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NWHerald.com
THE ONLY DAILY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED IN McHENRY COUNTY
WEATHER-RELATED CLOSINGS
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR ...
COLD?
SCHOOL’S ON DRESS WARM
Administrators consider multiple factors before calling off classes because of frigid temperatures
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By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com Schoolchildren in northern Minnesota, Alaska and North Dakota would probably snicker, maybe to cover up an underlying envy, at the prospect of school being canceled because it’s just too cold. Sure, it’s not unknown farther north. Minnesota’s governor ordered all schools closed one January day in 2014 because the temperature was supposed to hit 30 degrees below zero, and 60 below with the wind chill. But it had been 17 years since the last time the governor declared all schools closed statewide because of the temperature. However, last year’s brutal cold, which popularized the term “polar vortex” despite the fact that it is not at all a new phenomenon, also seemed to popularize a trend of calling off school over frigid temperatures. “No question. Right, wrong or indifferent, this whole ‘polar vortex’ context had a real media effect on us,” McHenry High School District 156 Superintendent Mike Roberts said. Cold has been the main culprit behind school closings over the past two winters. Of the four “snow days” called by McHenry County public schools last year and again this year, only one was on account of excess snowfall. Because district superintendents confer with one another besides their own staff – and because no superintendent wants to be the only district with school in session – a decision to cancel is almost always countywide. The decision to close school typically does not involve any hard numbers or a specific temperature or wind chill threshold that has to be crossed. In some instances, school was open the day after a cold-weather closure, despite the fact that the temperatures were just as cold or only slightly improved. It boils down to adding up all the factors and concluding whether children will be safe, said Carol Smith, spokeswoman for Woodstock-based School District 200. “The bottom line is: Will students be safe on their way to and from school?” Smith said. “We take it very seriously, and we don’t cancel school just on a whim.” Some of the factors that area school officials cited besides temperature and snowfall are road safety, the ability of school buses to function in the cold, and how long students who rely on buses have to stand outside to wait. Temperatures around the time of bus
CHECK THE WEATHER
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52 32 Complete forecast on page A6
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Judge: Man fit for trial Alleged victim cannot be found in rape case By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
WHAT ARE OTHER SCHOOLS DOING?
“The bottom line is: Will students be safe on their way to and from school? We take it very seriously, and we don’t cancel school just on a whim.”
WILL THE BUSES RUN?
Carol Smith Spokeswoman for School District 200
stop pickup and drop-off weigh significantly in the ultimate decision, Fox River Grove School District 3 Superintendent Tim Mahaffy said. “The main reason, our biggest concern, is students being out at bus stop time. If we’re going to be in session, we have to be aware of our little ones whose parents may not be able to drive them to school,” Mahaffy said. Individual health issues aside, frostbite is a function of temperature and wind speed, according to the National Weather Service. At zero degrees, frostbite can set in on exposed skin after 30 minutes with little or no wind – if the wind reaches 10 miles an hour, frostbite becomes a risk after 10 minutes on exposed skin. Another factor that plays a role in cold-weather closings is the changing of how and when parents get alerted to them. The age-old way of listening to the radio for the list of closings now includes email, text and social media alerts. Mahaffy said the information age can make it tough to make the call to keep school open if anticipated cold weather is being hyped on the local news. “Unfortunately, you’ll get the television news media making statements about the dangers of cold weather, and that looks like it’s increased over the years,” Mahaffy said. But an advantage is that parents can now learn the night before, rather than the morning of, that school has been canceled, Smith said. That gives
WHAT’S THE WIND CHILL?
CALL OFF SCHOOL
See SCHOOLS, page A4
Illustration by R. Scott Helmchen – shelmchen@shawmedia.com
WOODSTOCK – Prosecutors will try an Elgin man accused of raping a woman in a Woodstock motel, although it appears as though the case could be unraveling. Assistant State’s Attorney John Gibbons told a McHenry County Judge on Friday that the woman who accused Timothy E. Levis of raping her at the Super 8 Motel in Woodstock cannot be found, despite attempts to locate her. Furthermore, the semen DNA samples taken from a rape kit of the 25-year-old alleged victim did not contain Levis’ DNA, but that of another man. The woman had told police she had “been with” the man who’s DNA was found 24 to 36 hours before the alleged encounter with Levis. Timothy E. Still, Gibbons said it’s com- Levis mon not to catch all DNA, and says he still has a viable case against Levis. “On its face, we still have allegations which are the basis for probable cause in this case,” Gibbons said. “I have no reason to discount the victim’s allegations at this time.” Levis was charged in April with four counts of criminal sexual assault. The Class 1 felonies are punishable by between four and 15 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and a trial date was set for April 6. “Tim has always been emphatic about his innocence,” his attorney John Casey said after court Friday. “He got a very quick trial date so we can resolve this as fast as possible.” Levis has been in custody since June when Judge Sharon Prather increased his bond to $300,000. At the time, prosecutors said he picked up a new charge in Winnebago County and he had made sexual advances at female jail guards. Shortly after, Levis was declared unfit for trial, essentially hitting the pause button on his case. He was then sent to Chester Mental Health Center, a secure facility downstate. A psychologist there recently determined that Levis was competent for trial, and Prather on Friday declared him as such. In light of the new facts and circumstances presented by Gibbons and his restoration to fitness, Prather reduced Levis’ bond to the original amount he posted shortly after his arrest in April. At that time, Levis posted $10,000 bond and was released. That’s when he was arrested in Winnebago County on criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct charges. Levis was released from custody shortly after his court appearance on Friday. Prather ordered him to continue with his mental health treatment and take any medications prescribed by his doctors.
Cullerton says Gov. Rauner’s proposed budget ‘unworkable’ By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press CHICAGO – The Democratic leader of the Illinois Senate on Monday called Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed state budget “as unworkable as it is unconscionable,” suggesting the Republican try again to draft a balanced spending plan that doesn’t disproportionately hurt people who are struggling to get ahead. Senate President John Cullerton also said he and Rauner remain far from finding a way to fund state programs that already are running out of money, despite the governor’s repeated assurances that a deal is “days away.” “I’m not looking to start a fight with our new governor. I want to work with him,” Cullerton said during a speech in his hometown of Chicago. “But I don’t work for him, and his budget
John Cullerton
Michael Madigan
Bruce Rauner
Inside n Rich Miller: Could Rauner shift blame for budget crisis? PAGE A2
doesn’t work for Illinois.” Cullerton’s comments were another clear
indication of how difficult it will be for Rauner and the Democrat-controlled Legislature to find common ground on two budget fronts, with the two sides even disagreeing over whether negotiations have taken place at all. Cullerton complained Rauner hasn’t invited him and other legislative leaders to sit down and discuss the issue, while Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said Cullerton has met repeatedly with the governor and has had “every opportunity” to discuss any topic he wants. “It’s unclear why President Cullerton seems intent on undermining a bipartisan agreement to clean up the fiscal mess that Senate Democrats created,” Trover said. The current fiscal year’s budget is short about $1.6 billion, due to Democrats approving a spending plan prior to the November election that didn’t include enough money to cover ex-
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penses. They had hoped to return after the election to pass an extension of a temporary income tax increase that was scheduled to roll back on Jan. 1, but Rauner’s win over Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn put that plan on hold. Rauner has repeatedly said that raising taxes isn’t the answer and will hurt economic growth. He says the state must first fix “structural issues,” such as too much government bureaucracy and a too-cozy relationship between unions and legislators. He wants legislators to give him broad authority to move money from special state funds to plug the hole in this year’s budget, but Senate Democrats have been reluctant to do so. Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, said the Chicago Democrat
See BUDGET, page A4
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