An aerial photograph of the Elmhurst College campus shows why the college has been designated a Tree Campus USA for the eighth consecutive year. The 48-acre campus is a registered arboretum that boasts nearly 900 trees and shrubs, including many exotic and rare specimens.

STATE

Bump-stock ban gets more support

The Illinois Senate has approved another bump-stock ban, with a 38-10 vote April 26, on Sen. Kwame Raoul’s plan. It would outlaw the manufacture or possession of bump stocks or trigger cranks which turn rifles into assault-style weapons. It’s the device the gunman used in the Las Vegas mass shooting last October.

The Senate in March OK’d a bump-stock ban which started in the House. But Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, removed a restriction on municipalities enacting local restrictions on assault-style guns. Gun-rights advocates support uniform rules statewide. Raoul’s new measure deals only with bump stocks and moves to the House.

Meanwhile, state Democrats’ hopes of overriding a veto of firearms-dealer licensing has fizzled, failed by the inaction of both the Senate and House, waiting to see how the other body would act.

Democrats in the Senate, where the veto had to occur by last week’s deadline, said they had enough votes to reverse Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of the plan to require gun shops to obtain $1,000, five-year licenses from the state; train employees to spot illegal purchasers; and videotape “critical areas” of their stores.

But the measure’s sponsor, Sen. Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, said several of his colleagues’ commitments to vote for override were contingent on knowing that the House would follow suit. House members were reluctant to vote, waiting instead to see what the Senate would do.

COUNTY

County campus awarded arboretum accreditation

In time for Arbor Day on April 27, a representative from The Morton Arboretum presented the DuPage County Board with a certificate recognizing the county’s Wheaton campus as an arboretum. The Morton Arboretum, in partnership with the ArbNet Arboretum Accreditation Program, awarded the campus a Level 1 accreditation for achieving certain arboreta and botanic standards.

On 202 acres, the DuPage County campus is home to more than 2,800 trees representing 42 species. Over the past several years, the county has worked to grow, restore and enhance the quality of vegetation on its campus.

County officials plan to continue diversifying the species on its campus, as well as incorporating native trees, shrubs and plants. The campus also features a green roof, native gardens and recently restored 16-acres of woodland and wetland along nearby Winfield Creek.    

Butterfly monitor workshop May 5

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County will host a free workshop for people interested in becoming volunteer butterfly monitors from 9 a.m. to noon May 5, at district headquarters, 3S580 Naperville Road, Wheaton.

Participants will learn how to collect data using the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network and how to identify the area’s top 25 species. Butterfly monitors perform several summer counts to help assess the butterfly populations.

Monitors do not need to be DuPage County residents. To register, call 630-206-9630 or email nrvolunteer@dupageforest.org.

ELMHURST

College named Tree Campus USA  

Elmhurst College has been designated a Tree Campus USA for the eighth consecutive year. The college achieved the title by meeting Tree Campus USA’s five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, following a campus tree-care plan, have dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, hold an Arbor Day observance, and have a student service-learning project.

The national program was created in 2008 by the Arbor Day Foundation to honor colleges and universities for their campus forest management practices, and for engaging staff and students in reaching conservation goals.

The 48-acre campus is a registered arboretum that boasts nearly 900 trees and shrubs, including many exotic and rare specimens.

NAPERVILLE

Flag football to replace the game’s tackle version

As parents continue to disapprove of their children playing contact football, principals at Naperville District 203’s five junior high schools are announcing plans to replace the tackle version of the sport with the less-contact flag football.

Indian Prairie School District 204 also recently made a similar change in the after-school football program offered at its seven middle schools.

Both school districts say the adjustment was initiated because of declining participation in the sport. District 203 principals investigated the reasons for the declines, and parents expressed concerns for their children’s safety and potential for concussions.

At one time, District 203 schools had enough students to divide them into three weight classifications. In recent years, numbers dwindled to the point where schools could only support a lightweight and heavyweight team. However, the number of football players dropped from 258 in fall 2016 to 213 in fall 2017.

NCTV17 conducts survey

Naperville Community Television is conducting a community survey about station NCTV 17. The survey can be found online at www.NCTV17.com/survey.

Programming airs on Channel 17 on Comcast and WOW! and Channel 99 on AT&T. Programs can also be viewed via live video streaming and on-demand at NCTV17.com.

–DuPage County News Briefs–