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Cortland Township mulls pursuing further legal action By JEFF ENGELHARDT
jengelhardt@shawmedia.com
CORTLAND – Three votes will be taken at a special meeting of Cortland Township electors to decide whether residents should pursue legal action against Waste Management to stop the landfill expansion. Electors – any registered voters living in Cortland Township – will meet at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 in the Cortland Township office on 14 S. Prairie St. to decide whether the township should sue Waste Management and if so, how to pay for it. Township residents will be asked to consider a special levy to cover legal costs and retain the services of law firm Jeep & Blazer LLC. Meeting organizer Frankie Benson said a one-time special property tax levy would be needed to cover about $60,000 in legal costs. Only 15 electors need to attend for the meeting to become official, but Benson said she hoped for a large turnout because a financial decision such as a special tax levy should not be left to a select few. “How we pay for it is going to be up to the people that are there,” she said. “It is one funding source we would consider.” Another funding option that could be implemented in addition to the levy is a special account for private donations. Benson said electors would also vote on setting up
Photos by Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
William Strauss, a senior economist and economic adviser with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, speaks Thursday at the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp.’s Economic Outlook Luncheon at the Farm Bureau in Sycamore. By DAVID THOMAS
dthomas@shawmedia.com
Sycamore Mayor Ken Mundy (back left) and Northern Illinois University employee Bill Nicklas (back right) chat before the start of the speech Thursday by William Strauss (not pictured) at the Economic Outlook Luncheon.
DeKALB – William Strauss believes 2013 will look a lot like 2012 in terms of the country’s economic recovery. Strauss, a senior economist and economic adviser for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, told a room full of DeKalb County notables that they should expect to see modest economic growth in the U.S. economy in the years ahead. “The economy has been growing, but it’s not impressive,” Strauss said. “Businesses are not feeling the pressure to expand.” Unlike with earlier recessions, which were followed by a healthy bounce back of economic activity,
Voice your opinion Do you think today’s children will have a higher standard of living than their parents? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle. com. this recovery continues to be tepid in the United States and much of the world, Strauss said. “We’re not seeing it this time,” Strauss said. Strauss’ comments came during the 2013 Economic Outlook Luncheon, hosted by the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. Listening to his speech in the
See GROWTH, page A11
See VOTE, page A8
Algerian Army’s rescue mission turns deadly; toll unclear By AOMAR OUALI and PAUL SCHEMM The Associated Press
ALGIERS, Algeria – Algerian helicopters and special forces stormed a gas plant in the stony plains of the Sahara on Thursday to wipe out Islamist militants and free hostages from at least 10 countries. Bloody chaos ensued, leaving the fate of the fighters and many of the captives uncertain.
Dueling claims from the military and the militants muddied the world’s understanding of an event that angered Western leaders, raised world oil prices and complicated the international military operation in neighboring Mali. At least six people, and perhaps many more, were killed – Britons, Filipinos and Algerians. Terrorized hostages from Ireland and Norway trickled out of the Ain Amenas plant,
families urging them never to return. Dozens more remained unaccounted for: Americans, Britons, French, Norwegians, R o m an i a ns , M a la y s i an s , Japanese, Algerians and the fighters themselves. The U.S. government sent an unmanned surveillance drone to the BP-operated site, near the border with Libya and 800 miles from the Algerian capital, but it could do little more than watch Thurs-
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day’s intervention. Algeria’s army-dominated government, hardened by decades of fighting Islamist militants, shrugged aside foreign offers of help and drove ahead alone. With the hostage drama entering its second day Thursday, Algerian security forces moved in, first with helicopter fire and then special forces, according to diplomats, a website close to the militants, and an Algerian security official.
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The government said it was forced to intervene because the militants were being stubborn and wanted to flee with the hostages. The militants – led by a Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot known as the Masked Brigade – suffered losses in Thursday’s military assault, but succeeded in garnering a global audience. Even violence-scarred Algerians were stunned by the brazen hostage-taking
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Wednesday, the biggest in northern Africa in years and the first to include Americans as targets. Mass fighting in the 1990s had largely spared the lucrative oil and gas industry that gives Algeria its economic independence and regional weight. The hostage-taking raised questions about security for sites run by multinationals that are dotted across
See RESCUE, page A11
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