RIVERSIDE-BROOKFIELD Also serving North Riverside $1.00
Vol. 32, No. 17
April 26, 2017
On the ball
LTHS baseball off to another hot start PAGE 18
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Komarek School turns 80 PAGE 4
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D103 officials testify before grand jury PAGE 9
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Riverside opts out of county wage, sick time laws Business community says measures create ‘uneven playing field’ By BOB UPHUES Editor
Riverside joined a growing list of communities opting out of Cook County’s minimum wage and earned paid sick day law, with a 4 to 1 vote by trustees on April 20. The decision to opt out, supported by the village’s business community, came despite the pleas of about 20 residents and activists who showed up for the meeting, carrying signs and urging the village board to either honor the county ordinance or postpone the vote. “We’re privileged here in Riverside,” said Cristin Evans, a village resident. “It can be easy to forget that others work hard and still struggle to pay rent or mortgage and clothe and feed their kids.” The Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2016 passed two laws that would give a boost to low-wage earners. The first allowed full-time employees to earn up to five paid sick days per year (part-time workers earn sick days on a pro-rated basis). The second increases the minimum wage from its present $8.25 an hour to $13 an hour by 2020, bumping pay $1 an hour per year. Both laws go into effect on July 1 and all Cook County municipalities must comply with the new laws unless they specifically vote to opt out. See MINIMUM WAGE on page 11
WILLIAM CAMARGO/Staff Photographer
WORKING: Darius Moore uses a scroll saw during shop class at Komarek School in North Riverside in March. The class is required for middle school-age kids at Komarek, along with home economics, classes that are disappearing from elementary schools elsewhere.
A drill press in a world of smartphones Komarek, Gross schools still offer woodworking courses
By BOB SKOLNIK Contributing Reporter
At a time when such programs are becoming increasingly rare, Komarek School in North Riverside and S.E. Gross Middle School in Brook-
field still teach old-fashioned work to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders. To step into their classrooms is almost like stepping back in time. Wood shavings flutter about as students use a variety of saws and other tools. The programs at the two schools have
much in common but also have some differences. At Komarek, shop and home economics are a required sequence for every sixth, seventh, and eighth grader See SHOP CLASS on page 14
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