FRIDAY
Ja nuar y 23 , 2015 • $ 1 .0 0
SENIOR NIGHT FOR MARENGO Johnsburg wrestling gives Indians only loss of quad / C1 NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
Board OKs utility work Huntley project part of overhaul to downtown By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com HUNTLEY – Trustees on Thursday put aside their differences and approved an underground utility project, setting the stage for about $4 million in aesthetic renovations to downtown Huntley this year. The $880,590 project buries overhead utility lines throughout downtown, primarily along Main and Coral streets, as village officials look to beautify a historic downtown. Trustees approved the project on a 4-1 vote and included overhead utility lines behind an alley along Main Street. The News alley divided trustees on the project’s scope to your during a committee phone meeting last week. Only trustee Ronda Text keyword Goldman voted no. She NWHHUNTLEY reiterated her opposition, saying the lines to 74574 to near the alley weren’t sign up for HUNTLEY news worth the estimated text alerts from $75,000 to $100,000 to bury them. the Northwest “It’s real money. Herald. MesTIF money comes from sage and data taxpayers,” Goldman rates apply. said. “That money can be used elsewhere. It’s not Monopoly money.” A tax increment financing (TIF) district, officials have said, will eventually cover the costs for the utility project and the roughly $3 million in other downtown projects this year. Last week, some trustees said the alley should be included because the TIF district would finance the upgrades, although officials have yet to see the special taxing district produce enough to cover the projects. Trustee Harry Leopold initially was against including the alley into the utility project. But on Thursday, he said he talked with constituents in Sun City, Huntley, and left convinced the alley was worth the extra expense. “I wanted to see what my folks thought about it,” said Leopold, who lives in Sun City. “There is no question about it. It’s going to look better, and
LOW
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Rauner previews priorities
DIGITAL DIVIDE
Governor wants to cut taxes, Medicaid The ASSOCIATED PRESS
Illustration by R. Scott Helmchen – shelmchen@ shawmedia.com
STUDENT
CONNECTION School districts turn to devices to address lack of technological resources in low-income homes By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – In the 21st century classroom, a keyboard can be just as vital as a chalkboard. But while the students in most need are often able to receive school supplies, such as pencils, papers and binders, there have been more difficulties in ensuring that those students have Internet access that is of growing importance in school success. According to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the digital divide is widening based on levels on household income and education. The report showed 90 percent of households with a resident holding a bachelor’s degree or higher had high-speed Internet while only 43 percent of those without a high school diploma had an Internet connection. Further, 47 percent of households with less than $25,000 in income had an Internet connection. The lack of technological resources for children in those low-income homes is an issue many school districts are attempting to tackle head on. At District 200 in Woodstock – where 13.6 percent of residents live below the poverty line – administrators are piloting a program to equip students with Chromebooks, iPads and other devices. Carol Smith, spokeswoman for District 200, said some classrooms are using the devices to replace traditional textbooks and foster creativity in how lessons are taught. Because the district cannot solve the lack of Internet at home, the devices stay in the school but students have the ability to use the technology there.
“There is always a challenge and you always have to look at pros and cons ... but computers and devices are playing a larger role and part of what we do needs to be providing students with those skills.” Bill Clow Spokesman at District 50 in Harvard
“We give students time during the school day to get the work done [on the devices],” Smith said. “There will be bigger discussions in the coming years of getting to the point of students taking that technology home.” The one-to-one computing program District 200 is piloting has come under some scrutiny at a national level because it does not address core issues of Internet access at home and can be an expensive investment with varying results. District 200 has invested $67,500 in the program with $49,000 coming from a revolving state technology loan, $7,600 coming from district funds and $10,900 coming from grants and donations. While it is not a cure-all to the technology shortfalls some students face, Smith said the program could expand and the district still offers extended computer lab and library hours before and after school to help students stay connected.
See DIGITAL DIVIDE, page A7
See HUNTLEY, page A7
WHEELS
HIGH
CHICAGO – Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday began laying out priorities for his first year in office, saying property taxes and workers’ compensation costs are too high, Medicaid spending is unsustainable and state workers’ salaries and benefits are too generous. In a speech he said was a preview of the State of the State address he’ll give next month, the Winnetka Republican said Illinois is in “massive deterioration mode.” He said he will propose a number of reforms to turn the state around, and indicated they would involve making Illinois more attractive to businesses while slashing spending on everything from health insurance for the poor to public-worker pensions and the state’s payroll. “This is the critical lesson that we’re seeing: We’re on an unsustainable path,” Rauner told students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. “We need fundamental structural change and Gov. Bruce raising taxes alone ... isn’t Rauner going to fix the problem, and in a lot of ways it’s going to make it worse.” While he didn’t outline specific proposals, many of Rauner’s ideas are likely to draw heavy opposition from majority Democrats and even some fellow Republicans in the General Assembly, as well as public-employee labor unions. He said higher-than-average costs of workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance are driving businesses out of the state, property taxes are “brutally high” and “shenanigans” in the public-employee pension system have made Illinois’ multibillion-dollar pension debt “a time bomb for taxpayers.” Rauner said public employees’ average salaries are among the highest of any state in the U.S. and the state’s share of health care premiums are too high. Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County Municipal Employees Council 31, said Rauner was using numbers that are inaccurate and in some cases outdated. He said public union employees are not the cause of the state’s challenges. AFSCME, the state’s largest public-employee union, is set to begin negotiations with Rauner’s administration on a new contract. “The type of misleading statement and false facts we see today are not an encouraging first step you want to see from someone who is truly trying to work together for the common good,” Lindall said. Rikeesha Phelon, spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, said the Chicago Democrat wants to see how Rauner’s statements translate into legislative policy and a proposed budget. Rauner is scheduled to deliver his budget address on
See RAUNER, page A7
LOCAL NEWS
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Man guilty of domestic battery
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Mario Martinez-Romero faces up to 7 years in prison for strangling former girlfriend / A3 NATION
Fireplaces are on Fish Fry tastes great! “Great place to be!”
Car enthusiast
Near party-line vote
Cary resident Jim Podzimek collects scale model replicas of all the classics / D1
GOP pushes abortion bill through House as protesters swarm city for March of Life / B3
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