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DeKalb electric rates could see 55 percent rise By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Electricity bills could rise by 55 percent this summer for residents who use the city-selected electricity provider. During their meeting Monday, DeKalb aldermen approved a threeyear agreement with Homefield Energy with rates at 7.237 cents a kilowatt hour for the first two years and 6.927 cents in the third year compared to the current rate of 4.64 cents. The new agreement takes effect July 1. An average customer who uses 640 kilowatt hours a month would see their bill increase from $29.70 a month to $46.32 for the first two years and to $40.36 a month in the third year. Officials still are expecting residents will save on their electricity bills when compared with ComEd rates. ComEd’s current rate is 6.04 cents, but is expected to rise to 7.5 cents in June, consultant Mike Mudge with Rock River Energy Services explained to the council. At 7.5 cents, an average monthly ComEd bill would be $48. Mudge explained that rates from all suppliers are rising because of an increase in the capacity cost that suppliers pay to generators to assure there is enough power produced to meet demands. Some other DeKalb County municipalities, including Sycamore, Hinckley and Lee will review rates later this year. First Ward Alderman David Jacobson cast the
Photos by Monica Maschak - mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Ron Walters, a consultant hired by the university to help improve the campus’ future, presents some ideas that are already taking shape Monday during a Northern Illinois University Bold Futures Workshop in the Sky Room.
NIU holds workshops to address student retention, other concerns By ANDREA AZZO
To participate
aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Beatriz Anabell Rodriguez Zelaya feels scared and ill-prepared ahead of her college graduation in May, so she attended a workshop Monday to make sure issues are resolved for future students. Zelaya, an international graduate student, was one of 84 people who attended Northern Illinois University’s Bold Futures Workshop on Monday. She listed many concerns about using what she has learned at NIU in her homeland of El Salvador and suggested the university enact peer mentoring and faculty mentoring programs for international students. “The idea of coming here, you’re afraid of being rejected because you feel like you don’t belong,” Zelaya said. “You don’t have skills to interact [with other NIU students] because you’re international.” Zelaya shared her ideas Monday during the workshop, which also examined
Northern Illinois University will hold another six-day session for new participants from Friday through Wednesday. NIU students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as community members are welcome to participate by registering at http://shawurl.com/12om.
Northern Illinois University President Doug Baker goes around the room while discussing possible reasons for the decrease in student retention rates Monday during an NIU Bold Futures Workshop in the Sky Room. student retention rates and NIU’s financial situation. The six-day workshop invited current students, alumni, staff, community and faculty members to come up with ideas to better the university.
Northern Illinois University will hold another sixday session for new participants from Friday through Wednesday. NIU students, faculty, staff and alumni, as well as community members are welcome to partici-
pate by registering at http:// shawurl.com/12om. The Bold Futures workshops will culminate in the Big Bold Event at 5 p.m. April 24 in the Holmes Student Center’s Duke Ellington Ballroom, 340 Carroll
Avenue, DeKalb. As participants discussed Monday, retention rates at NIU need to improve. Statistics show only 66 percent of freshman students from the 2012-13 school year returned as sophomores this school year. Financial help from the state is also harder to come by: Direct state support has dropped 15 percent, with most of that decrease coming since 2009, according to a video presentation by Nancy Suttenfield, NIU interim chief financial officer. Money NIU gets from the
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At least 14 dead in Washington mudslide; the search continues By P. SOLOMON BANDA and PHUONG LE The Associated Press OSO, Wash. – As the search for survivors of a destructive Washington state mudslide ballooned Monday to include scores of people who were still unaccounted for, the death toll from the wall of trees, rocks and debris that swept through a rural community rose to at least 14. In the struggle to find loved ones, family members and
neighbors used chain saws and their bare hands to dig through wreckage that was tangled by the mud into broken piles. Late Monday, the list of potentially missing people topped 176 following the disaster Saturday about 55 miles northeast of Seattle. But Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington stressed that authorities believed the number included many duplicate names.
“The 176, I believe very strongly is not a number we’re going to see in fatalities. I believe it’s going to drop dramatically,” he said. The number of those possibly missing grew dramatically from an estimated 108 earlier Monday. But Pennington said the list was compiled from information provided by the public, and officials were trying to cross off reports that likely described the same person. The list included construction workers who were
working in the area and people just driving by. The lack of definitive information two days after the massive slide destroyed a cluster of homes at the bottom of a river valley ratcheted up anxieties. “The situation is very grim,” Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots said, stressing that authorities are still in rescue mode and are holding out hope. But he noted: “We have not found anyone alive on this
pile since Saturday.” Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said Monday afternoon that search and rescue crews discovered an additional six bodies, bringing the number of fatalities to at least 14. The slide critically injured several others. About two dozen houses were flattened, and the debris blocked a mile-long stretch of state highway near Arlington. Cory Kuntz and several volunteers worked Monday with
chain saws to cut through the roof of his uncle’s house, which was swept about 150 yards from its previous location. Kuntz said his aunt, Linda McPherson, was killed. He and the others pulled out files, his aunt’s wallet and a box filled with pictures and slides. “When you look at it, you just kind of go in shock, and you kind of go numb,” he said, adding that there were more people out helping Sunday.
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