NWH-1-20-2013

Page 1

Blackhawks start season by drubbing champs

SuNday, JaNuary 20, 2013

www.NwHerald.com

social media • sports, c1 The only daily newspaper published in McHenry Co.

Sports, C1

planit style • inside

Coaches, athletes learn hard lessons

Local police reacting to gun debate

$1.50

Experts: Getting active can help alleviate back pain

Education in economics

Area officials citing need to address mental health issues Voice your opinion Do you support the president’s gun-control plans? Vote online at nWHerald. com.

At a glance Perhaps the most discussed and most politicized aspects of Barack Obama’s proposals have been his push to reinstate an expired federal assault weapons ban, as well as restore the 10-round limit on ammunition magazines.

By sARAH sUtsCHEK

ssutschek@shawmedia.com After President Barack Obama unveiled his gun violence package last week, several local police chiefs emphasized one point: the need to address mental health. “It’s such a complicated issue, and we always focus on guns because that’s the easiest thing to focus on,” Huntley Police Chief John Perkins said. “I’m not saying it’s good or bad; I’m just saying the real issue is mental health issues.” Obama’s executive orders acknowledge the problem, including releasing a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to the police. His legislative ideas also include ensuring young people get the mental health treatment they need and that insurance plans cover mental health benefits. The point is especially poignant for McHenry County. The largest social service agency – Family Service and Community Mental Health Center – closed over the summer because of financial issues, caused in part by the state being behind more than $850,000 on its payments to the agency. Perkins said two groups of people shouldn’t have guns: criminals and the mentally ill. It’s how to go about keeping the guns away from them

see GUns, page A7

Josh Peckler – jpeckler@shawmedia.com

Woodstock High school senior Alisha soto (left) talks with school counselor shannon Landwehr on Monday about scholarship opportunities inside her office at Woodstock High school.

Tips can help high school students solve college funding issue By sHAWn sHInnEMAn

sshinneman@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Alisha Soto knows what she’ll study next year and where she wants to go. It’s the finances she doesn’t have figured out yet. “I know I’m definitely going to have to take out student loans,” Soto said. “My mom’s going to try to help, but my mom’s a single mom with three kids. ... Hopefully that incentive will push for a little more financial aid.” The 18-year-old senior at

Woodstock High School isn’t alone in holding out for help. For the 2010-11 academic year, the annual cost for a year of undergraduate tuition, room and board was estimated at $13,600 at public institutions, $36,300 at private nonprofit institutions and $23,500 at private for-profit institutions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. And with a job market still in recovery, many students are doing what they can to ease the financial burdens of higher education.

By the numbers A look at average college costs for the 2012-13 academic year at a sampling of universities in Illinois. Amounts include estimated costs of tuition and other expenses, including room and board, fees, books and supplies and living expenses. • Eastern Illinois University: $24,274.00 (in-state) • northern Illinois University: $19,811.20 (in-state) • northwestern University: $61,240 • southern Illinois University: $24,435.00 (in-state) • University of Chicago: $62,425 • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: $29,002 to $33,922 (in-state)

Source: University websites

see CoLLEGE, page A11

Cost of early retirement for Ill. teachers could increase

If program is repealed, system would have to give more than $200M back to teachers By doUG FInKE

GateHouse News Service

SPRINGFIELD – Teachers and school districts will have to pay significantly more in the future to participate in an early-retirement option to cover the program’s costs. That is, if the General Assembly acts this spring to

keep the program in place. If it doesn’t, the program will be repealed June 30, and the Teachers’ Retirement System would have to give more than $200 million back to teachers. “We certainly support the early-retirement option,” said Jim Reed, director of government relations for the Illinois Education Association. “What

LOCALLY SPEAKING

retires at 60 receives full pension benefits. If he retires between the ages of 55 and 60, those benefits are reduced, unless the teacher chooses to participate in the early-retirement option. If someone elects to participate in the option, both the teacher and the teacher’s employer must make a one-time

McHENRY COUNTY

McCALEB: BoARd KnoWs BEttER? On Friday, the County Board held a special meeting to decide whether to place a chairman referendum on the April ballot. By an 11-9 vote with four members absent, the board decided against it. A majority of board members deciding the issue, then, don’t think voters should have a say on the matter. They know better, apparently. For more, see page A2.

Barred Rock chickens move around their pen Friday at the Fox Lake home of Rebecca Boettcher. Josh Peckler – jpeckler@shawmedia.com

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presents a challenge is how much of an increase it will be to maintain that option. We have some concerns with this new wrinkle.” The early-retirement option is open to members of TRS who are between the ages of 55 and 60 and have at least 20, but less than 35, years of service. A TRS member who

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Complete forecast on A16

FOX LAKE: Some residents pushing Village Board to revote on chicken ordinance. Local&Region, B1

Where to find it Advice Planit, 5 Business D1-8 Classified F1-6 Local&Region B1-8

Vol. 27, Issue 20 Lottery A2 Nation A2-7 Movies Planit, 15 Obituaries B2, B7

Opinion Puzzles Sports TV Grid

A13 F3 C1-12 F3

contribution to cover the cost. In addition, all active TRS members contribute to the cost of the option. Teachers pay 9.4 percent of their salaries toward their pensions. Of that, 0.4 percent goes toward the early-retirement option. The money is refunded without interest if a member retires without tak-

ing early retirement. Last summer, though, TRS’s consultant determined that those contributions cover only 86 percent of the cost. The consultant recommended about a 25 percent increase in the lump-sum payments made by both the teacher and school district when someone elects to take early retirement. Those higher contributions

see tEACHERs, page A3

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