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Dozens attend event for Sanders Presidential long shot gets DeKalb-area support during webcast By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Local organizers were expecting around 20 people to attend Bernie Sanders’ grassroots campaign organizing event Wednesday. But more than 100 filled the auditorium at the Unitarian Universalist of DeKalb church to hear from the Democratic presidential hopeful. He addressed the Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com crowd in a webcast that was Stickers sit on a table supporting 2016 presidential nominee Sen. Ber- broadcast simultaneously at nie Sanders, who was seen via a live webcast Thursday at the Unitari- other venues nationwide. an Universalist Fellowship of DeKalb. “The American people
are saying loudly and clear ‘enough is enough,’ ” Sen. Sanders, I-Vermont, said of the “groundswell” of support for his presidential candidacy. He said more than 100,000 people Bernie had signed up Sanders to participate in the organizing event. After his nine-minute speech, local supporters were urged sign on to help his ef-
forts. A DeKalb-area steering committee was formed at the end of the event. “Our job here tonight is to reach out and gather more people into the campaign,” said Dave Rathke, who helped put together the DeKalb event. The Brubakers first saw Sanders at a 2014 town hall in Iowa and say they support him “100 percent.” His talk of free public higher education interests them. Gary Brubaker, 62, said he’ll soon retire from the transportation industry and
is concerned about Social Security and Medicare. He and his wife, Deb, 59, also are concerned their adult daughters are still bogged down with student loan payments – 10 years after graduating college. Ingrid Ramos, 47, said the “a-ha” moments she had from listening to his position on such things as income inequality and social justice has made him her candidate of choice, so far.
See SANDERS, page A2
Taliban leader Mullah Omar reported dead
INCREASE IN PRECIPITATION ATTRACTING MORE INSECTS
The ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
DeKalb County Health Department intern Josh Kosco, 24, a senior in public health at Northern Illinois University, changes the mosquito trap Monday near the DeKalb County Health Department building. This DeKalb site is one of four throughout DeKalb County, and the mosquitoes tested positive for West Nile at the site on July 2.
Rain brings mosquitoes
Soggy May and June have given way to dry July DeKalb rainfall totals
By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Josh Kosco’s job can be a sticky situation. The Northern Illinois University senior and intern with the DeKalb County Health Department spent a day last week studying and collecting a mosquito net from the swamp outside the health department on Annie Glidden Road. You can blame the rainy summer we’ve had for the mosquitoes. “They breed in standing water,” Kosco said. This summer has seen more clouds than sunshine, resulting in rain that’s closed roads, flooded golf courses and brought mosquitoes and West Nile Virus into the county. Although this soggy summer has seen above-average rainfall, it hasn’t been that bad – at least compared with other years, according to meteorologists.
Month Inches May 5.2 June 8.2 July* 3.2 *Through Wednesday afternoon Source: National Weather Service
Voice your opinion How are the mosquitoes by you? Vote now Daily-Chronicle.com. day afternoon, about an inch below normal, Seeley said. “We’ve just been in a pattern where we’ve had more rainfall,” Seeley said. “I can’t say it’s El Nino or anything. We’ve had a rologist with the National Weath- lot of active weather this year, er Service. which isn’t unusual. We’ve had Late July has brought the wet years like this year before.” warmest weather we’ve seen in 2015, and the city had received 3.2 inches of rain through WednesSee MOSQUITOES, page A4
Three whole culex mosquitoes from one of the four test sites from throughout DeKalb County are ready to be tested Monday for West Nile by DeKalb County Health Department intern Josh Kosco in an office at the DeKalb County Health Department building in DeKalb. DeKalb city received 5.2 inches of rain in May, more than the normal 4.57 inches for the month. June saw 8.2 inches, about double the usual amount of 4.14 inches, according Amy Seeley, a meteo-
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Mullah Mohammad Omar, the secretive head of the Taliban and an al-Qaida ally who led a bloody insurgency against U.S.-led forces, eluded capture for more than a decade in spite of being one of the most-hunted fugitives on Earth. On Wednesday, he was reported to have died two years ago in a Pakistani hospital, according to the Afghan intelligence agency. In Washington, the U.S. government said they considered the report credible, though it was not confirmed by the Taliban or Pakistan. Even in possible death, the one-eyed cleric-warrior was shrouded in mystery. He led a movement that swept over most of Afghanistan in the 1990s and became notorious for imposing what was perhaps the strictest regime of Islamic law in the world at the time. For his Afghan followers and Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida militants, Mullah Omar held the supreme status of “Commander of the Faithful.” And yet only one known photograph of him exists. In later years, Mullah Omar’s influence waned as extremists gravitated toward the packaged video carnage of the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of Syria and Iraq in its self-declared caliphate. The announcement of his death comes after the U.S. and NATO forces that toppled the Taliban ended their combat mission in Afghanistan. The Taliban have survived the loss of lower-level commanders and have shown remarkable resilience over time, now challenging Afghan forces across the country. Abdul Hassib Sediqi, the spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, said Mullah Omar died in a hospital in the Pakistani city of Karachi in April 2013. The Taliban leader’s exact date of birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been in his 50s. “We confirm officially that he is dead,” Sediqi told The Associated Press. “He was very sick in a Karachi hospital and died suspiciously there.” Sediqi did not elaborate, and it was not immediately clear why news of the death had been delayed until now. But the announcement came just two days before a key second round of peace talks were to be held between the Taliban and the Afghan government in Pakistan. Mullah Omar’s sheltering of bin Laden and al-Qaida, in an alliance forged in the 1990s, brought the wrath of the United States down upon him after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Less than three months later, American troops backed by northern Afghan allies marched into Kandahar, the southern city that served as Taliban headquarters. Mullah Omar escaped on a motorcycle and was never seen again. The Taliban insurgency that ensued wrecked U.S. hopes of quickly establishing the authority of the new government in Kabul, led by Mullah Omar’s fellow Pashtun, Hamid Karzai. With a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, Mullah Omar is believed to have spent most of his time in hiding in the border regions of Pakistan – nominally a U.S. ally, but also a longtime backer of the Taliban – or in the Pashtun heartland of southern Afghanistan.
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