Karen Hanson, Neighbor

Karen Hanson has been a reporter, features writer and columnist in the southwest suburbs since 1997. As a staff writer at Sun Publications, she covered the news and wrote about life in Plainfield, Bolingbrook, Homer Glen, New Lenox, Mokena, Frankfort and Manhattan. From 2001 to 2010, she was community columnist for the Lincoln-way Sun.

She is also the author of "Today's Chicago Blues," a guidebook to the blues in Chicago. As a freelance writer, her work has appeared in magazines, trade journals and Web sites. An alumna of Illinois State University, she has a degrees in English, journalism and education. She lives in New Lenox with her husband, a six-pound dog and a 20-pound cat.