Dan Klefstad

Four books. Four author interviews. One great summer of reading  -- and it begins just four weeks from today.

This year's Summer Book Series starts Wednesday, June 5, with Marnie Mamminga's memoir of summer vacations in northwest Wisconsin.

Mamminga lives in suburban Chicago. Her book, Return to Wake Robin: One Cabin in the Heyday of Northwoods Resorts, recounts her family's annual trips to Wake Robin, a log cabin built by her grandfather in 1929.

WNIJ's Community Close-up of DeKalb examines how a community supports its most vulnerable members.

About 44,000 people live in DeKalb.  Another 5,000 students live on campus at Northern Illinois University. The city is also host to a growing number of people who sleep in their cars, on their friends’ couches, or in the county’s only homeless shelter: Hope Haven.

Illinois' purchase of 72 acres in McHenry County marks the beginning of the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources announced the $511,000 purchase in late February. Director Marc Miller says the money comes from dedicated funds through the Capitol Construction Bill:

This week, the Illinois Senate President hopes to pass a same-sex marriage bill. Democrat John Cullerton wants the upper chamber to approve the bill by Valentine's Day, and send it to the House. Gov. Pat Quinn has said he'd sign SB 10, but the bill faces an uncertain future in the lower chamber.

Internationally renowned poet, Lucien Stryk, died January 24th in London at the age of 88.  Stryk wrote and edited more than two dozen books, including collections of his poetry, and translations of Chinese and Japanese Zen poetry.  He also taught creative writing and Asian literature at Northern Illinois University from 1958 until he retired in 1991.