Illini men’s basketball set to return to State Farm Center and court dedication PAGE 1B WEDNESDAY December 2, 2015
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Rantoul manhunt, standoff ends in suicide
Film shows, discusses ‘Highway of Tears’
Standoff ends after weekendlong search for Morrissey DAILY ILLINI STAFF REPORT
Ac c ord i ng to t he Cha mpaign C ou nt y Sheriff’s website, a standoff in Rantoul “ended via suicide” at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning. Police had been searching for Jacob K. Morrissey since Sunday when he allegedly shot his way into a home on Chateau Drive in St. Joseph around 1:30 a.m. and fi red a 12-gauge shotgun at the residents, according to a press release by the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office. The residents of the house knew Morrissey and identifi ed him to the police. An adult male who was struck is being treated at an area hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries to the face, shoulder and neck, according to a CCSO synopsis published by The News Gazette. On Monday, police reported that they had recovered Morrissey’s stolen 1994 tan Buick LeSabre in the Mahomet area. According to the synopsis, he abandoned his car, which contained shotgun ammunition, in a cornfield and proceeded to steal a car that had been left running unattended in front of the Village Pantry. Morrissey then traveled to Lake of the Woods Apartments and held two people hostage with his shotgun for an over hour in an unoccupied apartment undergoing renovation. According to the synopsis, Morrissey told the hostages that, “He meant to kill the subject he shot in St. Joseph and also ... that he didn’t want to go back to prison.”
CHARLOTTE COLLINS THE DAILY ILLINI
Beverly Smith discusses the film “Highway of Tears” following its screening at the Native American House. The film looks at the cases of First Nation women in Canada who have gone missing or were found murdered.
LAS budget cuts hurt units
Forced cuts will affect staff salary, department budgets BY CHRISTIN WATKINS STAFF WRITER
Budget cuts continue to be a trend at the University, with the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences requesting that each unit reduce their budget by 5 percent. For the Department of Communication, that totals to about a $200 thousand loss, said David Tewksbury, head professor of communication. “Every cut hurts,” he said. “Life for the students in that department gets a little bit worse every time.” If these cuts continue, it will become more and more difficult to sustain the college, he said. “If we get a lot more, it’s going to be more painful every time,” he said. “As they say, we’re cutting into muscle, the fat is gone.” Acc ord i ng to the University’s Division of Management Information 2014-2015 campus profi le, 90.3 percent of the unit’s budget is unchangeable because it goes toward
faculty and staff salary. “The majority of our budget can’t be changed,” he said. “If one of our faculty members were to retire next year, that’s a class I won’t be able to refi ll.” There are over 14 thousand students in LAS who will be affected by these cuts, said Brian Ross, L AS Executive Associate Dean. “The ongoing lack of a state budget creates uncertainty and stress for students and their families as well as faculty and staff,” he said. This budget distress will continue until the state decides on a fi scal budget for higher education. “ With the budget uncertainty created by the ongoing impasse in Springfi eld, the College of LAS has been working to proactively reduce spending for the current fi scal year,” he said. These cuts reduce the quality of higher education offered to students, by making it necessary
Cutting into muscle The College of LAS's budget will be cut by 5 percent for each unit, which will result in reductions in faculty and staff, where a majority of the college's budget is allotted. This chart shows the LAS budget breakdown: WE TRU GOD ST IN
LIBERTY 2010
63.2%-Academic Salary
0.7%-Wage Budget
19.6%-Assistant Salary
1.0%-Summer Budget Wages
7.6%-Non-Academic Salary
8%-Expenses and Equipment
SOURCE: Division of Management Information
to increase class sizes and reduce the number of teacher’s assistants, Tewksbury said. “Our job is to give
TIA MANGAHAS THE DAILY ILLINI
the students the best education, and this makes it hard to do that,” he said.
cwatki7@dailyillini.com
Morrissey freed the hostages after stealing a green Ford truck from one of the hostages. Around 11:45 a.m. Monday, Morrissey was located inside a home located at the southwest corner of Clark and Maplewood Streets, according to the synopsis. The Champaign County METRO SWAT team then entered into negotiations with Morrissey, who was barricaded in the attic of the home, in an attempt to convince him to surrender. Throughout the negotiations, Morrissey reportedly made several suicide threats and stated that he did not want to go back to prison, despite pleas from his family members and a friend to turn himself in to the police. At approximately 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, the SWAT team introduced “non-lethal chemical agents” into the attic and entered the home, according to the synopsis. Morrissey was found dead due to an apparent selfinfl icted gun shot wound to the head. P at Wade , UIPD spokesman, said the last time a felon was on campus was during the spring 2015 semester when a fugitive from Indiana was found and arrested by campus police in the Undergraduate Library. “The campus is pretty public and open, people pass by the area all the time,” Wade said. “But we’re really good at watching our property and area and making sure everything is safe.”
news@dailyillini.com
Feinen to attend Harvard conference
Mayor of Champaign and mayors across the nation to meet BY VIVIENNE HENNING STAFF WRITER
Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen has been invited to attend the Harvard Institute of Politics’ Seminar on Transition and Leadership for Newly Elected Mayors. Mayors from across the country will meet at Harvard University from Dec. 8 to 11 for educational and preparatory programs to discuss leadership as well as legislative and policy changes. Feinen said the conference will provide her with the information and techniques to help improve Champaign. “It’s about marketing (your) city and creating a city that is welcoming to millennials,” said Feinen. “So I think that’s relevant for this community, especially because of the large number of college students here.” The conference is a space to collaborate and share ideas not just from speakers to attendees, but also amongst the mayors, Feinen said. “(The conference is an)
opportunity to get to know other mayors from cities around the nation, to fi nd out what is going on in those communities and have the opportunity to exchange ideas,” said Feinen. The new mayors will have the chance to talk with past and present U.S. mayors, academics and policy analysts in workshops about finance, economic development and attracting new and young people to their areas.
vhenni2@dailyillini.com
“It’s an opportunity to get to know other mayors from cities around the nation.” DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO
Feinen beams as she is greeted by her supporters and the media at the Brookens Administrative Center on April 7.
DEBORAH FEINEN
MAYOR OF CHAMPAIGN
OPINIONS
LIFE & CULTURE
SPORTS
Too few cooks
Art after death
Illini of the Week
Thanksgiving should remind students that it’s important to eat in
St. Joseph taxidermist has been working, selling and competing since age 12
Chatrice White started the season on fire, averaging 20 points for the first games
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