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DeKalb library talks grant funding By DAVID THOMAS
dthomas@shawmedia.com
DeKALB – Library Director Dee Coover believes $2 million will be spent on the DeKalb Public Library, whether it expands or not. At the library board’s special meeting Tuesday, Coover said the library’s roof, heating and air conditioning system, and floors all need extensive work done on them within the next couple of years. Expanding the library will solve these prob-
lems, as well as give it more space, she said. “If we do nothing, somebody is going to spend $2 million ... on this building without any improvement,” Coover said. Coover said she is optimistic about the board organizing a fundraising plan by June 1 so it can take advantage of a $8.5 million Illinois Public Construction Grant. Coover said private philanthropy will be a major component of the fundraising, but the city of DeKalb
could borrow money to help the library. Assistant City Manager Rudy Espiritu said this is a possibility. Like other officials, Espiritu said the $8.5 million grant could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the library. “We should try to take advantage of it as best as we can for the good of the community,” Espiritu said. “If the library board decides bonding is necessary, the [DeKalb City Council] will have to issue those bonds
because the library is technically a component of the city.” No official borrowing proposal has been made, but Espiritu mentioned the possibility of setting a ceiling for the bonds, similar to what the council has done for the new police station. A number of questions remain unanswered about the project, including how much the library needs to raise, and in what form that fundraising can come in. If a donor offers to give $10 mil-
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Officers tour police station site
lion over the next three years, what does she count it as? Coover asked. “I need to know the language that the bank is going to use, the state will require from the library board, and the city,” Coover said. Meanwhile, the board spent a portion of their time Tuesday thinking of different things in the renovated library whose naming rights could be auctioned off. They did not go over prices for how much something like a meeting room or reading room could cost.
Report: 1 in 3 Illinoisans living in or near poverty By TAMMY WEBBER The Associated Press
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
T. J. Moore, Dekalb’s director of public works, gestures Monday at what will become the new Dekalb police station’s front entrance from the second floor of the structure during a tour for media and a few police officers. The new station is set to open later in the year.
Facility could open by Thanksgiving By DAVID THOMAS
dthomas@shawmedia.com
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
The outer walls of Dekalb’s new police station are up as construction continues Monday. Check out a photo gallery of the station’s construction at Daily-Chronicle.com.
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DeKALB – Police officer Sadie Pristave was pleasantly surprised to learn the city’s new police station would have its own workout facility. It’s not something DeKalb officers have at the current police station, 200 S. Fourth St. “On this job, you want to stay healthy and active,” Pristave said. “But it’s hard to take time out of your personal life, especially on this job.” She was one of two police officers who toured the construction site Monday at 700 W. Lincoln Highway. Space is limited at the current
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DeKalb police station. Sometimes officers have to use the same entryway for booking suspects, interviewing potential informants, or interacting with the general public. “You’re going to have so much space [in the new building], you won’t know what to do with yourself,” Public Works Director T.J. Moore said. DeKalb police are expected to move into their 36,000-square foot building this year, possibly by Thanksgiving. The new site is as big, if not bigger, than the entire building in which the department currently occupies a few rooms.
See STATIOn, page A4
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CHICAGO – One-third of Illinois residents are living in or near poverty, more than during the depths of the Great Recession, according to a new report that suggests the trend is not slowing and that state budget cuts have exacerbated the problem. Almost 1.9 million Illinoisans, or 15 percent, live in poverty, up from 12 percent when the recession began in late 2007. An additional 2.2 million, or 18 percent, are close to the poverty level, compared with 16.2 percent in 2007, according to the report issued Wednesday by the Chicago-based Social IMPACT Re- Voice your search Center. opinion “It really is kind of shocking Do you think there that a full third of are move people the state is strug- living in poverty in gling,” said Amy your community Terpstra, the cen- today than there ter’s associate di- were five years rector. ago? Let us know at Poverty is de- Daily-Chronicle. fined as an annu- com. al income of less than $23,021 for a family of four. Almost half of those in poverty earn half that. Those considered low-income earn between 100 percent and 199 percent of poverty. The study is based on the U.S. Census Department’s 2011 American Community Survey.
See POVERTY, page A4
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Fred Drake helps prepare food supplies to be distributed to people and families in need at the Lutheran Church Food Pantry on Tuesday in Springfield.
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