Huntley girls basketball team plays best after slump
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Monday, February 25, 2013
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Sports, B1
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Lawrence, Day-Lewis, ‘Argo’ win big Nation, A6
Trial starts today in ’11 shooting of ex-officer
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Algonquin’s Kelly ready for Burton U.S. Open
More foreclosures ahead?
By SARAH SUTSCHEK ssutschek@shawmedia.com
Timothy S. Smith is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Kurt Milliman.
Kimberley Smith faces several charges including prostitution. She will go on trial March 11.
WOODSTOCK – Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the trial of a man accused of murdering a former court security officer over Memorial Day weekend 2011. Timothy S. Smith, 28, of Woodstock, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of 48-year-old Kurt Milliman. According to police, Smith placed online ads soliciting sex with his wife, one of which was answered by Milliman on May 28, 2011. While at the home on Doty Road near Woodstock, a dispute broke out and Milliman was shot once in the back. The bullet entered near his right shoulder blade and traveled across his chest before becoming lodged near his left collarbone. Smith’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Kim Messer, said that her client shot Milliman while defending a third party: his wife.
See TRIAL, page A10
Strike threat raises stakes in Ill. union talks By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press
Gov. Pat Quinn and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees will sit for another round of talks this week.
SPRINGFIELD – The emerging threat of at least 30,000 Illinois state employees striking might seem extreme, but union leaders say they’re seriously considering the prospect as contract talks have stalemated amid an overall state government financial picture that is equally extreme. Illinois remains mired in a fiscal quagmire that includes a crushing $96 billion deficit in public-worker pension systems and a festering $9 billion
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Josh Scheiblein and his wife, Melissa, pose for a portrait Thursday at their Lake in the Hills rental home. The Scheibleins have lived in the home for three and a half years and have been unsuccessful in their attempt to purchase it from Freddie Mac. The house was foreclosed on after the owners did not pay the mortgage.
Legal filings in county may continue to rise this year By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com
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or 3 1 ⁄ 2 years, Melissa Scheiblein, her husband, Josh, and their three children have leased their Lake in the Hills house and regularly paid their monthly rent. They even planned to buy the home from their landlords. Unfortunately, the landlords weren’t paying the mortgage and a foreclosure case was filed in 2010 – one of 3,600 foreclosure cases filed in McHenry County that year. According to real estate professionals, even more homes may be foreclosed on this year. The Scheibleins continue to try to buy the house from Freddie Mac and have made multiple offers. However, they have not come to an agreement on a
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price, and the family continues to struggle to work with Freddie Mac. They say they’re willing to make the major repairs themselves, but right now they do only basic maintenance. “We’ve done nothing to destroy the home, but we’ve really done nothing to improve the home because it’s not ours to really improve upon,” Melissa Scheiblein said. The family has received help from U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s office to try to resolve the issue, all while trying to avoid being evicted. The Scheibleins fear that more people will be looking at the same situation of possibly being forced to leave their homes, and said they’ve spoken to other people facing foreclosures.
See FORECLOSURES, page A10
SATURDAY
MCCD to host annual festival The annual Festival of the Sugar Maples will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and March 9-10 at Coral Woods Conservation Area, 7400 Somerset Drive, Marengo. Tours leave every 15 minutes and last about an hour. For information, call 815-338-6223 or visit www.mccdistrict.org.
FRIDAY: ‘Jack the Giant Slayer,’ starring Nicholas Hoult, opens in theaters.
Nicholas Hoult in “Jack the Giant Slayer” Warner Bros.
39 28 Complete forecast on A12
The week’s happenings in news, sports and more. Page A2
– Joseph Bustos
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Vol. 28, Issue 54
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closed home; • Circuit courts in the state that have a mediation program have to provide resources for Department of Housing and Urban Development-certified consultation, free legal help and language interpretive services to those eligible and in need of them. “These new rules will promote fairness in home foreclosure proceedings, curb abuses in the system, provide lenders finality when foreclosure is necessary and ensure homeowners who have been thrown out of work during the years of a troubled economy are aware of their rights and where to turn for help,” Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride said.
– Melissa Scheiblein, Lake in the Hills resident
LOOKING FORWARD
LOW
The Illinois Supreme Court has established a new set of rules to help make it easier for homeowners to go through the foreclosure process. The new rules, which go into effect March 1, were the result of 21 months of work by a 14person committee. Under the rules: • Lenders must provide homeowners with needed information so that they understand the process and consequences of foreclosure; • Lenders are required to seek modification of loans for eligible homeowners before they complete foreclosure; • There has to be improved legal notice to homeowners throughout the process and before the actual sale of a fore-
We’ve done nothing to destroy the home, but we’ve really done nothing to improve the home because it’s not ours to really improve upon.
See UNION, page A10
HIGH
New state foreclosure rules in place
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