FRIDAY
June 26 , 2015 • $1.00
WILSON GIVES BACK
DAILY CHRONICLE
Seahawks quarterback hosts football camp at NIU / B1 HIGH
69 54 Complete forecast on page A8
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
LOW
Facebook.com/dailychronicle
@dailychronicle
Market for jobs bleak to some
TIPS FOR A SAFE JULY 4 OFFERED
Unemployment rate at 4.7 percent in county By BRETT ROWLAND browland@shawmedia.com
including poppers, smoke devices such as snakes and glow worms and sparklers are allowed, except on city property or in parks. In Illinois, selling fireworks is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable
DeKALB – Caroline Petersen hasn’t seen any signs the job market is improving in DeKalb County even as the area’s metro unemployment rate returns to pre-recession levels. Petersen, a 57-year-old DeKalb resident, said she has been applying for jobs daily since being laid off from School Tool Box in Sycamore last September. She’s exhausted her unemployment benefits and sought help from nearly every social service organization and government agency she can find. But with little savings, she doesn’t know how she’ll pay next month’s rent. “I’ve always worked,” Petersen said Thursday. “I didn’t think I would be off work this long. I’ve never been off work this long. It’s a different economy now.” While DeKalb County’s unemployment rate continues to fall, job hunters such as Petersen say they don’t see rosier employment prospects ahead. The county’s unemployment rate fell to 4.7 percent in May, down from 6.2 percent in May 2014, according to preliminary figures the Illinois Department of Employment Security released Thursday. In the city of DeKalb, the jobless rate stood at 5 percent last month, compared with 6.6 percent in May 2014. The unemployment rate identifies people who are out of work and seeking employment. A person who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits still will be reflected in the unemployment figures, according to a news release from the state. The numbers mean little to Petersen. She said has applied for jobs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri and Texas. Despite callbacks and job interviews, she has been unable to find employment. “It’s very frustrating and worrisome,” she said. “There’s so many people looking for the same jobs.”
See FIREWORKS, page A6
See UNEMPLOYMENT, page A6
File photos by Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Assistant pyrotechnician Jeff Anderson squibs, or connects, the ground display cake boxes filled with 36 shells each in 2014 at Hopkins Park in DeKalb.
Officials urge residents to leave fireworks to professionals By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The “oohs” and “aahs” that fireworks usually produce can also result in serious burns and property damage. That’s why the consensus is clear among local firefighters: “Leave it to the professionals.” Besides, most fireworks are illegal in Illinois. “We want you to go and [see] a bigger, better fireworks show put on by the municipalities,” said Jim Ward, fire prevention coordinator for Sycamore Fire Department. “Those are professionals who are trained to set up the large fireworks display.” Three Fourth of July celebrations are scheduled in DeKalb County next weekend, in Shabbona, Kirkland and DeKalb. “Those guys stand back from the fireworks,” Ward said. “They’re set up in more safe areas like a big park around a residential neighborhood.
LOCAL FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATIONS •Kirkland Lions Club: July 2 to 4 at 290 South St., Kirkland •Fireworks at the Speedway: July 4 at 50W086 Route 64, Maple Park •DeKalb’s Fourth of July celebration: July 4 at Hopkins Park, 1403 Sycamore Road •Sandwich Freedom Days: July 4 to 5 at 1401 Suydam Road •Independence Day in Shabbona: July 4 to 5 at Route 30 and Shabbona Road Those guys are trained at a much higher level and know more than [the] public.” According to the Illinois Fire Safety Alliance, 11,400 fireworks-related injuries were treated in emergency departments across America in 2013, an increase from 2012. Most
Fireworks were displayed by DCV Imports in 2014 at Hopkins Park in DeKalb. of those injuries were reported from mid-June to mid-July of that year, and 40 percent were to children younger than 15. The city of DeKalb municipal code chapter 52 defines fireworks as both allowable and prohibited, meaning that novelty fireworks
Supreme Court upholds nationwide health care law subsidies By MARK SHERMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the nationwide tax subsidies under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, in a ruling that preserves health insurance for millions of Americans. The justices said in a 6-3 ruling that the subsidies that 8.7 million people currently receive to make insurance
affordable do not depend on where they live, under the 2010 health care law. The outcome is the second major victory for Obama in politically charged Supreme Court tests of his most significant domestic achievement. It came the same day the court gave the administration an unexpected victory by preserving a key tool the administration uses to fight housing bias. Chief Justice John Roberts again voted with his liberal
colleagues in support of the law. Roberts also was the key vote to uphold the law in 2012. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a dissenter in 2012, was part of the majority on Thursday. “Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice Antonin Scalia said, “We should start calling this law SCOTUS-
care.” Using the acronym for the Supreme Court, Scalia said his colleagues have twice stepped in to save the law from what Scalia considered worthy challenges. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined the dissent, as they did in 2012. Nationally, 10.2 million people have signed up for health insurance under the Obama health overhaul. That includes the 8.7 million people who are receiving an average subsidy
of $272 a month to help pay their insurance premiums. Of those receiving subsidies, 6.4 million people were at risk of losing that aid because they live in states that did not set up their own health insurance exchanges. The challenge devised by die-hard opponents of the law, often derided by critics as “Obamacare,” relied on four words – established by the state – in the more than 900page law.
LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Drug talks
Fatal accident
Farming fun
DeKalb forum discusses medical marijuana / A3
Clare man dies in a car crash on Route 64 near his home / A3
Sandwich engine club highlights antique equipment / A4
Advice ................................ B6 Classified...................... B8-11 Comics ............................... B7 Local News.................... A2-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World.............. A2, 5
The law’s opponents argued that the vast majority of people who now get help paying for their insurance premiums are ineligible for their federal tax credits. That is because roughly three dozen states opted against creating their own health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, and instead rely on the federal healthcare. gov to help people find coverage if they don’t get insurance through their jobs or the government.
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A7 Puzzles ............................... B6 Sports..............................B1-4 State ...................................A4 Weather .............................A8
Customer’s Choice: Big Savings for Small Businesses Save money – your way! A second digital phone line for 99¢ or a second phone free. Limited Time Offer – Act Today!
dnacom.com/morebusiness
(815) 217-0267
adno=0324653