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Mollie Immens
MAKING JUMP TO NEXT LEVEL Three girls from Norge Ski Club selected to attend training program led by U.S. Olympic ski jump coach / C1
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No challenge to Harrison’s election bid ‘Cursory look’ by Prim reveals no issues; election for McHenry County sheriff set for Nov. 4 By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – The deadline to challenge Jim Harrison’s candidacy for McHenry County sheriff came and went with no objections filed. A challenge was expected from Harrison’s opponent, Bill Prim, but Prim said he only found minor cleri-
cal errors and signatures problems in a few cases. “We took a cursory look; we didn’t see anything that would warrant circumventing the electoral process or denying voters the right to have an election,” Prim said. The men are looking to replace Sheriff Keith Nygren, who has held the office since 1997 and decided not
to seek re-election this year. Harrison on June 23 filed about 9,500 signatures to give Prim a general election challenge this fall. Harrison needed at least 6,728 signatures but no more than 10,764. In other words, he needed between 5 and 8 percent of the votes cast in the November 2012 election. Harrison couldn’t immediately be
reached for this article. A Woodstock-based attorney and former sheriff’s deputy, Harrison said he is a candidate not beholden to other local politicians. As an independent candidate, he’s hoping a win would change the political landscape in McHenry County.
See ELECTION, page A5
Jim Harrison Former sheriff’s deputy
Bill Prim Retired police commander
High court strikes down birth control requirement
SEVERE WEATHER MOVES ACROSS THE AREA
Businesses can hold religious objections By MARK SHERMAN The Associated Press
home’s attic. A fire in a house just outside of Wonder Lake left about $10,000 in damage, the Wonder Lake Fire Protection District said. About 12:55 a.m. Monday, firefighters responded to the 8100 block of Howe Road and found the roof of a two-story house on fire. Firefighters were able to keep the fire to the outside of the house, said firefighter Kyle Seegers. Before the call, the residents were in the basement during the storm, preemptively taking safety ahead of tornado sirens going off, Seegers said. They felt and heard the lightning strike the house and went out to check. A lightning strike at an Algonquin house left less than $5,000 in damage. The Huntley Fire Protection District at 6:20 p.m. responded to 731 Tuscany Drive in Algonquin after an apparent bolt of lightning struck the house, Lt. Ken Madziarek said. The lightning strike hit the peak of the roof of the two-story house, and blew out some of the interior walls of the closet in a bedroom, Madziarek said. A small hole was left in the exterior of the house. However, there was no fire after the strike, and no one was hurt, Madziarek said.
WASHINGTON – A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that some companies with religious objections can avoid the contraceptives requirement in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, the first time the high court has declared “President that businesses Obama can hold religious views under federal believes law. The justices’ 5-4 that women decision, splitting should make conservatives and liberals, means the personal Obama administration must search health care for a different way decisions of providing free for themcontraception to women who are selves covered under the health insurance rather than plans of objecting their bosses companies. Justice Samuel deciding Alito wrote in his for them. majority opinion, over a dissent from Today’s the four liberal justices, that forcdecision ing companies to pay for methods of jeopardizes women’s contra- the health of ception to which they object violates the women the 1993 Religious who are Freedom Restoration Act. He said employed the ruling is limited by these and there are ways for the administra- companies.” tion to ensure women get the birth con- Josh Earnest trol they want. White House But White House press secretary press secretary Josh Earnest said the decision creates health risks for women, and he said Congress should take action to make sure they get coverage. “President Obama believes that women should make personal health care decisions for themselves rather than their bosses deciding for them,” Earnest said. “Today’s decision jeopardizes the health of the women who are employed by these companies.” Contraception is among a range of preventive services that must be provided at no extra charge under the health care law that Obama signed in 2010. Nearly 30 million women receive birth control as a result of the health law, the government has said.
See STORMS, page A5
See BIRTH CONTROL, page A5
Photos by Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
The fire protection district was dispatched around 3 a.m. 4016 Ned Drive, Crystal Lake, where a fire had started on the roof of the two-story house, apparently after a lightning strike, Battalion Chief Bob Kohley said. No one in the three-person family living in the house was injured. Because of the amount of damage from fire and smoke, the structure was deemed uninhabitable by the Crystal Lake Fire Department.
Storms roll through McHenry County National Weather Service issues flood advisory; three houses struck by lightning By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
and JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com McHenry County on Monday had a second barrage of storms during the evening hours, which followed a line of storms that went through during the early morning hours. While Monday evening’s first line of storms moved quickly and with as much power as first expected, a second line of storms started rolling through the county at about 9 p.m., and led to a severe thunderstorm warning from the National Weather Service. About 2 to 3 inches of rain was expected, but the weather service did not have totals available Monday night. Because of the amount of rain, the National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for the county. Monday’s storms had lightning strikes on three houses, two of which caught fire. The roof of Scott and Jenn Debates’ Crystal Lake house caught fire at about 2 a.m., five years after they closed on the house. For Scott, the real emergency came after the initial storm warning. “All of a sudden the whole house shook,” he said. “[My] son got up [and] I got up.” Smelling something odd, he
Interior damage done by a fire in a Crystal Lake home is seen Monday morning.
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asked his wife, Jenn, if she had left a candle burning. “She said, ‘No, I didn’t leave a candle lit,’ ” Scott said, standing on his front porch a couple hours later. “[I] came out to the front door, saw embers coming down, then saw the tree with the big split in it … [I]
came out – house [was] on fire.” He ran upstairs to gather his wife, his 23-year-old son and their dogs, Daisy and Duke. Once safely out of the house, which is almost surrounded by trees, they called for help and waited, watching the flames dance at the top of their
LOCAL NEWS
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Quinn OKs cuts
Contract finalized Unfit for trial
Gov. Pat Quinn takes out $250M from the state’s budget / B3
D-155 Superintendent Johnnie Thomas receives a contract extension / A3
Report: Elgin man accused of motel rape unfit to stand trial / A4
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