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Janu ar y 11, 2016 • $1.0 0
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NIU student shot by police laid to rest By RHONDA GILLESPIE rgillespie@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Several of Northern Illinois University’s senior leaders attended the funeral services this past weekend for a student killed by Chicago police the day after Christmas. Quintonio LeGrier, a 19-yearold NIU engineering student, was laid to rest Saturday following a two-hour-long funeral at New Mt. Pilgrim Church on Chicago’s West Side. NIU President Doug Baker was accompanied by Lisa Freeman, the university’s executive vice president and provost
to the service. He said he attended as a show of support for the family and because LeGrier was one of NIU’s own. A university spokesman said other NIU officials, including the new diversity chief Vernese Edgehill-Walden, attended the wake, held the day before. Baker called LeGrier’s death “tragic.” A GoFundMe social media campaign raised more than $15,000 to pay for the funeral. The governor’s wife, Diana Rauner, was among the contributors. LeGrier, who was known among his family and friends
as “Q,” was home on break when he was killed by police Dec. 26. A Chicago police officer responding to a domestic disturbance that day on Chicago’s West Side shot LeGrier and fatally wounded by accident a 55-year-old woman, Bettie Jones. Officers “were confronted by a combative subject resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon,” Chicago Police Department officials said in written statement after LeGrier was shot. Jacob Clayton and several members of NIU’s Black Male Initiative program sat in
pews right in front of Baker and Freeman at the funeral. Clayton said the campus male mentoring organization was making headway with helping LeGrier deal with some of his issues. Clayton, who is president of BMI, and other members said they knew the young man described Saturday as an inspirational leader and doting relative with high intellect who was “spoiled” by his foster mother, and who had what has been described as mental health issues.
See STUDENT, page A8
Rhonda Gillespie – rgillespie@shawmedia.com
Northern Illinois President Doug Baker attends the funeral service Saturday of NIU engineering student Quintonio LeGrier.
Budget to dominate legislative session
UNSOLVED 1996 MURDER OF BELOVED TEACHER NAGS POLICE, FAMILY
By IVAN MORENO and JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press
Creek School District 425, failed to show up to work Jan. 11, 1996. Concerned co-workers visited her house. Claudia Hicks, who worked in the school’s office, was one of the people who found Fleming’s body. “Part of my job was to assign
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois has limped along without a budget since July, and solving that gridlock will be lawmakers’ top priority in the impending session, a time when they’ve traditionally turned attention to passing a fresh budget for the coming fiscal year. The epic budget fight that is crippling many state services will overshadow other key issues lawmakers want to address in the 2016 session, which begins Wednesday, including legislation to allow recall efforts against Chicago mayors and regulating fantasy sports gambling. Upcoming elections could weigh heavily and delay the budget deliberations. There are few session days scheduled before primaries March 15, and even if there’s a deal before then, some lawmakers may be reluctant to take on tough votes if they’re in tight contests. In fact, lawmakers will be off to a slow start. While the Senate is meeting Wednesday, House lawmakers won’t convene until Jan. 27, the day of the State of the State address, because the “workload was not there,” said Steve Brown, the spokesman for Speaker Michael Madigan. Despite rare, celebrated meetings last month between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative leaders, there’s no indication he and Democrats who control the Legislature are any closer to bridging their ideological divide to end a seven-month stalemate. Rep. David Harris, the Revenue and Finance Committee’s ranking Republican, said he’s not optimistic for a deal – but hopes he’s wrong. “I’m one of those folks who believes there can be a middle ground and that middle ground requires some compromise,” said Harris, from Mount Prospect. “And we have to get to a middle ground.” If compromise comes, it may be in the form of two budgets – the one that’s overdue and one for next year, Harris said. Also hovering over lawmakers is the state’s $111 billion pension debt. The state Supreme Court threw out the General Assembly’s suggested fix last year; but with no major proposals pending, any progress is likely to be slow. The state’s budget for the current year should’ve taken effect July 1, but Rauner rejected the plan lawmakers sent him. He has said a budget agreement should include reforms he believes will benefit the state’s economy, such as curbing the power of unions, setting term limits for lawmakers and passing measures to reduce
See MURDER, page A8
See BUDGET, page A8
Philip Marruffo – pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
Chief Deputy David Glessner carries one of the many evidence boxes for the unsolved murder case of Amy Todd Fleming through the Lee County Sheriff’s Department on Friday. Fleming was strangled and found dead in her home 20 years ago.
Not giving up
Lee County sheriff: ‘I will not put this into a cold case file’ checked against ones found at the scene. It’s still an ongoing process.” Lee County Sheriff John Simonton said his office will continue searching for Fleming’s killer. “We are still working on the case, and we follow every lead that we possibly can,” Simonton said. “I will not put this into a cold case file. It will be continuously worked. We will follow up until there’s nothing else to follow. We will pursue this case and bring the killer to justice.”
By KATRINA J.E. MILTON kmilton@shawmedia.com Amy Todd Fleming loved to bake and spend time with her family. Sherie Newman, Fleming’s sister, remembers Fleming baking cookies for family and friends at Christmastime, giving her homemade goods away to her grandparents and the elderly. Newman wishes her sister could have made cookies Amy Todd with her nieces and Fleming nephews this year. It has been 20 years since Fleming last baked cookies. It’s been 20 years since she last laughed with her father and 20 years since her mother heard her voice. On Jan. 11, 1996, Fleming, 25, was found strangled at her home off Route 30 in rural Lee. The case remains unsolved. Police believe they know some things about the crime – that it wasn’t a
Katrina Milton – kmilton@shawmedia.com
Indian Creek Middle School teacher Amy Todd Fleming’s headstone was deco- The murder Fleming, a middle school sperated for the holidays at Rose Hill Cemetery in Shabbona. Today marks the 20th cial education teacher at Indian anniversary of her death, and police have made no arrests in her murder. random act, and it wasn’t a burglary, even though the killer might have tried to make it look that way. They also believe some people they questioned during their investigation have been untruthful and evasive. But no one ever has faced charges in connection with Flem-
ing’s murder. “This is still very much an open case, with new information being found and interviews being conducted,” Lee County Detective Sgt. Shane Miller said. “Leads still come in, and we compare old and new evidence. New fingerprints are being
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