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BIG NORTHERN GETS SCHEDULE RESHUFFLE
Park district to pick up part of trails tab
PREP FOOTBALL, B1
STERLING, A5
dailyGAZETTE
Wednesday, June 29, 2016 n SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
CRIME | SAUK VALLEY
AG: Dealers were tipped off Former Rock Falls detective’s charges include conspiracy, official misconduct BY ANGEL SIERRA asierra@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5695 @_angelsierra
CHICAGO – A former Rock Falls detective was tipping off drug dealers, selling marijuana, and stealing from the police department’s evidence locker, investigators say. The state attorney general’s office
on Tuesday revealed details of Veronica Jaramillo’s indictment, and of the charges facing the three they say are her co-conspirators. Jaramillo, 43, of Sterling, accused of stealing money from an evidence vault and official misconduct in a previous case, now also is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, punishable by 3 to 7 years in pris-
on; and possession of marijuana, conspiracy, and four counts of official misconduct, each punishable by 2 to 5 years. She is free on $20,000 bond in the first case, and has been given a notice to appear at a hearing July 28 in Lee County Court on the new charges. TIPPED continued on A54
Jody Canas
Rickey L. Richardson
Lynn H. Robinett
EDITORIAL | STATE BUDGET
HEROIN | SAFE PASSAGE INITIATIVE
ENOUGH!
Drug war faces new battles
Telegraph joins newspapers statewide in call for action Note to readers: The accompanying editorial, provided by The State Journal-Register, Springfield, is being published today in more than 60 newspapers across Illinois, as the Illinois General Assembly convenes at the state Capitol to deal with the yearlong budget impasse.
Officials share wins with Bustos, warn of hurdles ahead
I
BY RACHEL RODGERS rrodgers@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5529 @rj_rodgers
DIXON – The Safe Passage program spearheaded in Lee County is seeing success with connecting heroin addicts with a path to recovery, but issues with funding and post-recovery programs are cropping up. Lee County Sheriff John Simonton and Cathy Ferguson, administrator of the Lee County Health Department, met with U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, on Tuesday to outline the program’s beginnings as well as its growth. Bustos said she wanted to see the model Lee County had developed to spread the concept to Winnebago, Rock Island and Peoria counties. “There’s no doubt you guys have saved lives as a result of this,” Bustos said. DRUG WAR continued on A114
Veronica Jaramillo
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Lee County Sheriff John Simonton speaks about the successes of the Safe Passage Initiative, a program that allows residents to turn in drugs without fear of arrest and gets them the help they need.
llinois’ budget standoff must be resolved, and must be resolved now. Whether our leaders manage to pass a stopgap funding measure this week, Illinois still needs the stability of a full budget to restore the health of our state and its economy. For a year, our state’s elected leaders have engaged in what can only be called Gov. political malpractice. Bruce Rauner Illinois is the only state in the country that doesn’t have a budget. For a year, because of that failure, it has stiffed small businesses, social service agencies and its higher education system, leaving them trying to operate without money they’re owed. State operations have been cobbled together through a patchwork of court orders, and the state gets deeper in Senate Pres. debt by the minute. John Cullerton Gov. Bruce Rauner said Monday that the state was on the verge of crisis, and that it would be an “outrageous, tragic failure” if schools don’t open on time this fall. With all due respect, Governor, the state is already in crisis, and the budget standoff already has been an “outrageous, tragic failure.” ENOUGH continued on A74
Online extra
Click on this story at saukvalley.com to watch video from Tuesday’s meeting on the Safe Passage Initiative between local officials and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline.
House Speaker Michael Madigan
More on A7
What fallout could look like if impasse enters Year 2.
ILLINOIS | STATE BUDGET
Senator ‘cautiously optimistic’ for stopgap Funding for schools threatens process BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
STERLING – As the clock nears midnight on another budgetless fiscal year, state Sen. Tim Bivins remains cautiously optimistic that a stopgap measure can be hammered out.
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“It depends on the guy who’s been in Springfield since Richard Nixon’s been president,” Bivins said. That guy would be Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, who has been in the House since 1971, and has led the chamber every year but 2 since 1983. Nixon, in his second term, resigned from the White House in 1974, rather than face impeachment proceedings in the heat of the Watergate scandal. The budget process has been held
hostage for nearly 2 years by a power struggle between GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and a Legislature controlled by the Madigan-led Democrats. Bivins met with the Sauk Valley Media Editorial Board on Tuesday before heading back to Springfield for today’s 11th-hour budget session. Thursday is the last day of the fiscal year, and without at least a partial agreement, the carnage will be widespread. STOPGAP continued on A34
The Chicago bailout is the poison pill that could kill the bill.
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State Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, on potential fallout of giving in to Chicago Public Schools’ threat to not open in fall
$1.00
TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 162 ISSUE 143
INDEX
ABBY.................... A8 BUSINESS.......... A12 COMICS................B6
CROSSWORD.....B11 LIFESTYLE............ A8 LOTTERY.............. A2
Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
State Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, speaks to members of the Sauk Valley Media Editorial Board on Tuesday afternoon, a meeting during which he said he’s “cautiously optimistic” the Legislature can hammer out a stopgap measure.
NATION/WORLD... A7 OBITUARIES......... A4 OPINION............... A6
Today’s weather High 79. Low 57. More on A3.
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Sentenced
Polo embezzler gets house arrest, A2.