MONDAY
Fe bru ar y 2, 2 015 • $1 .0 0
FOOTBALL CLASSIC Arkush: ‘Quite possibly the best Super Bowl in history’ / B1 HIGH
LOW
12 6
Complete forecast on page A12
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
@dailychronicle
Blizzard cancels classes, programs By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – DeKalb County plows were expected to start clearing drifting roads about 3 a.m. today, several hours after Northern Illinois University, several school districts and Voluntary Action Center of DeKalb County said they would be closed for the day. NIU canceled all classes for today about 6 p.m. Sunday, instructing only personnel associated with essential operations to report for work. Several school districts, including DeKalb, Sycamore,
Inside Read how the wintry weather has affected the region and other parts of the nation on A4. Genoa-Kingston and Hiawatha, canceled today’s classes on Sunday, as did Kishwaukee College. Montessori Children’s House of Sycamore and DeKalb also is closed. In addition, Voluntary Action Center of DeKalb County closed all its services today, including Meals on Wheels and the Senior Luncheon pro-
grams. The Center for Family Health in Malta is closed as well, and the blood pressure clinic planned at Kishwaukee College in DeKalb has been canceled. The National Weather Service has predicted the winds that gusted up to 45 mph Sunday will subside to 10 to 15 mph about 8 a.m. today, and the blizzard warning issued at 2 p.m. Sunday was set to expire at midnight. Drifting still could be an issue, though, National Weather Service meteorologist Ricky Castro said.
“It can’t be ruled out, especially in the wide open areas, that there won’t be some more blowing snow,” he said. The National Weather Service predicted 9 to 14 inches of snow would fall across the area from Saturday night to this morning. DeKalb saw 13 inches by 4:35 p.m. Sunday, and Somonauk saw 12.5 inches by 1:15 p.m. Sunday. Meanwhile, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office responded to 25 cars in ditches and six cars stuck on the road from the snowstorm’s start through 3 p.m. Sunday, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy
Gary Dumdie said. In the same time period, sheriff’s deputies responded to eight crashes with property damage only and three crashes with injuries. About 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Diane Chino, 19, of the 200 block of Stearn Drive in Genoa, lost control of her vehicle in the snow on Peace Road, south of Freed Road in Sycamore, and struck the front of an empty tow truck before colliding with an empty squad car, according to a sheriff’s office news release. Chino was ticketed with failure to reduce speed to avoid an
STEM Divas aims to inspire
accident. The sheriff’s deputy and tow truck driver had been responding to a crash that happened about 30 minutes earlier when a northbound vehicle struck a guardrail and landed in the western ditch. The driver, Tony Henderson, 31, of Cortland was taken to Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb, according to a sheriff’s office news release. By Sunday afternoon, the wind was pushing snow on county roads almost as quickly as plows were removing it,
See BLIZZARD, page A10
Rauner previews State of the State By SARA BURNETT, CARLA K. JOHNSON and NICK SWEDBERG The Associated Press
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Garren Nelson, 7, measures out the wood for her jewelry box on Saturday during a STEM Divas workshop at Swen Parson Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus. The workshop is designed to get more girls interested in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.
NIU outreach program promotes science knowledge for girls By AIMEE BARROWS news@daily-chronicle.com Pettee Guerrero knows there’s a need for more women in the science and engineering professions. So the STEM outreach associate at Northern Illinois University took her passion for the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields and created STEM Divas, a series of classes just for girls ages 7 to 11. “I was lucky enough to grow up in a family of engineers,” Guerrero said. “I have the knowledge, power and resources so I feel it’s my duty to share that with girls. I saw a need for more females in this field.” This Saturday, 11 girls armed with pink drills, pink tool belts and pink hard hats measured, drilled and painted their own jewelry boxes at NIU’s Swen Parson Hall. In previous classes, Guerrero said the girls have made lip gloss, used a 3-D printer to make their own jewelry and made LED bracelets.
Reagan Vanderbleek, 10, of DeKalb said she was having a “lot of fun” at Saturday’s class. “You can make your own stuff, and you get to try out different things and you get to use drills,” she said. This was Caitlin Cassello’s fourth STEM Divas class. The 10-year-old DeKalb resident said she loves creating new things. “I like that we get to do it ourselves, and make it from scratch. I want to make another jewelry box at home and give it to my friend,” she said. Guerrero began STEM Divas last fall as part of NIU’s “STEM Saturdays” program, which offers a variety of classes for kids and adults at both the DeKalb and Naperville campuses. “I’ve always wanted to create a program just for girls,” Guerrero said. “Girls are different from boys. Girls ask more questions, and are more detailed. They have different learning styles. During middle
CHICAGO – As he prepares to deliver his first State of the State address, Gov. Bruce Rauner has been traveling Illinois previewing what are expected to be his first legislative proposals, saying the state’s dire financial situation is cause for cutting Medicaid and public-employee salaries and making Illinois more hospitable to businesses. The speeches, given mostly to college audiences, have had the feel of university lectures – complete with PowerPoint slides and a slew of statistics. The Associated Press reviewed some of the facts the Winnetka Republican is using to make his case for change in Springfield. Some were spot on, while others lacked context or weren’t accompanied by other important information. No one disputes what Rauner says is his central claim: That Illinois is in deep financial trouble – facing a more than $9 billion deficit in the upcoming fiscal year by some estimations – and dramatic action is needed to fix it. Here’s a look at some of what Rauner has been saying as he prepares for Wednesday’s address:
MEDICAID
Cassie Krup, 6, stains the wood she will use to make a jewelry box during the STEM Divas workshop Saturday at Swen Parson Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus. See more photos online at Daily-Chronicle.com. school, girls often lose interest in sciShe hopes that getting girls interence. Our program is before they’re ested in science at a young age will in middle school to keep them interested in science.” See STEM Divas, page A10
Rauner said Medicaid spending is “booming” and “unsustainable.” He showed a slide comparing a recent three-year rise in Medicaid spending to relatively flat Illinois population growth. “Just raising taxes to try to fix that? No chance,” Rauner said. The slide leaves out important facts. First, Washington paid for most of that increase. To improve access for the poor, the nation’s new health law expanded Medicaid eligibility and increased rates for primary care doctors treating low-income patients. The federal government paid the entire cost of covering more than 536,000 Illinois adults who previously had no insurance and wound up as charity care cases when they got sick. Second, Illinois spends less per Medicaid enrollee than the national average and less per
See RAUNER, page A10
SPORTS
LOCAL
LOCAL
WHERE IT’S AT
Tough stretch
Face Time
Skewed stats
NIU men behind from beginning, lose at home to Toledo / B2
Josh Collinsworth turns camera on House Cafe for documentary / A2
DeKalb County needs survey produced invalid results / A3
Advice ................................ B5 Classified........................B7-8 Comics ............................... B6 Local News.................... A2-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World..... A2, 6-7, 10
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion..............................A11 Puzzles ............................... B5 Sports..............................B1-4 State ...................................A4 Weather ........................... A12