Editor’s note: This is the second in a series focusing on the events in and around Bureau County in 2012.

March 2: The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency approves a revised schedule for the contamination cleanup at the former New Jersey Zinc/Mobil Chemical Superfund site. The schedule was submitted by the DePue Group, which consists of CBS Corporation and the ExxonMobil Corporation, the parties responsible under Superfund. The revised schedule will require work at the Superfund site to move forward in a “timely manner with enforceable deadlines.”

March 3: Sue Krolak of Spring Valley beats out 33,104 other participants nationwide to win this week’s prize in the Checkered Flag Challenge, sponsored locally by the Bureau County Republican and nationally by Second Street Media. It was Krolak’s first time to enter one of the BCR’s online contests. Krolak won the local contest by 141 points. She won the national contest — and a NASCAR Fathead of her choice — by 24 points. Krolak credited her victory to luck, though she does watch a lot of NASCAR, she said.