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D e cember 28, 2015 • $1 .0 0
DAILY CHRONICLE
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NIU student among 2 shot, killed by police
CHANGES ON THE HORIZON
Quintonio LeGrier, 19, was home on break; police say woman accidentally killed By CARYN ROUSSEAU The Associated Press
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Edith Craig (left center), communications manager at the DeKalb Public Library, shows a tour group the tree room in the children’s section of the new wing Sunday at the DeKalb Public Library.
Looking ahead
to 2016
Year to bring change for DeKalb, NIU, county By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Residents can look forward to changes on the horizon for 2016. DeKalb School District 428 will redraw boundaries for its eight elementary schools and two middle schools. The project has been in the works since the district hired a demographer to project changes over the next several years. In 2015, the district hosted community forums on the plan, and the board of education is expected to vote on which changes to implement at its first meeting in February. The new boundaries will go into effect in the fall. The goal is to have every student attend a home school within their boundary. Bilingual classes will be offered at Cortland, Founders and Littlejohn elementary schools. The SOAL program will be relocated to Founders Elementary. The DeKalb Public Library expansion is set to be complete in the coming year as well. The new three-story, 46,000 square-foot addition will open to the public in January, and patrons will be able to make use of its new technology and additional reading, meeting and children areas. The 85-year-old Haish building will undergo renovations and is scheduled to reopen to the public in July. “We’re expanding literacy in a big way,” said Dee Coover, director of the library. Fortune 100 company 3M also is set to complete its $40 million expansion project in 2016. The project will create an interconnected campus in DeKalb’s Park 88. When construction is complete, the company will exit its two buildings on Barber Greene Road and Wirsing Parkway. Northern Illinois University’s program prioritization plan also is expected to bring changes this year. University officials are examining the almost 480 programs the university currently offers and are expected to make decisions on what to cut or merge. The deadline for program narratives was Dec. 11 and
Daily Chronicle file photo by Monica Synett
DeKalb District 428 Superintendent Doug Moeller talks with concerned parents over elementary school maps during a District 428 redistricting meeting Nov. 10 at DeKalb High School.
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
A rendering of the 3M distribution center is posted Dec. 8 in front of the building site on Macom Drive in DeKalb while crews work on moving dirt behind it. 3M is set to complete the $40 million expansion project in 2016, which will create an interconnected campus in DeKalb’s Park 88. more than 470 were turned in, said Joe King, NIU spokesperson. “We’ll divide those into five categories,” he said. “About 20 percent in each category, ranging from ‘This could use more resources’ to ‘We might want to
look at phasing this out.’” In the spring, student input will be considered and officials will make recommendations on how to distribute resources for fiscal 2017 through fiscal 2021, he said. The DeKalb County partisan primary election will be held March 15. Five county-level seats will be up for nomination, including circuit court clerk, state’s attorney, coroner and County Board seats, as well as those seeking nominations for state and federal offices, including those seeking presidential nominations. The November general election also promises to draw heavy turnout, with the presidency atop the ballot. DeKalb’s Mayor John Rey said that the strategic plan will guide DeKalb in 2016 and years to come. “We are planning a retreat in January to get council confirmation of the goals and action plans,” he said. “That is really focused on the 10-year horizon, which will be the driver for the fiscal ’17 budget process.”
CHICAGO – A Chicago police officer responding to a domestic disturbance call accidentally shot and killed a 55-year-old woman and a 19-year-old student at Northern Illinois University who was home on break. Relatives said Bettie Jones, 55, lived downstairs from Quintonio LeGrier, the 19-year-old who prompted the initial call to police and who also was killed about 4:25 a.m. Saturday in a West Side neighborhood. Officers who responded to the call “were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon,” the Chicago Police Department said in a brief statement late Saturday. “The 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed,” reads the statement, which extends “deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends.” The Cook County medical examiner’s office and family members said Jones was a mother of five who had hosted family for Christmas, and LeGrier was as his father described as a “whiz kid” majoring in electrical engineering technology. Police did not immediately disclose the race of the officer, saying in a statement only that officers involved in the incident will be placed on administrative duties for 30 days while “training and fitness for duty requirements can be conducted.” It isn’t clear how many officers responded, how many used their firearms and how many times both LeGrier and Jones were struck. The shooting comes amid ongoing scrutiny of police across the country after a series of deaths of African-Americans at the hands of officers gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Chicago Police Department also is under a federal civil rights investigation that
See KILLED, page A6
Student had run-ins with local police By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A Northern Illinois University student killed by Chicago police Saturday morning was home on winter break, and also out on bail for a number of charges he was facing in DeKalb County after confrontations with campus police, court records show. A Chicago police officer responding to a domestic disturbance call Saturday on Chicago’s West Side shot and killed Quintonio LeGrier, 19, and accidentally shot a 55-year-old woman, Bettie Jones. “We are deeply saddened by the death of Quintonio LeGrier,” NIU spokesman Joe King said. “Our hearts go out to his family and all of those who were close to him.” LeGrier, a sophomore engineering major, lived in the Neptune Hall dormitory at the university, officials said. Records from NIU police and DeKalb County courts show that LeGrier had at least four run-ins with law enforcement in the area, including three arrests that included charges of resisting campus police. On March 1, LeGrier was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of resisting NIU police. He was arrested again May 6 and charged with aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated battery against a government
See RUN-INS, page A6
Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
A child holds a candle Sunday during a vigil outside Bettie Jones’ home in Chicago. Jones and NIU student Quintonio LeGrier, 19, were killed early Saturday by police responding to a domestic disturbance call.
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