On Tuesday, The Naperville Sun, and the community of Naperville lost a dear friend and colleague in Tim West. Mr West died after a lengthy battle with cancer. He spent 40 years at the Sun, becoming a font of knowledge about every aspect of the city. His wit, intelligence and, in the end, his bravery in the face of his illness was an inspiration to all who knew him. As former Naperville Mayor Peg Price put it: "Naperville will not be the same without him." How true.
Read Tim's last column
Or choose from a list of his columns.

Same old same old?
Now that Naperville voters have changed their minds about wards and voted incumbents back to the City Council, things will pretty much go back to normal. Tim West has weighed in.
What do you think?

With the fall elections in the past the 113th Congress will have a member from Naperville. And he's eager to get to work.
The question is what should he be working on?
Let's use this space to let our new Congressman know what is important to you and what he, and Congress, should do on things such as spending cuts, the debt ceiling or whatever else is on your mind.
Let's hear some suggestions.

Anything you want to talk about?
The city? The schools? The county?
Happy with the election?
Not happy with the election?
Get a topic started.

Recent instances of late-night carousing, drinking and criminal activity have some Naperville leaders calling for a crackdown on the city's downtown nightlife/party scene. Some say bar patrons are overserved while others say people come downtown already inebriated.
Read Tim West's column on the subject.
Any of you out there among the revelers? Or are you avoiding downtown after dark?
Any advice for the City Council?

For two weeks Naperville's website and email have been down or out of service.
City manager Doug Krieger suspects hackers targeting the website Oct. 2.
Now the city is looking at a $600,000 bill to fix the situation and help prevent a repeat of this in the future.
Has this caused you any inconvenience? What's your take on the whole situation?

The issue with not being able to post entries has been fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience.

-The moderator

After the board set August 14, 2013 as next year's starting date, district parent Tammy Schultz started an online petition asking the board to reconsider. An earlier draft of the district calendar had set the start date a week later, mostly due to a survey which found parents favored a later start by a 5-1 margin. More than 600 names already have attached to Schultz's petition. The district cited balancing the semesters and administering exams as reasons for the early start. Is it time for D203 to reconsider? Is the start date too early? Have parents been unfairly ignored?

After three months as interim superintendent, Dan Bridges has been officially been named District 203 superintendent on a full-time basis.
On the heels of his appointment comes word that the Department of Children and Family Services says the West Aurora School District should have filed a report with DCFS regarding a 2010 incident at West Aurora High School of an encounter between a band director and a female student. Bridges was principal at the time and the incident was reported to him

Walmart wants to build a new Superstore in Naperville. but they are asking the city for $1.7 million in tax breaks in order to get the project done and Naperville officials appear to be on board. Is the deal necessary? What might be the case if the city had said no?