On Wednesday, two student organizations from McHenry County College will host an event to foster discussion on women's reproductive rights.

The College Democrats, in partnership with Student Peace Action Network, has invited three women affiliated with the school to lead "The History of Women's Reproductive Rights."

Members of SPAN describe the group on MCC's student organization webpage as a group that promotes peace on a local and national level through education and action.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday with talks followed by a discussion.

Speakers include Elaine Whalen, chairman of the Health & Fitness Education Department at MCC and Kathy Clark, an adjunct reference librarian who also teaches a course on women's history at the college.

Mary Ewert of Crystal Lake, who serves as vice president of McHenry County Citizens for Choice, also will speak.

McHenry County Citizens for Choice is a grass-roots organization dedicated to education about women's reproductive rights.

Members believe that every woman has a fundamental right to decide for herself, free from governmental interference, whether or not to have an abortion and to access birth control.

The event will take place in the MCC Employee Dinning Room, and is free and open to the public.

McHenry County College is located at 8900 Northwest Highway, Crystal Lake.

Administrators plan to discuss at their Monday meeting the possibility of moving some of Crystal Lake District 47's special education programs to different schools next year.

The board's boundary committee is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, at the C.O.R.E. Center, 300 Commerce Drive, Crystal Lake. Parents of special education students who could be affected by the changes were sent letters notifying them of the meeting, Superintendent Donn Mendoza said.

Special education programs are spread throughout the district, though not all schools have them. Administrators are studying ways to bring programs at different grade levels into the same building.

Several parents have raised concerns about the potential changes and asked district leaders for additional details about the plans under consideration.

An Indiana mother who lost her husband and two daughters when their plane crashed Nov. 26 in a field near Crystal Lake has become an inspiration to her community, according to media reports there.

Sherry Harris recently talked to an Indiana TV station about the tragic accident.

The article and video can be found here.

Crews plan to close Rakow Road for 15 minutes Wednesday morning to install a section of the bicycle bridge spanning the roadway.

The closure is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, said Terry Heffron, project spokesman and principal of consulting firm TRANS/LAND. Crews will be installing the middle section of the bridge.

The bridge, which will pass over Rakow Road just east of Pyott Road, accommodates the McHenry County Conservation District Prairie Trail.

Other sections of the bridge were put in place Tuesday.

The $26.6 million McHenry County project was jointly awarded to Curran Contracting and Plote Construction. It will widen Rakow Road to six lanes between Pyott and Ackman roads and to four lanes from Pyott Road to Route 31. It is expected to be completed by late fall.

Park district officials have postponed the 41st annual Doc Haznow Chili Open Golf Classic after a spate of unseasonably warm weather.

The event has been pushed back to 8 a.m. Feb. 18, Recreation Supervisor Connie Cooke said. The Chili Open is one of the park district’s signature events and features a par-32 golf championship course laid out on the frozen surface of Crystal Lake.

The competition is held at Main Beach, 300 Lakeshore Drive. Tee times are available.

Registration can be done online at www.crystallakeparks.org or at the park district’s administrative office, 1 E. Crystal Lake Ave.

The cost is $115 per foursome, regardless of park district residency.

This year’s event was initially scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 21.

Last year, the event was canceled because of unsafe ice conditions after being rescheduled once.

Park officials have said they hope that won’t happen again this year.

The Chili Open was the brainchild of restaurateur Doc Haznow and has become an annual Crystal Lake tradition.