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CLASS 7A PLAYOFFS Cary-Grove’s 2004 season, with state title loss to Libertyville, was turning point / C1 NWHerald.com
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Hill won’t seek to stay chairman Skips County Board leadership race after health troubles, DUI arrest By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Tina Hill
WOODSTOCK – Next month’s spectacle of the newly-seated McHenry County Board electing its chairman for the next two years will be the last. The 24-member board for de-
Ill. judge: Pension reform unlawful By JOHN O’CONNOR and KERRY LESTER
cades has elected the chairman from among themselves after every November election. But voters in the March primary approved a binding referendum to make the chairmanship popularly elected by the voters starting in 2016. This final go-around has already taken an interesting turn,
with Chairwoman Tina Hill deciding not to seek re-election to the seat. Hill, elected by the board in 2012, has faced a slew of health problems, as well as a stint in rehab after an October arrest for allegedly driving under the influence. Hill is the first chairman in 30 years to serve only one term –
McHenry County College instructor Bob Mihelich works with a student during a visualization training workshop Saturday at MCC.
the last one-term chairman was Clint Claypool, who served from 1982 to 1984. “It’s probably time for me to concentrate on my health and my family at this point in my life,” Hill, R-Woodstock, said.
See CHAIRMAN, page A6
The County Board will seat its new members and elect the board chairman and vice chairman at its Dec. 1 meeting, which starts at 9 a.m. at the county Administration Building, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock.
LOOKING TO LEARN MCC adds another dimension to curriculum
The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois judge tossed out a landmark law Friday intended to fix the nation’s worst government-employee pension crisis, ruling that the plan lawmakers adopted less than a year ago violates the state constitution’s ban on reducing retirement benefits once they’re promised. The ruling will be appealed to the state Supreme Court, the Illinois attorney general’s ofGov. Pat Quinn fice said. The pension patch that legislators and Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn OK’d last December was intended to make up for years of government underfunding that had left the state’s retirements accounts roughly $100 billion short of what they need to cover benefits promised to employees. But Sangamon County Circuit Judge John Belz didn’t buy the argument that in times of crisis, the state’s sovereignty – essentially, its “police powers” – allow it to impose extraordinary measures. “The state of Illinois made a constitutionally protected promise to its employees concerning their pension benefits,” Belz wrote in a six-page opinion. “Under established and uncontroverted Illinois law, the state of Illinois cannot break its promise.” The milestone law, years in the making, slightly reduced employees’ retirement-fund contributions, but also reduced benefits – the part the lawsuit successfully argued is
What’s next
Photos by Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Mihelich (center left) works with Michael Platt of Harvard during a visualization training workshop Nov. 15 at McHenry County College. In July, the instructor was selected for a three-year grant with the National Science Foundation to help build an open online course to help people think in 3D.
reading, but science educators say it is becoming more critical in all fields at a time when many are losCRYSTAL LAKE – Spatial vi- ing the ability. sualization is not often associated McHenry County College is hopwith core skills such as math and ing to revive the oft-overlooked
By JEFF ENGELHARDT
jengelhardt@shawmedia.com
skill, and it is one of four communi- grant awarded by the National Scity colleges around the nation part- ence Foundation that was split benering with the Stevens Institute of tween the schools. National Science Foundation Technology to implement a spatial visualization curriculum. The program is possible through an $825,000 See LEARNING, page A6
See JUDGE, page A9
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5-year sentence in drug case
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Wonder Lake man gets prison time for unlawful delivery of heroin, a controlled drug / A3 NATION
Advances to finals Crystal Lake co-op’s Valerie Tarazi qualifies in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100 freestyle consolation finals / C1
Mo. grand jury still meeting Slain teen’s family joins calls for calm as tensions rise in Ferguson ahead of announcement / A12
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