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TWO COMETS CROWNED IN PRINCETON
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Monday, January 13, 2014
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
LEE COUNTY | WIND FARMS
Couple awarded $5K in lawsuit Residents never received notice about turbines near property BY DAVID GIULIANI dgiuliani@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 525
DIXON – Lee County residents Margina and Larry Schwartzbach say the county failed to notify them of a wind farm going up in
their neighborhood. The county never denied it. In September, the county settled a lawsuit filed by the Schwartzbachs, giving the couple $5,000. According to online court
records, the Schwartzbachs also settled with Goldwind USA, the wind farm’s owner, and Mainstream Renewable Power, the previous owner. The Shady Oaks wind project started operating in June 2012
in southern Lee County, near the villages of Compton and West Brooklyn. Goldwind is the subsidiary of a Chinese company. SETTLES CONTINUED ON A5
AFTERNOON AT THE IMPROV
More inside In the last 2 years, 62 turbines have been approved for a controversial wind farm in the southwest corner of the county. How many of them have gone up? Find out on A5.
OGLE COUNTY | CREDIT CARD SPENDING
Travel, online purchases in ledger Countywide policy established last year BY MATT MENCARINI mmencarini@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 529
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Ethan Cravatta, 11, does a somersault in a snow bank Saturday afternoon at Centennial Park in Rock Falls. Cravatta and friends showed up for the Silver Skates and Snowball Archery event at the park. When the event was cancelled, Cravatta improvised and made his own fun.
2014 ELECTION | ILLINOIS GOVERNOR RACE
Minimum wage hike to test candidates Quinn wants at least $10 per hour; GOP’s opposition could draw voters’ ire SOPHIA TAREEN The Associated Press
CHICAGO – The long-percolating issue of Illinois’ minimum wage rate could take center stage throughout the 2014 election campaign. Gov. Pat Quinn will push to raise it by year’s end, while his Republican challengers fine-tune arguments that it could backfire on workers who want to keep their jobs. Quinn wants Illinois to hike its minimum wage from $8.25 per hour to at least $10, an effort that coincides with a national Democratic strategy to make the economy and income differences a prominent theme in this year’s elections. On the other side, a coalition of business groups is ready to oppose those efforts, saying a wage hike
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pushes employers to cut jobs. One Quinn challenger, Winnetka businessman Bruce Rauner, already has been criticized for reversing his position on the issue, while all four Republican gubernatorial candidates are set to attend a Feb. 4 Illinois Manufacturers’ Association forum, where organizers say the minimum wage will be a main topic. Roughly 1.1 million people in Illinois make the state minimum wage, meaning a full-time minimum wage worker makes roughly $17,000 annually. Illinois last raised its minimum wage in 2010 through a four-step increase, and the state’s rate is the highest among Midwestern states, $1 more than in neighboring Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin. MINIMUM CONTINUED ON A2
INDEX
COMICS ...............B5 CROSSWORD....B10 DEAR ABBY ......... A8
AP
Republican state Sen. Kirk Dillard, shown announcing his run for Illinois governor July 15, 2013, outside his childhood home in Chicago, says he is against a minimum wage increase – a key issue on 2014 campaign trail.
LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2 NATION/WORLD A10
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 SPORTS ...............B1
OREGON – During 2013, four Ogle County departments used their credit cards to buy office supplies, lunches for volunteers, gasoline and travel expenses, among other purchases. Sauk Valley Media received the credit card statements after a Freedom of Information Act request was sent to four departments: health, highway, probation and solid waste management. In December, Sauk Valley Media reported on the Ogle County Sheriff’s Department’s credit card spending, which included lunch training sessions at local restaurants several times a week and work clothes for Sheriff Michael Harn, including Under Armour polo shirts and Lucky Brand jeans. The reporting also discovered alterations made to credit card statements and personal purchases made on the Sheriff’s Department credit cards, which the sheriff reimbursed directly to the credit card company. At the time, those purchases did not violate county policy. The majority of the purchases made for the health department were for office supplies. Making those purchases online means an employee doesn’t have to drive to a store, and the supplies can usually be shipped to the department the next day, said Doreen O’Brien, head of the health department. The probation department has five credit cards, with four connected to Focus House, the county’s youth shelter-care facility, and one for Director of Court Services Greg Martin. The credit cards are used for a variety of expenses. PURCHASE CONTINUED ON A9
Today’s weather High 34. Low 26. More on A3.
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