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Landfill could get outside trash Aug. 1 Committee urges County Board to update agreement with Waste Management By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Trash from McHenry and Kane counties could come to the DeKalb County landfill as early as August if County Board members vote to amend the county’s agreement with Waste Management at their next meeting. DeKalb County’s finance committee voted Wednesday to recommend that the entire County Board vote to allow waste from outside of DeKalb
County to start being accepted Aug. 1 to generate about $70,000 a month through December in order to raise money to help fund the DeKalb County jail expansion. The amended agreement still needs approval from the entire County Board on May 21 in order to become official. Dale Hoekstra, Waste Management director of operations, said the landfill would take in an additional 500 tons of trash a day on top of its current rate of about 300 tons a day.
Analysis may erase pension cut problem
“This is the best solution for the county,” Hoekstra said. According to the county’s host community agreement, a minimum of 375,000 tons of trash a year will come to DeKalb County starting Jan. 1. Waste Management representatives said they will target bringing in 500,000 tons a year, the maximum amount of tonnage allowed under the agreement, to bring in more revenue for the county. Officials plan to use the additional revenue to help fund
the expansion process at the county jail. Board members are trying to spend only $23 million on the jail project even though the cheapest of three proposals unveiled April 30 found it would cost $29 million to expand the jail. Anthony Cvek, a Sycamore Republican from District 4, was one of a few County Board members on the finance committee to raise concerns about how Waste Management would handle bringing in the extra trash. Cvek cited the Jan.
14 incident in which students and staff at Cortland Elementary School were sickened by an odor from the landfill. Hoekstra said on odor control officer will be on site when construction takes place when school is not in session to ensure a similar incident doesn’t happen again. Construction began this spring to expand the landfill. “I feel fairly confident it’s been addressed, but it doesn’t change the perception,” Cvek said.
Misty Haji-Sheikh, a Democrat from District 7, was the only board member on the finance committee to vote against the amended agreement with Waste Management. She said she plans to tour Waste Management’s facilities to get a better understanding of the work they do. Hoekstra invited all the County Board members to tour Waste Management’s facilities. “I have too many questions,” Haji-Sheikh said.
Stepping into their future
Language misleading about university retiree plan By DAVID MERCER The Associated Press CHAMPAIGN – A troublesome piece of last year’s state pension-reform law may not cut university retirees’ pensions after all, the State Universities Retirement System now says. The retirement system and state universities complained last month that language in the law would inadvertently reduce many university employees’ pensions. The universities said the problem was adding to already large numbers of faculty and staff considering retiring early to avoid other pension cuts in the law. But retirement system Executive Director William Mabe said Tuesday that the language in the law should not be interpreted as saying it would cost retirees a year of pension because that wasn’t the intent, according to The News-Gazette. That is based on the Illinois Teachers Retirement System’s interpretation of the law. The Teachers Retirement System represents 390,000 public school teachers and other employees. The system’s attorneys point to a past Illinois Supreme Court decision to interpret that the language mistakenly placed in the law shouldn’t change its intent, Teachers Retirement System spokesman Dave Urbanek said. The court case, Johnson v. Retirement Board of the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund from 1986, said that when pension-related law is ambiguous, it “must be liberally construed in favor of the rights of the pensioner.” “[That case] requires us to render all interpretations to the
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Sarah Stuebing, a Northern Illinois University senior, talks to her horse “Bheir” after taking him out for exercise Friday at Plumcreek Stables in Rochelle. Stuebing will graduate Saturday from NIU and will start her doctoral program in the neuroscience and veterinary medicine at Kansas State in the fall in Manhattan, Kan. She will be boarding two of her American Saddlebred horses down near Kansas State to bring a little home with her.
NIU’s newest graduates eye job market, grad school “From the few times I’ve visited, there are so many clinics and hospitals,” McIntyre said. “It shouldn’t take too long before I find a job at one of them.” If McIntyre succeeds in finding a job, she might represent a positive trend. Statistics recently released by the U.S. Department of Labor show the unemployment rate for 2013 college graduates, defined as those ages 20 to 29 who earned a four-year or advanced degree, was 10.9 percent, The Associated Press reported. That was down from 13.3
By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Holly McIntyre figures she’ll have better luck finding a job in Texas after she graduates Saturday from Northern Illinois University. McIntyre, an occupational therapy major, will look for a job at a clinic or as an occupational therapy aide as soon as she packs her things and moves to the Lone Star State, where she said a “help wanted” sign is found at almost every window.
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percent in 2012 and the lowest since 7.7 percent in 2007. According to NIU’s Office of Registration and Records, 3,114 students are expected to graduate this semester, including 2,248 undergraduates and 866 graduate students. Many NIU students who will graduate are choosing to continue their studies in hopes of standing out from other applicants, while others hope to set themselves apart through extracurricular activities. NIU student Sarah Stuebing will head to Kansas
State University this fall to begin a dual doctorate program in veterinary medicine and neuroscience. Veterinarians are not required to obtain an advanced degree in neuroscience, but Stuebing is pursuing both degrees out of love for research. “It opens a lot of doors for me,” she said. “That’ll give me the unique set of skills to help humans and animals curably and preventatively.” Meanwhile, NIU senior Carolina Applebee is hoping her work as the pro-
gramming coordinator for the newly formed Communiveristy Gardens will give her a unique edge. The NIUbased organization partnered with DeKalb County Community Gardens, which plants crops across DeKalb County for food pantries and others in need. “It’ll look very good on my résumé,” she said. “It’ll show I’m directly involved with community service. That’s directly involved with nutrition.” Applebee, a nutrition
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