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DAILY CHRONICLE
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Officials OK tougher rules for Internet providers
Shift in testing
By ANNE FLAHERTY The Associated Press
Photos by Mary Beth Nolan for Shaw Media
Andrew Yohanan, 17, of DeKalb High School and Matthew Whisenhunt, 16, of Sycamore take a timed quiz during an ACT prep class Sunday at Graham Hall on the Northern Illinois University campus.
Emphasis on ACT changing with arrival of PARCC By KATIE DAHLSTROM
Average ACT scores for 2014 graduates
kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Brett Bemis hopes to improve his ACT score from 27 to 30. It’s the best way the Sycamore High School junior sees to get into a good college. That’s why he plans to do some studying between now and when he sits down to take the test – for the second time – Tuesday. “I feel the ACT weighs a lot into college admissions because everyone is taking the ACT,” Bemis said. “While everyone across the nation doesn’t have the same classes. So it’s hard to base the decisions off of that.” While all high school juniors across Illinois are bracing for the ACT, school officials and legislators don’t think the same scenario will play out next year. The ACT might become a test that only college-bound students take as the state of Illinois switches to a new mandatory standardized test that aligns more with the Common Core and less with the demands from colleges. Juniors in Sycamore School District 427, Genoa-Kingston School District 424 and DeKalb School District 428 will take the
Genoa-Kingston 424............. 19 Indian Creek 425 ................ 21.4 Hiawatha 426 ........................ 19 Sycamore 427..................... 21.8 DeKalb 428..........................20.7 Hinckley-Big Rock 429 ...... 21.3 Sandwich 430.................... 20.2 Somonauk 432....................19.4 Illinois.................................. 20.4
WASHINGTON – Internet activists declared victory over the nation’s big cable companies Thursday, after the Federal Communications Commission voted to impose the toughest rules yet on broadband service to prevent companies such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T from creating paid fast lanes and slowing or blocking web traffic. The 3-2 vote ushered in a new era of government oversight for an industry that has seen relatively little. It represents the biggest regulatory shake-up to telecommunications providers in almost two decades. The new rules require that any company providing a broadband connection to homes or phones must act in the “public interest” and refrain from using “unjust or unreasonable” business practices. The goal is to prevent providers from striking deals with content providers such as Google, Netflix or Twitter, to move their data faster. “Today is a red-letter day for Internet freedom,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, whose remarks at Thursday’s meeting frequently prompted applause by Internet activists in the audience. President Barack Obama, who had come out in favor of net neutrality in the fall, portrayed the decision as a victory for democracy in the digital age. In an online letter, he thanked the millions who wrote to the FCC and spoke out on social media in support of the change. “Today’s FCC decision will protect innovation and create a level playing field for the next generation of entrepreneurs – and it wouldn’t have happened without Americans like you,” he wrote. Verizon saw it differently, using the Twitter hashtag #ThrowbackThursday to draw attention to the FCC’s reliance on 1934 legislation to regulate the Internet. Likewise, AT&T suggested the FCC had damaged its reputation as an independent federal regulator by embracing such a liberal policy. “Does anyone really think Washington needs yet another partisan fight? Particularly a fight around the Internet – one of the greatest engines of economic growth, investment and innovation in history?” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs.
Source: Illinois State Report Card
See NET NEUTRALITY, page A8
Instructor Missy Craig of Elgin shares strategies during an ACT prep class now – that the ACT appears in Sunday at NIU’s Graham Hall. the state budget, marking a shift ACT on Tuesday. More than 158,000 11th-grade students took the test last year, according to ACT. The test, a four-and-a-half hour measure of students’ skills in English, math, science, reading and writing, has been given to Illinois students free of charge for more than a decade. Some, such as Bemis, will have already taken the test by the time Tuesday comes. Bemis
took it his sophomore year to get a base score from which to build. He’s not sure what college he wants to attend, but he thinks getting a 30 out of a possible 36 will probably give him a good chance of getting in. Meanwhile, juniors also will take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers exam. This is the first year for the PARCC exam and the last year – at least for
in attitudes toward the ACT. “The kids will still have the opportunity to take it,” said Kristine Webster, the curriculum director for District 427. “It isn’t that the ACT would go away, but it would be offered on a Saturday.” A Saturday test means not every student would take it, and those who do would have to pay for the test themselves,
See ACT, page A8
AP photo
Federal Communication Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler (center) joins hands with FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn (left) and Jessica Rosenworcel before the start of their open hearing Thursday in Washington, D.C.
Fresh layer of snow to fall this Sunday in DeKalb County By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com DeKALB COUNTY – The 2∏ inches of snow that blanketed roads Wednesday night into Thursday morning in DeKalb County was enough to cause several vehicle slide-offs and other incidents. It was a precursor to another snowfall expected this weekend, likely to be of similar
intensity, said Gilbert Sebenste, meteorologist at Northern Illinois University. “We’ll get another shot of snow on Sunday, that looks like a 1- to 3-inch kind of event,” Sebenste said. “This is not going to be a major event. We’re not going to get a lot of winds like [overnight Wednesday]. This will be on the order of what we saw last night.” Twenty cars in ditches, eight
property damage accidents and five accidents with injuries were reported as a result of the snowfall that began Wednesday morning, covering roads with a slippery, powdery coat, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Gary Dumdie said. “That’s pretty quiet,” he said. Snow-plow trucks began cleaning up the roads in the early afternoon, and stopped
about 6 p.m. Wednesday before coming back in force about 2 a.m. Thursday, to align efforts to clear the road for the morning commute since forecasts called for an overnight accumulation, countyengineer Nathan Schwartz said. “With the wind, there’s a little bit of a drifting problem,” he said. “Our guys are probably going to be out until [Thursday] afternoon plowing, but the sun
really helps.” “If 2 inches of snow is on the road, for the first person driving on it it’s not going to be that slick,” Schwartz said. “But if you get a couple of cars packing down the ice, it’s going to be very slick. “We don’t send our trucks out to wait for the snowfall. We try to be as responsible as we can with the taxpayers’ dollars.”
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Hinckley-Big Rock makes finals in school spirit contest / B10
DeKalb co-op swimming improves on last year with 12th place showing / B1
Stepp, NIU look to break scoring record at next gym meet / B1
Advice ................................ B4 Classified....................... B6-9 Comics ............................... B5 Local News.................... A3-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World..........A2, 6, 8
Forecast Between 1 and 3 inches of snow is expected to hit the area early Sunday afternoon, similar to Wednesday’s snowfall but without the winds, keeping roads fairly safe to travel. For advice on what to do if you slide into a ditch, visit shawurl.com/1pmq.
Source: Northern Illinois University Meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A9 Puzzles ............................... B4 Sports..............................B1-3 State .............................. A4, 6 Weather ........................... A10