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Snow might not be season’s last Weather forecaster says chilly temperatures could linger into mid-April By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com The calendar says spring, but the weather still says winter – 3 to 6 inches of snow fell across portions of DeKalb County on Monday, creating slippery conditions. Weather forecasters such as Northern Illinois meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste say there still are more cold temperatures and snow ahead. “I don’t think this pattern is going to turn around until mid-April,” Sebenste said. “Expect a lot of chilly temperatures to come.” About 3.25 inches of snow fell in DeKalb on Monday,
while St. Charles was on the deeper end with 5 inches, courtesy of jet stream patterns that are bringing cold air down from northern Canada. “A good chunk will melt [today]. The rest will melt Tuesday into Wednesday,” Sebenste said. “Unfortunately, we may get a light snow Thursday night as a cold front moves into the area.” DeKalb’s snow totals pale in comparison with the Madison, Wisconsin, area, which experienced its biggest snowstorm of the year Monday with 15 inches, according to news reports. “They have a right to com-
damage accidents and eight personal injury accidents, none reported as serious, Temperatures in the 40s and Chief Deputy Gary Dumdie possibly 50s Tuesday and Wednes- said. day will melt most of the snow “For the short amount of accumulated Monday, but a light time, we handled quite a few snowfall is expected Thursday as calls,” he said. another cold front is expected to By noon, road-related calls move into the area. had died down, Dumdie said. • Gilbert Sebenste, meteorologist at Mark Espy, assistant diNorthern Illinois University rector of Public Works Operations for the city of DeKalb, said they were prepared for plain,” Sebenste said. the snow before the first call The slick roads proved at 4:30 a.m., and by midday troublesome for early com- the pavement had heated up muters in the area. From 6 to to the 40s, eliminating slip11:30 a.m., the DeKalb County pery roads. Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com Sheriff’s Office responded to A DeKalb County snowplow heads south Monday along Peace Road in 28 cars in ditches, 12 property See WEATHER, page A7 DeKalb during the morning commute.
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Farmers fund research to breed gluten-free wheat By ROXANA HEGEMAN The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Zack Prater, a senior at DeKalb High School, practices MIG welding, or gas metal arc welding, Friday in his Kishwaukee College dual credit course.
Connecting the future Demand for welders on the upswing By the numbers
By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com MALTA – When Zach Miller prepares for his future, sparks fly. The 20-year-old Kishwaukee College student was in the school’s welding workshop last week, sharpening his vertical and overhead welding skills. It’s what he’ll have to do when he takes his hands-on American Welding Society certification exam at the end of the year. “A lot of companies won’t even look at you if you don’t have your AWS certification,” said Miller, who has been welding with his dad for years. “It’s the standard of the industry that you need to be certified in this. Having the AWS certification gives you a leg up and it allows you to work for the big-name companies.” That certification will come in handy for Miller, as the demand for welders is on the upswing. According to a study by Weld-
2013 welding statistics Employment: 50,860 Annual wage mean: $35,800 States with the most welders: Ohio (4,630); Texas (3,730); California (3,320); Indiana (3,200); Michigan (3,050). Popular welding industries: Motor vehicle parts manufacturing; agriculture; construction and mining machinery manufacturing; architectural and structural metals manufacturing; general purpose machinery manufacturing; boiler, tank and shipping container manufacturing. Zach Miller, a second semester welding student at Kishwaukee College of Kirkland, practices Tungsten Inert Gas welding, or TIG welding, Friday in preparation for his welding certification Friday at Kishwaukee College. the baby boomers are moving out, Ed – a national partnership between colleges, professional societies and industries committed to increasing the number and quality of welding jobs to meet indus-
and in turn goes a certain amount try demand – 238,692 new and re- of welders,” said Bernie Pupino, placement welding job openings manufacturing coordinator of the will be available between 2009 and Career Technologies division of 2019. “A lot of people are retiring, See WELDING, page A7
WICHITA, Kan. – Kansas farmers are paying for genetic research to figure out exactly why some people struggle to digest wheat. The hard science is aimed at developing new varieties of wheat at a time when the gluten-free industry is worth nearly a billion dollars a year in the U.S. alone. The Kansas Wheat Commission is spending $200,000 for the first two years of the project, which is meant to identify everything in wheat’s DNA sequences that can trigger a reaction in people suffering from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder in which eating even tiny amounts of gluten – comprised of numerous, complex proteins that gives dough its elasticity and some flavor to baked goods – can damage the small intestine. The only known treatment for celiac disease is a gluten-free diet free of any foods that contain wheat, rye and barley. “If you know you are producing a crop that is not tolerated well by people, then it’s the right thing to do,” said the project’s lead researcher, Chris Miller, senior director of research for Engrain, a Kansas company that makes products to enhance the nutrition and appearance of products made by the milling and cereal industry. Although celiac disease is four to five times more common now than 50 years ago, only about 1 percent of the world’s population is believed to suffer from it, and just a fraction have been diagnosed. But the gluten-free food business has skyrocketed in the past five years, driven in part by non-celiac sufferers who believe they are intolerant to gluten and look for such products as a healthier alternative. Sales of gluten-free snacks, crackers, pasta, bread and other products reached $973 million in the U.S. in 2014, up from $810 million the previous year, according to a January report by the consumer research firm Packaged Facts, which analyzed the sales of hundreds of explicitly labeled and marketed gluten-free products and brands at supermarkets, drugstores and mass merchandisers. Understanding the causes of celiac disease and gluten intolerance is the goal of a lot of research around the world; Some focuses on human diagnosis and treatment, and others have identified about 20 of the protein fragments in wheat that causes celiac reactions. But no one has identified all of them, or bred a variety of wheat that is safe for celiac sufferers to eat. “We are hoping to be one of the first to establish this comprehensive screening of reactive proteins in wheat,” Miller said. The research began in July at the Wheat Innovation Center in Manhattan, Kansas, and remains in its early stages, with researchers extracting proteins from seeds of various varieties of wheat. A later step will be combining the
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