Arkush: Bears starters ready for hardest exam
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2013
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The only daily newspaper published in McHenry Co.
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PR’s Taylor Otto excited to return after injury Sports, C1
New facility offers options for disabled adults Business, E1
Four apply for vacant board seat
NEW STATE LAW PROTECTS STUDENT-ATHLETES
Prepared for the worst
Mental Health Board has sixth opening over past year By KEVIN P. CRAVER
What it means The McHenry County Board received four applications to fill the latest vacancy on the embattled Mental Health Board, which has lost six of its nine members over the past year. The County Board Public Health and Human Services Committee is expected to interview the candidates and make a recommendation at its meeting Thursday morning.
kcraver@shawmedia.com Some familiar faces are among the four people who have applied for appointment to the sixth and latest vacancy on the embattled McHenry County Mental Health Board. They include a former County Board member who overhauled its budget development process, a blogger who has kept an eye on Mental Health Board spending and a businessman with a lifetime of work in the health care industry. And all of them say they have what it takes to help right the ship of the Mental Health Board, which is facing intense scrutiny over its size and budgetary decisions. The candidates, whose names were obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, are Scott Breeden of Lakewood, Andrew Gasser of Fox River Grove, Charles Wheeler of McHenry and Cary Sue Lavan of Woodstock. The County Board Public Health and Human Services Committee is expected to interview them Thursday and make a recommendation for full board approval next month.
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Players run a drill during practice Aug. 17 at Richmond-Burton High School. Beginning Jan. 1, high schools must provide catastrophic injury insurance for all student-athletes.
Schools now required to carry injury insurance
By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com At high schools around the county and the state, football players are donning their shoulder pads and helmets preparing for the season that begins next week. Under a new state law, all athletes and their parents can rest a little easier knowing school districts are required to have insurance if the
worst happens. Beginning Jan. 1, high schools must provide catastrophic injury insurance for all student-athletes. The law was inspired by the late Rasul “Rocky” Clark, who played football for Eisenhower High School in the suburb of Blue Island until he was paralyzed from the neck down after a tackle during a game in 2000.
See INSURANCE, page A6
Your opinion Do you agree with the state law requiring schools to carry catastrophic insurance for student-athletes? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
See SEAT, page A6
Obama unveils college rating system that judges cost The ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP photo
President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks Thursday at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y., where he began his two-day bus tour to speak about college financial aid.
LOCALLY SPEAKING
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Targeting the soaring cost of higher education, President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a broad new government rating system for colleges that would judge schools on their affordability and perhaps be used to allocate federal financial aid. But the proposed overhaul faced immediate skepticism from college leaders who worry the rankings could cost their institutions millions of dollars, as well as from congressional Republicans wary of deepening the govern-
ment’s role in higher education. The president, speaking to a student-heavy crowd of 7,000 at the University at Buffalo, said he expected pushback from those who have profited from the ballooning cost of college. But he argued that with the nation’s economy still shaky and students facing increasing global competition, making college affordable is “an economic imperative.” “Higher education cannot be a luxury,” Obama said during the first stop on a twoday bus tour through New York and Pennsylvania. “Every American family should
CRYSTAL LAKE
MCC APPROVES FLAT-TAX BUDGET The McHenry County College Board approved a budget with an assumed property tax freeze Thursday, but a final decision to hold the levy remains in limbo. The board voted in favor of a budget with no tax increase but only to put it on public display for the next 30 days as a levy vote will occur in December. For more, see page B1.
Lathan Goumas – lgoumas@shawmedia.com
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CARPENTERSVILLE: Brian Floriani gives each student at Meadowdale Elementary School six books. Local&Region, B1 Vol. 28, Issue 235
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be able to get it.” Republicans on Capitol Hill weighed in quickly with criticism. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, cast the proposal as government overreach and suggested a state-by-state approach would be preferable. “Washington needs to be careful about taking a good idea for one state and forcing all 6,000 institutions of higher education to do the exact same thing, turning Washington into a sort of national school board for our colleges and universities,” Alexander
said. For colleges and universities, millions of federal aid dollars could be on the line if schools are downgraded under the government rating system. However, if colleges line up against the idea of tying ratings to federal aid, the proposal would face nearly impossible odds. Almost all members of Congress have colleges or universities in their districts, and a coordinated effort to rally students and educators against the plan would probably kill it quickly.
See OBAMA, page A6