The nature of government in Berwyn has been that individual agendas often trump public service. Today’s spirit of cooperation must not be allowed to devolve into tomorrow’s personal attacks on adversaries.

TELL US: Should restaurants in Berwyn be allowed to operate like nightclubs?

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Members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners showed a rebellious side last week that should be on display more often.

Some new members of the Community Unit District 201 School Board campaigned on the theme of increasing transparency. Here’s how they can get off to a good start: They should release information regarding Superintendent Steve Baule’s contract, particularly the goals set forth by the previous board.

The bank holding the deed to the Arcade Building in Riverside wants to sell the structure fast, perhaps a little too fast.

Let’s hope the high school students involved in two recent forums in Wheaton on gun laws weren’t the only ones to learn a lesson about debating public policy.

The death of a child is a parent’s worst nightmare and a horrible shock to the wider community. This tragedy is compounded when the death was by the youth’s own hand. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among people age 15 to 24.

It would have been easy for families, alumni and supporters of Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison to accept the April 2 decision of the Christian Brothers of the Midwest to close the facility at the end of the academic year and move on with their lives. But they chose to pool their resources and make an effort to keep the school open. As of last week, members of a fundraising committee had raised more than $930,000 as part of a plan to save the school.

The state Open Meetings Act mandates public bodies to conduct their business in open session. The only exceptions to this are for personnel, property acquisition and litigation issues.

Some residents of Glen Ellyn still believe they didn’t have their say on the proposed relocation of a school. Are they kidding? Diamante Montessori wants to relocate to a vacant church at Park Boulevard and Hillside Avenue. The Glen Ellyn Village Board signed off on the plan in March, after the village’s Plan Commission held five public hearings.

Members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3322 had a tough choice to make recently: Decline a pay increase of 3.75 percent by the city of St. Charles this year or potentially lose one of the Fire Department’s employees.

The thorny issue of offering employee benefits to nonmarried couples reached the Geneva Library Board last week, and board members made the right decision. The board voted 4-1 to offer health insurance to domestic partners of employees only if the employees paid the full cost of the coverage. The library pays 75 percent of the health coverage for spouses of married employees.