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It's possible Illinois is about to come down with a statewide case of Seasonal Affected Disorder. The season is construction, which an old joke says is one of two in Illinois. The disorder is the continuing one in Springfield, where the ongoing budget crisis is about to shut down road projects during the height of that season. And the affected are everyone from officials who work to put needed projects together, to the drivers who have to negotiate construction zones and torn up streets. In Aurora, workers last week got the barriers and cones out to reduce Farnsworth Avenue, near...

When they weren’t calling the purple, ribbon-like light Steve, the Facebook group referred to it as a “proton arc,” notes ABC News. But when a Canadian physicist and astronomer who studies aurorae looked at the photos, he suspected something more was afoot—especially since proton aurorae, which happen when protons from solar winds hit Earth's magnetic field, are usually too dark to be visible.

AURORA, Colo. -- Reports of bullying at an Aurora high school have reached a breaking point for a 15-year-old girl and her family. Police are investigating as video of a recent encounter went viral on social media. The alleged victim, known as Laniey, said the past four months have been full of threats, taunts and four-letter words used to torment her. It’s all been too much for the Gateway High School freshman, who said she no longer feels safe at school.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Denver Fugitive Operations team officers arrested one of ERO’s most wanted fugitives Friday morning in Aurora, Colorado, making a second arrest in the process.  Jose Victor Bonilla-Melendez, aka Anthony Garcia-Melendez, 48, a citizen of Honduras, was located after ERO received a tip about his whereabouts from someone who saw a social media post by the local Denver ABC affiliate regarding his inclusion among ICE’s most wanted fugitives. Bonilla–Melendez was wanted by ICE for removal from the U.S. as convicted sex offender, last seen in Aurora.Bonilla-Melendez has a...

AURORA, Colo. — City officials don’t want Aurora labeled as a “sanctuary city” but say the police department’s role in immigration enforcement is limited. “Some people, and media, have incorrectly called Aurora a sanctuary city,” officials said in a statement released Thursday. “The City of Aurora has never been a sanctuary city and has a long history of cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “Our police officers and detention officials support the federal government’s efforts to quickly contact and detain undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes. However, we do not investigate or detain individuals based solely on...

Caterpillar Inc. has announced the closing of its facility near Aurora, Illinois, and the lay off 800 workers. Earlier this year, the earth-moving equipment maker said it would lay off employees in 2017 because of an anticipated decline in demand for its products. Caterpillar spokeswoman Lisa Miller said Friday the large wheel loaders and compactor production will be moved to the company’s Decatur, Illinois, plant. Its medium wheel loader production line will be moved to the North Little Rock, Arkansas, plant. …

THE SOLAR WIND CONTINUES TO BLOW: For the third day in a row, Earth is inside a stream of solar wind blowing out of a large hole in the sun's atmosphere. This is causing magnetic unrest and bright auroras around the poles. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Dec. 24th. WHITE AURORAS? Auroras are usually green. Occasionally, other colors appear: red, purple, blue. One color that never shows itself, however, is white--that is, not until last night. "I saw white auroras over Tromsø, Norway!" reports veteran observer Markus Varik.

For more than 15 years, a lone scientist in southern Finland has spent countless winter nights among the snowy fields and frozen lakes around his village, in pursuit of one of the most ephemeral mysteries of the heavens: the faint, almost phantasmagorical sounds heard during intense displays of the aurora borealis, or northern lights. The epic study by acoustician Unto K. Laine includes the first audio recordings of the muffled crackling or popping sometimes heard overhead during spectacular aurora displays. ... Laine has shown the sounds are real, and he thinks he has found what causes them: sparks of electricity...

As reported in Front Page Magazine, http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10699, the Wells College Republicans yesterday published a study showing that Dems outnumber Republicans on the social sciences/humanities faculties by a ratio of 92%/8%. In response, a Wells prof sent a campus-wide email calling Republicans "stupid" and calling for Republicans to be forcibly lobotomized. See press release below from the Wells Republicans. ----------------- Wells College Professor: Republicans Should be Forcibly Lobotomized Prof Labels Republicans “Stupid” College Republicans: “A Conservative Prof Saying Similar Thing would be Gone” Contact: Kristy Lee Hochenberger Chairman, Wells College Republicans Phone: 315.364.2960 khochenberger@wells.edu AURORA, N.Y. (Nov. 7)--Responding to a study...

The wispy, glowing veil sitting on top of Jupiter in the image above is actually a humongous aurora captured on cam by Hubble. A team of astronomers are using the telescope's ultraviolet instruments to study nature's light shows on the poles of the gas giant. They timed their study to coincide with Juno's arrival on the planet, since one of their goals is to determine how different solar wind conditions and other factors affect Jupiter's auroras. The spacecraft is in charge of measuring various solar wind properties, while they continue capturing images and videos almost every day during the duration...

Explanation: It was bright and green and stretched across the sky. This striking aurora display was captured last month just outside of Östersund, Sweden. Six photographic fields were merged to create the featured panorama spanning almost 180 degrees. Particularly striking aspects of this aurora include its sweeping arc-like shape and its stark definition. Lake Storsjön is seen in the foreground, while several familiar constellations and the star Polaris are visible through the aurora, far in the background. Coincidently, the aurora appears to avoid the Moon visible on the lower left. The aurora appeared a day after a large hole opened...

Explanation: Early spring in the northern hemisphere is good season for aurora hunters. Near an equinox Earth's magnetic field is oriented to favor interactions with the solar wind that trigger the alluring glow of the northern lights. On March 28/29 the skies over Kaunispää Hill, Lapland, Finland did not disappoint. That night's expansive auroral curtains are captured in this striking panoramic view that covers a full 360 degrees. Local skywatchers were mesmerized by bright displays lasted throughout the dark hours, shimmering with colors easily visible to the naked eye.

Explanation: Jupiter has auroras. Like near the Earth, the magnetic field of our Solar System's largest planet compresses when impacted by a gust of charged particles from the Sun. This magnetic compression funnels charged particles towards Jupiter's poles and down into the atmosphere. There, electrons are temporarily excited or knocked away from atmospheric gases, after which, when de-exciting or recombining with atmospheric ions, auroral light is emitted. The featured illustration portrays the magnificent magnetosphere around Jupiter in action. In the inset image released last month, the Earth-orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory shows unexpectedly powerful X-ray light emitted by Jovian auroras, depicted...

Three coronal holes spread across the sun are pointing at Earth. As a result, the US Space Weather Prediction Centre in Boulder, Colorado, and the Space Weather Operations Centre of the UK Met Office in Exeter have issued an alert for tomorrow of a minor geomagnetic storm. “Early on Day 3 (April 2), a high-speed stream from coronal hole 67 is expected to reach Earth,” said the Met Office. Forecasters in the US and UK predict this could confuse migrating birds and other animals, cause minor problems with satellites and make an aurora visible as far south as Maine and...

(VIDEO) RICHMOND, Va. -- Why? Why did the shooter open fire as soon as state Trooper Chad P. Dermyer approached him at Richmond's Greyhound bus station? Why did he keep shooting and fighting till the end, as state police superintendent Col. Steven Flaherty described Thursday night? Why was he in Richmond? An official source identified the shooter as 34-year-old James Brown III of Aurora, Illinois. CBS 6 found a James Brown III., an African-American with a long criminal history in Aurora, whose date of birth matches up with the information from our source. Brown is well known to police there....

Explanation: All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet night last September, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly though, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth's atmosphere once again. This time, unexpectedly, pareidoliacally, they created an amazing shape reminiscent of a giant phoenix. With camera equipment at the ready, two quick sky images were taken, followed immediately by a third of the land. The mountain in the background is Helgafell, while the small foreground river is called Kaldá, both located about 30...

According to a friend in the area there was or is a shooting at rangeview high school in aurora co. Heard off police scanner. Located in aurora colorado. NOTHING yet on local channels.

Explanation: On some nights, the sky is the best show in town. On this night, the sky was not only the best show in town, but a composite image of the sky won an international competition for landscape astrophotography. The featured winning image was taken in 2011 over Jökulsárlón, the largest glacial lake in Iceland. The photographer combined six exposures to capture not only two green auroral rings, but their reflections off the serene lake. Visible in the distant background sky is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy. A powerful coronal mass ejection from the...

Explanation: Legends collide in this dramatic vista of land, sea, and sky. The land is Iceland, specifically Vík í M‡rdal, a southern village known for its beautiful black sand beaches. The sea, the Atlantic Ocean, surrounds Reynisdrangar, a sea stack of eroded basaltic rock pillars that Icelandic folklore tells are the petrified remains of trolls once attempting to drag a three-masted ship onto land. Watching from overhead and shining bright on the upper right is the god of the sky, according to Greek mythology: the planet Jupiter. Also visible in the sky are several other Greek legends encapsulated as constellations,...

Explanation: What's happened to the sky? Aurora! Captured late last month, this aurora was noted by Icelanders for its great brightness and quick development. The aurora resulted from a solar storm, with high energy particles bursting out from the Sun and through a crack in Earth's protective magnetosphere a few days later. Although a spiral pattern can be discerned, creative humans might imagine the complex glow as an atmospheric apparition of any number of common icons. In the foreground of the featured image is the Ölfusá River, while the lights illuminate a bridge in Selfoss City. Just beyond the low...