Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 1-1

$1.00 Wednesday, June 24, 2015 DAILYSOUTHTOWN.COM Merchants near border feel dread Move to reinstate 1-percentage point higher sales tax in Cook County raises worries county address its rising pension costs. In 2008, Preckwinkle's predecessor, Todd Stroger, successfully pushed for the same tax hike, which contributed to Preckwinkle defeating him in the 2010 Democratic primary election. Preckwinkle was highly critical of the higher sales tax and managed to get it fully rescinded in 2013. But now her perspective has changed dramatically. Not increasing taxes would be "irresponsible," Preckwinkle said Tuesday.

"I don't think we should kick the can down the road, as people like to say, and foist these Turn to Tax, Page 4 "If I could just pick my building up and move it across the street, I would," said Verbeeren, acknowledging that Will County has no county sales tax and doesn't significantly tax commercial and industrial property more than residences. But Party Liquors owner Tom Cummins is optimistic about the sales tax increase. That's because his store is on the Will County side of the street. Party Liquors has been drawing customers for decades with a large and clear message on its sign "No Cook County Tax." It's so prominent on the store's sign that some customers mistakenly think it's the name of the store. Cummins, whose store sells a full line of liquor as well as tobacco products, said it's basic marketing.

"People hear the word and they want to get away from it," he said. Recalling the store's opening in 1982, Cummins said he and his partners decided to stress the location outside Cook County after shutting down five liquor stores in Calumet City and Lansing unable to compete with their more lightly taxed competitors across the border in Lake County, Ind. Preckwinkle is proposing that the county sales tax be increased from .75 percent to 1.75 percent as of Jan. 1 to raise nearly $500 million per year and help the Frank Elton, a Will County resident whose restaurant is on the Cook County side of Steger Road, also known as 34th Street. "People get hostile.

It gets to the point when you wonder when it's (higher taxes) gonna stop." Joe Verbeeren, who operates the Ace Hardware store approximately a block west of Elton's restaurant, agreed. "They're forcing us to pass the tax onto customers," said Verbeeren, whose business of more than 25 years also pays a hefty real estate tax because it's in Cook County. By Dennis Sullivan Daily Southtown A restaurant's 30-year anniversary normally would trigger a major celebration. But the owner of Bambino's Family Restaurant in Steger says Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's unexpected move to reinstate a 1 percentage -point sales tax increase that was rolled back in 2013 has overshadowed the anniversary "Every time they (state and 3 county politicians) raise the tax, 3 we have to raise the price," said 'At this point in time, the best word to describe it is decimated." -Sublette Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Schultz Woman sentenced in kickback scheme Eight years for former health department aide from Homewood Associated Press SPRINGFIELD A Home-wood woman who formerly was an Illinois Department of Public Health aide was sentenced Tuesday to eight years in prison for her part in a kickback scheme that defrauded the state of millions of dollars. Quinshaunta Golden pleaded guilty in April 2014 to bribery, theft and obstruction of justice.

She was accused of issuing more than $11 million in falsified grants in exchange for kickbacks. In addition to giving her prison time, U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough ordered Golden to pay $1 million in restitution and serve three years of supervised release after her release from prison. Golden, who is free on bond, was ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on Sept. 1.

She requested to serve her time in either Greenville or Alderson, West Virginia The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reported that in a plea for leniency, Golden, 46, said she already has suffered for her actions, including having difficulties through a pregnancy, depression and physical ailments. "This has been a daily struggle," she said. "It seems I will wear the face of guilt, shame and embarrassment forever." Golden's sentencing hearing began Friday and saw 20 individuals volunteering to testify and send letters on Golden's behalf, including Chicago Democratic Rep. Danny Davis, who is Golden's uncle, and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andrea Zopp.

U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass called it a "barrage of sympathy." "This is no anomaly," Bass said about Golden's character in his closing remarks. "This was a Turn to Sentence, Page 5 ZBIGNIEW BZDAKCHICAGO TRIBUNE Coal City resident Al Burch looks at his kitchen Tuesday. Tornadoes also hit the small Illinois town of Sublette on Monday, and touched down near Harmon and Mendota. TORNADOES' PATH OF DESTRUCTION ANTHONY SOUFFLECHICAGO TRIBUNE A grain bin sits overturned on the Burla family's farm in Coal City on Tuesday, a day after powerful storms struck.

The farm was also hit by a tornado in November 2013, as well as a tornado in the 1940s. Monday twisters injure at least 12 in Illinois, but no deaths reported By Erin Gallagher, Bonnie Miller Rubin and Patrick M. O'Connell Chicago Tribune When 3-year-old Emerlyn Kaluzny woke up on her family's Coal City farm Tuesday, it was the second time in her young life that her swing set was gone. A tornado blew it away Monday night, just as it had in November 2013. "It just happened less than two years ago, and it happened again after we finally got everything rebuilt," said Emer-lyn's uncle, Brett Burla Looking out at a landscape strewn with debris, family members and friends began the arduous process of untangling about $1 million worth of tractors, field cultivators and other equipment at the farm about 65 miles southwest of Chicago.

The farm, established more than 100 years ago, also was struck by a twister in the 1940s. The Coal City farm was emblematic of a worn path of destruction, the second time in two years the area has been hit by tornadoes, with Monday's powerful storms spawning WIN MCNAMEEGETTY ANTONIO PEREZCHICAGO TRIBUNE A cement pole cracked in half following a tornado in Coal City on Tuesday. petroleum gas blanketing trees. "At this point in time, the best word to describe it is decimated," he said. The weather service said as many as nine tornadoes may have been a part of the storm system, which swept through the state Monday night, producing torrential downpours and high winds from near the Iowa border to Indiana Conditions may be primed for another round of strong storms Wednesday, according to the weather service, with the potential for more tornadoes and hailstorms in Iowa, northern Illinois and Indiana Turn to Tornadoes, Page 5 several that injured at least a dozen people.

The tornadoes damaged Coal City's high school and a fire station, while leaving behind a trail of shattered homes, tree-strewn yards and flooded roads across a wide swath of the state. Several people needed to be rescued from overturned trailers, basements and crawl spaces. Others were hospitalized, hurt by flying glass and debris. The tornado that touched down near Coal City was classified as an EF-3, producing peak winds near 160 mph, the National Weather Service said. Another twister ripped through the small Lee County town of Sublette, about 45 miles southwest of DeKalb, and others touched down near Harmon and Mendota, 111.

"The damage is way worse than what we had originally anticipated," Sublette Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Schultz said. "It is the worst thing that I have ever seen." Schultz described seeing trees crashed through trailers and trailers crashed into trees at Woodhaven Lakes, a camping area in town where many people were vacationing. He said trees that stood up to 60 feet tall had been whittled to about 10 feet by the storm. Crews were also dealing with gas leaks early Tuesday, with some liquefied S.C. lawmakers vote to consider removing flag South Carolina lawmakers approved a measure enabling a debate over the Confederate flag by a vote of 103-10 in the House and a voice vote in the Senate.

They will consider removing the flag from Statehouse grounds in the wake of the slaying of nine black churchgoers. Page 6.