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Oc to ber 7, 2015 • $1 .0 0
DAILY CHRONICLE FALL SOUPS
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Offsetting state shortfall debated County Board being asked to help with agencies’ financial woes By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Local agencies are struggling as the state budget impasse continues and some are seeking county assistance in efforts to keep their doors open. Fox Valley Older Adult Services Director Cindy Worsley has requested financial assis-
tance of $80,000 a month from DeKalb County, which would be in addition to the nearly $50,000 support it already has received from senior service tax levy funds, board member Misty Haji-Sheikh, D-District Bob Robert 7, said. Brown Pritchard Lack of state funding has led the agency to announce ening payroll, as well. The shutdowns of its Aurora and county’s Health and Human DeKalb facilities and is threat- Services Committee will con-
tinue to discuss the agency’s request at its next meeting. County Board members differ on the sustainability of awarding funding. “If we can do something like that on a temporary basis to help out, I think that’s our duty,” County Board Vice-Chairman Tracy Jones, R-District 1, said. “As long as the money is paid back, I don’t
have an issue. If it got to the point where it is eating into our budget, then that is a different game.” The county’s proposed budget for fiscal 2016 is $90 million. A county goal is to not take more than $400,000 out of reserves and to have a balanced budget by 2017, Jones said. “Our budget is a tight budget, but we do have reserves
we’re working on,” Jones said. “It’s normal to use those when we need to but we have used a little more than most are comfortable with.” County Board member Bob Brown, D-District 6, said while he was open to distributing already allocated funds earlier than expected, he doesn’t
See COUNTY, page A5
Chicago gun laws not as strict as they once were
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY VETERANS ASSOCIATION
By DON BABWIN The Associated Press
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Junior Cameron Kasmar (from left), a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps., sophomore Matthew Galloway, a veteran of the U.S. Navy and junior Gail Renner, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, tour the living space Sept. 24 during an open house for the new off-campus veterans housing. The housing is available through the student-run Northern Illinois University Veterans Association.
Comrades-in-arms quarters NIU organization sets up student housing for veterans By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com
DeKALB – Former military policeman and Northern Illinois University sophomore Matthew Galloway said he and his comrades needed to have a living space where using military time wasn’t strange, soldiers’ discipline and lifestyle was understood and practiced and where they could lounge around and openly swap stories about deployments. Galloway leads the NIU Veterans Association, a student organization that recently announced it has established what it calls the university’s first veterans house. Students began moving into the two-story, Gail Renner signs a lease with property manager Jim Mitchell on Sept. 24 during multiunit brick apartment building an open house for the new off-campus veterans housing. on Greek Row last month. “There’s ... a lot of veterans in and are brand new to college life,” transition.” The NIUVA housing is an transition – which means guys that Galloway said. “So it’s very importjust recently got out of the military ant to be with other veterans in that off-campus haven for the veter-
ans, who Galloway said likely will thrive better in an environment that’s a bit different from the average college dorm or campus apartment. “They’re older and don’t feel comfortable associating with the 18-, 19-year-old college crowd,” said Galloway, a 25-year-old sociology and criminology major. As many as 20 people could live in the building, located at 824 Greenbriar Road in DeKalb, which was renovated after previously being a fraternity house. It has 15 dorm-style units and shared kitchen and entertainment area in the basement. The single rooms offer space for a bed and closet, the three double units allow for roommates and there’s also a two-bedroom unit. Galloway said that was designed as captain’s quarters.
See VETERANS, page A5
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G-K volleyball rolled over Marengo for 25-15, 25-14 sweep / B1
Upstart Cubs face steady Pirates in NL wild card / B1
DeKalb Park District to offer new art program / A3
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CHICAGO – The mass shooting at an Oregon community college last week thrust the debate over the nation’s gun laws to the center of the presidential race. At least some of the Republicans who are running have pointed to Chicago as proof that gun control does not work. The city has a reputation for having some of the country’s strictest gun laws but has experienced an increase in homicides and shootings this year, which Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump, Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina said proves their point. “You look at Chicago, it’s got the toughest gun laws in the United States. You look at other places where they have gun laws that are very tough, they do – generally speaking – worse than anybody else,” the billionaire businessman Trump said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Christie, who is New Jersey’s governor, echoed the sentiment Sunday, telling ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos homicides are up in cities like Chicago and New York, which he said have “some of the most aggressive gun laws.” But Chicago’s gun laws aren’t as tough as their reputation suggests. They once were, but courts have overturned or gutted many of them in recent years, forcing a city that once banned handguns and gun shops to allow both.
CHICAGO’S VANISHING GUN RESTRICTIONS
Former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was determined to keep handguns out of residents’ hands and he fought every legal challenge to Chicago’s gun restrictions during his 22 years in office. But the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a big blow to Chicago’s gun laws in 2010 when it struck down the city’s handgun ban. Chicago quickly enacted a gun ordinance proponents said included some of the nation’s toughest regulations, but the city was forced to scrap some of the provisions that angered most gun rights advocates. Then, after a federal appeals court struck down Illinois’ last-in-the-nation concealed carry ban in 2012, gun rights advocates took aim at Chicago’s decades-old
See GUN LAWS, page A5
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