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Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Saturday–Sunday, April 27–28, 2013
KORCEK’S CORNER
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
Korcek laments loss of WSCR broadcasts Sports, B1
As May nears, here’s your garden checklist Lifestyle, C3
Lawmakers still have much to do Inside A glance at bills pending in the General Assembly, and how lawmakers representing DeKalb County voted on them. PAGE A8
Illinois General Assembly under pressure as final month approaches By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com Remember that student in class who waited until the last day to start studying for the final exam? That’s how state Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, describes the Illinois Legislature in May. The flurry of activity that
characterizes the last month of the spring session is about to begin for Syverson and other lawmakers representing DeKalb County. “Every year, things get pushed off,” Syverson said. “Now we have less than 30 days to deal with all the substantive issues.” The Daily Chronicle checked in with the county’s four local
lawmakers – Syverson, state Sen. Tim Bivins, R-Dixon, and state Reps. Robert Pritchard, R-Hinckley, and Tom Demmer, R-Dixon – on where they stand on the following substantive issues.
Pensions At least five pension reform proposals have been drafted during the spring session, but
none of them have gained much traction. In March, Pritchard and Demmer voted “yes” on legislation that caps the size of cost-of-living adjustments to state pensions. State employees currently receive a 3 percent compounded annual increase in pension benefits. House Bill 1165 would limit when and how much of a raise
NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Housing rule riles landlords
would be applied to an employee’s pension. The proposal would also increase the retirement age to 67 for state workers. “All of [the pension reform bills] are just a piece of what needs to be done,” Pritchard said. “I was voting to say, ‘Yes, this is a topic we need to address.’ ”
See LAWMAKERS, page A8
Airline delays usher in vote Congress to end FAA furloughs By ALAN FRAM The Associated Press
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
The New Residence Hall East is seen Thursday on the Northern Illinois University campus in DeKalb. Beginning in 2015, freshmen and sophomores at the university will have to live in the dormitories for their first two years of college. Many local landlords worry about the new policy’s effect on the city’s housing market.
Sophomores must stay in dorms By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Local landlords are still upset at Northern Illinois University’s decision to require sophomores to live in the dormitories beginning with students who will be incoming freshmen in 2015. NIU spokesman Paul Palian said there is research showing that students who live in the residence halls for a second year are more successful. “If we can position our students and give them a better chance at success, that’s only going to help,” Palian said. But landlords, particularly within the DeKalb Area Rental Association, are concerned about how the loss of prospective tenants could affect their bottom lines and the city as a whole. DARA President Will Heinisch estimated the rule would create 400 to 500 vacancies in the local housing market. Although most landlords will feel the effect, not everyone will react the same way,
Heinisch said. “The good landlords will be fine – the nice properties always rent first,” Heinisch said. “They can always lower their rents a little bit.” However, he was worried about what he described as being midrange properties, which could become vacant and distressed, eventually creating a hazard for the city. Heinisch estimated the vacancy rate in DARA-affiliated properties to be between 8 and 10 percent. When the new housing rule takes effect, he said that could rise to 12 to 13 percent, although overall enrollment has an effect on their vacancies, too. Palian said the second-year residency rule was not an attempt to generate revenue for the university. Rather, the measure is aimed at meeting the retention goal outlined in NIU’s Vision 2020 plan. “Housing is not a profit center for the university,” Palian said. The cost for a student to live in a dorm at NIU depends on the room and meal plan they choose. A student living in a triple suite in Doug-
Secretary Nanette Murray (left) and her son, J.T. Murray, the office manager at Pittsley Realty in DeKalb, check the July availability of apartments for a client Thursday in their offices. las or Lincoln halls on a $60-a-week meal plan pays $8,634 a year. A student living in double suite-as-asingle plus bathroom in Stevenson Hall with a $110-a-week meal plan pays $15,134 a year. Both NIU and Mason Properties, which Heinisch cited in his interview, have different guides detail-
ing the costs of living there. Both of the cost comparisons are favorable to the agency that published them. The NIU comparison guide makes generalizations about the cost of electricity and cable at an apartment.
See DORMS, page A8
WASHINGTON – Furloughed air traffic controllers will soon be heading back to work, ending a week of coastto-coast flight delays that left thousands of travelers frustrated and furious. Unable to ignore the travelers’ anger, Congress overwhelmingly approved legislation Friday to allow the Federal Aviation Administration to withdraw the furloughs. The vote underscored a shift by Democrats who had insisted on erasing all of this year’s $85 billion in across-theboard budget cuts, not just the most publicly painful ones, for fear of losing leverage to restore money for Head Start and other programs with less clout and popular support. With President Barack Obama’s promised signature, the measure will erase one of the most publicly visible consequences of the budgetwide cuts known as the sequester. Friday’s House approval was 361-41 and followed the previous evening’s passage by the Senate, which didn’t even bother with a roll call. Lawmakers then streamed toward the exits – and airports – for a weeklong spring recess. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would sign the bill, but Carney complained that the measure left the rest of the sequester intact. “This is a Band-Aid solution. It does not solve the bigger problem,” he said. Using the same Band-Aid comparison, Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., said that “the sequester needs triple bypass surgery.”
See DELAYS, page A8
How they voted U.S. Reps. Randy Hultgren, R-14th District, and Adam Kinzinger, R-16th District, voted “yes” on the bill to end FAA furloughs.
Source: clerk.house.gov
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