In reading “NIU: ‘We Welcome’ State’s Attorney Involvement” we get this: “The integrity of this great university is not at issue,” the statement continued. When your PR people claim that the resignations of two of your top employees at the same time were for personal reasons and a coincidence, but later it’s found they actually…
Tag: local media
The “Coffee Fund” and NIU’s Curious Behavior
Thank you, Daily Chronicle, for revealing that there indeed is more to the Northern Illinois University Finance & Facilities/Convo shakeup than just a couple of dudes simultaneously deciding they were ready to move on. DeKALB – Separation agreements for two former Northern Illinois University administrators show they were paid tens of thousands of dollars and…
More “Coffee Fund” Stuff
AP has picked up the “NIU Coffee Fund” story from the Daily Chronicle, so it’s all over the state now. Choose your favorite search engine to see for yourself. Glad as I am to see something hit daylight, though, there’s the feeling we’re being thrown a bone. I’ve pointed out previously that chasing it has…
NIU Employees’ $13,000 “Coffee Fund”
Congratulations to the Daily Chronicle for digging up this story. Bill Kunkel, head of transportation for DeKalb Iron and Metal Company in DeKalb, said that for years he’s been writing checks to what’s called the “coffee fund,” an account NIU spokesman Paul Palian said university officials weren’t aware existed. Kunkel said several employees, mainly from…
Reaction to the New Planters
[Update 6/21: Here’s another reaction to the new planters. The person who took this photo says at least four of the planters had been toppled as of Wednesday.] There’s already been a lot of discussion about the new City of DeKalb/NIU ashtrays urinals planters at the City Barbs Facebook Page. I don’t want to duplicate…
Farmers & Traders State Bank in Shabbona Has Closed
[Updated with Deposit Insurance Fund info @ 1:40 p.m.] …and one of its former officers is a DeKalb County official. From an FDIC release yesterday: Farmers and Traders State Bank, Shabbona, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To…
DeKalb’s Pension Rebound & Tax Games
This is a belated response to a November 12 story in the Daily Chronicle, “Police, fire pensions reportedly on rebound”. Instead of posting here at the time, I sent a letter to the editor. Three days later I still haven’t heard back. The article makes it clear the City of DeKalb Finance Division knew all…
Addressing Media Coverage of the DeKalb’s Latest “Surplus”
The Daily Chronicle is irritating me this week. DeKALB – It wasn’t long ago that DeKalb had only a $22,000 surplus in the general fund. Now, with the Fiscal Year 2011 audit almost complete, city officials say they are looking at a $6.3 million surplus. The DeKalb City Council on Monday will be asked to…
Political What?
This morning I read Daily Chronicle Editor Jason Schaumburg’s weekend column. He supports term limits to fix what ails our governments. The line of reasoning goes like this: Term limits would curtail the influence of money and lobbyists in government. They would attract the right kind of candidate to seek office. If money and greed…
Depending on City Officials for Truth about Legality of Library Expansion? Please.
It was a toss-up whether to focus on DeKalb Public Library’s ongoing coyness about its expansion plans, or the role of local media in covering for it. How about a bit of both. Today’s WTF moment is brought to you by the Daily Chronicle in “DeKalb officials expand on library land process, say everything appears…