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DAILY CHRONICLE BIG CHANCE
Tommy Fiedler to start at quarterback for NIU in MAC championship / B1 HIGH
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KishHealth joins Northwestern Medicine By BRETT ROWLAND browland@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Northwestern Memorial HealthCare announced Tuesday that it had finalized its acquisition of KishHealth System, making it the newest member of Northwestern Medicine. The deal to expand the Chicago-based health system to
Agreement adds local facilities to Chicago-based health system include six hospitals and 90 facilities across eight Illinois counties had no acquisition price, according to documents filed with the state. Northwestern Memorial HealthCare is the corporate parent for the Northwestern Medicine health
system. Funds belonging to KishHealth at the time of the acquisition will be designated for local use. Just how much money will go into the fund remains to be calculated, officials said. “We are excited to welcome
KishHealth to Northwestern Medicine,” Northwestern Memorial HealthCare President and CEO Dean M. Harrison said in a statement. “The addition of KishHealth to our growing integrated academic health system will allow patients in
in DeKalb County. It has two hospitals – 98-bed Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb and 25-bed Valley West Hospital in SandDeKalb County and northern wich – and more than a dozen Illinois even greater access area clinics and health facilito high-quality care, closer to ties. This fall, KishHealth also where they live and work.” acquired nonprofit behavioral The DeKalb-based health health provider Ben Gordon system, which was valued Center. at more than $329 million, is the largest private employer See MERGER, page A5
Governor, legislators meet about state budget
FALLOUT FROM STATE BUDGET DISPUTE
By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Rainn Darring II, president of the Northern Illinois University campus activities board, works Nov. 24 in his office on campus between classes. Darring said that if NIU did not front the money for the MAP grant he was receiving from the state, he most likely wouldn’t be able to graduate in May. He is 12 credits short of graduating.
Frozen funding MAP grant recipients dealing with uncertainty, delays Note to readers: This is the second in an occasional series on how the ongoing state budget standoff is affecting local social service agencies and educational institutions, and the people they serve.
By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Northern Illinois University and Kishwaukee College students said the state suspending funding for the Monetary Award Program has been unnerving, especially as they try to plan for their future. Rainn Darring II, a 21-year-old senior studying communications at NIU, said anxiety set in when it dawned on him that he might not receive the grant he was awarded – at least not right away. Darring is scheduled to graduate in May, but he was worried that the funds being delayed would push that big day back for him. “My biggest worry was that I wasn’t going to have the necessary funding to register for my spring classes, the final courses heading into my graduation,” said Darring, who is also president of the Campus Activities Board. “People in Spring-
Shaw Media file photo
Protesters, including supporters of Kishwaukee Community College, line up Oct. 291on the MLK Commons at Northern Illinois University during a rally against the state budget impasse outside the Holmes Student Center when Gov. Bruce Rauner visited campus to speak at the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp.’s annual dinner. field don’t realize they’re touching so many lives by stopping this funding.” He’s already taken out several student loans since his freshman year. The Illinois Student Assistance Commission, which administers the program, said that at least 130,000 students statewide are anticipating a
MAP grant. ISAC announced in May that because the state doesn’t have an approved budget, it would not be disbursing students’ MAP money to schools. The need-based grants are awarded to residents who attend college in the state. Six months into the fiscal year, Republicans and Democrats have failed to reach a deal on a state spending
plan, a situation that has left many institutions that rely on state funding – and those they serve – in crisis mode. Gov. Bruce Rauner and the state’s four legislative leaders met Tuesday to talk about the situation, although most agree that there will be no action before mid-January. Cash flow to social services and for some education programs, including the MAP grants, has halted in the wake of the stalemate. Darring and thousands of other students were relieved when NIU announced that it would credit students’ accounts with the MAP money the state had awarded them. “The MAP grant was such a big part of helping me pay my balance in the past few years I’ve been here,” Darring said. Colleges, universities losing millions NIU has 4,897 students who were awarded MAP grants for the fall semester for a total of $9.5 million in aid, said Rebecca Babel, head of financial aid at the university. Award amounts vary by student, but the maximum grant is $4,720 per student each academic year, or $2,360 a semester.
See FUNDING, page A5
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Homemade batches of hot sauce heat up holiday gifts / B10
D-428 considers military club for high school / A3
Five Hondas stolen off Bemis lot Friday; one recovered / A4
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SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders held a rare sitdown meeting Tuesday on the elusive Illinois budget, a summit where perhaps the biggest breakthrough was an agreement to talk again – even as soon as next week. The Republican executive hosted the four leaders of the Democratic-led General Assembly during the meeting, which was originally suggested by good-government groups. It was partially televised to give the public a glimpse of the first time since May the top leaders had met in person to discuss the budget, which should have taken effect July 1. Asked when he emerged from the private session what he considered progress, Democratic Senate President John Cullerton said, “The fact that there was a meeting.” The first-year governor and lawmakers stuck mostly to the script they’ve followed throughout the impasse, now in its sixth month. Rauner wants a far-reaching overhaul to the business climate to spur economic growth and curb union power before talking dollars and cents. Pro-labor Democrats said the changes he wants would damage the middle class. Even without a fiscal framework, Illinois is spending money at a rate that far outstrips expected revenue, building a deficit that will be added to billions of dollars of debt that has been accumulating for decades. There’s too little revenue to cover ongoing expenses; too much borrowing, which continues; a ballooning hole in state pension programs and a mountain of unpaid bills.
See BUDGET, page A5
AP photo
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is seen on a television monitor speaking to lawmakers Tuesday in the governor’s office at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield.
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