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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
PREP FOOTBALL • SPORTS, B1
SUMMER ACTIVITIES • MARKETPLACE, A6
Northern Illinois Big 12 likely to stay in two 5-team divisions
DeKalb church hosts free Zumba fitness party
Schedule shakeup proposed
Myisha Hill
WEST NILE THREAT LOW THIS SUMMER
Bracing for mosquitoes
Plan would cut some jobs at School District 428 “It’s important to get these [proposals] on the books and decide which direction we’re going to go, so we can work with the teachers with what’s going to be best for them.” Roger Scott Huntley Middle School principal on the proposed cuts
By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Some middle school music teachers could lose their jobs depending on how the DeKalb School District 428 Board implements the 2014-15 schedule. School board members will hear a proposal at their July 16 meeting to change the schedule at the middle school so that students would receive more time in math, said Douglas Moeller, assistant superintendent for curriculum and student services. “I know there are people in the community who are saying we’re going to fire all of the music teachers. That’s not the case,” Moeller said, adding that orchestra, band and choir still will be offered at both schools. “The board is going to determine if they want to continue the music ensembles or not.” The school board has to sign off on any changes made to the middle school schedule, as well as the hiring or firing of teachers. Moeller said that any implementation of the schedule would not occur until the 2014-15 school year. Students at Huntley and Clinton Rosette middle schools spend 43 minutes a day in math class, Moeller said. But according to one district committee that studies career and college readiness, students need to spend 60 minutes a day studying mathematics. The schedule change would increase the number of minutes students spend in a math class to 86 minutes a day, similar to what they do now in language arts, Moeller said. “This will allow them the time to cover the material not only on a superficial level, but to get down to more depth,” Moeller said. To make up those additional 33 minutes, school officials
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Vince Leonforte, environmental health practitioner for the DeKalb County Health Department, collects a mosquito trap Friday near West Dresser and North Annie Glidden roads in DeKalb. The mosquitoes will be ground up and tested for the West Nile virus. BELOW: Mosquitoes are seen Friday in a trap near the DeKalb County Health Department.
Heavy rains left much of DeKalb County too wet for house mosquito Voice your opinion
By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Heavy rain and flooding in the spring and early summer may be killing the buzz for carriers of West Nile virus this year. The season thus far has proven too wet for the house mosquito, which carries the virus that has been present in the United States since 1999. House mosquitoes thrive in hot, dry weather, unlike the more noticeably annoying floodwater mosquitoes, said Greg Maurice, director of environmental health for the DeKalb County Health Department. “[House mosquitoes] have got to have stagnant, standing water,” Maurice said. West Nile virus has not been detected in DeKalb County mosquitoes this year, but some in
West Nile Virus Prevention Personal protection n Use mosquito repellent with DEET in it. n Wear long sleeves, pants early in the morning and late at night. n Use mosquito netting when sleeping outdoors or for babies in strollers. Household Prevention n Fix and use window and door screens. n Eliminate potential breeding grounds like buckets or drains with standing water.
Source: DeKalb County Health Department
On the Net To keep track of West Nile virus cases in your area, visit http://shawurl.com/nb0.
How concerned are you about contracting West Nile Virus? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle. com.
See MOSQUITOES, page A3
See D-428, page A5
State attorney general seeks 2nd delay for Illinois gun plan By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for another monthlong extension of time to decide whether to appeal a lower court order allowing citizens to carry concealed guns. Documents filed late Friday but made public Monday indicate that the bid for a “second and final 30-day extension” would allow Madigan’s busy staff to continue researching the issues that
could be part of a possible appeal to the Supreme Court of a lower court’s decree. An extension would also give the attorney general breathing room to see what action Gov. Pat Quinn takes on concealed carry legislation awaiting him. The deadline for gubernatorial action is July 9, and Madigan must decide on an appeal by June 24. That date would be pushed back a month if the court agrees to the entreaty filed with Justice Elena Kagan. “Let’s allow this process to work itself out, await gu-
Lisa Madigan, Illinois attorney general, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for more time to appeal a lower court order allowing citizens to carry concealed guns. bernatorial action, whatever that may be, and determine the appropriate next steps from there,” Madigan spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said Monday. “This request allows those actions to play out.” If Quinn signs the bill law-
makers were forced to craft after a federal appellate court ruling, a Supreme Court appeal would be moot. Spokeswoman Brooke Anderson again declined Monday to indicate which way Quinn is leaning on the concealed carry issue. But he’s a strong gun-control advocate who initially proposed allowing larger municipalities to determine for themselves what gun laws to make – an option that did not make it into the final proposal. He also continues to support an appeal by Madigan, a Chicago Democrat like Quinn.
After years of futile efforts by gun-rights supporters, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decreed in December that Illinois’ ban on the carrying concealed weapons is unconstitutional. The court ruled it violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Illinois is the only state that prohibits concealed carry. When it sought the first delay until June 24, Madigan’s office argued it needed more time to react to the Illinois ruling and to determine whether it might conflict
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with other recent opinions, including a federal appeals court’s ruling upholding New York’s much more restrictive gun-carry law. In early April, the Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal in that case that sought to loosen New York’s gun restrictions. The 7th Circuit had given Prairie State lawmakers until June 9 to implement a law, but after the Legislature finally adopted a plan that it didn’t send to Quinn until June 4, Madigan sought and received from the appellate court justices an extension for gubernatorial action until July 9.
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