MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2014
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Bills aim to trim Ill. gov’t
OPENING DAY OF BASEBALL SEASON
Rep. Franks targeting ‘superfluous’ districts By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
TOMORROW BECKONS Today is good, but better days lie ahead for Cubs, Sox VIEWS Tom Musick CHICAGO – Let’s talk about tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, I know that it’s today. And I know that today is not just any old today, but a special today. Because it’s Opening Day, which always – I mean, always – knocks yesterday out of the park. And, hey, that’s great. I’m all for today. After all, it’s the gateway to tomorrow. Today, the Cubs and White Sox will open their seasons. The Cubs will visit the Pittsburgh Pirates, while the Sox will host the Minnesota Twins. Big crowds will pack the seats, cheerful organ music will dance across the stadium, and an umpire will yank a mask across his face and bark, “Play Ball!” Today will be fun. Tomorrow will be amazing. Because tomorrow means summer vacations and hot, sunny days and open windows at night. Tomorrow means backyard barbecues and fireworks and sprinting through the sprinklers. For the Cubs and the White Sox, tomorrow means a chance to contend. Maybe not tomorrow tomorrow, but one of these tomorrows. Because trying to build a World Series contender is kind of like playing a game of Jenga, and, well, let’s just say that the last go-round resulted in a heaping pile of failure on both sides of town. So both teams brought in
Two bills in the General Assembly aimed at helping pare down the state’s 7,000 units of government are moving forward ahead of a report on how to consolidate them. One bill, House Bill 5785, would give the boards of some of the state’s more obscure taxing districts a legal mechanism by which they could be consolidated or dissolved outright. Another, House Bill 3251, would slap a four-year moratorium on the ability of the General Assembly to pass laws creating any new unit of local government or allowing an existing government to split in two. Both bills are sponsored by state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, who is soon expected to release a report, commissioned by another bill, that examines ways to consolidate the state’s myriad units of local government that have become a strain on taxpayers and are difficult to keep accountable. He calls the bills a step forward in creating a legal means by which certain governments
State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo
On the Net You can read the texts of House Bills 5785, 5786 and 3251, which are aimed at helping shrink the state’s almost 7,000 units of government, at www.ilga. gov.
See BILLS, page A6
Test rules out heart attacks in ER, study says By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP photos
The Associated Press
ABOVE: Cubs shortstop Javier Baez throws out the White Sox’s Marcus Semien at first in a March 21 exhibition game in Glendale, Ariz. Baez, who hit 37 home runs in the minors last season, tops the Cubs’ list of promising young prospects. TOP: The White Sox’s Jose Abreu bats during spring training practice Feb. 22 in Glendale, Ariz. The 27-year-old signed a six-year, $68-million deal with the Sox in October.
More Opening Day coverage in Sports • Sox’s Sale seeks to find the right balance between competitive fire, self-control and diplomacy. PAGE B1 • Starter Samardzija looks to increase his value, whether it’s for the Cubs or another team. PAGE B1 deep thinkers to try to create a Jenga pile that will endure. On the North Side, Cubs president Theo Epstein sits comfortably on his throne as the king of tomorrow. Epstein and his loyal underlings are in their third season of the Cubs’ tomorrow project, which appears to be taking shape, except we can’t know for sure because we’re stuck
on today. On the South Side, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn enters his second season in his increased role of building toward tomorrow. Granted, Hahn’s tomorrow is closer than Epstein’s tomorrow, if only because Sox fans will stop showing up to the ball park if too many todays start to stink.
Still, Hahn has proved that he is capable of tossing sentimentality out of the game, shipping off familiar veterans for young prospects. Last year, Jake Peavy headed for the departure gates while a promising outfielder named Avisail Garcia showed up at arrivals.
WASHINGTON – A simple test appears very good at ruling out heart attacks in people who go to emergency rooms with chest pain, a big public health issue and a huge worry for patients. A large study in Sweden found that the blood test plus the usual electrocardiogram of the heartbeat were 99 percent accurate at showing which patients could safely be sent home rather than be admitted for observation and more diagnostics. Of nearly 9,000 patients judged low risk by the blood test and with normal electrocardiograms, only 15 went on
Why it matters Chest pain usually turns out to be caused by anxiety, indigestion or other lessserious things than a heart attack. Yet doctors don’t want to miss one – about 2 percent of patients having heart attacks are mistakenly sent home.
See TOMORROW, page A6 See HEART ATTACK, page A5
LOCALLY SPEAKING
CARY
JUNIOR THROWER GAINING SKILLS
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Everything points toward Cary-Grove junior thrower Ricky Hurley having a highly productive spring. Hurley’s fitness has never been better – he dropped 30 pounds, and gained strength. He already has put the shot farther (57 feet) than last year, and he has shown a penchant for coming through under pressure. For more, see page B1. adno=0269781
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
HUNTLEY: Meghan O’Brien battles lung cancer, as well as lack of knowledge about the disease. Local, A3
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