TUESDAY
Ma rch 10 , 2 015 • $ 1 . 0 0
GYMNAST OF THE YEAR
DAILY CHRONICLE
DeKalb-Sycamore co-op’s Leman earns 2015 Daily Chronicle award / B1 HIGH
52 32 Complete forecast on page A8
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
LOW
@dailychronicle
Loan request gets tepid reception DeKalb aldermen want lower amount given for Toyota dealership project By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A deal for the city of DeKalb to give Bemis Toyota financial incentives for redevelopment remains on the table, but aldermen weren’t willing Monday to give the company $650,000. Bemis Toyota representatives requested a $650,000 forgivable tax increment financing loan to pay for Toyota corporate-mandated redevelopment that in total will
cost about $2.25 million. That would make the original request a city contribution just shy of 29 percent of the total project costs. While aldermen and Mayor John Rey were willing to bend the rule that dictates the company should show a financial need, they stressed the auto dealership should stay within the city’s guideline to only fund up to 20 percent of a project. “I would strongly encourage staying within the other
Staying within those guidelines would bring the maximum city contribution to DeKalb staff will work with representatives from Bemis Toyota to $450,000, which would be disdraft a request that will fit within the city’s guidelines that the city tributed in equal installments contribution not exceed 20 percent of the total project cost, which over a 10-year period. would be about $450,000. The previous property owners received financial incentives. Under a 1995 agreement, More coverage the city purchased the property for $450,000, selling it to For video coverage of the meeting, visit Daily-Chronicle.com. Joyce Pontiac for $1. The city incentive guidelines,” Rey are long-term, they apply to also gave the dealership $1.7 said during the DeKalb City any business and I think we’re million in sales tax rebates, Council meeting Monday. best not to exceed that 20 per- with the last payment from the “Those incentive guidelines cent guideline.” city made in 2009. Bemis has
What’s next?
sold vehicles there since 2007. Corporate officer Amy Bemis attended Monday’s meeting to explain her company’s request after aldermen expressed concern when it first came forward in February. She said the city’s forgivable tax increment financing loan would go toward expanding the dealership at 1890 Sycamore Road, which sells Toyota and Scion vehicles. She said her company came
See COUNCIL, page A5
Congress tries to undercut deal with warning to Iran GOP, White House clash on reaching a nuclear solution By BRADLEY KLAPPER and DEB RIECHMANN The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Vanessa Pain, a third-semester nursing student at Kishwaukee College, checks the maternal high-fidelity human patient simulator for a heartbeat Thursday before the start of the student-run simulation during the dedication of the high-Fidelity Patient Simulator Laboratory at Kishwaukee College. Kishwaukee College has five high-fidelity human patient simulators – two adult males, one maternal/fetal, an 8-year-old child, and an infant between 6-12 months old.
Faux patients, real learning Simulators provide Kish nurses-in-training with more experience By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com Melissa Thompson lay in her hospital bed, eight months pregnant. Her blood pressure was skyrocketing, and she was complaining of headaches. A group of nurses entered the room, circling Thompson’s bed, keeping her warm with blankets, taking her vitals, administering a catheter, reading her charts. Her mother stood by and asked the nurse many questions as Thompson constantly asked for updates on her unborn baby. Then, Thompson had a seizure, and the nurses turned her on her side and treated her until she stopped shaking. “We actually didn’t have a lot of time to react,” said Alexandra Clark, who was in the room with Thompson. “We got her oxygen, and we got her on her side. It was really scary.” But Thompson was not real – she is one of five high-fidelity patient simulators at Kishwaukee College that can blink, have a pulse and heartbeat, and can react to the nursing students’ treatments, giving
Nursing student Alexandra Clark checks the maternal high-fidelity human patient simulator’s pulse after a seizure simulation Thursday at Kishwaukee College. the nurses-in-training valuable experience. It mirrors the simulation lab at Kishwaukee Community Hospital. The college has 18 simulators that range from ordinary mannequins to very realistic models such as Melissa Thompson. The more advanced high-fidelity simulators cost about $60,000 to $90,000 each. Air pumps simulate breathing and
a pulse. Their eyes blink, and they can even urinate as part of pre-programmed situations that mirror real-life siutations nurses could experience. “It’s a different style of learning,” said Bette Chilton, Kishwaukee College dean of health and education. “It’s an opportunity for students to experience high-risk situations and be the primary caregivers in those situations.”
On Thursday, a dedication was hosted in the Terry and Sherrie Martin Health Careers Wing that was formally unveiled last May, which is where the patient simulators are located between several different rooms. During the presentation, upper-level nursing students from an obstetrics class performed a simulation on the simulator dubbed Melissa Thompson for donors to see where their money was going. Students Clark, Diane George, Vanessa Pain, Sue Stillwell and Jessica Schlick all assumed different roles. George took on the role of the frantic mother. Although Kish nursing students do get some hands-on experience through clinicals at Kishwaukee Hospital, Rockford Memorial Hospital and Swedish American Hospital, students at the demonstration praised the program’s effectiveness. “Being thrown into real-life situations prepares us,” Clark said.
See KISHWAUKEE, page A5
WASHINGTON – Republican lawmakers warned the leaders of Iran on Monday that any nuclear deal they cut with President Barack Obama could expire the day he leaves office. The White House denounced the GOP’s latest effort to undercut the international negotiations as a “rush to war.” Monday’s open letter from 47 GOP senators marked an unusually public and aggressive attempt to undermine Obama and five world powers as negotiators try to strike an initial deal by the end of March to limit Iran’s nuclear programs. Republicans say a deal would be insufficient Sen. Tom and unenforce- Cotton able, and they R-Arkansas have made a series of proposals to undercut or block it – from requiring Senate say-so on any agreement to ordering new penalty sanctions against Iran or even making a pre-emptive declaration of war. Obama, noting that some in Iran also want no part of any deal, said “I think it’s somewhat ironic that some members of Congress want to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran. It’s an unusual coalition.” The letter was written by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who opposes negotiations with Iran. It’s addressed to the “Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and presents itself as a constitutional primer to the government of an American adversary. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky’s signature is on it, as are those of several prospective presidential candidates. Explaining the difference between a Senate-ratified treaty and a mere agreement between Obama and Iran’s
LOCAL NEWS
MARKETPLACE
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Honor earned
Area interest
Loud and clear
County teachers awarded Excellence in Education / A3
DSW looks to connect with its DeKalb customers, community / A6
DeKalb singers look to raise funds for New York trip / A3
Advice ................................ B5 Classified........................B7-8 Comics ............................... B6 Local News.................... A3-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World.............. A2, 5
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the senators warned: “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen, and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif responded via state media, dismissing the letter as a “propaganda ploy” and noting that many international deals are “mere executive agreements.” He suggested the senators were undermining not only the prospective deal with Iran but other international agreements as well. With Cotton presiding over the Senate on Monday, Democratic leader Harry Reid spoke out, saying Republicans were driven by animosity toward Obama and unwilling to recognize that American voters had twice elected him president. “Let’s be very clear: Republicans are undermining our commander-in-chief while empowering the ayatollahs,” Reid said. “Republicans don’t know how to do anything other than juvenile political attacks against the president,” the 75-year-old Reid said with the 37-year-old Cotton listening. The Republicans’ move to stop a nuclear deal with Iran comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to a joint meeting of Congress at Republican House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation. In his address, Netanyahu bluntly warned the United States that a deal would pave Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb. The White House denounced Cotton’s letter, saying it was part of an ongoing partisan strategy to undermine the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy. Press secretary Josh Earnest said that “the rush to war, or at least the rush to the military option, that many Republicans are advocating is not at all in the best interest of the United States.”
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A7 Puzzles ............................... B5 Sports..............................B1-3 State ...................................A4 Weather .............................A8