Advocate Sherman in Elgin announces first baby of 2026
A Crystal Lake couple are the parents of the first baby born in 2026 at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin.
Kelly Davis and Kyle Partenheimer welcomed their new daughter, Kolbie Noelle Partenheimer, at 12:55 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 1, according to a news release. The baby girl weighed 7 pounds, 15.7 ounces and was 21 inches long. Kolbie has two older brothers, Kameron, 11, and Kannon, 5.
Kolbie is just five minutes younger than the first baby born in 2026 at any Advocate Health Care hospital in the Chicago area, the release said.
The first Advocate baby of the new year was born at 12:50 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the release. Olivia Gorney and Ryan LaCount, of Chicago, welcomed baby girl Winona LaCount into their family. Winona is the couple’s first baby. She weighed 10 pounds, 6 ounces and was 22.5 inches.
Christmas tree curbside pickup, mulching in Elgin area
Kane County’s online list of communities picking up natural Christmas trees and other holiday greenery and locations where trees can be mulched include several locations in the Elgin area.
Carpentersville and Sleepy Hollow waste haulers will take trees and wreaths with both regular trash and recycling throughout the month of January. In East Dundee and West Dundee, similar pickups will be made in the first two full weeks in January.
In Elgin, pickups will take done on regular collection days through Saturday, Jan. 17, and in South Elgin the same will be done in the first three weeks of January.
Dundee Township residents can have undecorated trees mulched anytime through Thursday, Jan. 15, by leaving them outside the Dundee Township Road District offfice, 1900 Sleepy Hollow Road, Sleepy Hollow. For more information, call 847-426-0898.
Natural trees also can be dropped off from 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Monday to Friday during the first two weeks of January at Midwest Compost, 1320 Spaulding Road, Elgin. There are no residency requirements. For pricing, call 847-931-2900.
eWorks will accept unwanted strings of holiday lights and extension cords from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday all year at Kane County’s West Dundee Recycling Center, 900 Angle Tarn, West Dundee.
For more information, go to kanecountyil.gov/Recycling/Pages/christmasTreeRecycling.aspx.
Three administrators promoted by School District U-46
The District U-46 School Board has appointed three internal candidates to new leadership roles in the 2026-27 school year.
William J. Johnson, currently executive director of high schools, will become assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, according to a news release. He will replace Brian Tennison, who is retiring.
Nicholas Baird, currently principal at Ellis Middle School in Elgin, will be the first principal of Legacy Middle School, which is currently under construction in Elgin. Baird has been with U-46 his entire educational career and is a U-46 graduate.
Cody Papp, currently assistant principal at Sunnydale Elementary School in Streamwood, has been chosen principal of Illinois Park Elementary School in Elgin, where she once was an early childhood special education teacher. Papp will assume leadership of the school for the 2026-27 school year when it transitions from an early childhood center into an elementary school.
Dundee High School alum named a Chicagoan of the Year
Douglas McConnell, Dundee Community High School Class of 1975, has been named a Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago Magazine.
McConnell, 68, is an investment banker who now lives in Barrington. According to the magazine, McConnell is an avid open water swimmer who has swum the English Channel and around the island of Manhattan.
He and his late sister, Ellen, founded A Long Swim, which has raised more than $3 million for ALS research, according to the magazine. McConnell was also responsible for getting the necessary approvals for the September Chicago River Swim, which raised $100,000 for ALS research and $50,000 to teach children how to swim.
A social media post by School District 300 noted that McConnell is also an inductee into the Dundee-Crown High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Dundee and Irving Crown High Schools merged in 1983 at the Crown campus in Carpentersville. The former Dundee High building is now Carpentersville Middle School.
