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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Friday, July 26, 2013
MUD FEST • FAITH, C1
NIU BASKETBALL • SPORTS, B1
Churches to teach youth importance of clean water
Armstead brothers reunited close to their hometown Aaron Armstead
AS AMERICA AGES • PART TWO
Well-being of boomers
NIU officials spread word on D.C.trip By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Northern Illinois University had a chance to shine at the nation’s capital this week. NIU President Douglas Baker, along with a team of staff and students, went to Washington, D.C. on Monday for a two-day trip to demonstrate their accomplishments to members of Congress. While there, they also discussed issues affecting higher education, such as rising student loan interest rates. For Baker, the trip was an opportunity to learn what legislators’ priorities were for Illinois and see how the university could help address them. “I wanted to get the university officials to know those issues in greater depth,” he said. Building the economy through job creation and resolving student loan issues were two priorities he saw for Congress. Recent- Douglas ly, federal student loan interest Baker rates have doubled from 3.4 per- NIU president cent to 6.8 percent. The U.S. Senate approved a bill to lower the interest rate Wednesday. A vote on the bill is expected soon by the House. During the research roundtable, NIU faculty delivered several presentations on improving medical technology, educational engagement and business innovation.
Those caring for parents are more prone to health issues Illinois. “But at the same time, they’re dealing with their parents or in-laws who have health udy Bryant’s mother didn’t care issues that might be more want to go into a nursing severe.” home. So the 63-year-old Sycamore Caregiving, but for whom? resident took her mother into her According to a 2011 study own home when she developed sponsored by MetLife, nearly 10 health issues. At the time, Bry- million American adults older ant was taking care of her mother than 50 were caring for their and the children in the home day parents in 2008. The study found care service she operates. that being the main caregiver in “She didn’t want to go into a a family has multiple impacts on home, so I stepped up,” Bryant adults. said. “Adult children 50-plus who Some baby boomers are find- work and provide care to a paring themselves in a triple wham- ent are more likely to have fair my. While still supporting their or poor health than those who children, their personal health do not provide care to their paris demanding more of their time ents,” the study said. as they age while many also are The average caregiver is a caring for their parents. white woman who works while “You have a population that taking care of a parent. The they themselves have some study found her means of carehealth care issues or a serious giving was split between providillness,” said Nancy Nelson, the ing financial assistance – giving senior manager of advocacy and community outreach for AARP See HEALTH, page A4
See BAKER, page A4
Silent after 9/11, NSA critics find their voice again
By DAVID THOMAS
dthomas@shawmedia.com
J
By CALVIN WOODWARD The Associated Press Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Judy Bryant enjoys herself during a line dancing class July 1 in the basement of the Sycamore Veterans Club. Bryant, 63, of Sycamore, took her mother into her home when she developed health issues. “She didn’t want to go into a home, so I stepped up,” Bryant said. TOP: Diana Keys leads a step and strengthen class July 12 at the Kishwaukee Family YMCA in Sycamore. Keys, a baby boomer, has been a fitness instructor for more than 30 years.
HEALTH STATUS FOR ILLINOIS VS. U.S. IN 2010 In Illinois 22.1 percent 69.5 percent 16.4 percent 14.6 percent
50 and older population In poor or fair general health Who are overweight or obese Who have diabetes Who smoke cigarettes
In U.S. 23.4 percent 68.3 percent 16.9 percent 13.7 percent
Source: AARP
Affordable Care Act could benefit older Americans AARP says the law could significantly benefit older Americans. The ACA was signed in Staying healthy is one con- March 2010 with an aim of makcern many baby boomers have. ing health care more affordable And although public opinion and getting most Americans inof the federal health care reform sured. The law still is not seen measure known as the Afford- favorably by many: A June able Care Act remains mixed, poll by Kaiser Health Tracking
By KATE SCHOTT
kschott@shawmedia.com
found that unfavorable views of the law still outnumber favorable ones, 43 percent to 35 percent. But Jennifer Creasey, associate state director of Advocacy and Outreach for AARP Illinois, said older Americans in particular may benefit from it.
“Boomers are in a unique category,” she said. “They really will be affected, but they don’t realize they will be affected. There is a lot out there, but people don’t realize it will help them.”
See CARE ACT, page A4
ONLINE THE BOOM ’46-’64
The children born after World War II are the largest generation ever born in the United States. They are the baby boomers, and have lived through some of the biggest social changes in American history. The Daily Chronicle presents a three-day series on baby boom-
ers, who are turning 65 at a rate of 10,000 per day. Articles will focus on: Thursday: Family – Many boomers are turning their attention to caring for their aging parents while also helping their adult children in a down
economy. Today: Health – As they age, many boomers are dealing with more health issues. Saturday: Employment – As boomers approach retirement age, many are examining whether they can afford to stop working.
Visit DailyChronicle. com to view an interactive timeline and demographics that define the generation.
WASHINGTON – After 9/11, there were no shades of gray. There are plenty now. The vigorous debate over the collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, underlined by a narrow House vote upholding the practice, buried any notion that it’s out of line, even unpatriotic, to challenge the national security efforts of the government. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, joined in common cause against the Obama administration’s aggressive surveillance, falling just short Wednesday night against a similarly jumbled and determined coalition of leaders and lawmakers who supported it. It’s not every day you see Republican Speaker John Boehner and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi facing off together against their own parties’ colleagues – with an assist from Rep. Michele Bachmann, no less – to help give President Barack Obama what he wanted. But that’s what it took to overcome efforts to restrict the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush warned the world “either you are with us or you are with the terrorists,” period, and those few politicians who objected to anything the U.S. wanted to do for its national security looked like oddballs. That remarkable political consensus cracked in the bog of the Iraq war, and argument returned, but the government has had little trouble holding on to its extraordinary counterterrorism tools. What’s changed? The passage of time, for one thing, and the absence of another attack on the scale of 9/11. Americans also have discovered, through Edward Snowden’s leaks, that surveillance doesn’t start at the water’s edge or stop with terrorist plotters in the homeland, but sweeps in the phone records of ordinary people indiscriminately. Even in the frightening aftermath of 9/11, when large majorities told pollsters they were ready to trade in some personal protections for greater security, any effort to monitor phone calls or emails of average people was considered a step too far. In a Pew Research Center survey the week after the terrorist attacks, 70 percent said no to that.
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
A2 A3 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
Weather A2, 4 A5 B1-4
Advice Comics Classified
C4 C5 D1-4
High:
76
Low:
58