• The U.S. Census is quickly approaching and coordinating efforts to get a greater number of Kankakee County residents have been in the works for months as the county tries to improve on its performance from 2000.

• A Holiday Gift Guide is in today’s paper.

• For two years, Brittany Czaplicki sat in the passenger seat. Now, she’s learning how fun it can be to drive. The senior point guard was unheralded for the Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School girls’ basketball team’s 16-win season last year behind standouts Jasmine Johnson and Tami Richardson. She scored 17 points to help lead the Boilermakers to a 67-46 season-opening victory over Herscher on Tuesday night.