Available through Help Grow Waukegan — a joint effort of Openlands, Waukegan, the U.S. Forest Service and others — officials hope to put 150 new trees in the city by fall of next year, according to Sarah Surroz, Openlands’ director of Lake County programs.

Gale Graves, the vice president of community impact of United Way of Lake County, said after the formal portion of Thursday’s meeting she is receiving calls about more and more migrants in Lake County in need of services.

The new voting equipment, which sorts, prints and prepares vote-by-mail ballots for the U.S. Postal Service, officially went into operation Thursday at the Lake County Clerk’s office in Waukegan, making the process quicker for voters.

The council voted 6-3 Tuesday to prohibit the public release of balloons into the sky in an effort keep potential pollutants out of Lake Michigan and protect wildlife.

In Lake County, the cities of Waukegan, North Chicago and Highwood — and villages of Grayslake and Buffalo Grove — approved ordinances Tuesday to regulate unscheduled migrant buses at their respective council meetings.

Flores-Deter, Elenbaas and Johnson were among a record crowd of 540 people who ran, walked or jumped into the lake in Waukegan’s 25th-annual Polar Bear Plunge Monday at the city’s beach in raising money for special recreation.

The Museum Adventure Pass Program offers people with library cards the ability to obtain free or reduced-price admission to more than 20 venues in the greater Chicago area, making them more accessible to families.

As part of a Kwanzaa celebration sponsored by the Waukegan African American Museum at England Manor, the actors told how the individuals personified unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

Though the bricks are not usable for a wall, Nick Alatzakis, the district’s communications director, said he has a list of people who want bricks from the wall, which has personal significance to a number of local residents.