Updated: 8:25 PM We live in a highly technological age. Most of us can't imagine a world without cell phones, and because the sizes and prices of handheld typing devices like blackberries continue to shrink, more and more of us are investing in them, but those little devices can cause physical injuries.

Updated: 5:30 PM The leaf burning debate has sparked once again. The Winnebago County Board considers overturning its leaf burning ban in rural areas.

Updated: 12:40 PM In the Rockford Public School District, no one is denying behavior and truancy is a major problem.

Updated: 8:36 PM The third fire in two weeks at a home in southeast Rockford is being looked into, but the home's total loss has little evidence for investigators.

Updated: 12:43 PM George Gaulrapp takes over for outgoing Freeport Mayor Jim Gitz.

Updated: 12:45 PM Several area fire departments battle a house fire in Cherry Valley.

Updated: 12:42 PM What was a convenient neighborhood grocery store seemed to be attracting the wrong type of customers. Almart was known by reputation as a safe haven to sell illegal narcotics like crack cocaine.

Updated: 5:57 PM A bus full of Rockford high school students was hit on its way to school Monday morning.

Updated: 1:09 PM Yellow Roadway Corporation Monday says it will include more cash in its $1.37 billion bid of cash and stock for the Chicago-based trucking company USF Corporation.

Updated: 1:01 PM A new study emphasizes what every parent must know: children are safer in car crashes when they sit in the back seat.

Updated: 12:59 PM Monday night, Freeport mayor-elect George Gaulrapp takes over at City Hall.

Updated: 12:51 PM Speed and failure to have insurance top the list during a month long safety check in Rockford.

Updated: 10:58 PM The second fatal accident this weekend takes place in DeKalb County.

Updated: 1:50 PM One hundred eighty eight employees at AG Communication Systems lost their job on April 30, 2004 after officials announced the plant's shutdown.

Updated: 1:54 PM The missing bride is now known as the runaway bride.

Updated: 1:52 PM The dialogue to stop racism continues.

Updated: 1:51 PM A Rockford man is killed in a motorcycle accident.

Updated: 1:48 PM This week's murder has the anti-violence group CeaseFire invading the Blackhawk Housing Complex.

Updated: 6:11 PM Power is being shifted in the City of Freeport. On Monday, George Gaulrapp will become the new mayor.

Updated: 4:22 PM Dave Matthews Band will pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit filed after one of its bus drivers dumped 800 pounds of human waste onto a sightseeing boat on the Chicago River.

Updated: 1:15 PM A Beloit woman was found dead by the cable man. Her two young children were still in the apartment.

Updated: 1:45 PM A seven-year-old girl cared for her baby brother for as long as two days while her mother lay dead in the family's apartment in Beloit.

Updated: 5:11 PM The driver of a car was shot by a passenger.

Updated: 1:33 PM Alliant Energy reports a big drop in first-quarter net income Thursday.

Updated: 9:42 AM A man is in serious condition after being stabbed Thursday night.