CL native creates Christmas nostalgia with exhibit
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MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2013
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NFC NORTH SHOWDOWN: PACKERS 33, BEARS 28
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County Board will discuss committee meeting rules By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – The McHenry County Board will ring in the new year with a discussion on whether it should establish a more substantial set of guidelines for its committee meetings. Chairwoman Tina Hill, R-Woodstock, is convening a Committee of the Whole on Friday to discuss having uniformity on how chairmen of the board’s 11 standing committees run the meetings in which much of county government’s work gets done. Hill said no one incident or practice prompted the upcoming discussion, but she noted that she has heard concerns over how some committees handle standard practices, such as addressing public comment and reviewing meeting minutes for adoption. For example,
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV The Associated Press
Matt Forte gains 33 yards in the third quarter as Green Bay’s A.J. Hawk makes the stop in the NFC North game Sunday at Soldier Field.
Bears’ loss elicits special kind of hurt Bears Extra inside n Morrissey: Lead, playoff
Daniel Powter. “The camera don’t lie. You’re coming back down and you don’t really mind. You had a bad day. You had a bad day.” For the Bears, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Any football fan will tell you that the line between winning and losing is razor thin. One ill-timed mistake can separate contenders from pretenders in the NFL. That’s why it was tough to see Bears
hopes slip away. Page B1 n Post-game analysis: In the end, Cutler is Cutler. Page B1
Voice your opinion Will the disappointing end to the Bears’ season mean goodbye for Jay Cutler? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
See MUSICK, page A6
Police clear backlog of gun ID applications By MICHAEL TARM The Associated Press CHICAGO – Illinois State Police said Sunday they have eliminated their backlog of tens of thousands of applications for gun owner identification cards – helping to clear their decks as they prepare for an expected influx of requests for concealed carry permits. Just months ago, nearly 50,000 Firearm Owner Iden-
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tification card applications were still awaiting approval, raising doubts that state police could handle the nearly 400,000 concealed carry applications they expect to flood in during 2014. But as of mid-December, pending FOID card applications were down to 3,000 – and all those were submitted within the last month, department spokeswoman Monique Bond told The Associated Press.
By law, the applications are supposed to be approved or denied within 30 days. “We have no more backlog,” she said. The addition of more than 20 new staff members to the unit that processes the applications, as well as a $4 million upgrade in technology and infrastructure, helped workers whittle down the piles of applications that had stacked up, Bond said.
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some committees stick to limiting public comment to the appropriate part of the agenda, while others will recognize audience members to speak during other parts of meetings.
See RULES, page A6
The ID card applications are submitted in writing, with reviewers sifting through papers by hand. By contrast, concealed carry applications can only be submitted online – a paperless process that should ensure faster processing, Bond said. Lawmakers approved concealed carry last summer after a federal appeals court said
See BACKLOG, page A6
MOSCOW – A suicide bomber struck a busy railway station in southern Russia on Sunday, killing at least 15 other people and wounding scores more, officials said, in a stark reminder of the threat Russia is facing as it prepares to host February’s Olympics in Sochi. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Volgograd, but it came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for new attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Sochi Games. Suicide bombings have rocked Russia for years, but many have been contained to the North Caucasus, the center of an insurgency seeking an Islamist state in the region. Until recently Volgograd was not a typical target, but the city formerly known
as Stalingrad has now been struck twice in two months – suggesting militants may be using the transportation hub as a renewed way of showing their reach outside their restive region. Volgograd, which lies close to volatile Caucasus provinces, is 550 miles south of Moscow and about 400 miles northeast of Sochi, a Black Sea resort flanked by the North Caucasus Mountains. The bombing highlights the daunting security challenge Russia will face in fulfilling its pledge to make the Sochi Games the “safest Olympics in history.” The government has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers, police and other security personnel to protect the games. Through the day, officials issued conflicting statements on casualties. They also said that the suspected
See RUSSIA, page A6
Ring in the Holiday Spirit with Smiles at Bull Valley Dentistry New Patient Adult Special
$59 Exam, X-Rays, Routine Teeth Cleaning*, Implant or Orthodontic Consult (*not in the presence of gum disease) • exp. 1/30/14 •must present coupon new patients only • cannot be combined with other offers
Vol. 28, Issue 364
Where to find it Advice Classified Comics
The McHenry County Board is convening a Committee of the Whole at 8:30 a.m. Friday at the county Administration Building, 667 Ware Road, Woodstock.
At least 16 killed, more wounded; safety fears raised for Olympics
H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
BEARS INSIDER Tom Musick
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Suicide bomber strikes in Russia
STOPPED SHORT CHICAGO – Losing hurts. But losing to the Green Bay Packers? In the final minute? To end your season? That’s a whole ’nother level of sports heartbreak. And it happened to the Bears. At the hands of the Packers. Again. No wonder the Soldier Field speakers blared a sad song in the waning moments of the Bears’ 33-28 loss to their oldest, most bitter rivals. The outcome lifted the Packers into the playoffs as NFC North champions, while the Bears turned to face a long, painful offseason that could include many difficult personnel changes. The lyrics filled the ears of stunned fans after the Packers’ game-winning score. “You had a bad day,” echoed the song by
Tina Hill, McHenry County Board chairwoman, said no one incident prompted discussion, but she has heard concern expressed about the topic at public hearings.
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