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Augu s t 29, 2014 • $ 1. 0 0
PREP FOOTBALL Marian Central defense intends to ‘pack a punch’ / C1
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UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY REPORT RANKS ILLINOIS AMONG BOTTOM 10
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MCC board OKs budget $62 million plan assumes freeze in property tax levy By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com
Kyle Grillot – kgrillot@shawmedia.com
Dianne Diana tends to the needs of her son, Andrew, who has severe autism and a seizure disorder, during dinner Wednesday with her family, including son Kenny (left) and husband Ken in their Crystal Lake home. Like a lot of Illinois families with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the Dianas have had trouble finding services for Andrew, who they had to send to Wichita, Kansas, for school because they couldn’t get the services he needs here. The Pioneer Center is trying to get Andrew into one of its in-the-works group homes now that he has aged out of the school he went to in Wichita, Kansas.
McHenry County families struggle to find disability services By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Even a trip to the grocery store can be difficult for the Diana family. Andrew Diana moved back to his parents’ house in Crystal Lake three weeks ago after aging out of Heartspring, a center for children and young adults with special needs in Wichita, Kansas. The 22-year-old’s diagnosis of severe autism and a seizure disorder means that he
requires 24-hour care, and so his mother, Dianne, has taken a leave from her job to care from him. “To put it in perspective, he’s like a 2-yearold in a 22-year-old’s body,” said his older brother, named Kenneth after his father. “It’s like when you see a kid at a checkout register ask for candy and they don’t get it and they scream until they get it. In essence, that’s the kind of behavior you see, but in an adult’s body. It’s very unusual from an outsider’s
See SERVICES, page A4
The rankings A study released by United Cerebral Palsy ranked states and the District of Columbia on the quality and community-based nature of its services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Top 10
Bottom 10
1. Arizona 2. Michigan 3. Hawaii 4. Georgia 5. New York 6. South Carolina 7. Maine 8. Massachusetts 9. Ohio 10. Missouri
42. Iowa 43. Utah 44. Illinois 45. Arkansas 46. Indiana 47. Tennessee 48. Oklahoma 49. Virginia 50. Texas 51. Mississippi
CRYSTAL LAKE – The McHenry County College Board of Trustees approved a $62.2 million education and operations budget Thursday that assumes a freeze in the property tax levy for a second consecutive year. The $62.2 million budget is slightly more than the $61.1 million education and operation budget for 2013-14, mostly because of a $2 million increase in capital outlay costs. The budget does include an overall decrease in salaries and benefits, which dropped from about $43.2 million to $42.7 million. Salaries and benefits still account for 66 percent of the overall education and operation budget. The budget is projected to result in a decrease to the education fund reserves from $19.6 million to $18.9 million. The operations fund balance is expected to increase from $4.6 million to $5.6 million. For the second year in a row, trustees are not planning to ask for an increase to the tax levy, according to budget estimates. Property tax revenue is expected to come in at about $27 million again, accounting for 46.8 percent of the total revenue. Despite a tuition increase, revenue in that area is expected to drop to $15.2 million, which is lower than the initially projected $16 million and the $15.6 million from last year. That tuition revenue, along with fees, accounts for 26.3 percent
See BUDGET, page A4
Oil industry officials donating to Bruce Rauner’s campaign The ASSOCIATED PRESS SPRINGFIELD – Oil producers, drilling companies and geologists frustrated with the slow process of implementing rules for high-volume oil and gas drilling are putting their money behind Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner. The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises reported the Winnetka businessman received almost $240,000 from oil company officials looking to get the process up and running during
a July 9 fundraiser in Mt. Vernon. Most of those funds come from companies who want the permit process to be up and running as soon as possible. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation last year that authorized the Bruce Rauner process commonly known as fracking, which uses a high-pressure mixture of water, sand
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and chemicals to crack and hold open thick rock formations, releasing trapped oil and gas. But the Department of Natural Resources has spent months holding hearings and gathering more than 30,000 comments on the best way to regulate the drilling method. Mount Vernon-based oil producer Nelson Wood co-hosted the July 9 fundraiser. He said the state is being “held back” from an economic surge that oil booms have created in other states.
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IDOT is hoping to open Algonquin Western Bypass in early September / A9 SPORTS
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Inside n Governor hopefuls attack each other on hiring, taxes. PAGE B2
Volleyball After dominating Bartlett on Tuesday, the Jacobs girls fell to DeKalb / C1
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Sen. Dick Durbin visits the manufacturing and robotics labs at MCC, touts the need for more workers for high-skilled jobs / A3
“We have the potential for the same thing to happen in Illinois,” Wood said, adding “some people have already left.” The flood of donations to Rauner from fracking industry officials come as the Department of Natural Resources is expected to submit proposed fracking rules to the Illinois Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules on Friday. The 12-member panel has 45 days to sign off on the suggested rules, change them or prohibit their filing.