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TROJANS, GATORS AT IT AGAIN Cary-Grove and Crystal Lake South look to continue string of memorable rivalry games / C1 NWHerald.com
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Board rejects health care grant Department of Health must return funding, which will be allocated elsewhere in state By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Local health officials warn a decision by the McHenry County Board to reject a state grant to pay for counselors to help insure people under the Affordable Care Act will hurt county residents in need. While the County Board voted last year to accept the Illinois Department of Public Health grant, it vot-
ed Tuesday against doing so again, and turned down $584,791 to pay for a counselor and several social service agencies to help enroll people through the state health care exchange. The 10-10 vote on which the proposal died was far below the 16 votes needed to pass because part of the grant would fall under the present county fiscal year ending Nov. 30. Tuesday’s vote means the Department of Health will have to return
Diane Evertsen, R-Harvard, was one of 10 votes rejecting a state grant to pay for counselors to help insure people under the Affordable Care Act the funding, which will be allocated elsewhere in Illinois, county Public Health Administrator Michael Hill said. While Hill expressed disap-
pointment in the board’s decision, others expressed shock and anger. The decision “stunned” Suzanne Hoban, executive director of Family Health Partnership Clinic, which since 1996 has worked to provide health care access to those who could not otherwise afford it. The agency, now located in Crystal Lake, serves about 3,000 people a year and is one of the agencies for which counselor funding would be disbursed under
the rejected grant. “For us and for the people we serve, this is a huge blow. Our clinic takes care of people with no access to health care at all. Our goal is to see how many people we can get out of our clinic and into private practice [through acquiring insurance], because our resources are stretched to the limit,” Hoban said.
See HEALTH CARE, page A7
State officials to rethink vote-counting after ruling
SCHOOLS TACKLE ISSUES IN THE DIGITAL AGE
AG: Polls must close before count begins By JOHN O’CONNOR and KERRY LESTER The Associated Press
H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Woodstock High School English teacher Tony Walker (right) and District 200’s community resource officer Jeremy Mortimer (center) discuss proper social media use during a recent class. Mortimer uses different media and humor during his presentation to students.
SEXT EDUCATION By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com After more than a dozen presentations at Woodstock High School this year on social media and sexting, police officer Jeremy Mortimer knows the point where students become eerily quiet. Before that point, Mortimer, the District 200 community resource officer, already has recapped how the various forms of sexting can take place, whether it’s through Facebook or messaging apps such as Snapchat. He already has talked with students about the nature of the Internet and how anything posted online remains there for public consumption. He already has discussed relationships and how a sext, or a revealing photo, sent to a now ex gives him or
her control of the content. Mortimer then addresses the consequences that sexting is illegal and equates to child pornography. Students in the room quiet at that point, Mortimer said. They often see their friends do it and find it acceptable without realizing the repercussions, he said. “I’m just trying to go out and say, ‘If you guys are doing this, these are possible consequences,’ making sure everybody understands the law and understands when we are talking about sexting, we are talking about child pornography,” Mortimer said. “Students don’t put two and two together. They don’t understand that. It’s eye-opening for them.” Since September, Mortimer has
See SOCIAL MEDIA, page A7
Woodstock class teaches students dangers of improper social media use
Mortimer asks for an answer to the question on the screen during a presentation during Walker’s English class at Woodstock High School.
Voice your opinion At what age should you stop monitoring your child’s social media behavior? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
SPRINGFIELD – With less than two weeks until Illinois’ high-stakes elections, an attorney general opinion has some officials rethinking vote-counting procedures in ways they say could cause big delays in announcing results. Elections officials across the Election state Thursday were weighing a recent Central ruling from Attorney Follow the General Lisa Madigan, who wrote that local, state state law prohibits and national vote-counting before races at the 7 p.m. close of NWHerald. polls Nov. 4, includ- com/elecing simple tabulating tion-central. to facilitate prompt reporting of results later. Depending on how strictly the ruling is interpreted, it could be the wee hours of Nov. 5 before results are reported, including in the up-forgrabs race between Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican challenger Bruce Rauner. Separately Thursday, in Rock Island County, Republicans filed a lawsuit against the Democratic county clerk alleging that mail-in votes are being opened early and that poll-watchers are prohibited from observing early voting. Madigan, a Democrat, issued an opinion last week in response to some “procedural issues” about vote tabulation, spokeswoman Natalie Bauer said. The opinion says state law is clear that no vote-counting should start until 7 p.m. That includes running mail-in and early votes through equipment to prepare them for
See COUNTING, page A7
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