Stressed-out teens learn how to strike a balance A7
Will the Cavs stay unbeaten in the conference?
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www.newstrib.com | Thursday, October 10, 2019 | 75 cents
‘Nobody is paying attention to the penalty portion’
Kinzinger blasts Trump’s Syria move By Craig Sterrett NEWS EDITOR AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sammi Murley, manager at Obee’s Sub Shoppe in La Salle, makes sandwiches before the lunch hour rush. The minimum wage in Illinois will increase up to $15 per hour by 2025, which has many local small businesses bracing for the increased costs of operation. However, Chicago attorney Jeffrey Risch is urging employers to look closely at the new penalties assessed if you do not pay employees properly. NEWSTRIBUNE PHOTO/ SCOTT ANDERSON
Watch for heftier fines with new minimum wage law By Brett Herrmann NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER
By this time next year, Illinois workers will make at least $10 an hour. By 2025, it will be up to $15. That’s the easy part to figure out. But local employers have a little more to keep their eye on than just the minimum wage. And a Chicago attorney spelled out the reasons why at a breakfast seminar Wednesday morning in Peru. Around 70 members of the
La Salle County to walk for suicide prevention By Brent Bader SHAW MEDIA
The community will come together to support itself and suicide prevention Saturday during the Out of Darkness La Salle County Walk in Ottawa. It’s an issue familiar to local attorney Alexis Ferracuti, chairperson for the event. She lost a friend while in law school she considered “funny, caring, smart and protected everybody around him.” “When we lost him I started thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I really didn’t know any of the signs.’ Anything about what depression See SUICIDE Page A3
business community attended the Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development seminar to hear Chicago attorney Jeffrey Risch discuss the coming changes in the minimum wage law. “I’m going to scare the hell out of you,” he warned the group. “You are in the crossfire here now more than ever because of individual liability.” Yes, Illinois’ current $8.25 minimum wage is set to increase in increments over the next five years. It will first increase to $9.25 on Jan. 1 and then again
But local employers have to be very mindful of the changes when calculating payroll because there are penalty components if they get it wrong. “Anybody want to know what the penalty components are if you get them wrong?” Risch asked. It starts with triple back pay. An employee is not only entitled to recover the wages they are owed, but triple that amount. MUCH BIGGER PENALTIES Risch said there is no avoid- Plus employers owe a statuary ing paying the set increases, penalty of 5% of the amount which were signed into law last February by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. See WAGE Page A2 to $10 on July 1, 2020. Then every January it will increase $1 until it reaches $15 per hour in 2025. “Everyone is talking about the amount per hour but that’s the easy part,” Risch said. “Nobody is paying attention to the penalty portion of it. It should be called the Illinois minimum wage and overtime law.”
‘You have to work twice as hard’
President Donald Trump is receiving backlash on Twitter this week from the Republican congressman, Air Force veteran and Reservist who represents the district that includes La Salle, Bureau and Putnam counties. With Turkey attacking Syrian Kurds today, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who resides in Channahon and has an Ottawa office, reiterated that the Kurds were U.S. allies who helped to control and defeat Islamic State terrorists and now the United States has turned its back on them and opened a gate for Turkey to annihilate them. “Yesterday they were abandoned and @realDonaldTrump failed to fulfill his promise to destroy ISIS,” Kinzinger stated on Twitter on Wednesday. “50 American advisors prevented a Turkish attack. 50. The America I love is capable of a much higher calling. This is a failure. God bless the Kurds.” “Through the fight. They never imagined the toll (over 10,000) lives lost but they willingly fought. They defended their lands and the lands of Christians and Muslims alike. They faced ISIS directly.” As the week began, the president said he would start bringing troops home from the Middle East by removing U.S. troops from Syria where they were supporting Syrian Kurds and protecting the Kurds from the Turkish military. Kinzinger also questioned what the president means by saying Turkey will face repercussions if they cross a line and attack the Kurds in an “inhumane” way. He also criticized this tweet by the president today: “In case the Kurds or Turkey lose control, the United States has already taken the 2 ISIS militants tied to beheadings in Syria, known as the Beetles, out of that country and into a secure location controlled by the U.S. They are the worst of the worst!” Kinzinger tweeted in response: See SYRIA Page A2
Hispanic IVCC students share struggles and triumphs TONIGHT
By Ali Braboy NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER
College isn’t normalized in Hispanic households, explained Mia Preciado, 19, of Mendota. “You don’t really hear ‘You’re going to college.’ It’s more like ‘Oh, where are you going to be working at next?’” Preciado said. Wednesday afternoon, five Hispanic Illinois Valley Community College students shared their struggles and triumphs at the college as part of a celebration for Hispanic Heritage Month. “Most of us are first-generation students,” said Ashley Diaz to the NewsTribune after See IVCC Page A3
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INDEX Astrology B5-B6 Business A4 Classified B8 Comics B5-B6 Dining B4
Entertainment B4 Lifestyle A7 Local A3 Lottery A2 Obituaries B7
COMING SATURDAY Established 1851 No. 199 © 2019 NEWSTRIBUNE PHOTO/SCOTT ANDERSON
Illinois Valley Community College Hispanic students (left) Rebecca Moreno and (middle) Mia Preciado smile as Gabriela Nanez talks about struggles and triumphs she’s experienced on Wednesday at the college.
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FOOTBALL FRIDAY Learn how the playoff picture is shaping up