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American Profile: Garth gets in holiday spirit for latest role
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2013
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Holiday gift guide CHRISTMAS CANTATA COMPOSER
HQQLH
*DUWK
Healthy eating tips Collecting Nativity scenes
Gets into the Christmas spirit for her latest role in Holidaze
MINESTRONE SOUP RECIPE
MIDWEST EDITION
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The only daily newspaper published in McHenry Co.
CELEBRATIONS • LOCAL, B1
GIRLS GOLFER OF THE YEAR • SPORTS, C1
Parades, lights kick off holiday season
CL Central’s Lexi Harkins at her best this season
Details emerging on pension deal Local lawmakers looking over summary of proposal
By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com Public-sector employees will get less of a cost-of-living increase and in many cases wait longer to retire under a pension reform bill that Illinois lawmakers will take up next Tuesday in special ses-
sion. Reining in the 3 percent compounded COLAs that retirees in the five state-run pension systems get is at the core of the plan hashed out
earlier this week by the General Assembly’s four legislative leaders, according to a summary sent Friday to rankand-file lawmakers and obtained by the Northwest Her-
ald. The plan, which seems aimed at lessening the hurt on lower-income public employees, will save an estimated $160 billion over the next 30 years, and $1.5 billion in the
first year alone, according to sources. But this is far from the first time that lawmakers have been presented pension reform, only to fall short.
Mounting pressure to fix the state’s crushing pension obligations aside, a vote with an election year looming – and with the promise of a court challenge by the state’s powerful public-sector unions – will all but certainly be close.
See PENSION, page 12
Pit bull found 9 days after tornado
Shoppers hunt for bargains More retailers opened on Thanksgiving
The ASSOCIATED PRESS By LAWERENCE SYNETT • lsynett@shawmedia.com
Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Black Friday shoppers, including Kim Murdock of Crystal Lake, swarmed stores at the Algonquin Commons. TOP: Black Friday shoppers stroll in the morning sun between stores at the Algonquin Commons. Thanksgiving fell late this year, causing many retailers to open a day earlier than last year with only 26 shopping days until Christmas.
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onnie Bogdan didn’t let a full stomach get in the way of shopping on Thanksgiving. The Algonquin resident took advantage of deals one day early this year by heading to the stores Thursday afternoon, rotating lines with her husband and two children at
big box retailers near the Algonquin Commons. The night came to a close at Best Buy, where she and others waited outside for hours for a second round of midnight sales after the store initially opened at 6 p.m. “I’d be in line regardless of whether it
was today or Black Friday,” Bogdan said. “We always used to do it early Friday morning, so it feels a little odd doing it at night, but it’s the workers who really suffer.” Up to 140 million consumers plan to shop
See SHOPPING, page 11
READ MORE: This year might transform the start of the holiday shopping season into a two-day affair. PAGE E1
WASHINGTON – A 6-month-old pit bull that was buried under a pile of rubble for more than a week after a tornado ripped through a central Illinois city has been coaxed to freedom with hot dogs and reunited with his owner. Jacob Montgomery, a member of the Illinois National Guard, was separated from the dog, Dexter, when the Nov. 17 tornado destroyed his third-floor apartment in Dexter, a W a s h i n g t o n . 6-month-old M o n t g o m - pit bull, was e r y c o m b e d found under a t h r o u g h t h e pile of rubble wreckage mul- more than a tiple times but week after a turned up no tornado hit sign of Dexter. Washington, Nine days Ill. after the storm, a neighbor who was looking for his cat, also missing, with the help of a group called Rescuing Animals in Need sent Montgomery a Facebook message to tell him Dexter had been found partially buried in debris where the apartment building used to stand. “He said, ‘I’ve got your dog right here,’ ” Montgomery recalled in a statement released by the Illinois National Guard. “As soon as Dexter saw me, his tail started going.” The pooch was in relatively good shape. “The vet said he has no real injuries – just a few scrapes and cuts,” said Montgomery, who got Dexter as a puppy to
See PIT BULL, page 12
LOCALLY SPEAKING
PREP BASKETBALL
CL CENTRAL LEARNING IN LOSSES Crystal Lake Central boys basketball coach Rich Czeslawski knows guard Cavanagh Murphy will know when he needs to take control after playing in varsity games and using each as a learning experience. And learning is what the Tigers tried to do during Friday night’s 72-54 loss against Carmel in Central’s Coaches vs. Cancer Thanksgiving Tournament. For more, see page C1.
Greek’s Pizzeria franchise owner Archie Soulidis Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
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43 27 Complete forecast on A14
CRYSTAL LAKE: Greek’s Pizzeria slated to open in mid-December at former Wild Orchid Thai Bistro. Business, E1 Vol. 28, Issue 334
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