WEDNESDAY
Janua r y 13 , 2016 • $1 .0 0
DAILY CHRONICLE HEATING UP
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Bring some spice to your chili with chipotle, adobo sauce / B10
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22 19 Complete forecast on page A6
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SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
We still have a lot of illnesses going around. Just not as much with the flu. ... It certainly still could be coming.”
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THE RECOVERY OF ETHAN MENGES
Kelly Meyer Sycamore School District 427 nurse
Officials: Reports of flu down this season By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN
bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Reports of the flu may be down so far this year, but the worst could still be on the way. The Illinois Department of Heath reports sporadic influenza throughout December, which typically points to isolated cases or a confirmed outbreak in a single institution. Last year, reports were much more frequent and widespread. Influenza tends to peak in January and February, said Jane Lux, public health administrator with the DeKalb County Health Department said. Influenza is measured by reports of pediatric death and intensive care unit admissions, she said. “We haven’t had any of those reported in DeKalb County,” she said. “We also communicate with the hospital regarding emergency room visits for people with flu-type symptoms. [Hospitals] have said they have had a low number of those.” Influenza is an infection of the respiratory tract that typically causes a fever higher than 100 degrees and symptoms such as a cough, sore throat or stuffy nose, according to the Illinois Health Department. The best way to prevent the flu is to get a flu shot and practice the three C’s, Lux said. “Clean your hands, cover your nose and mouth when coughing and contain – which means stay home if you are ill,” she said. “It sounds simple, but those are important prevention measures.”
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
ABOVE: Former Genoa-Kingston High School athlete Ethan Menges hugs his former basketball coach Corey Jenkins while the crowd gives him a standing ovation Saturday between the girls and boys basketball games at the high school. Menges was honored between the games of the tournament and given the No. 10 jersey he wore when he was a Cog. BELOW: Jenkins presents Menges, of Genoa-Kingston High School’s Class of 2010, with his jersey.
Still need a flu shot? n WHEN: 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. n HOW: Walk-in basis. All forms of insurance accepted. n WHERE: DeKalb County Health Department, 2550 N. Annie Glidden Road, DeKalb
Building his strength Former G-K athlete honored between basketball games
Voice your opinion
By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN
Did you get a flu shot this season? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
bkeeperman@shawmedia.com
Lux said that schools have also reported low numbers of kids coming down with the illness. Kelly Meyer, a school nurse with Sycamore School District 427 said that while influenza may be a nonissue now, students have been coming through the nurse’s office with colds, strep throat and stomach viruses with the usual frequency. “We still have a lot of illnesses going around,” she said. “Just not as much with the flu. … It certainly still could be coming.” She said that it is difficult to predict whether reports of the flu will become more frequent later in the season as winter continues. “It’s hard to know,” she said. “Some years we see the flu earlier in the year. Last year, we had a lot of reports before Christmas, but some years we will see more after and even into February and March.”
DeKALB – Ethan Menges completed a set of hip abductor exercises at Planet Fitness before his sister Brittney helped him put his legs back on. Last year he suffered a viral infection that quickly spread. He fell into a coma and developed bed sores, which caused a lack of blood flow to his limbs, which eventually needed to be amputated. He left the hospital after more than a year last month and now lives in Rockford with On the Web his sister and her roommate. To see video “It’s amazing [to from Saturday’s have him home,]” event, visit said Brittney Menges, Daily-Chronicle. his sister. Menges, 24, hopes com. to dance at his wedding in May and complete in 5K walks by the summer. Menges was an avid athlete in his high school years and was captain of the Genoa-Kingston basketball and football teams. He also played baseball and ran track. There are no stairs where they live
RIGHT: Ethan Menges, 24, shows his fiancee, Jordon Mathieu, the wall of sports trophies Saturday at Genoa-Kingston High School. It was the first time Mathieu had visited Menges’ former high school.
See MENGES, page A3
Obama warns against giving in to election-year cynicism By JULIE PACE The Associated Press
AP photo
Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Paul Ryan listen as President Barack Obama gives his State of the Union address Tuesday to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON – Eyeing the end of his presidency, Barack Obama urged Americans on Tuesday night to rekindle their belief in the promise of change that first carried him to the White House, declaring that the country must not allow election-year fear and division to take hold. “The future we want,” he insisted, “is within our reach.” But opportunity and security for American families “will only happen if we work together ... if we fix our politics,” he added.
The nation’s goals must include “a rising standard of living and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids,” he said in his final State of the Union address. At the heart of Obama’s address to lawmakers and a prime-time TV audience was an implicit call to keep Democrats in the White House for a third straight term. Sharply, and at times sarcastically, he struck back at rivals who have challenged his economic and national security stewardship, calling it all “political hot air.” In a swipe at some Republican presidential candidates, he warned against “voices urging
us to fall back into tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don’t look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background.” His words were unexpectedly echoed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who was selected to give the Republican response to Obama’s address. Underscoring how the heated campaign rhetoric about immigrants and minorities from GOP front-runner Donald Trump in particular has unnerved some Republican leaders, Haley called on Americans to resist the temptation “to follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”
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G-K’s Lucca scores 43 to lead team over Rockford Christian / B1
D-427 board approves changes to high school speech program / A3
DeKalb-Sycamore co-op swim team falls short of sweep, beats Byron / B1
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“No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome,” Haley said in excerpts released ahead of her remarks. Seeking to shape his own legacy, Obama ticked through a retrospective of his domestic and foreign policy actions in office, including helping lead the economy back from the brink of depression, taking aggressive action on climate change and ending a Cold War freeze with Cuba. He vowed a robust campaign to “take out” the Islamic State
See ADDRESS, page A2
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