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City improvement plan moves on
DeKalb’s entry into America’s Best Communities competition advances to semifinals By DAILY CHRONICLE
news@daily-chronicle.com
On the Web
See the revitalization plan online at DeKALB – A group of local leadproudlydekalb.com.
ers that has worked to draft a revitalization plan for the city now is a step closer to securing more funds to make it a reality. On Wednesday, organizers of the America’s Best Communities competition announced that DeKalb’s entry in the competition was among 15 to advance to the semifinal round
of the competition. Frank Roberts, a vice president at First National Bank in DeKalb and chairman of the group that has been working on the project for more than a year, said he was grateful for all of the committee
members who donated their time to the effort. About 20 people from business, nonprofit, educational, governmental, and media participated in the effort. Daily Chronicle Editor Eric Olson was among the members. “This is a tremendous day for the community,” Roberts said. “This is a big deal, and I think this validates and proves what people can do when they come together for a common cause.” The committee’s revitalization
plan is online at the ProudlyDeKalb website. It includes ambitious goals for growing downtown DeKalb, including creation of an arts corridor, a co-working space that would provide offices on an as-needed basis, a food hub, a virtual business incubator, a community Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math learning center, a branding and marketing campaign
What’s next? Three representatives of DeKalb’s America’s Best Communities committee will travel to Durham, North Carolina, in April to present their plan to contest judges. If their presentation is one of eight finalists, they will receive a $100,000 grant to put their revitalization plan into action.
See DeKALB, page A4
Rauner aide blasts university ‘cronyism’
NORTHERN ILLINOIS FARM SHOW KICKS OFF
Lawmakers seek to reimburse schools that fronted grants By JOHN O’CONNOR and IVAN MORENO The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Meteorologist Candice King of WTVO Rockford speaks Wednesday at the Northern Illinois Farm Show at the NIU Convocation Center about the opposing winds and pressures that created April 9’s EF3 tornado that hit Fairdale.
AGRICULTURAL CONFAB
Visitors from across Midwest converge at NIU Convocation Center By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN
bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The tornado that destroyed Fairdale on April 9 was truly a “perfect storm,” and one of the most-documented weather phenomena the National Weather Service has seen, said Candice King, chief meteorologist with WTVO-TV in Rockford. The tornadoes that touched down in the region last year were the subject of a presentation at the Northern Illinois Farm Show, which opened Wednesday at Northern Illinois University’s Convocation Center, 1525 W. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb. The show will continue today. The Fairdale tornado was one of 11 that touched down in Illinois that day. At its strongest, the twister was an EF4, which means winds reached speeds from 166 to 200 mph.
It was an EF3 storm when it hit Fairdale, with winds between 136 and 165 mph, and it was more than half-a-mile wide at its base, she said. The disaster left two dead, many injured and a rural community was nearly leveled in its wake. It’s rare to see such extreme weather, but April 9 was a day when all the factors clicked to make it happen, King said. “These thunderstorms, as they started to develop, kind of crossed over the boundary of the warm front,” King said. “Because there Farmers Jim Gletty (from left) and Mike Gletty of Waterman and Louis Vaesis spin already going on in the at- sen of Sublette watch a tester drone fly from the TopGan Drone Aerial Services mosphere, … that’s what you need booth Wednesday at the Northern Illinois Farm Show. Vaessen bought a drone. to get a wall cloud and eventually a tornado. ... It just had a lot of wind 1525 W. Lincoln Highway, DeKalb shear and a lot of moisture to work n INFORMATION: www.ideaggroup. with.” The annual farm show brings n WHAT: Northern Illinois Farm Show com/illinois visitors from around the Midwest n COST: Free admission, $5 for n WHEN: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today
If you go
See FARM SHOW, page A3
n WHERE: NIU Convocation Center,
parking
SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Bruce Rauner took a shot at “waste” and “cronyism” in public universities Wednesday, telling lawmakers through a surrogate that schools should be more accountable for their spending before the state finds money for tuition grants that Democrats are pushing. A memo from Richard Goldberg, the Republican gov- Bruce ernor’s deputy chief Rauner of staff, was distributed to legislators just before Senate Democrats made a plea for putting up money for a popular college subsidy. The lawmakers are seeking $182 million to pay back universities that fronted Monetary Award Program grants for students last fall, never getting state reimbursement. The missive stole attention from the legislative call to reimburse universities. The MAP provides income-based tuition grants that have gone unfunded because Rauner and legislative Democrats are tussling over how to craft a state budget that should have taken effect July 1. Rauner wants broad changes in Illinois to ease the cost of doing business and curb union power before a fiscal deal. Democrats who control the General Assembly said those issues are unrelated to the budget and the state must deal immediately with a deficit. The memo opens with the contention that university tuition rates have jumped 200 percent in the past 14 years, producing $1.5 billion in “new revenue” over which the General Assembly has no control. It made no mention of the continuous slashing of state support for higher education during that time. It took aim at steep increases in administrative staff, outsize executive compensation, “golden parachutes” for administrators and money spent for lobbying – with a slap at lobbyist Loretta Durbin, wife of Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. Goldberg encouraged legislators
See FUNDS, page A4
SPORTS
Reel deal
Retired NIU professor catches 500-pound freshwater fish / B1
LOCAL NEWS
SPORTS
WHERE IT’S AT
Seniors giving DeKalb boys basketball edge during hot start / B1
Advice ................................ C3 Classified....................... C5-6 Comics ............................... C4 Local News.................... A3-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...................A2
Community event Key pieces DeKalb Public Library set for grand opening of new addition Monday / A3
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A5 Puzzles ............................... C3 Sports..............................B1-4 State ...................................A4 Weather .............................A6