From Lens to Canvas: Warren Reimagined will debut Friday, June 6, at Liberty Street Marketplace, blending photography and painting in a heartfelt tribute to the region’s landscapes, landmarks, and everyday life.

Created by artists from Kimberly Slocum’s Creekside Art Studios, the exhibit features original paintings by both youth and adult students. Each work is inspired by photographs originally captured and shared on social media by the Warren County Visitors Bureau. The artists, some new to painting and others more experienced, selected images that personally resonated with them–transforming them into vivid, one-of-a-kind works of art.

“When Kim approached us a while back asking if her students could use our photos as inspiration, we were honored and excited at the opportunity,” said Casey Ferry, executive director of the WCVB. “Seeing an artist begin with something from our perspective and reimagine it through their unique vision is exciting. I found it very interesting to see the variety of photos selected.”

Opening night for the exhibition coincides with Warren’s First Friday Art Walk. The public is invited to the Liberty Street Lunch from 5 to 8 p.m. to explore the art on display at Creekside Gallery, meet the artists, enjoy local food, and celebrate the creative energy that continues to flourish in downtown Warren.

The full From Lens to Canvas exhibit will remain on view throughout June at the Liberty Street Marketplace. In July, a special rotating series called Warren Through Our Eyes–featuring three selected works–will be displayed monthly at the Warren County Visitors Bureau, giving locals and visitors alike the opportunity to enjoy the artwork throughout the summer.

Slocum, owner and instructor at Creekside Art Studios, emphasized how deeply the collaboration reflects the spirit of the Warren community.

“The constant barrage of beautiful photographs from the Warren County Visitors Bureau is what sparked the idea of doing paintings. The WCVB staff do a remarkable job of capturing Warren County. And then it makes it even easier to have somebody like Casey Ferry as the director who’s open to the community and ideas that foster events like this,” she said. “Then we got a connector likeMichelle Peterson who connected me with First Friday and Liberty Street Marketplace and Liberty Street Lunch. It’s this type of connection with the community that makes Warren County great.”

According to Slocum, the project was about more than painting–it was a learning experience that deepened the artists’ relationships with their home.

“What makes this project really special is how much the artists have learned throughout the entire experience. It wasn’t just about painting a picture,” she said. “They spent time looking through local photography, choosing scenes that meant something to them, and in the process, they connected more deeply with the place they live. They also worked on technical painting skills, learned to look at things creatively, and discovered what goes into presenting their work in a professional way. I think a lot of them were surprised by how much is involved, and they’ve all really stepped up.”

The show includes work from about 17 to 18 artists, with a mix of experience levels–from first-time painters to more seasoned artists who have studied with Slocum for years. Visitors will also be able to purchase notecards featuring the artwork, printed by Moments in Time Studio.

“This has been a true community collaboration,” Slocum added. “The Warren County Visitors Bureau helped us source the photography. Liberty Street Marketplace offered their space. Liberty Street Lunch is staying open for the reception. And Moments in Time Studio helped us print the artists’ note cards. Being able to tie it all into Warren’s First Friday event just brought everything together. It feels like a celebration of art, community, and local pride.”

For more information, contact Casey Ferry at the Warren County Visitors Bureau at 814-726-1222 or email director@wcvb.net. Slocum can be reached at 814-730-2490.

An abandoned mobile home subdivision in Elgin will become the headquarters for the Illinois Youth Soccer Association under plans submitted to the city.

Midwest Sports Center received the Elgin Planning and Zoning Commission’s endorsement for a proposal that calls for a 17,661-square-foot building and a 78-foot-tall, 118,000-square-foot dome covering one of two soccer fields.

Located at 909 S. McLean Blvd., the campus also would have a 15,000-square-foot physical therapy office, a concession area and gathering spaces, Elgin senior planner Damir Latinovic told the commission. Eventually, the concession area would be converted into a restaurant with alcohol service.

The 9.7-acre property is between College Green Drive on the north and Torrey Pines Drive on the south. An abandoned single-family home and 25 mobile homes fill the west side and there’s wooded open space to the east, Latinovic said.

Midwest Sports Center is working with the city to meet the required number of parking spots, which might involve working with a neighboring property owner to provide additional parking space, he said.

The company is also seeking a code variance on the number of trees it needs to plant. Under city ordinances, developers must replace a certain percentage of trees being removed, in this case either by planting 320 new trees or paying a $156,954 fee, Latinovic said.

Midwest Sports Center is asking the city to waive the requirement and the fee, he said.

The property is “very tight for what they need. As a result, they have maxed out where they could be putting up trees,” Latinovic said.

Commissioner Karin Jones said the fee was a lot of money for a nonprofit youth sports league to have to pay. She would rather see the association use that money to buy equipment benefiting its members than purchasing replacement trees.

Jennifer Bueche spoke in support of the plan. She grew up in the single-family home on the property and said a majority of the trees being removed are not in good shape.

“I would like to be on record that I am in support of this project. I think it’s a very exciting opportunity for Elgin,” Bueche said. “Elgin used to have the slogan, ‘The City to Watch.’ I think this will bring a lot of excitement and additional business to our side of Elgin.”

The association is a nonprofit that plans on holding tournaments and working with the city of Elgin on creating more recreational opportunities, Latinovic said.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — A school system in Connecticut is under investigation by the Trump administration over its transgender athletic policy, the U.S. Department of Education confirmed Tuesday, adding a new flashpoint in the national debate over trans girls’ participation in youth sports.

James Demetriades, the mayor of Cromwell, said the town’s school system could lose nearly $1 million in federal funding if the department determines it’s in violation of Title IX, the federal civil rights law that forbids discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal assistance.

The mayor, a Democrat, said Monday that the school district would be ineligible for the state’s athletic conference if it didn’t allow student athletes to compete on sex-segregated sports teams consistent with their gender identity. He said the district is currently following “all applicable state and federal law as well as the rules for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.”

“We don’t know why Cromwell was targeted for this action,” Demetriades said in a statement on Facebook. He said the investigation also includes restroom and locker room usage.

The head of the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, said in a statement that the investigation was looking at whether the district’s policies were “depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon added that, “This Administration will fight on every front to protect women’s and girls’ sports.”

A community of more than 14,000, Cromwell is about 20 minutes south of the capital, Hartford. A rally in support of transgender youth was planned Tuesday evening at Cromwell High School.

In 2019, during President Donald Trump’s first term, the Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into Connecticut’s policy that allows transgender high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. It followed a complaint filed by the families of three girls, who said they were discriminated against by having to compete in track events against two athletes who were identified as male at birth, including one at Cromwell High School.

A federal appeals court in 2022 dismissed a challenge to Connecticut’s policy. It was later revived and the case is still pending. It could be ready for a trial in 2026.

Days after taking office for his second term, Trump signed an executive order titled “ Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which states that all funds from educational programs “that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” will be rescinded.

In his post, Demetriades asked state officials to help hold the town harmless from liability and intervene if Cromwell is sued by the Department of Justice.

In March, the Department of Education opened an investigation into Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest school district, over allowing a transgender athlete to compete on a high school girls’ track-and-field team.

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