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Pilot forced to make hard landing
SVM ATHLETES OFSPORTS, THE WEEK B3
STERLING, A2
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Tuesday, September 1, 2015
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
SAUK VALLEY | LAW ENFORCEMENT
Rape kits aren’t going untested For the most part, local law enforcement agencies are following state law BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5521 @SeaWarren
Lately, backlogs of untested rape kits have been making
headlines. About 400,000 kits sit untested in police evidence rooms nationwide, according to various reports. Locally and statewide, though, that isn’t the case, thanks large-
ly to a 2010 law that requires Illinois law enforcement agencies send all rape kits to the State Police Crime Lab for testing, so that the results can be added to the FBI’s DNA database.
All local agencies have complied. Also a requirement of the law: Any rape kits taken before 2010, untested for any reason, must be sent to the crime lab.
The Ogle and Whiteside County sheriff’s departments and Dixon and Rock Falls police complied with that section, too. KITS CONTINUED ON A10
DIXON
ROCK FALLS
Claim withdrawn in Crundwell case Boyfriend backs off effort to collect for paying storage fees BY BRENDEN WEST bwest@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5529 @BWest_SVM
Photos by Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
ABOVE AND BELOW: Gunner, a chocolate Lab, practices dock diving Monday afternoon with his handler, Jay Young, at the Southtown K9 diving pool in Rock Falls.
What’s up? Dock diving High-flying dog will show his stuff on national TV with a spot on the ‘Today’ show BY BRENDEN WEST bwest@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5529 @BWest_SVM
ROCK FALLS – Every dog has his day. Gunner’s is on Thursday, where he’ll join his owner on national television. When Jay Young dons his gray North American Diving Dog shirt, the dog knows it’s time to fly. Gunner is so giddy to jump that he pitches a fit at the very sight of it; Young wears the shirt for every competition. GUNNER CONTINUED ON A10
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TODAY’S EDITION: 24 PAGES 2 SECTIONS VOL. 164 ISSUE 88
INDEX
ABBY ................... A7 NATION ................ A5 COMICS ...............B6
CROSSWORD....B11 LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2
DIXON – Rita Crundwell’s longtime boyfriend has changed his mind and withdrawn his claim for about $4,000 he said the government owed him. Jim McKillips filed a petition Thursday to withdraw his claims; it was approved by U.S. District Court Judge Phillip Reinhard the next day. In May, Reinhard ordered U.S. marshals to seize Crundwell’s remaining assets – her trophy collection, show clothing, and other items. McKillips filed a claim July 21 stating he had accumulated more than $400 in mileage to take her belongings from Dixon to Pac Rat MiniStorage in Beloit, Wisconsin, where he has paid storage rental of $3,600
from October 2012 to July. Beloit is where McKillips lives, and where Crundwell stayed as her case made its way through the court. The government filed a motion to dismiss the claims, stating McKillips did not show he had a legal right to the property. Reinhard ordered both parties to settle the dispute this month. McKillips has declined to discuss the claim or the current status of his relationship with Crundwell, who is serving her nearly 20-year sentences in a federal prison on Waseca, Minnesota. Crundwell, a former Dixon comptroller, was arrested April 17, 2012, and ultimately pleaded guilty to wire fraud for siphoning more than $53 million from city coffers over 2 decades.
ILLINOIS BUDGET BATTLE
Museum might be a thing of the past State attraction’s future could be on the line – the bottom line SPRINGFIELD (AP) – literally underwater. Now Republican Gov. The skeleton of a massive mastodon, thousands Bruce Rauner is targeting the 138-yearof Native Ameriold museum and can artifacts and four satellite sites a giant shark for closure, the could be the next latest in a series casualties in an of cuts the former increasingly ugly businessman fight over Illinois’ says are needed state budget that to manage Illihas dragged on nois’ finances as for months with Gov. Bruce he battles with no sign of ending. Democrats who The pieces are SaysRauner Democrats run the Legislaamong millions have forced his ture. The move hand in the budget held by the Illiand he is also designed nois State Muse- stalemate, may have to put um, a favorite the “closed” sign to put pressure on lawmakers by on the Illinois stop for school State Museum ensuring more groups and scivoters feel the entists looking to learn the history of a state impact of having no state that, millions of years budget. before it went broke, was MUSEUM CONTINUED ON A4
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 POLICE ................ A2
Today’s weather High 91. Low 67. More on A3.
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