Daily Egyptian MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
SINCE 1916
DAILYEGYPTIAN.COM
VOL. 100 ISSUE 40
SIU student shot during robbery, three suspects at large BILL LUKITSCH | @Bill_LukitschDE
Carbondale Police are looking for three suspects after an SIU student was shot near Pinch Penny Pub on Saturday evening. Spencer DePue, a senior studying management, said in an email Sunday that he is recovering well after suffering a gunshot wound in his upper-right shoulder. DePue, who was shot just before 6 p.m.
Gov. Rauner expected to veto MAP funding
Saturday, walked to the 700 block of East Grand Avenue, where was transported by ambulance to Carbondale Memorial Hospital, Lt. Matt Dunning said. “Actually I feel quite well and in good spirits despite my predicament,” DePue said Sunday. “In a way I feel like a local legend right now. My shoulder is a little sore. But honestly, it just feels like I worked out too much. Adrenaline does wonders.”
SIU spokeswoman Rae Goldsmith confirmed Saturday that DePue is a student at the university. DePue was walking in the vicinity of Cedarview Drive and East Walnut Street when an armed robber approached him demanding personal property, police said. Two more suspects appeared and DePue was shot during a physical altercation that ensued, police said. DePue walked to Pinch Penny
Pub for help and one of the bouncers gave him temporary medical attention, owner James Karayiannis said. “He wandered back towards our place for medical attention and assistance and, I guess, safety … and we tended to him as best we could until the emergency services got here,” Karayiannis said. As of Saturday night, DePue was scheduled to be transferred to
a St. Louis area hospital for further treatment, police said. Police did not have anyone in custody as of Saturday night. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Anna Spoerre contributed to this report. Bill Lukitsch can be contacted at blukitsch@dailyegyptian.com or (618) 536-3329.
Police walk towards Polar Bear partygoers
BILL LUKITSCH | @Bill_LukitschDE
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is expected to veto an appropriations bill for higher education that passed both houses in the Illinois General Assembly on Thursday. Senate Bill 2043, if passed, would disburse $397 million to the need-based Monetary Award Program for all Illinois colleges and universities, and pay a portion of operational costs incurred at community colleges statewide. It is a piece of the $1.9 billion spending plan for higher education passed by Democrats in May that was vetoed by the governor. SIU President Randy Dunn released a statement Thursday thanking state lawmakers who voted to pass SB 2043 for “keeping the higher education crisis in front of the state,” regardless of the bill’s fate. Rauner’s budget director Tim Nuding said in a memo addressed to members of the Illinois General Assembly that the $721 million spending plan would further the budget deficit because it does not detail a revenue source. Nuding advised state lawmakers to instead support an alternative Republican-backed bill that allocates $1.6 billion in funding for higher education, which reflects the 31.5 percent cuts to public universities Rauner proposed 11 months ago. State Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, is a co-sponsor on that bill and voted against SB 2043 in accordance with GOP instruction. “The bill I am sponsoring would provide funding for colleges and universities as well as MAP grants without raising taxes,” Bryant said. “It is profoundly disingenuous for the Democrats in the House to promise students MAP grant money when they know the governor will veto this plan.” Please see RAUNER | 2
Jacob Wiegand | @JacobWiegand_DE Members of the Illinois State Police and Carbondale Police Department walk toward partygoers at a Polar Bear event in response to a noise complaint Saturday on South Poplar Street. Carbondale Police Sgt. Doug Wilson said the city has extra officers on duty until 3 a.m. Sunday. “We’re doing alcohol enforcement and trying to prevent people from getting alcohol poisoning,” Wilson said. For the story and more photos, please see pages 4 and 5.
Rauner declines to expand medical marijuana condition ROBERT MCCOPPIN | Chicago Tribune
Illinois will not expand the list of conditions that qualifies people to get medical marijuana, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration announced Friday. The announcement came despite pleas from patient advocates and medical marijuana business owners who say they need more patients to make the industry viable in the state. So far, only about 4,000 people have been approved to use the drug, far below early estimates. The decision was announced by the Illinois Department of Public Health’s director, Dr. Nirav Shah. Melaney Arnold, department spokeswoman, said the program “remains in its early stage.” “As patients have just started purchasing
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medical cannabis, the State has not had the opportunity to evaluate the benefits and costs of the pilot program or determine areas for improvement or even whether to extend the program beyond its pilot period,” she said in an email. “At this time, it is premature to expand the pilot program before there is the ability to evaluate it under the current statutory requirements.” The move went against the state’s own Medical Cannabis Advisory Board, which had recommended that eight conditions — including autism, irritable bowel syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder, osteoarthritis and several painrelated conditions — be added to the list of about 40 ailments that can qualify people for medical marijuana. Advocates had said they had delivered about 25,000 signatures on a petition this week asking
the governor to expand access. And just this week, former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon touted medical marijuana as a “godsend” that helped him stop using the prescription painkiller Percocet. The first medical marijuana dispensaries opened in Illinois in November. Dr. Leslie Mendoza Temple, chairwoman of the state Medical Cannabis Advisory Board, said she was “reeling” from the decision. “I’m deeply disappointed,” she said. “But I’m not surprised. The governor’s office hasn’t shown much support for this pilot program, and it shows in this blanket rejection again.” Mendoza Temple hopes to get more feedback as to why the conditions were rejected. She remained optimistic that the governor will reconsider after the board makes recommendations at its next meeting in May.