FRIDAY
Ja nu ar y 9, 2015 • $ 1. 0 0
STAR SIGNING Former NIU record holder Lynch to sign with Edmonton Eskimos / B1
CO LD HIGH
LOW
2 -10
Complete forecast on page A8
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
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Coping with cold Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Kyle Mattis, a tow truck driver for Lovett’s Towing in DeKalb, hooks up a Honda Accord that has front-end damage from an accident Thursday on Fourth Street in DeKalb. Mattis had six tows Wednesday from cars not starting or from accidents.
Car businesses rev up amid bad weather; other services affected Weather outlook
By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com For Bockman’s Auto Care, winter represents a harsh dichotomy: Temperatures plummet, business skyrockets. Bockman’s, at 2158 Oakland Drive in Sycamore, received six cars before noon Thursday, when day-to-day operations usually see one towed vehicle every other day, owner John Bockman said. The frigid temperatures and dangerous wind chills persisted in DeKalb County on Thursday, bringing heavy winds and blowing snow to the area, which caused inconveniences and more work for some area businesses, particularly in the auto field. Schools around DeKalb County were closed Thursday. DeKalb-based District 428 SuMalta Elementary School bus No. 7 on Thursday has kids’ handprints frozen on its windows from Tuesday while the bus perintendent Doug Moeller said is parked in the First Student bus lot in DeKalb. School had been canceled for two days, and First Student mechanics had administrators in his district and some of the surrounding districts been doing maintenance on the buses in addition to starting them every five hours.
Massive manhunt continues for 2 suspects in Paris attack By ELAINE GANLEY and JAMEY KEATEN The Associated Press PARIS – Police SWAT teams backed by helicopters tracked two heavily armed brothers with al-Qaida sympathies suspected in the newsroom massacre of a satirical French weekly that spoofed Islam, homing in Thursday on a region north of Paris as the nation mourned the dozen slain. Authorities fear a second strike by the suspects, who U.S. counterterrorism offi-
cials said both were on the U.S. no-fly list, and distributed their portraits with the notice “armed and dangerous.” More than 88,000 security forces were deployed on the streets of France. They also extended France’s maximum terror alert from Paris to the northern Picardie region, focusing on several towns that might be possible safe havens for the two – Cherif Kouachi, 32, and Said Kouachi, 34. A senior U.S. official said
See HUNT, page A6
Thursday’s arctic cold front will continue to bring single-digit and negative temperatures today, leading up to a warm front this weekend, with temperature forecast in the lower-to-mid-20s. planned to evaluate conditions Friday morning to determine whether there would be class. Today will continue to be cold, but relief is in sight, according to forecasters. Most of the cars were towed to Bockman’s shop Thursday because the inclement weather caused problems with starting cars, Bockman said. He said business is “very similar” to last year’s winter – the fourth-coldest on record for Illinois – even if the weather hasn’t been quite as severe. “Cars are getting towed in quite
See WINTER, page A6
DeKalb JCPenney location to close By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – JCPenney is severing ties with DeKalb after 87 years in the city. Company officials announced this week the DeKalb store, 2540 Sycamore Road, will be one of 40 closing across the country on or around April 4. JCPenney has been in DeKalb since 1928, first in downtown DeKalb and later in the Northland Plaza. City of DeKalb Community Development Director Ellen Divita said a member of the company’s public affairs team
called the city Wednesday to inform officials of the closure. “It’s another national retailer closing stores, and we are caught in it,” Divita said. “They’re re-sizing. This always happens the first quarter of the year.” According to company spokesperson Sarah Holland, the company closed 34 stores in 2014. The 40 stores that will close this year represent close to 4 percent of JCPenney’s Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com 1,060 stores nationwide. Holland said about 50 peo- Courtnee Cockrum of Waterman leaves JCPenney in DeKalb Thursday ple work at the 55,000-square- after shopping with Izaak Smith (left), 12, and Genica Cockrum (right),
See CLOSURE, page A6
7. Cockrum noted the closest JCPenney to her in Waterman after DeKalb closes is in Montgomery, south of Aurora.
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Low-income mothers to receive donated blankets / B8
Five candidates now seeking four open seats on D-428 board / A3
Kane County Animal Control finds dead horse / A3
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