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By CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN For Illinois Press Association
SIDELL – Rinda Maddox says she doesn’t know sports, but the owner and editor of the Sidell Reporter sure knows how to hit a buzzer-beater.
She said she was “just about finished” laying out the spring sports previous Friday, March 13, when Gov. JB Pritzker announced schools would close through the month. She put the project on hold until April 1.
“We pretty much knew spring sports were over, but I wanted to wait until it was officially announced,” said Maddox, who is more or less an editorial department of one.
The spring sports season cancellation finally came down in mid-April, and Maddox called an audible: The three-page special section would be overhauled as a tribute to 13 graduating Salt Fork High School student-athletes.
“It’s sure not going to make up for what they lost out on, but at least they’ll have something to put in their scrapbook, and something to help them remember,” she said.
The Storm boys won the team track and field title in Class 1A last year.
“We would have been going to state again on track, so it’s heartbreaking,” Maddox said.
Perry Dable is Maddox’s only stringer – a local insurance salesman and former newspaper editor who tackles all of Maddox’s sports stories. He scrapped his three previews and started from scratch.
“Sports is the one aspect I’m lousy at,” Maddox said May 8 from her office, laughing. “I’ll spend two hours writing a short basketball story trying to make it sound right with the sports language.”
Maddox said once she shifted gears, all the section’s longtime sponsors were contacted for approval.
“We didn’t just surprise them with a bill in the mail, especially if they felt they couldn’t afford it, or that they didn’t want to go forward with it,” she said.
Salvaging that ad revenue was vital, she said. She also added a regular puzzle page with activities for readers young and old, and landed three sponsors for that feature.
Maddox said when the stay-at-home order came down, she was “losing advertisers left and right.”
“We were facing a pretty scary future,” she said.
She was also worried about how she’d fill the paper – a concern that proved unwarranted. Apart from coverage of COVID-19 itself, stories on the community pulling together, teachers innovating from home and more abounded.
“Most weeks, we’ve been filling up two more pages than we really can afford, because of everything that’s going on in the community – stories I couldn’t have foreseen,” she said.
Ad revenue was down in April. Maddox at least has sponsors lined up for the puzzle page into June, but the rest of the picture is equal parts murky and worrisome.
“For at the end of May, I’m terrified,” she said, adding that April and May are the paper’s biggest months for advertising.
Further down the calendar are canceled festivals, along with a lot of lost advertisements for them.
“We usually struggle in June and July even having those festivals,” she said.
Maddox said she’d like to see the downstate economy reopened faster.
“I think it’s time that they start letting things get back to more normal,” she said. “The rules in Chicago should not apply to our community of 600 people. I’m frustrated that our governor doesn’t seem to be able to look beyond what’s happening in Chicago.
“But that’s been the case in Illinois for a long time.”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 12, 2026 Media Contact Information: Bob Hubberts (847) 508-4995 bhubberts@firstillinoisrobotics.org
Chicago, Illinois – Creativity and science will come together this Saturday at the FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge Illinois State Championship at Elgin Community College, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin, Illinois, where 56 teams of 9- to 14-year-old students and coaches will demonstrate their problem-solving skills, creative thinking, teamwork, competitive play, sportsmanship, and sense of community. The tournament is open to the public. The robot table competition portion of the event starts at Noon on Saturday, February 14th. More than 650,000 students in over 75 countries will participate in the FIRST® UNEARTHED season. Teams will have to program robots, using LEGO Education technology, to solve a set of missions on an obstacle course set on a thematic playing surface. For the UNEARTHED challenge students will unearth hidden treasures and piece together the past as they embark on this thrilling journey of discovery. Students will identify and research a problem related to the season theme and then design and create a possible solution. They will also identify a mission strategy and design, create, and code a robot to complete missions during a 2.5-minute Robot Game. The competition is judged in three areas: innovation project; robot design, and core values, which embody aspects of teamwork and good sportsmanship. Top robot game scores are also honored. FIRST LEGO League is an international program for 9- to 14-year-olds (ages vary by country) created in a partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Group in 1998 to get students excited about science and technology – and teach them valuable career and life skills. Using LEGO® Education technologies and materials, students work alongside adult mentors to design, build, and program autonomous robots and create an innovative solution to a problem as part of their research project. After several intense weeks, the competition season culminates at high-energy, sports-like tournaments. Like any other organized “sport,” teams also fundraise, create a team identity, and go on field trips. The tournament is being run by FIRST Illinois Robotics, a 501 c3 organization focused on delivering FIRST programs in Illinois. Contact us for a list of the area schools and youth organizations with teams participating in the competition. About FIRST® FIRST® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 (PreK-12) that can be facilitated in school, in structured after-school programs or by other organizations or groups of parents. Boosted by a global support system of volunteers, educators, and sponsors that include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, teams operate under a signature set of FIRST Core Values to conduct research, fundraise, design, build, and showcase their achievements during annual challenges. An international not-for-profit organization founded in 1989, FIRST has a proven impact on STEM learning, interest, and skill-building well beyond high school. Participants and alumni of FIRST programs gain access to education and career discovery opportunities, connections to exclusive scholarships and employers, and a place in the FIRST community for life. Learn more at firstinspires.org.
### To learn more about FIRST programs in Illinois, go to www.firstillinoisrobotics.org.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 7, 2026 Media Contact Information: Christopher Weishaar Digital Public relations Specialist (515) 273-7140 cweishaar@studentloan.org
WEST DES MOINES, IOWA (January 7, 2026) — Six high school seniors will each earn a scholarship valued at $1,500 through the 2026 ISL Midwest Senior Scholarship program. This program is sponsored by ISL Education Lending and is designed to make higher education more accessible while equipping students with essential financial literacy skills. Who Can Apply? All high school seniors attending school in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin are eligible to enter. No essay is required—making it simple and stress-free to apply. Parents Can Register Their Student Parents now have the option to register their student for the scholarship program, ensuring every eligible senior has the opportunity to participate. What Makes This Program Unique? Every participant will learn valuable financial literacy tips during the process, helping them prepare for life after high school. How to Apply Applications open on January 5, 2026, and close on April 30, 2026. Students and parents can apply online at www.iowastudentloan.org/Midwest. Winners will be announced in June 2026. Scholarship Details
Why It Matters “Student loan debt is a huge concern for new college students,” said Steve McCullough, president and CEO of ISL Education Lending. “As a nonprofit, we provide tools and resources to help high school seniors plan so they can reduce the amount of debt they need to take on while achieving their education goals. Students sign up for a chance at a $1,500 scholarship, and we take that opportunity to share information with them about our free resources.” Additional Resources Available In addition to offering student loans, ISL Education Lending has other resources for families planning for college and for students who intend to pursue advanced degrees. The Parent Handbook consists of valuable tips to help families of students in sixth through 12th grades prepare for success in college and other postsecondary options. Parents of students in eighth through 12th grades can also sign up to receive twice-monthly emailed tips on academic, college and career planning through the Student Planning Pointers for Parents program. The College Funding Forecaster helps families understand the total cost of four years of college based on a freshman-year financial aid offer. Information about these resources is available at www.IowaStudentLoan.org/SmartBorrowing.
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About ISL Education Lending Established in 1979 as Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation, a private, nonprofit organization, ISL Education Lending helps students and families obtain the resources necessary to succeed in postsecondary education. ISL has helped nearly 400,000 students pay for college, offering student loans and other products under the name ISL Education Lending. The organization, based in West Des Moines, Iowa, also provides an array of borrower benefits, financial literacy tools and community reinvestment programs, including support for free college planning services for students and their families. For more information, visit www.IowaStudentLoan.org.
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