days of Christmas cookies
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013 • NWHERALD.COM • 75 CENTS
Musick: Bears’ Adam Podlesh patient on puntless night against Cowboys
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Staff at MCC makes its case
KEEPING TAX DOLLARS INSIDE THE COMMUNITY
MARKETING LOCAL
Trustees hear pleas for additional space By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – McHenry County College trustees received a more detailed account of what the health and science departments need as the board considers constructing a new building for the program. Staff members of health and science programs argued their case for more space, saying expansion and improvements are long overdue. More details were given about how the proposed space would be used, including an additional laboratory for nursing and the EMS/EMT program, new laboratories for soon-to-come programs including physical therapy and respiratory therapy and doubling the size of some spaces for courses such as occupational therapy. Administrators told trustees new programs could not be accredited without dedicated classrooms and labs while some existing programs could double lecture sessions from 24 students per class to 48 with more space. Marla Garrison, a biology instructor, made a passionate plea to trustees, asking them not to settle for repurposing space or shifting crucial curriculum to online-only offerings. Garrison said she was ashamed she did not push for expansion and improvements when she came to the college 14 years ago as laboratories were “abysmal” back then. Biology department chair Robert Smith added space is at a premium with 170 students on a waiting list for only 40 open seats in major courses. “We’re in a crisis. We’re desperate,” Garrison said. “I will teach in the pouring rain in a
Photos by Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Robert Benson, co-owner of the 1905 Emporium, wraps a dish behind the counter during Small Business Saturday in Richmond.
Area businesses, municipalities fight to increase holiday sales By SHAWN SHINNEMAN • sshinneman@shawmedia.com
E
dna McCall used to love traveling east. Where others might picture towering cities, McCall liked to find the small towns. She’d hop from one to another, visiting the homegrown shops unique to their town squares. Now, she says, so many of those small towns are gone. So many of the shops are chain stores. “Everything is starting to look alike,” said McCall, owner of her own little place, the Flag Store, in
downtown Crystal Lake. The growth of big box stores is one reason McCall advocates for locals to keep their tax dollars within their respective communities. A dollar toward a local business is a dollar toward growing that community, she says. Across the county, with Christmas fast approaching, McHenry County businesses and municipalities are in a fight for holiday dollars
Greg Guminski of Prairie Grove looks through merchandise at the 1905 Emporium during Small Business Saturday in Richmond.
See SALES, page A9
See MCC, page A9
Office Depot move raises tax-break issue again for Illinois The ASSOCIATED PRESS CHAMPAIGN – Illinois will lose 1,600 jobs after Office Depot said Tuesday that it will keep its headquarters in Florida after its merger with Naperville-based OfficeMax. The move comes just a week after the state Legislature declined to give the company millions in tax breaks.
The state senator who sponsored the bill that would have given Office Depot a tax package worth $53 million regretted that lawmakers didn’t agree to the deal. But some experts said that, given the state’s bad financial situation, not offering tax breaks might have been a smart move. The company’s announcement led
LOCALLY SPEAKING
one Republican gubernatorial candidate to call on Gov. Pat Quinn to hurry lawmakers back to Springfield to act on another set of tax breaks that Archer Daniels Midland Company has asked for as it considers locations for a new headquarters. The governor’s office did not immediately say if that was under consideration.
State Sen. Tom Cullerton, who sponsored the Office Depot bill, said the company’s decision was disappointing. “It’s a small setback, but it definitely does not mean Illinois is closed for business,” Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat, said. Office Depot spokeswoman Karen Denning said Illinois’ lack of an in-
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
See OFFICE DEPOT, page A9
END
McHENRY COUNTY
CLARITY ON GUN RULES SOUGHT A McHenry County Board committee wants to make sure proposed guidelines limiting county employees’ right to concealed carry would not run afoul of the new law. The Management Services Committee deferred a recommendation on the new guidelines until the state’s attorney’s office can clarify certain rules. For more, see page B1.
McHenry’s Greg Johnson
centives package was partly behind the company’s decision. Other factors included taxes and the ability of the existing 625,000-square-foot facility in Florida to accommodate all of the new company’s employees. That facility is almost twice as big as the OfficeMax facility in Naperville.
McHENRY: McHenry, which chased Woodstock North most of three quarters, eventually wins, 60-50. Sports, C1
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