We have just more than a week until the close of the 2012 legislative session on May 31

Monumental issues still need to be resolved, including Medicaid reform, pension reform, passage of a balanced budget that likely will include funding cuts in education and social service programming, and closures of some state institutions.

If you are passionate about any of these issues, contact your state representative or senator. I've included their contact information below:

State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo: 815-334-0063.

State Rep. Kent Gaffney, R-Lake Barrington: 847-487-5252.

State Rep. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake: 815-459-6453.

State Sen. Pam Althoff, R-McHenry: 815-455-6330.

State Sen. Dan Duffy, R-Barrington: 847-277-7100.

Congratulations to Northwest Herald's team of journalists. We learned today that we are finalists in at least 40 categories in the Illinois Press Association's annual Editorial Contest. That's the most we've placed in in my eight years with the newspaper.

"Housing Road Map: A Survival Guide," a series of five special sections published in October 2011, placed in four separate categories: Best Web Project, Community Service, News Reporting Series, and Special Section. All of our news reporters and editors played a part in this series.

Senior reporter Kevin Craver is an individual finalist in four categories, including Best Coverage of Taxation, Best Legal Media Coverage, and Public's Right to Know.

Other Northwest Herald journalists who placed individually include reporters Sarah Sutschek, Joseph Bustos, Jane Huh, Katie Anderson, Brett Rowland and Jami Kunzer; News Editor Kevin Lyons; Features Editor Scott Helmchen; Night News Editor Dave Lemery; Lifestyle Editor Valerie Katzenstein, sportswriter Tom Musick; Senior Web Producer Adam Nekola; Web Producer Erick Ward; and videographers Les Johnson, Lance Booth and Jenny Kane.

The total number of placements won't be known until next week because judging of the Best Investigative Reporting category was not completed as of Friday.

The Northwest Herald competed in the medium-sized daily newspaper division with daily circulations between 10,000 and 40,000. Places will be announced June 15 at IPA's annual convention.

 

The Northwest Herald on Friday will publish a special print supplement, All About Algonquin and Lake in the Hills, for our readers in the southern portion of McHenry County and north Kane County.

The edition will be the first of a series we will publish in the coming months focusing on the history, people and culture of towns in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Friday's section will take a look back at the origins of Algonquin and Lake in the Hills. Other stories will focus on the identities of each town, and feature some of the local eateries, manufacturers and parks that make each village unique.

On Wednesday in print, we debuted our expanded business coverage, with a new color section front and a second page of largely local business news on the back of that cover.

Today, we debut an entire new section. Each Thursday, we will publish a standalone Business section filled with tons of local business news and information.

To get a taste of that expanded Business coverage, click here. But to get the full package, you've got to be a print subscriber.

To subscribe, call our Customer Service Department at 815-459-8118.

The recent overnight frosts concern McHenry County farmers.

Jim Platek has restructured his seafood and steak restaurant in Richmond, J.W. Platek’s, into a new breakfast and lunch hangout, Diamond Jim’s Diner.

The Broken Oar Marina Bar & Grill is hosting a grand opening today for its new Skydeck.

These are just a few of the stories that appeared in today's revamped Business section in the Northwest Herald.

A few week's ago, we added a new business reporter, Shawn Shinneman, to join our team of Business Editor Chris Cashman and Business Journal Editor Kurt Begalka.

In tomorrow's Northwest Herald, we debut a new Thursday standalone section dedicated solely to business news.

If you're looking for local business news, the Northwest Herald has you covered.

You can find many of today's stories here.