FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2014
WWW.NWHERALD.COM
75 CENTS
BEARS SIGN SEVEN-YEAR DEAL WITH JAY CUTLER • SPORTS, C1 The only daily newspaper published in McHenry Co.
Arkush: Cutler has the tangibles to be an elite quarterback Musick: If Bears win a Super Bowl, price tag will be worth it ECONOMISTS OPTIMISTIC FOR FUTURE
More jobs in forecast
Rosecrance to open new office in CL Buys former TAG building By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
John Rupp of McHenry checks log books on the production floor of American Standard Circuits as he conducts an internal audit for quality assurance and regulatory control. Rupp was out of work for nine months when he got a job in September in West Chicago.
Unemployment should continue slow fall in 2014 By SHAWN SHINNEMAN sshinneman@shawmedia.com John Rupp spent most of 2013 with a backpack full of bricks. The McHenry man lost his job in December 2012, launching him into a job search world that felt foreign – gone was the importance of face-to-face interactions in favor of the all-important resume. It took nine months, but Rupp heard the sweet harmony of a job offer in September, alleviating the weight he had strapped to his shoulders all year. “Once we get the call to say, ‘We want you,’ that burden is released,” Rupp said. It’s an end result many would be pleased to duplicate in 2014, as Illinois looks to continue adding jobs and econo-
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UNEMPLOYMENT BY THE NUMBERS 8.7 percent: Illi-
6,000: Jobs a month the
nois unemployment as of November
state economy is gaining
7 percent: Unemploy-
was losing a month during the height of the recession
18,000: Jobs Illinois
ment rate for the nation mists forecast a continued slow decrease in unemployment. As of November, Illinois unemployment sits at 8.7 percent, fourth-highest in the country, while the national rate is 7 percent. The state economy is gaining about 6,000 jobs a month, compared to the 18,000 jobs Illinois was losing a month
during the height of the recession, said Greg Rivara, Illinois Department of Employment Security spokesman. “That’s a big swing,” Rivara said. Rivara attributes falling unemployment to an improved housing market, better debt ratios and increased consumer confidence – a factor helped by Congress’ recent
budget deal. He said he sees no reason those trends won’t continue in 2014, continuing to drive down unemployment, albeit gradually, while growing the economy. “You’d anticipate that growth is going to continue,” Rivara said. Economist Fred Giertz, of the University of Illinois, agrees with the assessment that unemployment should continue to drop in the coming year. But he tempered his enthusiasm. “In essence, it’s good news with where we are now but it’s not particularly good news with where we should be at this stage in an economic recovery,” Giertz said.
See UNEMPLOYMENT, page A4
“In essence, it’s good news with where we are now but it’s not particularly good news with where we should be at this stage in an economic recovery.” – Fred Giertz, economist of the University of Illinois
A Rockford-based mental health system is opening a new office next week in the Crystal Lake building formerly owned by a shuttered substance abuse agency. Rosecrance Health System announced Thursday that it bought and is in the process of occupying the former home of The Advantage Group. It will be Rosecrance’s second McHenry County site – it has an office in McHenry, also on the site of a failed local social service agency, although Rosecrance is in the process of relocating nearby. Rosecrance bought the TAG building at 422 Tracy Court on Dec. 19 for $850,000. While both the Crystal Lake and McHenry offices will offer integrated behavioral health services of all sorts, spokeswoman Judy Emerson said Rosecrance plans to expand local programming to serve young adults needing substance abuse treatment –
What it means Rosecrance Health System has bought the former headquarters of the now-defunct Advantage Group to offer mental health and young adult substance abuse services. The building at 422 Tracy Court in Crystal Lake was bought for $850,000.
See OFFICE, page A4
Justices took cash tied to pension law The ASSOCIATED PRESS SPRINGFIELD – The potential arbiters of Illinois’ pension-reform law have collected nearly $3 million in campaign contributions during the past 13 years from groups that support both sides of the issue, according to a published report. The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that most of the money was collected by one justice, Thomas Kilbride, in a 2010 campaign to retain his seat that was the nation’s most expensive of that type in a quarter-century. Still, if a legal challenge to the newly minted pension-reform law reaches the high court, it will be decided by seven justices, six of whom have accepted campaign contributions from one or both sides of
At a glance There is no legal limit on campaign contributions to judges, but the Judicial Code of Conduct prohibits them from personally soliciting or accepting contributions – a task left to campaign committees.
See CASH, page A4
LOCALLY SPEAKING
STEPS MADE FOR AQUATIC CENTER Lake in the Hills trustees will meet Tuesday to discuss annexing the old Crystal Highlands Golf Course to make way for the Crystal Lake Park District to potentially develop an aquatic center. Ann Viger, director of planning and development for the park district, said Lake in the Hills’ acquisition of the property would allow it be rezoned for the park district’s purposes. For more, see page B1.
Jacob Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
HIGH
CRYSTAL LAKE
LOW
14 12 Complete forecast on A6
WOODSTOCK: Parents slid off road traveling to hospital to have first baby of year born in McHenry County. Local, B1 Vol. 29, Issue 3
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