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December 20-21, 2014 • $1.50
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NIU football prepares for bowl game as the team arrives in South Florida / B1 daily-chronicle.com
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Kish teachers reject contract offer Faculty members plan to work on a counter proposal during the college’s winter break By ERIC R. OLSON eolson@shawmedia.com MALTA – Union faculty members at Kishwaukee College voted unanimously Friday to reject the “last, best offer” from the college administration and said they plan to craft a counteroffer over the winter break. The faculty at the college have worked without a contract since their last deal expired in August. Members are becoming restless at the lack of progress in negotiations, Matt Read, president of the Kish-
waukee College Education Association, said. “I would say that we’re frustrated and that we’re still hopeful,” Read said. “There’s still time before taking any drastic measures on our behalf, and we’re hoping that the college will return to the negotiating table once we have some time to come up with our final proposal.” The offer union members rejected was proposed Tuesday and included an overall 4.1 percent pay increase for faculty members each year over four years, college administration officials have said.
However, negotiators with the teachers’ union said the increase is negated by benefit givebacks, including requiring some faculty to contribute to health insurance premiums for the first time, and reductions in the number of years that the district pays retirees’ health insurance premiums from 10 year to between five and seven years. “It’s not going to be a raise for the faculty,” said Kenzo Shibata, media coordinator for the Illinois Federation of Teachers. “For many of the members it might actually be a dip in their total compensation.”
Kishwaukee College President Tom Choice could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon. The college released a written statement Friday evening that did not address the faculty’s rejection of their contract offer. It did, however, dispute an assertion by union members that a written contract offer from the administration in August was substantially different than what had been agreed upon in negotiations. “This is completely untrue,” Rob Galick, the college’s chief negotiator, said in a written statement. “Administration prepared a con-
EXCITEMENT AND APPREHENSION
tract which accurately reflected all of the terms of the tentative agreement reached by both parties on Aug. 11. The tentative agreement ... was in writing, was reviewed by the KCEA negotiation team before both sides reached final agreement, and was mutually agreed upon by both negotiation teams with the mediator present.” The union also contends that faculty members at the college earn between $5,000 and $15,000 less than their peers at comparable colleges.
See KISHWAUKEE, page A9
Obama says changes will slowly come to Cuba By JULIE PACE The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
ABOVE: Ninth-grader Margaret Makovey reads “Romeo and Juliet” aloud Wednesday during teacher Byrle Lauriat’s world literature class at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Sycamore. Margaret’s grandparents, David and Galina Couch, helped bring her to the United States from Yuznhe, Ukraine, on a student visa sponsored by Cornerstone in August. BELOW: Makovey dribbles two basketballs behind her back during a drill Wednesday during practice at school.
Cornerstone Christian Academy 9th-grader leaves Ukraine for Sycamore By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
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YCAMORE – Putting 5,220 miles between herself and her family tested 14-year-old Margaret Makovey’s strength earlier this year. It wasn’t easy to say goodbye to her mom, dad and brother. But without leaving the Ukraine, Margaret feared her future would be curtailed by the lack of opportunities in her home country. So, with her grandmother Galina Couch by her side, Margaret hopped a plane to the United States. They eventually made their way to Sycamore where Galina, 61, and her husband David Couch, 67, have lived for 12 years. “It was scary and exciting,” Margaret said. “But there’s more to look forward to.” Since leaving from her home town of Yuznhe, Ukraine, in August, Margaret traded dances at the Palace of Culture in nearby Odessa for playing basketball in the gym at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Sycamore, where she’s a freshman. She swapped a sofa bed in her family’s one bedroom apartment for her own room in her grandparents’ home. And she went from taking 17 classes to seven. Margaret isn’t the typical for-
eign-exchange student. She’s one of about 40,000 students the Student and Exchange Visitor Program reports are attending high school in the United States using an F or M class visa. As opposed students
using other kinds of visas, Margaret won’t be required to return to her home country before attempting to become a U.S. citizen. Receiving a student visa for Margaret was easier than the
Couch’s thought. That’s not to say it was easy; it required two overnight train rides to the capital city of Kiev, 300 miles away from Yuznhe.
See UKRAINE, page A9
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Editor’s Note
Gadgets are available to help keep off extra holiday weight / C1
“Wreaths Across America” program recognized Friday in DeKalb / A3
Olson is fed up with 7 holiday songs and 1 group, are you? / A2
Advice ................................ C6 Classified........................D1-4 Comics ............................... C7 Local News.................... A3-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...........A2, 6-7
WASHINGTON – Tempering his historic Cuba policy shift with a dose of realism, President Barack Obama said Friday that change may not come quickly to the communist island. He suggested Congress will keep the U.S. economic embargo in place until lawmakers can gauge the pace of progress in the “hermetically sealed society.” Still, Obama’s surprise announcement this week that the U.S. was ending its Cold War diplomatic freeze with Cuba appeared to have contributed to energizing the president as he closes a difficult sixth year in office. “My presidency is entering the fourth quarter,” Obama said at a yearend White House news conference shortly before leaving for a twoweek Hawaiian vacation. “Interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter.” On domestic mat- Barack t e r s , O b a m a w a s Obama measured about the prospect of forging compromises with the new Republican majority on Capitol Hill, and he warned the GOP that he would block efforts to dismantle his health Raul care law or further Castro water down banking regulations. He made no commitment to sign the first bill incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to take up: approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Obama said the project’s value has been exaggerated. The president spoke shortly after the FBI formally accused North Korea of hacking Sony Pictures Entertainment. Obama promised to respond to the cyberattack “in a place and manner and time that we choose.” But he also criticized Sony for shelving the satirical film about a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader that sparked the attack, saying the entertainment company “made a mistake.” Despite Obama’s upbeat mood as 2014 comes to a close, his sixth year in office has been one of fits and starts. His agenda was frequently overshadowed by a broad array of crises, including the rise of Middle East militants, Russia’s actions in Ukraine, a surge of unaccompanied minors to the U.S.-Mexico border from the south and an Ebola outbreak in West Africa that brought fears to this country.
See OBAMA, page A9
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A8 Puzzles ............................... C6 Sports..............................B1-4 State ...................................A4 Weather ........................... A10