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Winter Classic pageantry must awe to make up for mediocrity of Blackhawks, Blues

Preparations are underway at Wrigley Field for what Steve Mayer, the NHL’s president of content and events, said earlier this month will be “one of the greatest Winter Classics of all time.”

It needs to be.

The Blackhawks’ misery and Blues’ mediocrity so far this season has hardly drummed up excitement for the league’s biggest annual in-season event, which is returning to Chicago for the third time and Wrigley for the second time (and the first since 2009) on New Year’s Eve.

That doesn’t mean tickets haven’t been selling, because they have. The cheapest resale tickets available Monday on Ticketmaster were listed for $275 (albeit down from $315 two weeks ago). Regardless of the teams involved, the Winter Classic is massive and beloved enough — and the Chicago hockey fan base is devoted enough — for plenty of people to want to attend.

From an entertainment standpoint, however, fans will need to count on the pageantry and atmosphere of the event to make up for the likely low-quality and definitely low-stakes hockey that will take place. The fact both teams have already fired coaches this season indicates a lot.

The Hawks are currently tied for last in the NHL at 10-19-2, and although they’ve shown more life since Anders Sorensen replaced Luke Richardson, they’re going nowhere this season. The Blues have also improved since hiring Jim Montgomery, but they’re still two points out of a playoff spot at 15-14-3, and a roughly .500 record looks about right for their roster.

It’s safe to say the two points awarded to the winning side won’t matter much. Then again, the Winter Classic has always been geared more toward celebrating hockey and creating a marvelous spectacle than toward maximizing the intensity of the competition.

“The sophistication of activation today — versus when it was first here — has changed dramatically for the fan experience,” NHL chief brand officer Brian Jennings said Dec. 5, coincidentally just hours before the Hawks announced Richardson’s dismissal.

“It’s about creating memories, right? It’s that generational pass that you have from father to son or a mother to daughter. … We discovered early on that even though it’s a two-point hockey game, the players, coaches and everybody realize that there’s so much more.”

The 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field was a more bare-bones event.

The 2009 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field was a more bare-bones event.

The events and presentation surrounding the game have expanded to the extent they’ll be incomparable to 2009.

For five hours ahead of the 4 p.m. game, there will be a free-to-attend Winter Classic fan festival on Grace Street. For four days after the game, the rink will stay in place in order to host four Big Ten hockey games on Jan. 3 and 4. Inside Wrigley for the game itself, The Smashing Pumpkins and Chance The Rapper will perform.

Even the field design and rink layout will be quite a sight. An artificial frozen river will run from the infield to center field, splitting into two forks like the Chicago River underneath the rink itself while flanked by larger-than-life fake ivy. In left field, a small auxiliary rink will feature more on-ice entertainment. In right field, a New Year’s Eve party will take place.

The field and rink base construction began Monday, and the ice itself will begin being formed Dec. 21. It’ll all be ready in time for both teams’ outdoor practices Dec. 30.

Since this is the first time in the Winter Classic’s 16-year history that it’s being held on New Year’s Eve rather than New Year’s Day, that’s heavily emphasized in the design.

“There’s a lot of competition on New Year’s Day, and there was a point where New Year’s Eve had become a bit quiet in terms of the sports world,” Mayer said. “They decided if there was ever a time to move it a day and take advantage of the creative [opportunities] it brings, this would be the right time.”



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Fixing climate crisis is the ‘moral’ thing to do, and Bible says so

Reflections on God are common right now.

We are about to enter a new year. Many of us are getting ready to celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah. With 2024 “virtually certain” to be the hottest year on record, some may look at the symptoms of the climate crisis — the extreme heat, the fires and floods, the climate-charged cyclones — as signs of God’s wrath.

Whether you believe in the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, or are an atheist, we can all agree there is a moral imperative to address the climate crisis. After all, it kills people and destroys lives. The cause of the climate crisis — the burning of fossil fuels — is also responsible for plenty of death and destruction.

Donald Trump’s choice for energy secretary, Chris Wright, and one of his picks to co-lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Vivek Ramaswamy, seem to have a different message. It is one that turns the concept of morality on its head and distorts reality.

Wright has invented a warped “moral case” for the rampant extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Wright portrays fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal as virtuous. He has even called goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions “perverse.”

What he leaves out is that the current and future American economy is powered by clean energy. The clean energy revolution is behind the rebirth of American manufacturing and is lifting people out of poverty. The jobs created pay well and are safer. And consumers are saving money with renewable clean energy sources like solar and wind because they are now both more resilient and less expensive to produce than fossil fuels.

A man in a white button-down shirt and quarter-zip vest leans back against a railing with his arms extended. Behind him, a company logo is on the wall.

Liberty Oilfield Services CEO Chris Wright is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be Energy secretary. In 2023, Wright said, “There is no climate crisis.”

Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP

And if we want to talk poverty, what about the countless families who have been bankrupted and sent into poverty because of pollution, fossil fuel leaks and explosions, and unbearable health care costs to treat the diseases fossil fuels cause? Or the extreme weather disasters we see ravaging communities with increasing frequency and intensity?

Ramaswamy said last year, “The reality is, more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.”

It is a claim utterly backward, even Orwellian. The New York Times fact-checked the statement and correctly rated it “false” with “no evidence to support this assertion.”

To pretend there is a moral case for fossil fuels requires more than mental gymnastics. It requires willful dishonesty.

But let us look to Scripture. It is as good a place as any to start, since the Bible and its lessons help guide so many people’s ideas of morality. In it, God gave us a formula that certainly seems to be coming into focus today.

In the Book of Genesis, God charged people with being stewards of the Garden of Eden. He told Adam and Eve to cultivate and care for it. This early commandment recognizes nature — also known as God’s creation — as something to be grateful for and respected.

Playing with fire

Going back all the way to the beginning, God gave us the means to our own salvation or our demise. He gave us free will — along with his many commandments was the free will to choose whether or not to follow them. The other thing God gave us was fire.

Ultimately fire became electrical power. But it was the tool that allowed humanity to thrive; to give us light in the dark and warmth in the cold.

So, the energy we needed for warmth, light, and eventually transportation and more, came from burning things. And what people burned were the things that were most readily accessible and easy to harness — starting with wood, then oils from animals and trees, then coal, then petroleum and so on.

Over the eons, as the number of people increased exponentially, the accessibility of these finite sources began to shrink exponentially. Whale species were hunted to the brink of extinction for their oil. Island nations and huge swaths of the continents were deforested.

For a long time, we thought the answer was to replenish the finite things to burn as best we could. But along the way, we realized God gave us infinite sources of energy that had always been abundant in the Garden: the sun and the wind.

We realized the terrible cost of burning through finite sources was not simply running out of things to burn, it was extreme weather and our planet becoming ever less hospitable due to warming.

The signs all pointed to the need to make the switch from the finite sources of energy — and the destruction they cause — to the infinite sources, which are kinder both to people and to all of God’s creation. We can power our world and tend the garden at the same time.

In the Bible, when humans finally understood the message and acted in ways God wanted, floodwaters receded; fires stopped.

So if saving lives, improving health outcomes and expanding economic opportunity through more and better jobs are not enough of a moral calling to prioritize the clean energy transition, look to the Bible and listen to God. His message seems to be pretty clear.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club and a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Residentes exigen durante posadas que se tomen medidas sobre propiedades vacías o descuidadas de CHA

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago.

Más de 70 personas marcharon por Logan Square el sábado por la mañana, exigiendo que la Autoridad de Vivienda de Chicago (CHA, por sus siglas en inglés) cumpla con sus promesas de reparar la vivienda dispersa que administra y mantener las viviendas de bajos ingresos que hay en el vecindario.

La manifestación fue una recreación de las posadas, una tradición católica de 400 años de antigüedad de varios días de oración que recrea la historia de la búsqueda de refugio de María y José antes de que naciera Jesús.

Las protestas anuales en las viviendas Lathrop Homes comenzaron en 2013, pero se han extendido a lo largo de los años a otras propiedades de CHA como la que se llevó a cabo el sábado en Logan Square.

Ahora en su duodécimo año, la reunión de las posadas fue liderada por miembros de la Alianza Ecuménica de Logan Square y Palenque Liberating Spaces Through Neighborhood Action y destacó el problema persistente de las llamadas viviendas dispersas que están vacantes y deterioradas.

Los miembros de la comunidad expresaron su frustración, viendo estas propiedades abandonadas como un recurso desperdiciado y un punto de discordia, lo que subraya su creencia de que las promesas de la Municipalidad y CHA siguen sin cumplirse.

Los asistentes comenzaron la marcha en Grace Church de Logan Square y terminaron en un sitio disperso cercano en 2119 W. Spaulding Ave. Los participantes dejaron carteles para CHA en la propiedad, pidiendo a la autoridad que no rechace a las familias.

El nombre de “sitios dispersos” o vivienda dispersa data de cuando la agencia, acusada durante años de reforzar la segregación racial, estaba bajo presión legal para expandir las propiedades más allá de los vecindarios negros.

Lindsey Joyce, pastora de Grace Church y miembro de la Alianza Ecuménica de Logan Square, dijo que la alianza está instando a la autoridad de vivienda a reconsiderar su gestión de las viviendas en sitios dispersos.

“Lo que le pedimos a CHA es que no queremos que vendan las viviendas en sitios dispersos. Queremos que se conviertan en viviendas cálidas, seguras, y hermosas: casas en las que la gente realmente quiera vivir, y de forma permanente para familias de bajos ingresos”, dijo. “No necesitamos menos viviendas para personas de bajos ingresos en Chicago; necesitamos más”.

Participants walk to a Chicago Housing Authority scattered site housing at 2119 N. Spaulding Ave. in Logan Square during the annual “Las Posadas” ceremony organized by the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance and Palenque Liberating Spaces Through Neighborhood Action (LSNA), Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. The rally aimed to bring attention to affordable housing.

Los participantes marchan afuera de una propiedad de la Autoridad de Vivienda de Chicago en 2119 N. Spaulding Ave. en Logan Square el sábado durante las posadas anuales organizadas por la Alianza Ecuménica de Logan Square y Palenque Liberating Spaces Through Neighborhood Action (LSNA).

Señaló el descuido sistémico de la vivienda asequible en áreas como Logan Square, Avondale y Humboldt Park. “Parece que nunca se invierte en viviendas, especialmente en esta zona de la ciudad”, afirmó.

Según Joyce, de las 3,000 viviendas en lotes dispersos que hay en Chicago, aproximadamente 500 siguen vacías. “En concreto, en el caso de las viviendas en sitios dispersos, estamos viendo que una cantidad desproporcionada de viviendas en esta zona se quedan sin ocupar”, añadió.

Bruce Ray, pastor de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo de la Avenida Kimball y miembro de la Alianza Ecuménica de Logan Square, señaló que el sitio de Spaulding ha estado vacío y tapiado durante años.

“Hemos escuchado de los residentes y de los miembros de la comunidad que esto es simplemente inaceptable porque no solo se están desperdiciando viviendas, sino que también afecta al resto de la comunidad”, afirmó. “Cuando hay un edificio tapiado como este, puede convertirse fácilmente en un lugar donde aparecen ocupantes ilegales, se venden drogas y se realizan todo tipo de actividades perjudiciales para la comunidad”.

En noviembre pasado, la CHA lanzó su proyecto Restore Home para reparar y, en algunos casos, desmantelar 217 unidades de vivienda en 77 edificios, incluidos 36 edificios de apartamentos de tamaño pequeño a mediano, especialmente aquellos con dos a seis apartamentos.

El objetivo era terminar el trabajo en 18 meses, “un objetivo agresivo”, dijo en ese momento la directora ejecutiva de la agencia, Tracey Scott.

La atribulada jefa anunció en octubre que renunciaría al cargo. La actual presidenta de la junta, Angela Hurlock, actuará como jefa interina mientras la agencia realiza una búsqueda.

Un portavoz confirmó que el trabajo en 2119 W. Spaulding Ave. comenzaría el próximo año, pero no tenía un cronograma para su finalización y no respondió si la agencia todavía estaba en camino de cumplir con el plazo de 18 meses. Actualmente, 10 unidades y 13 casas están en construcción y se firmaron contratos en septiembre para renovar otras 60 unidades para mediados de 2025.

“Estamos trabajando en lo que puede ser un proceso de construcción complicado y estamos presionando mucho para cumplir con el cronograma”, dijo un portavoz en una declaración al Sun-Times el viernes.

Participants stand outside a Chicago Housing Authority scattered site housing at 2119 N. Spaulding Ave. in Logan Square during the annual “Las Posadas” ceremony organized by the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance and Palenque Liberating Spaces Through Neighborhood Action (LSNA), Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.

Los participantes marchan afuera de una propiedad de la Autoridad de Vivienda de Chicago en 2119 N. Spaulding Ave. en Logan Square el sábado durante las posadas anuales organizadas por la Alianza Ecuménica de Logan Square y Palenque Liberating Spaces Through Neighborhood Action (LSNA).

Audrey Thomas, defensora de la vivienda y residente del área durante más de 30 años, dijo que durante mucho tiempo se ha sentido frustrada por las muchas unidades vacías en el área que permanecen en mal estado. “Hay todas estas unidades en esta área, como 100 unidades, y la gente podría estar viviendo en ellas”, dijo. “Parece una forma realmente ineficiente de abordar la vivienda”.

Flor Mata, una residente de Portage Park de 21 años, asistió al evento del sábado por primera vez. Mata dijo que se sintió obligada a involucrarse después de aprender sobre los problemas de vivienda durante una pasantía de verano con Palenque LSNA.

Enfatizó la necesidad de concienciación y acción comunitaria. “Definitivamente creo que es importante que las personas se informen más y aprendan sobre lo que pueden hacer y lo que sus acciones pueden hacer para impactar las vidas de otras personas”, dijo. “Estas casas vacías podrían ser utilizadas por personas que realmente las necesitan, especialmente durante el invierno y la temporada de vacaciones”.

Joyce enfatizó la importancia de la historia de la Sagrada Familia durante el llamado a la acción del sábado.

“El propósito de esto es conmemorar la historia de la Sagrada Familia. Para nosotros, son María, José y Jesús, quienes fueron rechazados en todas las posadas. Recordamos eso y recordamos cuántas otras sagradas familias vemos en las calles en este momento”, dijo Joyce.

Participants stand outside a Chicago Housing Authority scattered site housing at 2119 N. Spaulding Ave. in Logan Square during the annual “Las Posadas” ceremony organized by the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance and Palenque Liberating Spaces Through Neighborhood Action (LSNA), Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.

Los participantes marchan afuera de una propiedad de la Autoridad de Vivienda de Chicago en 2119 N. Spaulding Ave. en Logan Square el sábado durante las posadas anuales organizadas por la Alianza Ecuménica de Logan Square y Palenque Liberating Spaces Through Neighborhood Action (LSNA).

Traducido por Jackie Serrato, La Voz Chicago



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Encuentran a una persona baleada sin vida en un callejón de La Villita

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago.

Un hombre fue encontrado sin vida el sábado por la noche en un callejón de La Villita.

Poco después de las 10 p.m., los agentes que respondieron a una llamada por disparos encontraron al hombre en un callejón en la cuadra 3100 al oeste de Cermak Road con una herida de bala en la espalda, dijo la Policía de Chicago.

El hombre, cuya edad se desconoce, fue declarado muerto en el lugar, dijo la policía.

Los investigadores encontraron que una camioneta SUV verde había chocado con un vehículo estacionado desocupado cerca de la víctima.

Creen que el hombre pudo haber estado dentro del vehículo estacionado antes de que la policía lo descubriera.

No había nadie bajo custodia. Los detectives del Área Cuatro están investigando.



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Los habitantes de Chicago se preparan para defender los derechos de los inmigrantes

El mejor lugar para cobertura de noticias y cultura latina en Chicago. | The place for coverage of Latino news and culture in Chicago.

Todas las personas en los Estados Unidos tienen derechos, independientemente de su estatus migratorio y de la retórica que el llamado “zar de la frontera” entrante del presidente electo Trump, Tom Homan, elija utilizar para demonizar a los inmigrantes —ya sea en un escenario nacional o en una fiesta navideña como lo hizo aquí en Chicago.

Las comunidades legales e inmigrantes de Chicago se están preparando para defender a nuestros vecinos inmigrantes y las leyes durante la próxima administración de Trump.

Todos debemos estar preparados para unirnos para defender nuestros valores compartidos de justicia y debido proceso, lo que incluye garantizar que las personas tengan acceso a una audiencia justa, asesoramiento legal y una comprensión básica de sus derechos antes de que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos las someta a la detención o deportación.

Trump y Homan han dejado en claro que los habitantes de Chicago deben esperar acciones antiinmigrantes rápidas y crueles en nuestra ciudad después del día de su inauguración, incluyendo operaciones de cumplimiento ilegal que podrían poner a las personas en riesgo de detención y deportación sin importar su estatus migratorio.

Estamos trabajando junto con muchos otros habitantes de Chicago para prepararnos para estas redadas en los vecindarios y lugares de trabajo. Estamos educando a las personas sobre cómo garantizar la seguridad de sus familias y proteger sus derechos durante un encuentro con el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés).

También estamos capacitando a abogados voluntarios que están listos para dar un paso adelante y representar a las personas en los procedimientos de deportación, o para llevar a la administración de Trump a los tribunales cuando sus acciones inevitablemente violen la ley estatal o federal.

Las encuestas muestran que los votantes apoyan el alivio y las vías para la legalización y no están a favor de un enfoque de aplicación de la ley extrema. Todos debemos exigir que nuestros funcionarios electos dejen de invertir miles de millones de dólares de impuestos en castigar a los inmigrantes y, en cambio, inviertan en soluciones y programas que hagan que nuestras comunidades sean más saludables y acogedoras para todos.

Mary Meg McCarthy, directora ejecutiva, Centro Nacional de Justicia para Inmigrantes

Los republicanos son hipócritas en materia de ley y orden

Gracias por su editorial “El zar fronterizo de Trump actúa como un ‘bully’, no como un líder que quiere solucionar el problema migratorio”. ¡Estuvo absolutamente correcto!

Tom Homan vino a Chicago para hablar con el Comité de Acción Política (PAC) Republicano Ley y Orden. Los republicanos que dicen promover la “ley y orden” son como si las monjas católicas se llamaran a sí mismas ateas.

Simplemente renunciaron a esa filosofía cuando apoyaron a Trump. Apoyaron a un delincuente convicto para presidente y se negaron a aprobar un proyecto de ley bipartidista que habría contribuido en gran medida a ayudar con la inmigración ilegal.

Es tarea del Congreso resolver el problema de la inmigración, según nuestra Constitución, no del Poder Ejecutivo (Artículo 1, Sección 8).

Ahora Homan dice que los solicitantes de asilo no están huyendo de una situación peligrosa en su país, sino que solo están buscando trabajo. ¿Cómo podría saberlo? ¿Qué no por eso tenemos tribunales?

Pero un partido que no cree en la ley no permitirá que se desarrollen los procesos legales. Eso sería (para su retórica) demasiado lento y no tendría tanta bravuconería como un plan de deportación masiva.

Y ahora Trump dice que quiere deportar a los bebés nacidos en Estados Unidos de padres indocumentados. ¿Ha oído hablar de la 14ª Enmienda?

Lo peor es que, por más hipócrita o anticonstitucional se vuelva este partido, a una gran parte del público votante no parece importarle.

Jan Goldberg, Riverside

Deporten a los inmigrantes indocumentados

Los estadounidenses, y me atrevo a decir una gran parte de los residentes de Chicago e Illinois, votaron para que el presidente Trump y Tom Homan hicieran exactamente lo que Homan discutió en su reunión de la semana pasada.

Aparentemente, el Sun-Times no ha estado prestando atención a los ciudadanos de Chicago que están hartos de que los extranjeros que ingresaron al país ilegalmente invadan la ciudad. Sigan apoyando políticas fallidas. Es por eso que los medios de comunicación tradicionales se han quedado atrás.

Keith Heerdegen, Libertyville

Apoyando al ‘zar de la frontera’

El editorial del miércoles sobre Tom Homan lo describió como un “bully” de patio de escuela y alguien que no está interesado en “arreglar” la inmigración.

Solo esto último es cierto: no es su trabajo arreglar la inmigración. Es su trabajo abordar el resultado de la inmigración ilegal, y como habla de una manera sensata, se le etiquetó de “bully”.

Necesitamos más gente como él en la política. Necesitamos políticos que no tengan miedo de decirnos las cosas con franqueza. Los ciudadanos trabajadores y contribuyentes de Chicago e Illinois tienen dificultades para entender por qué nuestro alcalde y gobernador están más preocupados por la atención a los migrantes ilegales que por sus propios electores.

Que Tom Homan diga que nuestro alcalde y gobernador no sirven es quedarse corto. Así que tal vez debería haber sido etiquetado como un zar “sin pelos en la lengua”.

Joe Ferro, Garfield Ridge

Traducido por La Voz Chicago



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Former Chicago DEA boss who helped catch El Chapo wants Trump to let him run agency

Jack Riley, the fiery former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s office in Chicago, says he wants to come out of retirement to run the agency in Washington and “take another swing of the bat.”

In November, President-elect Donald Trump selected Chad Chronister, sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida, as his choice to head the DEA.

But Chronister withdrew his name from consideration Dec. 3 without explanation. Conservatives were critical of Chronister for failing to engage in federal immigration enforcement activities.

Riley says he was encouraged to seek the DEA post during a conversation with a wealthy New York Trump donor who’s close to Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick to be commerce secretary. Riley didn’t identify the donor.

Riley, the 66-year-old grandson of a Chicago cop, began his DEA career as an undercover agent in Chicago, busting mobsters and gang members involved in the drug trade.

During his storied career, he was chief of the DEA office in El Paso, Texas where, on the other side of the border, cartels were battling each other for control of the crossing in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Much of the latter part of his career was devoted to the capture of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the Sinaloa cartel leader who was extradited from Mexico to the United States in 2017. Guzmán was sentenced to life in prison after a trial in New York in 2019 and sent to a maximum security prison in Colorado.

Riley ran the DEA’s Chicago office from 2010-2014 and was then promoted to chief of operations of the DEA in Washington before becoming deputy administrator, the No. 2 job, from which he retired in 2017.

In 2019, Riley published a book, “Drug Warrior: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo and the Rise of America’s Opioid Crisis,” detailing his DEA exploits.

The book rubbed some people in law enforcement the wrong way, including Robert Grant, former director of the FBI in Chicago, who wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times saying, “Jack suffers from the current cultural problems of narcissism, wrapped in hubris and tied together with fiction, which is eroding our public discourse.”

In his op-ed, Grant countered Riley’s comments in the book that Grant “didn’t know the streets like I did” and that Grant was wrong during a meeting with former Attorney General Eric Holder to call for a reassessment on the “War on Drugs.”

In a Senate hearing in 2016, Riley warned of the rising opioid addiction crisis in the United States, pointing to the deaths of 47,000 people by overdose in 2014.

He said Mexican drug cartels posed the greatest criminal threat to the United States. But the problem has only gotten worse.

In 2023, overdose deaths surpassed 100,000 for the third straight year, a crisis driven by fentanyl. Experts say overdoses will decline this year, possibly as a result of a crackdown on fentanyl at the border.

Riley, in an interview with the Sun-Times, said the “War on Drugs” has morphed into the “War on Terror.”

“The War on Drugs predicts a beginning and an end, but there is no end. But it is also a national security issue,” he said.

Riley said his policies would dovetail with Trump’s pledge to clamp down on illegal immigration. “The open borders have really compounded the problems.”

Riley said part of his focus would be to identify and arrest undocumented immigrants serving as “proxies” in the United States for drug cartels in Mexico. He said DEA needs to expand its influence in Central and South America and “establish a more coherent relationship with our Mexican counterparts,” who he said are dealing with a fentanyl overdose crisis, too.

“And we are not doing anything on the northern border because we don’t have the bodies,” Riley said. “Hopefully, that will change.”

Since his retirement, Riley has been a regular face on network television news, including CNN and Fox News, as an expert on drug enforcement.

Former DEA deputy administrator Jack Riley on Fox News on Oct. 6, 2022.

Former DEA deputy administrator Jack Riley on Fox News on Oct. 6, 2022.

The New York Times has reported that Chronister’s withdrawal from Trump’s nomination opened a possible path for other retired DEA veterans, including Derek Maltz, former head of the agency’s special operations division, and Ray Donovan, former chief of operations, who also played a central role in the capture of Guzmán.



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City Council to meet again to consider Johnson’s $17.3B budget — minus $68.5M property tax hike

After weeks of political acrimony, the City Council on Monday could be poised to approve Mayor Brandon Johnson’s revised $17.3 billion budget — minus a $68.5 million property tax increase — averting what would have been the first budget shutdown in its history.

Getting to the vote, should it happen, has not been easy.

If Johnson manages to deliver his $17.3 billion spending plan and $165.5 million tax package to support it, he will have secured victory on the most important Council vote of the year — but only after making several rounds of changes and calling off a vote last Friday he was destined to lose.

Although Chicago property owners bracing for reassessments have been spared a double-whammy, the Chicago Board of Education will once again hit them with a property tax increase that amounts to the maximum allowed by state law.

The mayor’s revised budget also would hit Chicagoans in the wallet in a host of other ways, such as increased amusement taxes on tickets to live events and streaming services; higher taxes on cloud computing, business software and equipment leases; and higher taxes on parking and downtown congestion.

The city also hopes to generate $11.4 million in additional revenue from “automated speed enforcement” presumably by adding more speed cameras in wards where alderpersons allow it and $4.6 million by raising an array of license fees, transfer fees and fines as well as the cost of residential parking permits.

Backing off a property tax hike

The mayor originally proposed a $300 million property tax increase that broke his campaign promise to hold the line on property taxes, then agreed to cut it in half after the Council took the extraordinary step of rejecting it by a unanimous vote. He then tried for a $68.5 million property tax increase, to no avail.

Johnson also proposed a 34% increase in the liquor tax, then agreed to scrap altogether after an outcry from the hospitality industry and border ward alderpersons whose bars, restaurants and liquor stores could lose business to surrounding suburbs.

The mayor agreed to restore 162 Chicago police jobs tied to implementing a consent decree outlining the terms of federal court oversight over the Chicago Police Department after Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul threatened to ask a judge to hold the city in contempt.

And he cut $90 million worth of spending from federal pandemic relief funds, in part, by scrapping a second round of guaranteed basic income and a small business assistance program.

With all of those changes, he was still seven votes short of the 26 needed for passage. Friday’s humiliating delay forced the mayor back to the drawing board to hunt for more votes over the weekend.

To get those votes, he scrapped the $68.5 million property tax increase altogether and proposed saving $40 million by skipping what a top mayoral aide described as a $40 million advance payment on the loan taken out to buy the now-demolished Michael Reese Hospital. That land would have held an Olympic Village for the 2016 Games, but they went to Rio de Janeiro.

The latest changes also proposed $10 million in “cost recovery” by charging organizers of ticketed events for police and traffic services and by better scheduling those events to reduce overtime costs.

The final budget also assumes other savings: $1 million by cutting 10 jobs in the mayor’s office; $2.8 million by eliminating middle-management jobs of deputy commissioners and their assistants; and $5 million through unspecified “energy and facilities management efficiencies.”

Still not good enough, says Council’s ‘Common Sense Caucus’

For 15 members of the so-called “Common Sense Caucus,” the mayor’s final offer barely scratched the surface.

They demanded $823.7 million in cuts that include eliminating the $61.3 million-a-year Office of Public Safety Administration and scrapping Johnson’s $50 million plan to create 2,000 more summers jobs and increase spending to combat homelessness. They also wanted to cut the $435,000-a-year budget for the office of the vice mayor, a post held by Ald. Walter Burnett (27th).

For all the concessions Johnson was forced to make, Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson was not impressed.

He characterized Monday’s vote as an effort to “avoid actually doing anything other than get to 26 votes,” he said.

“We are at the end of the runway and the city has to get busy about its structural problems,” Ferguson added, but in this budget, there seems to be no understanding that fact.

“The measures taken here … do not put us in any better situation for 2026, where the challenge will be even greater. That is what the rating agencies want to see. They’re not looking at whether or not we have a budget by Dec. 31,” Feguson said of the all-important bond rating that determines city borrowing costs.

“They’re looking at whether or not that budget goes in reverse with regard to bad practices … and manifests an intention through substantive measures to begin to address the true structural challenges the city has. This doesn’t do it. … This is largely a revenue and one-time solutions budget. There is no leaning into the expenditure side. No leaning into the revenue side.”

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Jason Lee, senior advisor to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, attends a news conference Friday where Johnson addressed the media after the City Council meeting adjourned. Alderpersons return Monday to again consider passing a 2025 budget.

Some ‘mistakes,’ aide says, but a ‘good process’ in the end

Senior mayoral adviser Jason Lee acknowledged “there are always mistakes” and the Johnson administration made a few that may have contributed to contentious negotiations and distrust with a Council emboldened by the mayor’s anemic public approval ratings.

But, Lee argued, the sometimes messy process was no different than what goes on all of the time in “every other body of government.” And he denied Johnson will pay a political price for his stumbles.

“We’re paid to do a job. It can be difficult. It can be easy. Whatever. If I’m the public, the only thing I want to know is … what was the outcome? What did we achieve? … What does that mean for me as a resident of the city of Chicago,” Lee said.

“This was a negotiation. And the outcome is not bad at all given the realities that we face. There are major efficiencies in this budget. There’s investments in this budget. There’s some new revenue in this budget. Fiscal obligations are met in this budget. What is the outcome that people should be upset with?”

Lee denied it was a mistake for the mayor to introduce a budget that included a $300 million property tax increase at a time when property owners have or will be hit by reassessment increases.

Property taxes are “the most widely known predictable revenue currently available to municipal governments in the state of Illinois” and, therefore, it made sense to propose it to chip away at the city’s structural deficit, Lee said.

“What we said from Day One is, we can work with the Council on finding other forms of revenue to help us meet our obligations, fund our government, make some investments and not have to cut services. … That was achieved in this budget,” he said.

“By having a structural place holder like property taxes, that created the space for a conversation on revenue that was available to us. Ultimately, that was a good process.”



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Review: Sweethearts – Chicago Reader

Quietly, off in the corner, the rise of streaming has created a rom-com renaissance. In films like Greatest Hits (2024) and Fingernails (2023), lower budgets and lower stakes have allowed creators to upset, subvert, and sidestep the tropes in a genre notorious for formulaic plot beats and even more formulaic endings.

At first, Jordan Weiss’s Sweethearts looks like a film ready to hit those beats and that ending with as little imagination as possible. Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) and Ben (Nico Hiraga) are best friends in their first year of college, both in long-distance relationships with others. They both simultaneously realize that they’re no longer in love with their significant others and decide to break up with them at Thanksgiving. 

Longtime rom-com fans know what’s coming next. Jamie and Ben obviously haven’t realized that they’re in love yet, and by the end of the film, they’ll be in each other’s arms. Their gay friend Palmer (Caleb Hearon), who’s living in France but back in town for Thanksgiving, will provide one-liners and encouragement from the sidelines. The film could write itself.

And yet, rather delightfully, it does not. In the first place, rather than the queer character being the inevitable second fiddle, Palmer’s storyline waltzes right out of the subplot and just about takes over the film, as he discovers that his rural Ohio town does in fact have a vibrant gay community, complete with mentors, friends, and potential romance. 

As for Jamie and Ben—well, I don’t want to spoil the ending, but their romance arc is resolved in a way that’s lovely, genuine, and genuinely surprising. Old-school rom-coms can feel mechanical in their remorseless drive to grind out their happily ever afters in spite of character or logic. Sweethearts, in contrast, is a gentle little film that has real heart. R, 98 min.

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Multiple injuries reported in school shooting in Madison, Wisconsin, police say


CBS News Chicago

Live

CHICAGO (CBS) — Police are responding to a shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin, on Monday. 

According to Madison police, multiple injuries were reported at the school located at 4901 East Buckeye Road. There is a large police presence at the school with multiple emergency vehicles in the parking lot. 

Police said the scene remains active, and the investigation is ongoing. 

Residents have been asked to avoid the area, and roads are closed along 4900 Buckeye Road. 

According to WISC, parents and students were reunited at the SSM Health building at near the intersection of East Buckeye Road and Stoughton Road.


This is a developing story. CBS News Chicago will continue to provide updates. 

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Review: No Good Deed – Chicago Reader

The Netflix dark comedy series No Good Deed may revolve around an impossibly gorgeous upper-echelon Los Angeles home, but it’s fueled by the cheapest brand of sentimentality—the kind that puts on the respectable outward face of diversity, inclusion, and various twists of the true-crime genre, only to reveal its shallow nature by the climax.

It’s very LA in that way, and the house in question, a 1920s Spanish-style villa, is worth all the fuss, with enough aspirational beauty to make an influencer swoon, so give production designer Nina Ruscio all the accolades, folks. And credit also to a cast that includes Abbi Jacobson, Luke Wilson, Linda Cardellini, Teyonah Parris, Denis Leary, O-T Fagbenle, Ray Romano, and Lisa Kudrow for at least keeping things interesting.

Romano and Kudrow are a married couple whose relationship and economic situation have become strained after the death of their son three years ago, forcing them to sell their gorgeous home with a lifetime of family memories. But they’re forced to confront their own issues and a whole lot more as potential buyers swoop in, all of whom have baggage and secrets of their own.

There are enough very comedic developments and unburied secrets to hold the attention of viewers, and no doubt many will experience the cheapest kind of satisfaction as their classism and prejudices are reinforced. Because upholding the American Family isn’t enough; interlopers must face punishment that borders on (if not embraces) the Old Testament. For all that the U.S. claims to support self-made individualism, it has very specific ideas on who gets to create themselves and how. TV-MA, eight 30-minute episodes

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