6 STATE • Saturday, January 17, 2015 • Section A • Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com STATE BRIEFS Legislation targets care at youth residential centers
Ex-govs: Mutual respect key with Madigan meanwhile, says it was crucial to treat the Chicago Democrat “with the respect he’s entitled to.” “I think the most important thing for anyone dealing with Madigan is that [he sees]you have your convictions,” Edgar said. “The worst thing with him is to Michael change your Madigan mind every day.” Their recollections could offer Rauner a rough roadmap to navigate Illinois’ first divided government in more than a decade. While the partisanship gripping politics nationwide has altered the state’s dynamic since Edgar, Thompson and Ryan were in office, many argue the depth of the state’s
financial crisis – including a possible $5 billion budget gap come July – make conditions ripe for cooperation. Madigan, 72, is the longest serving House speaker in the country by nearly a decade, first elected in 1970 and having controlled the chamber for all but two years Bruce since 1983. He Rauner carries the reputation of a master strategist who can pass or stall any legislation. He and his counterpart, Senate President John Cullerton, oversee Democratic supermajorities, which theoretically give them the ability to override any Rauner veto. The potential for a partisan clash was clear even before
Rauner took office, when legislators halved the term for his appointee to replace late Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka. For his part, Rauner sent a signal by announcing he had amassed $20 million in campaign funds to support lawmakers who might feel threatened by the political ramifications of making difficult votes that advance his agenda. Rauner, Madigan and Cullerton vowed to play nice this week after their first meeting since Rauner was sworn in. “It’ll be difficult if somebody wants to make it difficult, but that’s not going to be me,” Madigan said. Rauner suggested he would communicate better with the leaders than Democratic predecessor, Gov. Pat Quinn. “[In] the prior administration, my sense is the communication
was lacking or frigid,” he said. “And that’s not going to be the case here.” Edgar, who served two terms, said his relationship with Madigan started off rocky after winning a close gubernatorial race in 1990. The Charleston Republican recalled that Madigan didn’t speak to him for four months, but the two eventually were forced to work together, as the 1991 legislative session ran long in order to fix a gaping budget hole. “By that end of session, even though we fought, he was coming down and we were having lunch every day. ... He tested me.” With time, Edgar said, he learned to “level with Madigan. “He knew I wasn’t a pushover. There were certain things I’d negotiate on and certain things I wouldn’t.”
SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois lawmaker has introduced legislation that would require the Department of Children and Family Services to revoke the licenses of youth residential treatment centers that fail to report abuse. The Chicago Tribune reports that another bill would post a human trafficking hotline number at places where runaways might be taken. State Sen. Julie Morrison of Deerfield filed both bills Thursday in response to a Tribune investigation that found hundreds of children have been assaulted and raped at the centers. The newspaper also found that thousands of children run away from the centers every year, sometimes lured into prostitution. The legislation comes on the heels of a changeover in the agency’s administration. Deputy Director Cynthia Tate will take over for acting Director Bobbie Gregg next week.
Workers feeling telepressure
More than $11M raised in Emanuel re-election bid
NIU researchers study perceived need to respond to messages from job
CHICAGO – Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has raised more than $11 million in his re-election bid, dwarfing the amounts raised and spent by other candidates including an alderman, county commissioner and businessman. Recently filed campaign finance reports show Emanuel has roughly $6.4 million in the bank after spending nearly $5 million in the final weeks of 2014. Cook County Commissioner Jesus Garcia reported approximately $818,000 – much of it from unions – in his campaign fund at the end of 2014. Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti had roughly $196,000 in his war chest at year’s end, according to reports filed Thursday evening with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The election is Feb. 24, though if no candidate wins more than half of the vote there will be an April 7 runoff.
Judge to rule on beanbag gun death next month MARKHAM – The trial of a suburban Chicago police officer who shot a 95-year old World War II veteran with a beanbag gun, killing him, ended Friday with the judge saying he’ll announce his verdict next month. Judge Luciano Panici’s ruling is expected on Feb. 6. During the four-day bench trial, Cook County prosecutors who charged Craig Taylor with felony reckless conduct said the Park Forest officer had better and safer options than to shoot John Wrana repeatedly with the shotgun that fires beanbags at 190 mph. Taylor’s attorney countered that the officer acted properly and as he was trained to do when confronted with a knife-wielding Wrana in July 2013. Taylor was one of several officers dispatched to the assisted-living facility where Wrana lived. A staff member reported that Wrana had become combative with staff and emergency workers who were trying to care for him.
Youth pastor faces more child sex assault charges PEKIN – A former youth pastor charged in Peoria with child pornography and sexually abusing a child now faces more charges in Pekin involving the same preteen girl. Twenty-seven-yearold Nicholas Lawrence pleaded not guilty Thursday in Tazewell County court to four felony charges of child sexual assault. The Pekin Daily Times reports Lawrence met the girl in 2010 when he was with Peoria Heights Congregational Church. He later practiced at Mt. Hawley Community Church and Pekin’s First Church of God. Prosecutors say he continued to teach Bible study at all three and that he acknowledged meeting with the girl in a closet at the Pekin church.
– Wire reports
The ASSOCIATED PRESS SPRINGFIELD – The key to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s quest to “shake up” the status quo in Illinois may be his prowess at building a working relationship with a man who’s been building influence in the Statehouse since the 57-year-old Rauner was in high school. Building trust with Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan is something Rauner’s three Republican predecessors each cite as the linchpin during their tenures – despite markedly different leadership styles. Former Gov. Jim Edgar says sticking to his guns during negotiations helped. Former Gov. Jim Thompson says he worked hard to understand Madigan’s agenda. Former Gov. George Ryan,
By DARIA SOKOLOVA dsokolova@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Ben Kastler briefly glanced at his cellphone while shopping for groceries at Hy-Vee in DeKalb. Kastler, an assistant athletic trainer at Northern Illinois University, said he checks his phone every five to ten minutes for personal and work messages. He said a lot of athletes email or text him with questions about health care guidelines whether he is at work or home. “If I don’t have my phone on me, I kind of feel naked,” said Kastler, adding that he feels as if he is not providing the best care for his athletes if he doesn’t respond to digital messages sooner rather than later. To define an urge to quickly respond to digital messages whether at work or home, NIU researchers Larissa Barber and Alecia Santuzzi came up with a term last year: workplace telepressure. More recently, they published research defining it as separate from workaholism and work engagement. Workplace telepressure has become commonplace in today’s digital age, Barber said, and it can negatively affect people’s sleep, quality of work and attention span. “If I’m in DeKalb or if I’m out of town visiting friends or on vacation, my phone is part of me still,” Kastler said. Whether your boss or co-worker is texting when your phone buzzes at 8 p.m. or you’re making work-related calls from home, Barber said the message-based technology has become the new norm for many office employees in the United States. Bridget Carlson, marketing manager at Castle Bank in DeKalb, said she has two phones, one personal and one
Photo Illustration by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
A new tech term, “workplace telepressure,” was created by Northern Illinois University psychology researchers Larissa Barber and Alecia Santuzzi for a new study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. Barber and Santuzzi define the term as an urge to quickly respond to emails, texts and voice mails – regardless of whatever else is happening or whether one is even “at work.” for work. She feels like she is always connected. “It turned into lifestyle more than anything,” Carlson said about her job where she manages social media. “It’s like you are representing the company 24 hours [a day].” Carlson said she checks her phone every couple of hours when she is off work, but it doesn’t affect her lifestyle in a negative way. However, Barber said those who tend to multitask sometimes don’t notice how a seemingly flexible work environment can lead to a “vicious cycle of responsiveness.” “I don’t think that fundamentally this is different than
Police: 2014 gun-carry permits in Ill. top 91,000 The ASSOCIATED PRESS SPRINGFIELD – More than 91,000 concealed-carry permits have been issued in Illinois since the state began allowing guns to be carried in public a year ago, according to Illinois State Police figures released Friday. State police said 91,651 permits had been granted by the end of 2014. Cook County, which includes Chicago, led the way with almost 24,000 permits, or more than one-quarter of Illinois’ total. Suburban Will County was a distant second, with more than 6,100 permits. Illinois in 2013 became the last state in the nation to sign off on allowing concealed carry. State police said the number of permits issued last year in Illinois peaked at about 18,000 in both March and April before sharply declining. Last month, about
5,000 permits were approved. The state denied more than 2,300 applications, and 175 permits were revoked after they were granted, Friday’s figures show. Illinois, which had been the last state in the nation to allow its citizens to carry handguns in public, was compelled to change that when the Chicago-based federal appellate court ruled in December 2012 that the prohibition was unconstitutional. After months of debate, Illinois lawmakers in 2013 narrowly beat a federal court deadline and adopted the Firearm Concealed Carry Act over then-Gov. Pat Quinn’s vehement objections. Officials rushed to establish a system to handle what was expected to be a flood of applications and put in place an online application process that began in January of last year.
any other communication strategy where if you don’t have very clear cues or agreements on how to interact with someone, then you are going to run into problems,” she said. “I think that this is much like any other communication strategy, we just don’t think about it because it’s so ubiquitous. We start treating the message-based technology like face-to-face interactions.” Some bosses, however, encourage their employees to respond to digital messages within a certain time frame rather than immediately. To counteract work-life interference among her employees, Sycamore Chamber
of Commerce Executive Director Rose Treml said she encourages her staff to sift through emails at specific times while they are at work. “I think it’s about focusing on the task at hand and leaving other hours of the day with uninterrupted work,” she said. As do others, Treml admitted it’s tough to kick a habit to respond to digital messages in nonwork hours when one sees them on the phone or computer. “I certainly don’t expect my employees to do it,” she said. Barber, who would like to continue exploring the phenomenon in broader terms,
said she hopes to raise awareness of the problem of message-based communication interference with people’s private lives and have them talk about it more explicitly to their supervisors. “Here you are, an employee, trying to impress your boss, maybe in an unstable job market where you are afraid you might lose your job or you have to respond quickly to get a promotion, those perceptions may or may not be accurate,” she said. “You think you need to respond within five minutes [and] your supervisor is perfectly happy if you respond by the end of the day or maybe in two days.”
Eat Wings. Raise Funds. HIGH SCHOOL SPIRIT NIGHT
CHALLENGE HUNTLEY RED ED RAIDERS RAIDER
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20 • 11AM - 1AM Algonquin: 461 S. Randall Rd. 847-458-2333 PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING IN YOUR FUNDRAISER FLYER! Fundraiser flyers can be found at the following locations (They will not be available at the restaurant): • Online at NWHerald.com • Online at Star105.com - Keyword: Spirit • At your participating school’s front office Athletic Department and/or Booster Club
WITH THE FLYER, 15% OF YOUR NET FOOD PURCHASE WILL BE DONATED BACK TO SCHOOL.
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