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Archive for December, 2022

FireBarrington Countryside Fire Protection District firefighters and paramedics working at the scene of a barn fire in the block of 0-99 Spring Lane Barrington. Report of a barn fire on Spring Lane south of Little Bend Road. Firefighters report a huge header while responding at 2:12 PM; incident upgraded to a Code 4  (working fire). Command on arrival reports a fully-involved structure fire.

The fire is located northeast of County Line Road and Haegers Bend Road. Possibly a barn that shelters horses.

Source

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2022

Following are the eleven (11) most viewed posts published in The Barrington Hills Observer in 2022:

  1. Controversial ‘Gender Queer’ will remain on the shelf at Barrington High, school board decides
  2. Woman bit her daughter’s finger off during altercation in Barrington Hills, prosecutors say
  3. Our predominantly pusillanimous Village Board (Part 1)
  4. Learn from your (big) mistake, Laura, Bryan, Dave and Tom
  5. Special Village Board meeting this afternoon
  6. Resident tells 220 Board of Education what they needed to hear (but did they listen?)
  7. Barrington Hills man severely injured in crash
  8. Some observations on tonight’s Appropriations public hearing
  9. Our predominantly pusillanimous Village Board (Part 4)
  10. District 220 goes too far (again)
  11. Petition started to “Filter Adult Obscene/Porn Content & SB818 Opt Out,” in D220 Schools

For those wondering why eleven and not an even number, we simply couldn’t end the year without reminding readers where we’ve been in 2022 by omitting #11.

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Crabtree New Years

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J.B. Pritzker

Illinoisans are stuck with two gas tax hikes in 2023, thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker delaying the 2022 hike until after his election.

Gas prices nationwide are going down, but gas taxes in Illinois are going up in the new year. Illinois is scheduled for two gas tax increases in 2023, first Jan. 1 and then July 1.

The increase amount isn’t official yet, but Illinois Policy Institute estimates roughly a 3-cent increase per gallon to 42.4 cents starting Jan. 1.

Illinoisans are already familiar with high gas prices, which are the highest in the Midwest, according to AAA.

Gas tax hikes disproportionally hurt lower-income residents, who give up a larger percentage of their paycheck to pay for gas.

Even without upcoming gas tax hikes, Illinoisans already pay the second-highest gas taxes in the nation thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker doubling the state gas tax to 38 cents per gallon from 19 cents in 2019. He also added automatic annual hikes for inflation that drove the rate to 39.2 cents but delayed the 2022 increase until after the election – leading to two hikes in 2023.

Read more here.

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Mr D

Arlington Racecourse owner Richard “Dick” Duchossois with his masterpiece in the background. (Daily Herald File Photo)

An iconic businessman who helped put the Northwest suburbs in the national spotlight. A fiercely independent politician who fought for scientific advancement and human rights. A restaurateur whose name is synonymous with the unique fare and atmosphere he offered. A sports broadcasting legend whose knowledge was second only to the loyalty of his audience.

As we prepare to turn our calendars from 2022 to 2023, let’s take a look back at the influential and memorable people we leave behind.

Richard L. Duchossois

A decorated World War II hero, renowned businessman and noted philanthropist, Duchossois died Jan. 28 at his Barrington Hills home. He was 100. “Mr. D” was best known as the longtime owner of Arlington Park, the suburban jewel that brought the world’s best race horses to the Northwest suburbs. After serving under Gen. George Patton during World War II, Duchossois returned to his native Chicago and built a business empire. But among his many holdings, Arlington Park was the crown jewel. After a 1985 fire destroyed the old grandstand, Duchossois rebuilt the facility into one widely acclaimed as the finest on American soil. Duchossois’ 100th birthday came 12 days after the final race at the track, which now is being sold to the Chicago Bears.

Clyde Slocum

The former longtime superintendent of Barrington Community Unit School District 220, Slocum was remembered for combining a zest for life with a mastery of school administration. As the district’s top administrator from 1979 to 1992, he oversaw substantial growth in enrollment and facilities. After retiring, he worked for international and defense department school accrediting agencies, taking trips to Pakistan, Africa and the Middle East. Slocum died July 3. He was 92.

Frank J. Morgan

A longtime businessman who helped make Gatorade an iconic beverage, Morgan served seven years as president and COO of Quaker Oats. He was part of the team that acquired Stokely-Van Camp, Gatorade’s initial maker, for $226 million. After retiring from Quaker in 1990, Morgan served on the nonprofit boards of Glenwood Academy, Loyola University, St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana and Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington. The Barrington resident died Oct. 15 at 97 years old.

Read more here.

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AAA

Prosecutors say that a AAA roadside assistance worker sent himself nude photos from the phone of a woman whose car had broken down in Lake County.

Lake and McHenry County Scanner is withholding the name of the worker, a 22-year-old Wheeling man, because the case has since been dropped against him.

Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Emma Smoler said that a woman called AAA on December 21 for a flat tire.

The 22-year-old man, who works for AAA, came out and determined the woman’s car needed to be towed.

The woman’s phone was out of battery and the cigarette lighter in the woman’s car was broken, Smoler said during a bond hearing.

The worker agreed to charge the woman’s phone for her while they waited for the tow truck.

Read on here.

Editorial note: We’d like to think most are smarter than this…

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A host of new laws go into effect in 2023 that will affect education in Illinois.

220 2021

In the wake of school shootings across the country, there are measures to address trauma. One law mandates school board members to receive training on trauma-informed practices.

Practices include “the effects of implicit or explicit bias on recognizing trauma among various students in connection with race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation,” among other things.

State Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, said there is also training for students, but they can’t include more graphic exercises involving police and weapons.

“Children are really having a lot of trauma, being fearful about going to school and having to go through one of these drills,” Villa said.

A new law will revise school teaching about mental health, while creating a mental health council that is designed to develop solutions on how to help children in school to find a mental health provider and how to access the mental health system.

Another law requires the state of Illinois to create a “Safe2Help” hotline where students, school staff and other members of the public can confidentially report information regarding “potential self-harm and criminal acts directed at students” and school employees.

Read more here.

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SWA Grinch

Travelers wait in line for Southwest Airlines luggage services to recover their luggage after major service interruptions at Midway International Airport on Dec. 27, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

The airline with the ticker LUV, now a far cry from its early customers-first days under co-founder Herb Kelleher, ruined countless holiday reunions over the past week. Southwest Airlines marooned not just passengers but also its own crews and landed tens of thousands of its customers in a Sisyphean holiday-week bog from which there seemed to be no escape to anywhere but the filthy bathroom or the knee-deep bar.

Canceled flights were rescheduled to other canceled flights. Pilots deadheaded to nowhere. Stressed-out travelers searched for overpriced planes, trains and automobiles. Even the airline’s shareholders got burned as the reputation-searing meltdown caused the company’s stock to fall, the market having deduced Southwest was about to lose much of its pricing power and brand affection.

Chicago was at the epicenter of this mess. Unless you’re going to Mexico or Canada or a couple of minor Allegiant frontiers, you’re almost certainly flying Southwest out of Midway, whose luggage-strewn floors looked more like a refugee camp this week. Allowing one massive airline to so monopolistically dominate a publicly owned airport, designed to serve the people of northern Illinois, looked like utter folly. No wonder local politicians started making statements.

Sure, there was a very bad storm. But any frequent flyer knows that airlines love to trot out the liability-shielding word “weather” when a more honest reason for a delay is a chronic staff shortage, as was clearly the case in Denver for Southwest; no backup plans; or, in this instance, problems with an archaic, off-the-shelf phone and crew-scheduling system that buckled under pressure even as every other airline quickly got back to normal.

Read more of the Chicago Tribune commentary here.

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Safety Act

A Kankakee County judge has found that a key provision of Illinois’ sweeping criminal justice law violates the state constitution, potentially rolling back a controversial measure that would eliminate cash bail as of New Year’s Day, according to a copy of the judge’s ruling.

The judge’s ruling affects only the pretrial release provisions of the law, leaving all other measures of what is known as the SAFE-T Act intact. Judge Thomas Cunnington is expected to officially file his ruling Thursday morning.

Cunnington’s decision stems from lawsuits filed by several dozen state’s attorneys across Illinois. Cunnington agreed with the prosecutors’ argument that the state legislature violated the separation of powers component of the Illinois Constitution when it passed a measure eliminating cash bail and, therefore, interfered with the duties of the judiciary.

He noted in his 36-page opinion that the Illinois Supreme Court has specifically held that judges have “independent, inherent authority to deny or revoke bail to ‘preserve the orderly process of criminal procedure.’”

More here.

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Cell Tax

For any Illinoisan who was gifted a new smartphone, it comes with the nation’s highest taxes for wireless services.

Combined federal, state and local tax rates for Illinois cell phones average just shy of 35% of monthly bills, according to Tax Foundation data. That gives Illinois the sad distinction of topping the nation for wireless taxes.

No other Midwestern state cracks the top 10. Indiana repealed its utility gross receipts tax, which led to the biggest reduction in wireless taxes in the nation.

Illinois’ wireless tax is in lieu of a sales tax, but the sales tax would be cheaper for cell phone users. The state’s sales tax averages about 9%.

Wireless taxes are regressive, meaning low-income households give up a larger share of their income to pay the taxes. According to Pew Research, the share of low-income adults who rely on smartphones for internet access has doubled since 2013.

Read more here.

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