is the only place in Illinois you can try that as well, and that is by far our most popular.”
cstein@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/15/devine-cellars-barrel-heritage-naperville-rebrand/
Afternoon Briefing: Chesterton High student speaks out about racism at his school
Good afternoon, Chicago.
Chicago Public Schools has received less than half of the thousands of applications it needs for Local School Council positions before Tuesday’s deadline.
The district had received 2,350 applications for 6,123 vacant positions as of yesterday afternoon, according to a CPS spokesperson. There are 478 schools with available seats.
Local School Councils, or LSCs, act like mini school boards at each district-run school. The elected members oversee school budgets, approve academic plans and select and evaluate principals. This year’s election is slated for March 18.
Here’s what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit chicagotribune.com/latest-headlines and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices.
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Chesterton High School student Julian Blevins, accompanied by his mother, Natalie Cole, speaks about a racist letter he received in school last month, and the response of school officials to the event, on Jan. 14. 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
Chesterton High student speaks out about racism at his school: ‘I hope for change’
Julian Blevins had reached a point where he was tired of hearing racial slurs, so he posted on social media about his experience at Chesterton High School. Read more here.
More top news stories:
Kamala Harris returning to Chicago for MLK breakfast
Family of Harold’s Chicken CEO announces death
Work continues on the massive Bally’s Chicago casino project at the former Freedom Center site along the Chicago River, Jan. 7, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Bally’s Chicago pushes back opening to 2027, seeks 12-month extension on temporary casino
With its already extended temporary license to operate at Medinah Temple set to expire in September and construction of the new casino complex racing the clock, state Rep. Kam Buckner introduced a bill today to add up to another 12 months to the temporary license. Read more here.
More top business stories:
In sudden reversal, Trump administration restores millions in mental health grants for Illinois after day of confusion
Chicago AM sports station The Score to add FM simulcast in February
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun speaks during a news conference at the Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary on Oct. 30, 2025. (Michael Gard/for the Post-Tribune)
Gov. Mike Braun said Indiana ‘working hard’ to secure Chicago Bears stadium
While touting businesses coming to northwest Indiana and the state’s “strong business environment,” Braun said, “It’s not surprising that another organization has noticed that Indiana is open for business, the Chicago Bears.” Read more here.
More top sports stories:
Former DePaul players alleged to have fixed 3 Big East games in 20-person basketball gambling indictment
Column: Buzzer-beating Alex Bregman signing changes the mood of Cubs Convention weekend
The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago hosts a day of commemoration for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 19. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
What to do in Chicago: Celebrating MLK weekend, plus Armnhmr and a return for ‘Uncanny Attic’
Our picks for events in and around Chicago this weekend, beginning with eight events for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Read more here.
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Review: Park Chan-wook’s ‘No Other Choice’ is a cutting, dark satire of capitalism
BTS tour stops for two nights at Soldier Field in Chicago
Law enforcement officers stand amid tear gas at the scene of a reported shooting on Jan. 14, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Trump threatens to use the Insurrection Act to end protests in Minneapolis
Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy troops to quell persistent protests against federal officers sent to Minneapolis to enforce his administration’s massive immigration crackdown. Read more here.
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European troops arrive in Greenland as talks with US highlight ‘disagreement’ over island’s future
US seizes another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela
