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Hastert pleads guilty to scheme Ex-speaker acknowledges paying to hide misconduct that dates back to time as wrestling coach By MICHAEL TARM The Associated Press CHICAGO – Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty Wednesday to evading banking laws in a hush-money scheme, averting a potentially lurid trial that could have dredged up sexual allegations by agreeing to a deal with prosecutors that recommended he serve no more
than six months in prison. In the written agreement, the Illinois Republican directly acknowledged for the first time that he sought to pay someone $3.5 million to hide misconduct by Hastert against that person dating back several decades, to around the time the longtime GOP leader was a high school wrestling coach. Before accepting the plea,
the 73-year-old was warned by the judge that he could go beyond the recommendation and give Hastert up to five years behind bars when he is sentenced Dennis in February. Hastert Because the plea agreement has a sentenc-
ing range from no prison time to six months, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin also could decide to put Hastert on probation or home confinement. The plea helped seal the downfall of a man who rose from obscurity in rural Illinois to the nation’s third-highest political office. During his eight years as speaker, Hastert
was second in the line of succession to the presidency. As he stepped to the lectern to answer a series of questions, he spoke in a voice so soft that the judge told him to speak up. The hearing revealed no new details about why Hastert agreed to pay the money. The indictment and the plea language both said the payments were meant to conceal past
misconduct by Hastert, but neither document explained the nature of the wrongdoing. The Associated Press and other media, citing anonymous sources, have reported that the payments were meant to hide claims of sexual misconduct. At the half-hour hearing in
See HASTERT, page A6
Trustees hold special meeting
FUNDRAISER SET FOR CRYSTAL LAKE WOMAN WITH THIRD MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOR
Officials in Holiday Hills talk amid rift with president By CAITLIN SWIECA cswieca@shawmedia.com
Photos by Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
ABOVE: Cancer patient Meghan Korbecki and husband, Bill Korbecki, of Crystal Lake become overwhelmed with emotions as they discuss Meghan’s stage 4 brain tumor Oct. 22 at their home in Crystal Lake. A fundraiser to help the family with medical costs is set for Nov. 11 at Nick’s Pizza & Pub. BELOW: Bill helps Meghan get into a chair before dinner at their home in Crystal Lake.
Putting up a resilient fight Ironman triathlete tries to remain hopeful through her 3rd bout with cancer By ALLISON GOODRICH
C
agoodrich@shawmedia.com
RYSTAL LAKE – It was last August when Meghan Korbecki looked at her husband and her parents and asked, “I’m going to die, aren’t I?” After recalling this memory at a table in her Crystal Lake home last week, her neck folded and her gaze fell down to her hands as she allowed herself a moment to cry. Her left arm laid slack on her left leg, which also is losing mobility. A neon pink tuft of hair at the top of her head pointed toward the wall. “I had never felt like that before,” Meghan said, her voice thick. When the now-40-year-old asked about her own mortality, it wasn’t after the first time she was faced with a brain tumor in her head. It wasn’t even after the second. That was the third time since 2002 Meghan sat in a room and heard news as terrifying as “brain tumor.” In 2002, Meghan, who’s family name at the
See MEGHAN, page A6
If you go WHAT: Benefit for Meghan Korbecki, which will include a raffle and silent auction. Twenty percent
of sales will go to Korbeckis. WHEN: 4 to 10 p.m. Nov. 11 WHERE: Nick’s Pizza and Pub,
856 Pyott Road, Crystal Lake INFORMATION: Donate at www. gofundme.com/missionformeghan
HOLIDAY HILLS – A special Village Board meeting Tuesday, which was attended by five board members but not Village President Dan Drury, was the latest chapter for a village government that has fallen into dysfunction because of an ongoing rift between the president and board members. The meeting was led by Trustee Louis French and was attended by Kathy Andrews, Dan Drury Mary Lundsten, Cheryl Thompson and Rich Young. Drury and Trustee Dan Powell were not present. Drury said Wednesday he could not attend the meeting because he was working a 24hour shift at his job as a firefighter/paramedic. He said he found out about the meeting on Saturday, which was too late for him to rearrange his schedule. Drury informed the board before the meeting he could not attend. “They knew my work schedule and held it for a day that I couldn’t come in,” Drury said. The trustees said they chose the date because it was agreed upon by village attorney David McArdle and attorney James Kelly, whom the trustees hired because they said McArdle was not being responsive to their phone calls. McArdle did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, but Kelly was there and spent much of the time explaining their responsibilities as village officials and rights as trustees. The trustees said the meeting was necessary because they had submitted items to Drury for placement on their normal agenda that they claim Drury was refusing to place on the agenda. Drury disputes that, saying he has put everything trustees have requested on the agenda. He also said he asked to have
See HOLIDAY HILLS, page A5
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McHenry beats Jacobs in penalty kicks, heads to sectional final / B1
Brian Urlacher’s brother Casey in running for 26th Senate District seat / A3
Algonquin tattoo artist opens new haunted house in Huntley / 8-9
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