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Thursday, april 3, 2014 • NWherald.com • 75 ceNTs
In today’s Pl@y
Pagano’s FBI file released Report sheds more light on former Metra CEO By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com A number of extramarital affairs and an ailing father are highlighted as possible reasons why former Metra CEO Phil Pagano skimmed hundreds of thousands of dollars from the agency, according to Pagano’s newly released FBI file. The 116-page report, obtained by the Better Government Association, does not come to any concrete conclusions and consists mostly of interviews of field agents with names and other identifying information redacted, often heavily. But it offers a glimpse into the possible motives of Pagano, who committed suicide in 2010 by stepping in front of a Metra train near his rural Crystal Lake home hours before he was set to be fired. The BGA’s release of the file also coincides with a task force’s scathing report on waste, inefficiency and
Story by JEFF ENGELHARDT • jengelhardt@shawmedia.com Illustration by H. RICK BAMMAN • hrbamman@shawmedia.com
Cold winter boosts business for travel agencies
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RYSTAL LAKE – The conclusion of one of the coldest and snowiest winters in recent history has left Margaret Skoulund with a bittersweet feeling. Like most residents, she is glad the relentless winter has passed, but so too has one of the most successful seasons her travel agency has seen. Skoulund, a travel agent of 25 years with Cary Travel Express, said the company saw a roughly 30 percent increase in business compared to average winters which are already the busiest time of the year. “This is one of the best seasons we’ve ever had,” Skoulund said. “The colder
“The snowfall is always going to make people want to get to warmer climates, especially when it lasts as long as this year.” Darrellynn Hanes Owner of Worldwide Traveler in McHenry the winter, the more people want to get out of town and see sunshine.” People throughout the Midwest and Northeast flocked to warm destinations this winter at a higher rate. Visit Florida – the state’s official tourism bureau – reported a 3 percent increase in hotel
bookings during the heart of winter from mid-January to mid-February. Counting only travelers from Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Washington, hotel bookings in warm-weather locations increased 7 percent compared to January 2013, according to reports from travel experts Jetsetter. Darrellynn Hanes, owner of Worldwide Traveler in McHenry, said she also saw a 20 percent increase in business this winter and many were first-time customers. “The snowfall is always going to make people want to get to warmer climates, especially when it lasts as long
See TRAVEL, page A4
Gunman kills 3, hurts 16 at Fort Hood Suspect was soldier on Texas base The ASSOCIATED PRESS FORT HOOD, Texas – A soldier opened fire Wednesday on fellow service members at the Fort Hood military base, killing three people and wounding 16 before committing suicide at the same post where more than a dozen peo-
ple were slain in a 2009 attack, authorities said. The shooter apparently walked into a building and began firing a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol that had been purchased recently. He then got into a vehicle and continued firing before entering another building and kept
shooting. He was eventually confronted by military police in a parking lot. As he came within 20 feet of an officer, the gunman put his hands up but then reached under his jacket and pulled out his gun. The officer drew her own weapon, and the suspect put his gun to his head and pulled the trigger a final time. The gunman, who was
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H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
married and served in Iraq for four months in 2011, had sought help for depression, anxiety and other problems. Before the attack, he had been undergoing an assessment to determine whether he had post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Lt. Gen. Mark A. Milley, the senior officer on the base.
See FORT HOOD, page A4
corruption on the Chicago area’s four mass-transit boards. The Northeastern Illinois Public Transit Task Force was convened last year following a second scandal at Metra – this one surrounding Phil Pagano the dismissal of the director brought in to clean up the agency after Pagano. Pagano, who ran the commuter rail service for 20 years, was suspended after confessing that he forged former Metra Board Chairwoman Carole Doris’ signature on at least two occasions to get his full year’s vacation payouts. An investigation commissioned by Metra after Pagano’s death concluded that he improperly collected at least $475,000 on top of his $269,625 annual salary.
See PAGANO, page A4
On the Net You can read the text of the FBI file on former Metra CEO Phil Pagano at http://shawurl.com/135n.
Bust yields 100 pounds of pot Cary man, 62, faces drug charges NORTHWEST HERALD
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A Cary man has been charged with unlawful possession of marijuana after he was caught with about 100 pounds of high-grade marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Agency said in a news release. Vincent C. O’Brien, 62, had his bond set at $100,000 after he was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of marijuana with the intent to deliver, the news release said. O’Brien posted 10 percent of his bond, or $10,000, and was released March 21. On March 18, members of
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A McHenry County judge ordered that a repeat sex offender who completed his prison term be further detained in a downstate treatment facility. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office filed the petition to have 55-year-old Guy E. Wilson confined under the state’s Sexually Violent Persons Act. For more, see
Despite a pair of broken glasses that took Marengo senior second baseman Brent Maney out of the game for a while, the Indians played solid defense behind starting pitcher Justin Vogel and used an opportunistic offense to subdue Crystal Lake Central, 5-2, in their nonconference baseball game Wednesday. For
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more, see page C1.
ALGONQUIN: Man hospitalized after driving car into pond; police investigating cause. Local, B1
Vincent C. O’Brien, 62, has his next court date scheduled for April 14.
the Rockford DEA office and the McHenry County Sheriff’s Narcotics Task Force observed a 2008 Dodge pickup truck leave a suspected stash house in Cary. The sheriff’s office conducted a traffic stop on the pickup truck and recovered about $170,700 hidden in the cab, according to the news release.
See DRUG BUST, page A4
WEATHER HIGH
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45 39 Complete forecast on A6
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