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www.newstrib.com | Thursday, October 31, 2019 | 75 cents
Snowiest Halloween ever in Illinois
NEWSTRIBUNE PHOTOS/SCOTT ANDERSON
Isn’t that terrifying? The snow, that is, not the ghouls. Mother Nature delivered rare chills by pounding us with record-setting October snowfall, blanketing Halloween displays such as this one at the corner of Seventh and West streets in Peru. Children in La Salle, Peru and Dalzell will have to wait until Friday to satisfy the sweet tooth, as the three cities postponed trick-ortreat by 24 hours.
Kids say they’re OK with moving trick-or-treat to Friday By Tom Collins and Ali Braboy NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTERS
Jeff Grove isn’t just the mayor of La Salle, he’s also a father of four — and that made it a little easier to explain to some irritated parents why he moved trick-ortreat to Friday. “Some parents who took the night off from work are not happy,” Grove said of the city’s unprecedented Halloween postponement. “Unfortunately, there are always going to be situations where people are negatively impacted no matter what is decided.” Eventually, everyone will cool off and accept that La Salle and Peru were among the communities (see inset box) to postpone only because of safety. The forecast called for record-breaking snow on Halloween — the old record was a mere tenth of an inch — and the weatherman, sadly, nailed this one. We’re looking at 1-3 inches through midday, with an additional inch possible after lunch time. “The worst of the snow should be through early afternoon and then the snow will start to taper off after 2 or 3 (p.m.),” said meteorologist Ricky Castro. When asked if the snow is unprecedented, the answer was an emphatic yes. “Yesterday and today are certainly the earliest snows of this magnitude that I can recall.”
TONIGHT Cloudy and breezy. Weather A10
Some children (but not those in La Salle and Peru) will trudge out tonight in conditions like this. La Salle residents Jose Ramos and Hevibeta Sanchez, seen here at Third and Gooding streets in La Salle, were among the residents who bundled up before braving October-record snowfall that has made this the whitest Halloween in Illinois history. Grove was among the mayors who digested the bleak forecast and saw no choice but to postpone the festivities for 24 hours. His own children, however, took the news in stride — “They are glad we’re still going to have it” — and none of their friends plan to picket city hall, either. In fact, children told the NewsTribune said they aren’t unhappy with waiting a day to
collect their holiday loot, nor are they counting down the days (well, years) until they can vote Grove out of office. A few even welcomed rescheduling trick-or-treat. Sarah Peters, 15, of La Salle said she was disappointed at first, but then she shrugged off the postponement as a weather-related fluke. “This kind of weather doesn’t happen every year,” Sarah said.
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Move Halloween for good?
Right before Labor Day, a Chicago-area Democrat proposed moving Halloween from Oct. 31 to the last Saturday in October. Nobody has co-sponsored Thaddeus Jones’ bill (House Bill 3874). But after getting walloped with snow, one Illinois Valley lawmaker said she might give Jones’ bill a fresh look. “Today, as I’m driving almost north in a snow storm, there might be some merit to it,” said state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris).
is sure to put Jagiella’s students in the holiday spirit once 5 p.m. rolls around and they can start ringing doorbells. One community where kids can double-dip, so to speak, is Utica. Village officials decided at midday Wednesday not to postpone but to hold trick-or-treat on Halloween night, giving Utica kids the chance to ask for goodies near home tonight and then trot off with L-P friends on Friday. Mayor David Stewart held off on postponing trick-or-treat until the short-term weather outlook was in hand, at which point he decided the roads would be cleared and conditions would be safe for Utica children to roam See HALLOWEEN Page A2
Near party-line vote expected on impeachment ground rules By Alan Fram and Matthew Daly
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“It will be snowing on Halloween and I wouldn’t want kids on the street while cars are trying to drive in the snow.” Kate Duncan, 10, of Peru said Friday is a better night to go door-to-door, anyway. “Friday is a weekend and we get to stay up late,” Kate said. “And Friday is when we take our tests so now we won’t have to stay up late (Thursday) studying.” Kate’s little brother and sister took the news well, too. Claire Duncan, 5, said she doesn’t like cold or snow and embraced the chance to trick-or-treat when it’s warmer. Eight-year-old brother Jack figures he can hit more houses Friday, and pocket more candy, without the snow impeding his gait. A similar consensus was detected at Peru Catholic Schools. Teacher Kathy Jagiella said her craftier students noted which cities opted to postpone and which didn’t and greedily hatched plans to go trick-or-treating on consecutive nights. “Some students are thinking outside the box,” Jagiella said. “Spring Valley and Oglesby have not (yet) moved theirs. Opportunity!” It didn’t hurt that there were Halloween activities scheduled Friday, anyway. The first-graders are dressing as saints for All Saints Day and trunk-or-treat will be in the gym. All of which
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats have set the stage for certain House approval of the ground rules lawmakers will use when they consider impeaching President Donald Trump as the chamber braced for its first showdown over the inquiry. There was no doubt that the Democratic-controlled body would approve the eight pages of procedures on Thursday, with each side likely to lose a handful of defectors, if any. “As much as this president flaunts the Constitution, we are
going to protect it,” House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern, D-Mass., said on Wednesday as his panel debated the procedures. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told The Associated Press that the package creates “much more of a politically closed system than an open system.” That echoed Republican complaints that the Democratic-run process has been secretive and tilted against them. Democrats say their plan follows how impeachment efforts against Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton were run.
The investigation is focused on Trump’s efforts to push Ukraine to investigate his Democratic political opponents by withholding military aid and an Oval Office meeting craved by the country’s new president. It is likely to take weeks or more before the House votes on whether to actually impeach Trump. If the House impeaches Trump, the Senate would hold a trial to decide whether to remove him from office. Both parties’ leaders were rounding up votes as Thursday’s roll call approached, with each side eager to come as close to unanimity as possible.
Republicans said a solid GOP “no” vote would signal to the Senate that the Democratic push is a partisan crusade against a president they have never liked. Democrats were also hoping to demonstrate solidarity from their most liberal elements to their most moderate members. They argued that GOP cohesion against the measure would show that Republicans are blindly defending Trump, whatever facts emerge. Republicans said they’d use the vote to target freshman Democrats and those from districts Trump carried in 2016.