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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
T y, December 24, 2013 Tuesday,
BOYS BASKETBALL • SPORTS, B1
LOCAL • MARKETPLACE, A6
Indian Creek, Hinckley-Big Rock lose at Plano tourney
Indian Creek’s Garrett Post
Genoa Main Street director steps down
Fundraiser behind 2012 pace Donations slow for local Salvation Army Red Kettle Drive By CHRIS BURROWS news@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – Plunging temperatures motivated Charles Gaspar to make the drive from rural Lee County for an eight-hour shift Monday of bell ringing for The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign. He was bundled in a heavy coat and thick scarf at the DeKalb Walgreens on Lincoln Highway.
“I know that when the weather gets rough, more people are in need – they’re stretched,” Gaspar said. “So all the more to see that The Salvation Army and other services are able to give when times are most dire.” Today is the final day of bell ringing for the Red Kettle campaign. Volunteers have been staffing the red kettles since November, but local Salvation Army officials worry that a shortened holiday season and bad
weather have knocked the annual fundraiser off pace, while local need soars. “We’re anticipating that we might raise about $10,000 or so less [than last year], and the weather being this cold hasn’t helped,” DeKalb service officer Capt. Michael Cho said. “The fact that we had less Red Kettle days [contributed], because Thanksgiving happened later in the year, and some locations were only able to open af-
ter Thanksgiving.” Last year the effort raised about $80,000, all of which stays with the local post to fund its food pantry and emergency assistance programs. “With the money that we raise during the Christmas season, 100 percent of it stays in DeKalb County, and we use for it a lot of programs,” Cho said.
See FUNDRAISER, page A3
Heating costs expected to rise
Where to donate Bell ringing continues today at: • Schnucks in DeKalb • Inboden’s Meat Market in DeKalb • JCPenney in DeKalb • Hy-Vee in DeKalb • Walmart in DeKalb • Jewel-Osco in DeKalb • Walgreens in DeKalb and Sycamore • Piggly Wiggly in Genoa
Insurance shoppers get 1-day extension By CARLA K. JOHNSON The Associated Press
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Johnnie Smith of Dahlquist Inc. Heating and Cooling replaces a filter while servicing a furnace Monday at home in Sycamore.
Officials offer ways customers can save on energy this winter By FELIX SARVER
Ways to save energy this winter
fsarver@shawmedia.com When it comes to cutting down on winter heating costs, Jim Chilsen recommends not making your home work harder than necessary to make you comfortable. Chilsen, Citizens Utility Board spokesman, said there are many little things people can do that can make a big difference on their gas bill. The board, a nonprofit organization that represents utility customers’ interests, knows several ways customers can save on energy. “Nobody would say their gas bills are low,” he said. “While it’s good news that gas prices have been relatively stable in the last few years, people are still struggling to pay their energy costs. Practicing energy efficiency at home is still a necessity.” In fact, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is predicting the cost of heating a home in the Midwest with natural gas will increase almost 12 percent this winter, while remaining the most cost-effective option.
Smith arrives at a residence to perform preventative maintenance on a furnace.
Voice your opinion How do you expect your heating costs this winter to compare with last winter’s? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
• Buy a programmable thermostat. • Close doors to unused rooms and blinds to windows at night. • Reduce cold air drafts in doors, windows, pipes and fans. • Make sure the home is well-insulated, especially the attic. • Set water heater to 120 degrees and cover it with an insulating blanket. • Clear radiators, registers, air returns and baseboards of dust and furniture. • Use Compact Fluorescent Light or LED bulbs in your home. • Circulate the heat with a ceiling fan. Run the fan clockwise to pull warm air down. • Visit www.CubEnergySaver.com to develop personal money-saving plan.
Source: Citizens Utility Board The average household in the Midwest will spend $713 heating a home with natural gas from October through March, compared with $974 for homes heated with electricity
and $1,584 for those heated with propane, according to the administration’s December forecast. Last year, the average Midwest household spent $638 heating a
home with natural gas, $955 heating a home with electricity, and $1,333 heating a home with propane.
CHICAGO – Anticipating heavy traffic on the government’s health care website, the Obama administration extended Monday’s deadline for signing up for insurance by a day, giving Americans in 36 states more time to select a plan. It was the latest in a series of pushed-back deadlines and delays that have marked the rollout of the health care law. But federal officials urged buyers not to procrastinate. “You should not wait until tomorrow. If you are aiming to get coverage Jan. 1, you should try to sign up today,” said Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the federal agency in charge of the overhaul. Bataille said the grace period – which runs through today – was being offered to accommodate people from different time zones and to allow for any technical problems that might result from a last-minute rush of applicants. The HealthCare.gov site had a disastrous, glitch-prone debut in October but has gone through extensive improvements to make it more reliable and increase its capacity, and the administration said the system was running well Monday. By the afternoon, the site had received a record 850,000 visits, five times the number logged by the same time last Monday, the administration said. Bataille said the system was handling the volume with error rates of less than 1 in 200 and response times of less than one second. The Obama administration is hoping for a surge of year-end enrollments to show that the technical problems were merely a temporary setback. That would also go a long way toward easing concerns that insurance companies won’t be able to sign up enough young, healthy people to keep prices low for everyone. But the grace period may have been a tacit acknowledgement that the website remains vulnerable to heavy traffic. What’s more, the delay offered critics of “Obamacare” another opportunity to argue that the law still isn’t working and that President Barack Obama keeps changing the rules.
See INSURANCE, page A5
See HEATING, page A5
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