Make A Difference Day is the most encompassing national day of helping others — a celebration of neighbors helping neighbors. Everyone can participate. Created by USA Weekend magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of October, meaning this year it will be celebrated Oct. 25.

A chill is in the air. The leaves are turning incredible colors and tumbling down. Gardeners are harvesting and canning their crops. I’m baking apple pies. Front porches are popping up decorated with pumpkins and gourds. So, it must be my favorite time of the year — autumn.

I spoke with Mayor Tom Marcucci one morning and came away with a better understanding of him as a private citizen as well as of his vision for Elmhurst during his years in office.

This Saturday, Oct. 11, is your opportunity to make a difference at Springfield Park, 269 Springfield Drive, Bloomingdale. From 9 a.m. until noon, you can help preserve the wetlands.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I love cities. I loved Toulouse, and I loved London, and now I love New York City. There’s an energy, a vibe, an unseen intangible force at work in big cities. It sucks me right in.

The most provocative TV commercial of the campaign season is the one that didn't happen. It might have gone something like this:

As of Thursday morning, Gov. Rod Blagojevich still had not decided whether dozens of downstate parks and historic sites are valuable enough to keep open to the public.

Chris Britt editorial cartoon for immediate release.

"That one." A lot of national attention has been focused on those two words from Wednesday night's presidential debate, delivered by GOP candidate John McCain toward Democrat Barack Obama regarding a previous vote of the Illinois senator's on energy legislation not to the Arizona senator's liking.

Chris Britt editorial cartoon for immediate release.

When she was a young girl of about seven years old, Laura Huth would gather her siblings Caroline and Jason along with other neighborhood kids with a directive to clean up trash in the forest preserve along Brainard Avenue. A long time before recycling and cleaning the environment were on people’s minds, Laura thought it was important.

Good friends gathered at the Scottish Home in North Riverside Sept. 13 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Riversider Marjorie Whitney Prass.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon for Thursday, Oct. 9.

At long last, O.J. Simpson has landed where, in the minds of most Americans, he absolutely belongs: behind bars. May it be the last we hear from him.

Joy now realizes she risked her life for chump change. A thief tried to steal a cash purse from the Peoria saloon where Joy works. But she fought him off in a melee that involved threats, knives, punches, kicks, choke holds, guns-drawn police and a thrice-fired Taser.