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Cary-Grove lost 16 starters after graduation, but coach Brad Seaburg, team haven’t let it affect this year’s play / C1 NWHerald.com
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Silgan Plastics to close in April
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COUPLE TO GIVE PRESENTATION ABOUT WARTIME MEMENTOS
Woodstock plant to lay off 151 workers By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – By late spring, Silgan Plastics Corporation will lay off 151 employees and close its one remaining manufacturing plant in Woodstock, dramatically changing course on a local restructuring plan announced last month. In a letter sent to the state in late October, the North American plastics container maker said it would close the Silgan Tubes plant at 1005 Courtaulds Drive because of a restructuring to its manufacturing operations and the loss of a major Woodstock customer, multiple sources told the Northwest Herald. Earlier in October, Silgan said in paperwork with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity that a company rePam structure would Cumpata result in layoffs to 39 employees by mid-November at its Woodstock location. City and McHenry County officials said Silgan representatives didn’t indicate to them why they decided to change plans. A call for comment Tuesday with Silgan’s human resource department at its corporate headquarters in Chesterfield, Missouri, was not returned. Calling Silgan’s decision disappointing, Pam Cumpata, president of the McHenry County Economic Development Corp., said her group will work alongside the McHenry County Workforce Network to connect the affected employees with other plastic manufacturers in the area. “We are losing another company,” Cumpata said. “The upside is, hopefully we have enough molders in the county who are struggling to find employees that many of these people will land with other plastic molder and injection companies.” The layoffs, affecting
Photos by Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
ABOVE: Mark Hutson poses for a portrait Nov. 3 in Harvard with some of the military service flags he has collected. BELOW: Military service pins are on display in Mark and Kristine Hutson’s collection.
Veteran preserving history
Harvard man, wife collect service flags, other wartime memorabilia By HANNAH PROKOP hprokop@shawmedia.com
If you go
HARVARD – One of the first WHAT: Mark and Kristine service flags Mark and Kristine Hutson’s presentation on military Hutson bought was found in a cabservice flags inet at a farm auction near Union. WHEN: Flags will be on display After about four years of colfrom 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., and a prelecting, the Hutsons, who live in sentation will be given from 6:30 to Harvard, have about 100 flags that 7:30 p.m. Thursday are marked with blue stars, to repWHERE: Woodstock Public resent a family member serving in Library, 414 W. Judd St., Woodstock the military during war time, and gold stars, to represent a family member who died during a war. said, and were widely displayed The flags started becoming pop- during World War II, when peoular during World War I, Hutson ple would hang them in windows
to let others know that a family member is or was serving. “They wanted to show everyone that their loved one was serving this country, and really, it was really about the pride and the patriotism in the country,” Mark Hutson said, adding some people still hang the flags today. When he found the first flag, Hutson thought, “How could this flag mean so much in that period of time and today it’s in an old used farm cabinet?” Hutson, who served in the U.S.
See VETERANS, page A9
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“They wanted to show everyone that their loved one was serving this country and really, it was really about the pride and the patriotism in the country.” Mark Hutson, Harvard resident
who collects service flags and other wartime memorabilia
See LAYOFFS, page A10
Area child care providers watch subsidy program after bill fails By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com Child care providers and low-income parents in McHenry County breathed a small sigh of relief this week as they saw some concessions on the state’s child care subsidy program. But after a bill that would have restored funding to the Child Care Assistance Program and limited Gov. Bruce Rauner’s power to implement future restrictions failed to pass the Illinois House, those same advocates are not done
worrying. Sheila Henson, the executive director of Brown Bear Daycare in Harvard, said she still is waiting to see what happens to the program when an emergency rule that was enacted this summer and amended Monday goes before the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules on Tuesday. “Even though he has compromised, it hasn’t gone through the administrative process,” Henson said. “There are changes, but until then, we don’t see them.” Rauner put in place an
emergency rule July 1 as the program dealt with a $300 million shortfall amid the state’s budget crisis. The rule restricted the program to people with incomes below 50 percent of the poverty line, or $837 a month for a mother of two. On Monday, the administration increased that amount to 162 percent, or about $2,700 a month for the same family. Other changes, such as increased copayments, remained in place, although still others could be lifted pending further review, Rauner spokesman
Lance Trover said in a news release. The administration had hoped the compromise would allow lawmakers to avoid Senate Bill 570. And when called to the floor Tuesday, the bill received 70 votes, one shy of what was needed to pass in the fall veto session. State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, voted yes, while Reps. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake; Barbara Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake, and David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, voted no. Franks said he supported the bill because he wanted to
send a message to Rauner that the emergency rule was hurting families. Franks, however, did not agree with the part of the bill that would remove the governor’s power to impose such a rule. “I totally disagreed with the governor’s decision to throw most of the low-income people out of the program,” Franks said. “To his credit, he understood his error and is now trying to fix it.” He said instead, he wanted to see Rauner enact a new
See CHILD CARE, page A9
LOCAL NEWS
LOCAL NEWS
NATION
WHERE IT’S AT
100 years old
Tax levy gets OK
GOP debate
Huntley woman rings in celebration with library volunteers / A3
Residents in D-200 should expect same tax bill after board gives approval / A3
Bush, Carson hope to boost campaigns into winter months / B4
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Rep. Jack Franks
Rep. Barbara Wheeler
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