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COMETS MAKE THE MOST Art, honoring vets, river OF MUSTANG MISSTEPS cleanup – through the lens LOCAL PHOTOS, A3, A9 & A10
FOOTBALL, B1
dailyGAZETTE Monday, September 12, 2016 n SERVING ROCK FALLS, STERLING AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1854
SMALL BUSINESS: OREGON
Gardeners are turning over a new leaf People who might have never grown a garden indoors are getting turned on to an area couple’s light-emitting diodes BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5523 @CHeimerman_SVM
“It’s the simplest, cleanest and least expensive way,” said Zaderej, 57, a former MIT professor who works for Molex, a solar panel connector company. Happy Leaf was incorporated in December OREGON – The butter lettuce growing in Polly 2014, but it’s been in the works about 2 years. McGann and Victor Zaderej’s basement is so It’s McGann’s baby, really – she quit working in market research to focus on her silky-smooth and flavorful, you’d enterprise. have a hard time believing it’s not, Online extra “I was trying to carry water on well, butter. Click on this story at both shoulders, but I had to focus The leaves boast mouthwatersaukvalley.com to get on this,” said McGann, 54. “This is ing oils possible only in a growing a tour of Happy Leaf’s real, and we want it to happen.” space devoid of pests or the risk of basement/testing area. Manufacturing and assembly the plant bolting – going to seed take place in Chicagoland and too quickly. Under state-of-theWisconsin, but testing is done in art Happy Leaf LEDs that effectively mimic the sun, these plants grow faster than they would Polly and Victor’s basement, and in the homes of outdoors. Lettuce is ready to harvest within others who try out the LEDs. NEW LEAF continued on A24 3 weeks.
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Vic Zaderej, one of the owners of Happy Leaf, describes the process used to grow plants and vegetables in his home with the use of an indoor growing system that he and wife, Polly McGann, are selling.
ILLINOIS | STATE FAIR
TWIN CITIES
No quick fix for fair
A private foundation established to fund fairground fixes will have its work cut out for it
Photos by Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
A reveler wearing a traditional Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) mask marches through Sterling on Saturday during the 64th annual Fiesta Days parade. Organizers try to schedule the parade close to Sept. 16, the day Mexico celebrates its independence from Spain, and this year the annual celebration of the Twin Cities’ Hispanic heritage got underway Saturday when the parade marched through Rock Falls and into Sterling, where it ended at the Grandon Civic Center downtown. Post-parade highlights included a performance by the Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago, an ice cream social and vendor fair.
SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Gov. Bruce Rauner put together a foundation last month to tap outside contributors for badly needed repairs to the state’s fairgrounds, marking another instance in which the Republican former venture capitalist says the private sector can help the financially strapped state. But an Associated Press review of similar efforts shows that it will be far from a quick fix. Private foundations in other states consider themselves successful in raising at most around $4 million per year, while Illinois’ backlog of maintenance and repairs stands at nearly $200 million, according to the Rauner administration. Even in Iowa, where 1 million regularly attend a storied state fair memorialized in a Broadway and movie musical, fundraisers boast that the fair’s foundation has collected $118 million over 23 years – or about 60 percent of what Illinois needs to raise. STATE FAIR continued on A54
Fiesta Day brings people to their feet
DIXON
ABOVE: Emelia, 3, and her mom, Analiese Willis, of Sterling get into the spirit of things on Saturday in Sterling’s Central Memorial park during the 64th annual Fiesta Days parade. LEFT: The Challand Middle School band marches in the Fiesta Days parade Saturday afternoon in Sterling.
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TODAY’S EDITION: 20 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 162 ISSUE 194
INDEX
9/11...................... A4 ABBY.................... A7 COMICS................ A8
CROSSWORD.....B10 LIFESTYLE............ A7 LOTTERY.............. A2
Police involved in shooting will return to work Officers will be back on duty Tuesday BY KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5535 @KathleenSchul10
DIXON – The four police officers involved in Wednesday’s shooting of a knife-wielding 33-year-old who held a woman hostage then stabbed a man in front of them will be back on the job Tuesday, Chief Danny Langloss said. The suspect, Justin R. Llanas of Dixon, was in fair condition Sunday at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, where he is being treated for three gunshot wounds to the wrist, leg and abdomen, staff said. SHOOTING continued on A24 OBITUARIES......... A4 OPINION............... A6 POLICE................. A2
Today’s weather High 78. Low 59. More on A3.
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