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Chicago Tribune: Fixing DCFS: When oversight lags, kids die
The annual report of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services inspector general is a 300-page book of horribles. It highlights failures within DCFS — in some cases, kids identified as victims of abuse who remained in the care of their abusers with catastrophic results. They showed up at schools and emergency rooms with welts, bruises, broken arms. In some cases they were dead.
The sagas of these children are condensed annually into single-spaced paragraphs of torture: “A medical examination revealed bruising to multiple areas of her body, a possible bite mark, burns to the bottoms of both her feet, multiple rib fractures, and blunt force internal injuries.”
Northwest Herald: McHenry Township trustee finds nails on property for 2nd time
McHenry Township Trustee Bob Anderson has found nails scattered on his property for the second time.
Anderson, elected in April as a trustee, reported that he recently found nearly 40 U-shaped nails behind his car tires Oct. 20 at his house in Wonder Lake. He had made a similar complaint in April after finding nails in the parking lot of his Wonder Lake barber shop.
Daily Herald: District 15 will begin replacement process if employees not back Monday
Palatine Township Elementary District 15 will begin the process of replacing support staff union employees who don’t return to work Monday after the district presented its “last, best” proposal for a new contract, according to a document released by a district spokeswoman.
District 15 spokeswoman Morgan Delack said officials submitted that proposal to the union during an all-day and -night bargaining session overseen by a federal mediator Friday.
Associated Press: Chicago officials: DHL to invest $10M into O'Hare facility
Officials in Chicago say international shipping company DHL is putting $10 million into revamping a facility at O’Hare International Airport.
Shipping company DHL chose Chicago for the 54,000-square-foot expansion. DHL is calling it a global gateway facility and officials say it will allow on-site U.S. Customs operations for fasting processing.
Peoria Journal-Star: Tazewell jail bonds long paid off, but public safety sales tax lives forever
In 2000, under threat of forced state action, Tazewell County voters finally approved a sales tax increase to pay for a new county jail. The $17 million building was paid off in 2011, but the half-cent public safety sales tax added to most goods purchased in the county continues to be collected.
For two main reasons, according to county officials.
The Southern: HUD's defective inspection process allows ramshackle housing to fester for years
On April 10, Housing and Urban Development officials crashed the cymbals on a decades-long rise to crescendo of government failure to protect the health, safety and welfare of public housing residents, including hundreds of children, in Illinois’ southernmost city.
That evening, at a meeting convened inside a packed Baptist church in Cairo, as residents and city leaders who filled the pews and choir section wept and yelled at them, HUD officials announced that they would be tearing down the derelict housing complexes known as Elmwood and McBride. They also said most families would have to relocate outside of Cairo with their HUD-issued vouchers because of a shortage of affordable housing in their home city.
The Southern: Cambria board proposes creating TIF district
Mayor Steve Gottschalk and the Cambria Village Board are in the process of creating a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district in the village.
According to Gottschalk, the TIF district will encompass 95 percent of the property in the village. By law, property owned by village board members and the mayor may not be included in the TIF.