Top 10 Most-Read La Grange Stories In 2023

LA GRANGE, IL – By page views, Nicholas Fuentes, the nationally known racist from La Grange Park, was the focus of the most-read story on the La Grange Patch in 2023.

Check out what made this year's list, ranked by page views:

1. La Grange Park Racist Seeks Death Of Non-Christians (Dec. 18): Many call for "peace on Earth" in the Christmas season. Nationally known La Grange Park racist Nicholas Fuentes is doing the opposite: He is pushing for the death penalty for non-Christians.

2. Downtown La Grange Restaurant Closing (Nov. 22): Hot Dog and Burger Company, 76 S. La Grange Road, plans to close for good at month's end. After 13 years in business, the restaurant announced on Facebook last week that the time has come to close.

3. 25 Highest-Paid LTHS Teachers And Administrators (Sept. 25): Unsurprisingly, the top-paid employee at Lyons Township High School is Superintendent Brian Waterman. Waterman, who took the helm in 2021, made $247,200 in the 2022-23 school year – $7,000 more than the previous year.

4. Mailer Attacks 3 LTHS Candidates (March 23): A political mailer is attacking three Lyons Township High School board candidates as "right-wing activists." The mailer says it is being paid for by the "Support Our School" group. The address is a mailbox at The UPS Store in downtown La Grange.

5. Church Leader Arrested In La Grange Park: Cops (April 3): A La Grange Park man who is a church youth leader in Maywood was arrested last week after sexually assaulting youths, local police said.

6: Attempted Murder Charge In LTHS Fight: Cops (May 11): A second person was arrested Wednesday in the fight that occurred May 1 outside Lyons Township High School's North Campus, La Grange police said. A juvenile was arrested on charges of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery involving great bodily harm, according to a police news release Wednesday night.

7. Controversial Leader Lives In La Grange (June 5): Bill Gothard led a fundamentalist Christian group based in Hinsdale for much of his life, filling up coliseums full of adherents around the country. These days, he lives quietly on Arlington Avenue in La Grange.

8. You Don't Say? LTHS Official Resigns (June 2): For months, Julie Swinehart, a Lyons Township High School board member, tried to keep secret her plan to resign. She took a job on the East Coast. Since February, she has declined to answer Patch's questions about whether she planned to serve her entire term, which expires in April 2025. On Friday, the school announced that Swinehart resigned a day earlier.

9. Chronic Absenteeism At LTHS 'Outrageous': Official (Nov. 10): The head of Lyons Township High School's board said this week that the level of chronic absenteeism was "outrageous" and "unbelievable." During a meeting, board President Dawn Aubert said she had looked at the absenteeism numbers for Lyons Township and other schools.

10. State Orders LTHS To Release Recording (April 26): The Lyons Township High School board broke state law in January by meeting behind closed doors to discuss the sale of the school's land in Willow Springs, the attorney general's office said Tuesday.