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Wednesday, February 5, 2014
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Tests: Man had used alcohol, pot No charges filed yet in death of 20-yearold Shabbona man By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com WATERMAN – Police are reviewing Devin G. Blakeley’s death after a toxicology report showed the 20-year-old had been drinking alcohol and using marijuana the night he died.
Blakeley, of Shabbona, was among 20 to 25 people at New Year’s Eve party in the 10000 block of Duffy Road, police said. Witnesses said he was intoxicated when he left the party about 2 a.m. Jan. 1. His friends called police after they found his body in a creek by the road about 2:45 p.m. Jan. 2, police said. Reports show Blakeley’s blood-alcohol content was 0.165 percent at the time of his death, DeKalb County Coroner Dennis Miller said. The toxicology report Miller received Tuesday also
showed Blakeley had consumed marijuana that night. DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott said police are not yet holding party hosts or anyone at Devin G. the party liable for Blakeley providing alcohol to Blakeley, who was underage. “Determining how he got the alcohol is the key question and that’s difficult to determine,” Scott said. “Because it was a private party it’s hard to determine if he got the al-
cohol before, at or after the party.” Scott said he did not know when or if prosecutors might press charges against anyone, but said the department would review the evidence and interviews collected in the case and determine if more interviews should be conducted. Miller said the cause of Blakeley’s death had yet to be determined, but it is considered accidental. He added the cause of death would be known later this week, and cited hypothermia as a likely cause. An autopsy showed no signs Blakeley had been injured.
HIGHER EDUCATION FINANCIAL AID
SEARCHING FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
Police said they have learned in their investigation that Blakeley left the party after arguing with another man over a woman. Blakeley was supposed to be waiting at the car of the friend who brought him, but wandered away, Scott said, adding the friend thought Blakeley got a ride with someone else. Blakeley graduated from Indian Creek High School in 2011. He enlisted in the Air Force and graduated from Air Force basic training in 2012 at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Health care law will mean fewer people on the job The ASSOCIATED PRESS
do not need to be repaid to Illinois residents who attend a number of Illinois colleges and demonstrate financial need. According to Illinois Student Assistance Commission Executive Director Eric Zamikow, Illinois students who filed their FAFSA in 2013 are receiving more than $1.4 billion in state and federal aid this school year. The need for financial aid has risen in tandem with college costs. According to a study from the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, the net price in 2012 for a year of public school education in Illinois was nearly $15,000, and for private schools about $22,000. Those costs represent 21 percent and 5 percent increases since 2008, respectively.
WASHINGTON – Several million American workers will cut back their hours on the job or leave the nation’s workforce entirely because of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, congressional analysts said Tuesday, adding fresh fuel to the political fight over “Obamacare.” The workforce changes would mean nationwide losses equal to 2.3 million full-time jobs by 2021, in large part because people would opt to keep their income low to stay eligible for federal health care subsidies or Medicaid, the Congressional Budget Office said. It had estimated previously that the law would lead to 800,000 fewer jobs by that year. Republican lawmakers seized on the report as major new evidence of what they consider the failures of Obama’s overhaul, the huge change in U.S. health coverage that they’re trying to overturn and planning to use as a main argument against Democrats in November’s midterm elections. It’s the latest indication that “the president’s health care law is destroying fulltime jobs,” said Republican Rep. John Kline of Minnesota, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Barack Obama Committee. “This fatally flawed health care scheme is wreaking havoc on working families nationwide,” he said. But the White House said the possible reduction would be because of voluntary steps by workers rather than businesses cutting jobs – people having the freedom to retire early or spend more time as stay-at-home parents because they no longer had to depend only on their employers for health insurance. The law means people “will be empowered to make choices about their own lives and livelihoods,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said the top reasons people would reduce work would be to qualify for subsidized coverage and an expanded Medicaid program but that lower wages – because of penalties on employers who don’t provide coverage and looming taxes on generous health care plans – would also be a factor. The agency also reduced its estimate of the number of uninsured people who will get coverage through the health care law.
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See HEALTH CARE, page A6
Erik Anderson for Shaw Media
College and Career Readiness Coordinator Amy Horn (left) and Financial Aid/Veterans Affairs Coordinator Pam Wagener speak to parents and potential students during a Free Application for Federal Student Aid completion night Jan 23 at Kishwaukee Community College in Malta.
High school students must work to find funding for college By KATIE DAHLSTROM
Voice your opinion
kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – When Courtney Winters started searching for a college to attend, she weighed the location, available majors and athletic opportunities of several private Illinois universities. But the No. 1 factor for the Genoa-Kingston senior, like many other students, was money. “I really look for campus life, but in the end, it doesn’t matter how much I love the school if I can’t pay for it,” Winters said. As the cost of college continues to rise, many students across DeKalb County are in the midst of filling out scholarship and financial aid applications in order to pay for their educations. Winters, 18, hasn’t made a decision, but the front-runner for her college of choice is Trinity International, a private college based in Deerfield. Although other schools appealed to her, the amount of scholarships Trinity offers to help cover the $37,000 a year it will cost to attend the school factored heavily into
Did you receive scholarships for college? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
Erik Anderson for Shaw Media
John Dolderer sits at a computer with his mother Dawn and Student Financial Aid Adviser Coordinator Adam Gisseler as they fill out forms during a FAFSA completion night. Winters’ choice. She hopes to finance at least $30,000 of her education with scholarships and financial aid. So far, she’s spent a handful of hours filling out a couple of scholarship applications, as well as her Free
Application for Federal Student Aid. By completing the FAFSA, students determine their eligibility for financial aid such as Pell grants, federal student loans, work-study programs and the state’s Monetary Award Program, which provides grants that
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