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March 1, 2015 • $1.50
R-B graduate Nate Roberts hopes health catches up with hitting prowess / C1
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Payroll budget debate likely
More seek school aid Low-income student population increasing, taxing local resources
Rutland Twp. assessor: Salary funding too low By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
leased by the Southern Education Foundation, the majority of students in preschool through 12th grade now come from low-income
HUNTLEY – Officials in Rutland Township expect a budget showdown this month over the money the property assessor uses to make payroll, after the township board went through a similar debate in February. During a special meeting last week, the Rutland board transferred $15,900 within Assessor Janet Siers’ budget to help cover her employees’ salaries for the rest of Rutland’s budget year, which ends March 31. Even with efforts made to control personnel costs, Siers said the transfers likely will not cover her payroll for the rest of the budget year – setting the stage for another spending debate with trustees. Siers has said the board’s majority has unrealistic expectations for her office with a month left in the budget year, while some trustees have said the assessor hasn’t done enough to rein in spending on salaries. “She didn’t do much about it. She should have laid off or cut people’s hours. Whether you run a business or at home, you don’t spend more than you have,” said trustee Charleen Carlsen. “It was not good planning on her part.” Trustees transferred the $15,900 within Siers’ budget after the assessor exhausted her budget line-item for salaries
See SCHOOLS, page A8
See BUDGET, page A7
Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Cups of spinach salad await students going through the lunch line Thursday at Henry Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills. A majority of public school students in the country are on free or reduced lunch. TOP: District 158 cook Jeanine Schmidt replenishes mini corn dogs during the lunch rush Thursday at the middle school. By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com Between the 2004-05 and 2013-14 school years, the number of students on free and reduced-price
lunch plans in Illinois increased from 40 percent to 50 percent. During that same time span, McHenry High School District 156 saw the number of students on free and reduced lunch plans increase
from 3.8 percent to 33 percent. The district is an example of the many schools that have quickly needed to adjust to the staggering rise in the low-income student population. According to a recent report re-
Obama, Netanyahu on collision course 6 years in the making By JULIE PACE and MATTHEW LEE The Associated Press WASHINGTON – For six years, President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been on a collision course over how to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a highstakes endeavor both men see as a centerpiece of their legacies.
The coming weeks will put the relationship between their countries, which otherwise remain stalwart allies, to one of its toughest tests. Netanyahu is bound for Washington for an address to Congress on Tuesday aimed squarely at derailing Obama’s cherished bid for a diplomatic deal with Tehran. At the same time, Secretary of State John Kerry and other international negotiators will be in Switzer-
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land for talks with the Iranians, trying for a framework agreement before a late March deadline. In between are Israel’s elections March 17, w h i c h h a v e Barack h e i g h t e n e d Obama the political overtones of Netanyahu’s vis-
it to Washington. The prime minister is speaking to Congress at the request of Republicans. His visit was coordinated without the Obama administration’s Benjamin knowledge, Netanyahu deepening tensions between two leaders
LOCAL NEWS
2-year deal reached District 47 approves parking agreement with church near Hannah Beardsley / A3 BUSINESS
What are you reading? McHenry County libraries’ circulation rates show physical books remain relevant to readers in digital world / Planit 6-7
who have never shown much affection for each other. Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street, said Netanyahu was “crossing some lines that haven’t been crossed before and is putting Israel into the partisan crossfire in a way it has not been before.” But the largest pro-Israel lobby in the U.S., the American Israel Public Affairs Com-
mittee, has tried to play down the partisanship. “AIPAC welcomes the prime minister’s speech to Congress and we believe that this is a very important address,” spokesman Marshall Wittmann said. “We have been actively encouraging senators and representatives to attend and we have received an overwhelmingly
See LEGACIES, page A2
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Hipster guises As tastes change, big food makers position themselves as decidedly less corporate / D1
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