This was a long day coming, and frankly one I never thought I’d see.
Thirteen years ago, Syria’s Bashar Assad unleashed a reign of unmitigated terror on his own people, in response to protests of his inhumane Ba’athist government.
Over the course of the civil war, he unabashedly committed the worst atrocities imaginable — barrel-bombing schools and hospitals, torturing children and the elderly, releasing sarin gas on toddlers and infants. His war on his own people is estimated to have killed 500,000 Syrians, 50,000 of them children. Upwards of 35,000 have been “disappeared” or imprisoned. Millions more have been displaced.
For 13 years, a small cohort of journalists, war reporters, aid groups, and lawmakers tried everything we could to not let these atrocities go unnoticed or forgotten. But it often felt like screaming into a void of indifference.
That indifference is the world’s burden to share, and will always be a tragedy on top of a tragedy — inexplicable, indefensible, unforgivable.
But now that Assad the Butcher is finally gone, we owe it to the Syrian people to correct our moral failures.
The unexpected fall of Assad has brought Syrians hope for the first time in more than 50 years, but it also opens the door to some potentially dangerous unknowns that must be addressed by world leaders. There are two immediate concerns: Assad’s chemical weapons and the state’s Captagon production.
Help Syria become a democratic partner
Assad used chemical weapons, including sarin and chlorine barrel bombs, against his own people on multiple occasions. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has spent more than 10 years trying to determine exactly which ones the regime still possesses, with no luck. Now is the time to find them and hold Assad accountable for their use, and more importantly, dispose of them properly so they don’t end up in the hands of terrorist factions circling Syria.
Similarly, Captagon is a dangerous synthetic stimulant that’s been mass-produced and trafficked in Syria by the Assad regime since the war began and Syria’s economy imploded. The drug brought in billions for Assad. But Syria cannot rebuild as a narco-state, and containing Captagon is a national security and public safety must.
Then, Syria will need, well, everything — the rebuilding of schools, roads, and hospitals; a functioning government; the means by which to welcome back millions of refugees; protection from vulture groups looking to exploit the new vacuum.
We not only have a role to play in all of this; it’s in our own economic and national security interests to ensure Syria’s rebirth as a democratic partner in the region. And we have the leverage to do it.
In April 2011, the U.S. issued its first sanctions against Syria and many more followed. Eventually, the U.S. would prohibit any new investment in Syria, embargo its oil, impose travel bans, freeze the assets of a number of Syrian entities and persons and prohibit the export of any U.S. goods and services. The European Union, Australia, the Arab League, Turkey, as well as multiple non-EU countries would follow suit, plunging Syria into economic darkness.
Along with our allies, we should engage in talks to lift these sanctions, and in fact pour resources back into Syria under a checklist of conditions. Syria must draft a new constitution. It must conduct democratic elections. It must release all prisoners of war. It must allow refugees to return home. It must allow outside agents to dispose of its chemical weapons and Captagon.
There is so much more that a new Syria will have to do to regain its stability and economic footholds, to rebuild its infrastructure, to heal its people. It has a long road ahead, after suffering down a long road of Assad’s terror.
We don’t need to send troops, nor do we need to envision our role as nation builders. This isn’t a heavy lift for the U.S., nor will it put incoming President Donald Trump in a politically compromising or “interventionist” position. We have a golden opportunity to help give the Syrian people what they’ve long been demanding and deserve — a free and fair democracy. That’s good for Syria, and good for America and our allies.
We can’t go back and intervene when perhaps we should have. We can’t bring half a million innocent people back to life. We can’t undo the torture and horrors Bashar Assad brazenly unleashed on his people for years. And we can’t wash the stain of indifference off of our hands.
But we can help Syria rebuild. And after years of inaction and apathy, it’s quite simply the least we can do.
S.E. Cupp is the host of “S.E. Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
If the Archdiocese of Milwaukee embraced transparency about child sex abuse as many other big Catholic organizations have done, the number of names on its public list of allegedly abusive clerics could triple, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have found.
Under retiring Archbishop Jerome Listecki, a South Side native who previously ministered in the Chicago area, the Milwaukee archdiocese’s list of “restricted” priests is among the least comprehensive of the 31 archdioceses in the United States that maintain a public accounting of an abuse crisis that has spanned decades.
All 48 men on Milwaukee’s list of alleged child sex offenders are diocesan priests, meaning they report or reported to Listecki or his predecessors or soon will report to another Chicago cleric, Jeffrey Grob, who will be installed in January as Milwaukee’s new archbishop.
The list excludes members of male Catholic religious orders who have been credibly accused of child sex abuse and lived, ministered or offended within that ecclesiastical jurisdiction that includes nearly 200 parishes and more than 500,000 Catholics in southern Wisconsin, including Kenosha, where the Chicago and Milwaukee metro areas converge.
Diocesan priests generally staff parishes. Religious orders often run Catholic high schools and aren’t limited to a single geographic diocese. Orders also maintain a particular spiritual mission and their own hierarchy but need permission from a local bishop to serve in his domain.
Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, a native Chicagoan who served for years as a priest in the Chicago area. He’s retiring and being replaced in January by another Chicago area priest, Bishop Jeffrey Grob.
Roughly two dozen U.S. archdioceses publicize alleged abusers in both ministerial groups through lists, the release of personnel files or a combination of those. That includes Chicago’s archdiocese, though Cardinal Blase Cupich for years resisted including religious orders on his list. He relented in 2022 as Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul was preparing to release a report outlining the scope of abuse and secrecy by Illinois bishops.
Three archdioceses have no public accounting — Miami, San Francisco and one that covers the military.
Milwaukee appears to be one of just eight U.S. archdioceses that includes only alleged diocesan offenders and few if any accused religious order members. Milwaukee’s list would have about 140 names if religious order priests and brothers were covered, the Sun-Times and Journal Sentinel found, as well as several other accused diocesan priests who appear to be omitted.
The newspapers found:
28 members of the Capuchin Franciscans’ Midwest Province deemed to have been credibly accused of abuse have served within the boundaries of Milwaukee’s archdiocese, with none currently in active ministry, according to the group’s public list.
23 credibly accused members of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, served within Milwaukee’s boundaries, including at least a dozen previously assigned to Marquette University High School at various times, according to that order’s public lists. That includes the late priest Daniel J. Kenney, who was known to use a hand puppet of a monkey to interact with children.
Eight credibly accused members of the Society of the Divine Word’s Chicago Province served or lived at some point in East Troy, Wisconsin, in Walworth County, part of Milwaukee’s archdiocese.
Six credibly accused members of the Benedictine religious order have belonged to the Benet Lake Abbey in southern Wisconsin, according to that group’s public list. Among them is Brother Thomas Chmura, a monk arrested by the Antioch police in 2013 on charges of attempting to abduct a girl walking in the far northwest suburb.
Brother Thomas Chmura, shown in a sex offender registry.
Missouri State Highway Patrol
About another two dozen priests and religious brothers who belong to other orders or dioceses and at some point ministered or lived in the Milwaukee area aren’t on the Milwaukee archdiocese’s list but are on other official church lists or a list maintained by the church watchdog Bishop Accountability or in government records.
One of them is the late Rev. Bruce MacArthur, who was convicted of molesting kids in Wisconsin, where he served in parishes and as a hospital chaplain. Records show he admitted sexually abusing numerous children over a span of years. He’s on church lists in South Dakota and Texas, where he also ministered, but not Milwaukee.
Two of them are members of the Xaverian Missionaries who at some point were based in Franklin, Wisconsin, according to that group’s list.
Three of them are on the credibly accused list maintained by the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconsin — which Listecki formerly led — showing they had past assignments in the Milwaukee area.
Four are or were members of the Carmelite order, which has its own public list.
Another seven have been part of the Society of the Divine Savior, also known as the Salvatorian order, which has a local headquarters in the Milwaukee area and no public list.
“This question has been a matter of repeated consideration by the USA Province Provincial Council of the Society of the Divine Savior,” a spokeswoman says. “It has consistently been decided that the privacy interests of all persons involved weighs against publishing such a list.”
The Salvatorian spokeswoman confirmed the names of seven alleged offenders a reporter had found through other sources. But she wouldn’t say how many credibly accused members there are: “Out of the privacy interests of all persons involved in these matters, the USA Province is not providing that information.”
Such reasoning has been rejected by victims, church reformers and even some bishops, who have called for church organizations to be transparent to aid in healing for those who were abused and to seek atonement for the church’s failures, including coverups regarding abusers in the ranks of the clergy.
Pope Francis met in 2022 at the Vatican with leaders of several Catholic orders. Speaking about child sex abuse by clergy, he implored, “Please do not hide this reality.”
But he hasn’t mandated that orders and dioceses publicly come clean.
The Rev. Mark Santo, a deceased former Servite priest who lived or worked in the Chicago and Milwaukee regions but appears on neither the Archdiocese of Chicago’s list of credibly accused clerics nor one maintained by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
St. Philip High School yearbook
The Conference of Major Superiors of Men, a consortium of male religious orders in the U.S. that includes the Salvatorians, has recommended that its member groups release public lists of their clergy credibly accused of child sex abuse.
Some have, while others haven’t. Even among those that have, there’s often sparse detail, such as no assignment histories, making it difficult to know where alleged child molesters served and, if they’re still alive, where they are now. The same is true of some archdioceses that have omitted names of abusers on some lists, including Chicago’s, the Sun-Times has reported.
“I’m not sure that a constellation of bishops has an orchestrated strategy” of secrecy, says Jason Berry, a New Orleans-based filmmaker and author of a 1992 book about the church’s sex abuse scandal, “Lead Us Not Into Temptation.” “But what a given bishop does is heavily driven by what their attorneys tell them.”
Speaking generally about the American church, Berry says, “I think they’re in damage control of the worst kind, trying to reduce the coverage, trying to reduce the potential for more litigation, trying to keep the lid on as best they can.”
The Milwaukee archdiocese’s website says that only diocesan clergy are included on its list — which was created in 2004 by Listecki’s predecessor Timothy Dolan, now a cardinal overseeing the Archdiocese of New York — because the accused from other dioceses or orders who served locally “are not accountable to the archbishop of Milwaukee.”
Milwaukee Archbishop-Designate Jeffrey Grob, who has long served as a Chicago area priest and bishop.
The website says the Milwaukee archdiocese “has no way of knowing what allegations may have been received; whether they included allegations while in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee; how allegations were investigated; what standard was used in determining substantiation; and how allegations were eventually resolved.
“There is also no certainty that the archdiocese would be informed of allegations against every priest who worked at some point in the archdiocese. Instead of publishing what would be an incomplete list, the archdiocese leaves the listing of names of clergy with substantiated allegations to their respective” groups.
All Catholic dioceses in Illinois have public lists that include religious orders along with diocesan priests.
In Wisconsin, the dioceses of LaCrosse and Superior list alleged abusers from outside their jurisdictions, including members of religious orders. The dioceses of Madison and Green Bay do not. The latter excludes two dozen alleged child-molesting members of the Norbertine order based in DePere, Wisconsin, and overseeing St. Norbert College.
Milwaukee’s church leadership has rebuffed calls to include religious orders on their public list. Church watchdog Peter Isely says that, after the Milwaukee archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 in the face of financial pressure over sex abuse, accusers submitted claims in the proceedings involving more than 200 other clerics, church employees and order members beyond the 48 named priests.
“If you don’t have the names up, you don’t care about children and families,” says Isely, who’s involved in several church reform groups including Nate’s Mission. “Who benefits from [omissions to lists]? The offenders and those who covered it up.”
The late Jesuit priest Daniel J. Kenney, who is on his religious order’s list of credibly accused child molesters but not the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s list even though he served there.
It’s unclear how many of those additional people have been deemed to have been credibly accused. That’s something Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has been trying to determine in an ongoing statewide investigation of the Catholic church over abuse and coverups.
One tip spurred by Kaul’s investigation led to criminal charges against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for allegedly sexually assaulting a teen in Walworth County in the 1970s, though earlier this year McCarrick was deemed incompetent to stand trial due to health problems.
Earlier accusations against McCarrick, who had been the archbishop of Newark and Washington, D.C., helped fuel the latest wave of the U.S. abuse crisis in 2018, along with disclosures from a Pennsylvania grand jury showing hundreds of abusive clerics in that state.
McCarrick is on several public church lists of abusers, including those maintained by the Archdiocese of New York and the Archdiocese of Washington, but not Milwaukee’s.
Child sex abuse victims want the horror they experienced acknowledged by the church, says Michael Finnegan, an attorney with the firm Jeff Anderson & Associates who has sued Milwaukee’s archdiocese on behalf of accusers. “Being able to see their perpetrator on a list gives that validation,” and “it’s intentionally misleading” for the lists to omit religious orders or anyone.
Milwaukee’s list also appears to be missing the names of some diocesan priests, including the late Rev. Mark Santo, who had been a member of the Servite religious order but was assumed into Milwaukee under one of Listecki’s predecessors. Santo is on the list of credibly accused clergy in the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, but not Milwaukee’s.
Listecki wouldn’t comment.
Jerry Topczewski, Listecki’s chief of staff, says the archdiocese has “not been able to obtain details on why his name appears on that diocese.”
The Servites don’t have a public list and are the subject of a number of lawsuits in California over allegedly abusive clerics. Among them is the late Rev. Kevin Fitzpatrick, who once served in Chicago and also, according to his death notice, in Milwaukee.
Fitzpatrick isn’t on Chicago’s archdiocese list, either.
Nor is Santo, who also served in Chicago.
Another abuser who worked in both jurisdictions and isn’t on Milwaukee’s list and only recently was added to Chicago’s is former Augustinian priest John Murphy.
John D. Murphy, a former Catholic priest in the Augustinian religious order. He served in the Chicago region and in southern Wisconsin. After being omitted for years, his name recently appeared on the Archdiocese of Chicago’s list of credibly accused clergy, but he isn’t on a similar list maintained by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
Listecki’s office also wouldn’t say whether religious orders serving in the Milwaukee archdiocese must inform it about offenders from their ranks who have served in that area, as Cupich requires. Initially, Cupich hid that information from the public.
Grob, who has been one of Cupich’s auxiliary bishops and is set to be installed as Milwaukee’s archbishop on Jan. 14, succeeding Listecki, says it’s too early to discuss whether he will make any changes in terms of disclosure over abuse.
“It’d be very inappropriate for me to speak,” Grob says. “I have not studied the matter.”
Laura Schulte is a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter.
READ THE SUN-TIMES’ ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION
The Catholic church’s transparency on accusations of sexual abuse by clergy members, including the Rev. Mark Santo, remains inconsistent and lacking across the United States, clouding the extent of the crisis more than 20 years after it exploded into view.
The cardinal, a close adviser to Pope Francis, is now at the church’s mandatory retirement age. He submitted his resignation letter, the Archdiocese of Chicago said, but the pope could refuse to accept it.
The Servites has had numerous priests and brothers accused of sexual abuse and faces an onslaught of new lawsuits. Unlike many dioceses and orders, the group has no public list of members deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. And other church lists are incomplete.
Rev. Goedert, a survivor of the Andrea Doria shipwreck, said in a 2007 deposition that he knew 25 priests had broken the law over the years by abusing children but never alerted police.
Rev. Richard McGrath’s name belongs on lists of abusers kept by all Catholic dioceses where he worked, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said.
The payout is in a lawsuit regarding the Rev. Richard McGrath, an Augustinian priest who ran Providence Catholic High School — and took the Fifth when asked about child pornography.
Bishop Ronald Hicks might consolidate 16 Joliet-area congregations and eventually close other parishes and schools, with “budgetary issues” a factor. His aides won’t say how much has been spent on fallout from the sex abuse crisis.
Kenneth Lewis, 62, entered the plea Thursday to a felony count of aggravated sexual abuse in a deal with Cook County prosecutors that saw other charges against him dropped, including predatory criminal sexual assault.
“I think that they should be” posting lists of abusive members “because it’s been actually asked of us by the larger church,” the Rev. Gregory Polan told the Sun-Times.
The attorney general didn’t name John D. Murphy. The Archdiocese of Chicago settled claims over Murphy but doesn’t include him on its list. And his order hasn’t named abusers — but said Saturday it hopes to “in the near future.”
The cardinal’s questions on how the Illinois attorney general’s abuse claims were substantiated “are particularly perplexing because many of those 125 names” came from the Archdiocese of Chicago, Raoul said.
There’s no room for anything other than full acceptance of the hard, brutal truth revealed by a five-year investigation: The Catholic Church in Illinois failed to acknowledge hundreds of allegedly abusive priests and other religious figures.
At the start of a five-year investigation by the attorney general, Cardinal Blase Cupich told seminarians the Archdiocese of Chicago had “posted all of the names” of predatory clergy. As the investigation neared its end, Cupich kept adding names.
The Rev. Paul Guzman returns to his position as associate pastor at Most Holy Redeemer Parish effective immediately, according to a letter from Cardinal Blase Cupich.
In a letter Saturday, Cardinal Blase Cupich said an accusation has been reported to the archdiocese that the Rev. Paul Guzman abused a minor when he was a layman — 25 years before entering Mundelein Seminary.
The Catholic order’s Marmion Abbey has posted a list of “established offenders.” Unanswered: why Brother Jerome Skaja stayed with the order for years despite “multiple” credible accusations of molesting minors.
Pfleger, 73, said he would return to lead Mass on Sunday. He has staunchly denied all claims of wrongdoing and was roundly supported by parishioners.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, longtime pastor of St. Sabina Church, was removed pending investigation of a sexual abuse allegation from more than 30 years ago.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has paid $800,000 this year to settle decades-old claims against the longtime Bronzeville pastor and four other priests.
The Archdiocese of Chicago for the first time has posted the names of credibly accused sex-offender priests from multiple Catholic religious orders — with many unexplained omissions.
During Sunday Mass, parishioners wore shirts saying, ‘We stand with Father Pfleger.’ The popular priest denies the latest allegation — the fourth against him.
The new accusation comes less than two years after the popular priest was cleared by the Archdiocese of Chicago of separate accusations.
‘Treat it as a dead subject,’ the victim says the dean of the Catholic school in Aurora told him. The Benedictines are still keeping secrets about clergy sex abuse, a Sun-Times investigation has found.
This is a good day to wrap up writing projects, especially related to colleges and universities or manuscripts. It’s also an excellent day to study history and subjects about the past. You might enjoy doing this in conjunction with someone or with a group. Guard your possessions.
You might feel restless and impulsive. Nevertheless, you can wrap up old business related to shared property, taxes, debt and insurance issues. People in authority will smile on you today. In fact, someone might have advice for you!
Today you will welcome a chance to be alone with your thoughts so that you can reflect on matters or contemplate your navel. In particular, you might wonder how to best approach an authority figure. You might also revisit travel plans with a romantic partner.
Someone older might have excellent advice for you. In fact, it’s a good day to ask professors and instructors for their opinion. You might also be successful in negotiating a payment from someone, especially if they owe you money. Good luck.
You’re high visibility today, which means people notice you more than usual. Actually, you will create a solid impression on others because you will look thrifty, careful, reliable and responsible. (Even if you don’t feel this way.) Meanwhile discussions with partners and old flames might be interesting. (Ya think?)
Do what you can to satisfy your urge for some adventure and a change of scenery. Obviously, travel would be the first choice. However, you can also be a tourist in your own city. You can talk to new people and see different places. Home repairs to improve where you live might happen.
You might talk to relatives and acquaintances from the past you haven’t seen for a while. Allow extra time for delays today, especially related to transportation. Meanwhile, stay on top of banking details and anything to do with insurance and shared property, because some surprises might occur.
Be prepared for a few surprises from partners, spouses and close friends today. They might be minor, they might be major. Meanwhile, it’s a good time to finish family discussions, home repairs or finish a project that makes your home look more attractive. You’ll be glad you did this.
Your work routine might be interrupted. Pet owners should be vigilant about their pets to avoid mishaps. Equipment breakdowns (including computers) might occur. Meanwhile, you’re a smooth talker today! You might impress someone from your past.
You should be extra vigilant today because this could be an accident-prone day for your kids. Sports-related accidents might also occur. Meanwhile, social appointments might be canceled, delayed or changed. You might have a breakthrough or an epiphany with a creative project.
Something unexpected might occur at home today. Small appliances might break down or a minor breakage. Surprise company? It could be a friend from your past. Whatever happens, you will be charming and diplomatic as you deal with the unexpected as well as financial matters.
Pay attention to everything you say and do, because this is an accident-prone day for you. However, you might also have a brilliant idea or an epiphany about something? This is a particularly good day to talk to bosses and people in authority about an issue that might not have succeeded before, but you want to run it up the flagpole one more time.
If your birthday is today
Actor Bill Nighy (1949) shares your birthday. You like harmony in your surroundings. You’re a good listener and an excellent counselor. You appreciate the finer things in life. This is a year of change, which will bring you increased personal freedom. Stay flexible so that you can grab new opportunities and act fast. Expect to travel.
LAS VEGAS — Paul Stone enjoys a good yarn, movies or books that entertain throughout and deliver a solid, if not surprising, conclusion. Indiana’s football team, for instance, has delivered a dramatic season.
“While I love the Hoosiers’ story,” Stone wrote from East Texas, “I’m not sure Gene Hackman’s walking through that door at Notre Dame Stadium on Dec. 20.”
After the 12-team college football playoff was unveiled Sunday afternoon, Stone, a professional handicapper who specializes in the sport, spotlighted the Irish, a 7.5-point favorite over Indiana on Dec. 20.
First-year Indiana coach Curt Cignetti went 11-1. Perhaps success in ensuing weeks might entice thespian Hackman, the star of that 1986 Indiana hoops flick, to play Cignetti (never mind the 30-year age difference) on the silver screen?
Favored by four touchdowns at home over Northern Illinois on Sept. 7, Notre Dame suffered a shocking 16-14 loss to the Huskies. The Irish responded with 10 consecutive triumphs by an average of 31 points.
Indiana’s defeat occurred Nov. 23, a 38-15 loss at national-power Ohio State that was not exactly unexpected.
“Notre Dame has a clear advantage on defense,” Stone said. “[Quarterback] Riley Leonard is healthy and playing well, and the Irish defense ranks high nationally in most of the key statistical categories.”
Stone not only recommends giving the points but favors a smaller wager on the Irish to win it all, with 12-to-1 odds at the Westgate SuperBook and South Point. All odds subject to change.
“In a year where there’s so much parity in college football and some team might come from slightly off the pace,” Stone said, “I think Notre Dame’s worth a shot at 12-1.”
A 36-YEAR IRISH DROUGHT
Stone is one of several experts I tapped for angles and insights into these new playoffs. I’m glad he favored Notre Dame, since I hold 30-1 (bought Nov. 21) and 22-1 (Aug. 31) ducats on the Irish to win its first crown since 1988.
I’ve also got Texas (+700) and Penn State (24-1) in the portfolio, which also highlights Southern Methodist (200-1, bought Aug. 14), Arizona State (70-1, Nov. 25) and Boise State (two at 200-1, Sept. 1).
Circa Sports offers 500-1 exacta odds on Arizona State beating SMU in the finale, one of nine potential title-game outcomes at that exorbitant payoff. The slimmest is Oregon defeating Penn State, at +900. (See chart.)
The caveats for the Broncos and Sun Devils is that both received first-round byes and get to play quarterfinal hosts, exceptional hedging assets to guarantee profit.
Tommy Lorenzo and Sam Panayotovich are also bullish on the Irish. Lorenzo, a professional bettor in Southern California, sees value in Notre Dame down to 10-1.
“I have Notre Dame ranked highest, based on my power numbers,” Lorenzo said, “so getting double-digit odds on the Irish, which has a top-five defense, is worth a play.”
He noted that Notre Dame deftly avoided late-season “car-crash” episodes that smacked Georgia and Texas.
“My bracket shows Notre Dame getting to the final vs. either Oregon or Texas,” Lorenzo said. “At that point, given the current high odds on the Irish, there is an opportunity to hedge the bet to secure profit.”
In Boston, Panayotovich, the Chicago native and co-host of BetQL Daily (on the Audacy radio network in Chicago), highlighted the Irish’s draw.
“It should beat Indiana as a touchdown favorite in South Bend,” he said. “Then it’s Georgia, who probably won’t have starting quarterback Carson Beck. The best part is, you avoid Oregon, Texas or Ohio State until the very end.”
In Tennessee-Ohio State, Panayotovich likes the home team while pro ’capper and longtime Vegas resident Chuck Edel, another Chicago native, leans toward the visitors.
In the playoffs, running counter to bowl games, Edel puts a premium on players wanting to participate and motivations being high, and he gives a major coaching edge to the Vols’ Josh Heupel over the Buckeyes’ Ryan Day.
On the other side, Panayotovich said, “The Buckeyes come in extremely undervalued and you know they’ve been stewing since the Michigan game.”
WHY NOT ARMY?
In his back-room office at the South Point early Sunday afternoon, sportsbook director Chris Andrews had surveyed the brackets for a couple of hours and spotlighted the Longhorns.
“I think Texas came out really good,” he said. “A home game against Clemson, then they play at Arizona State. I think [the Horns] will be pretty significant favorites.”
The handle for the college football season at the South Point, and sister book location at the Rampart Casino in Summerlin, began with a bang, tailing off the past few weeks.
Andrews predicted playoff business to be “huge” but won’t touch the three-week hoops tournament, “which is bigger than the Super Bowl.”
Ultimately, Andrews looks forward to a 16-team national football playoff in which conference champions win automatic entry. Like Notre Dame, Army lost once all season (to the Irish), and it pounded Tulane in the American Athletic title game.
“What’s Army saying?” Andrews said. “Why shouldn’t they [be in]? Maybe they go to Oregon and are probably 25-point dogs, but what the hell? Alabama put up three points at Oklahoma!
“Look at the SEC in Week 10; they’re usually playing Western Carolina, or someone like that. So don’t give me the BS that it’s so unfair to these teams, because they’re already doing it. Why not do it for the playoffs?”
A motorist was fatally shot in a shootout with passengers in another car Wednesday night in Logan Square.
The driver of a stolen gray sedan was traveling south in the 2300 block of North Kimball Avenue when he exchanged gunfire with occupants of a black sport utility vehicle about 8 p.m., Chicago police said.
The driver of the sedan, whose age wasn’t known, suffered a gunshot wound to the head and crashed his car into two parked vehicles. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. A weapon was recovered in his car.
No one is in custody, and Area 5 detectives are investigating.
Nazareth found itself after it lost in the IHSA Class 4A state finals to Loyola. The Roadrunners were a quarter away from winning three straight state championships but ultimately fell short.
Unlike previous years — when they returned the majority of their starting lineup — the Roadrunners graduated four starters from last year’s team. They entered this season with a much younger team that’s still trying to find the right alchemy on the court with each other. The team’s arrow is pointing up after Wednesday’s dominant 65-34 win over Riverside Brookfield (2-6, 2-1).
“We’re young, but our ceiling is so incredibly high,” coach Ed Stritzel said. “We have multiple kids that could score. We’re going to be really dangerous by the time March comes.”
At 6-1, junior forward Stella Sakalas has the coordination to handle the ball and go coast-to-coast, the strength to score in the post and can knock down threes consistently. Her versatility was on display after her 20-point, 13-rebound performance. She credited her time playing AAU basketball for her diverse skill set.
Frankly, there aren’t many forwards like Sakalas in the area. She’s comfortable handling the ball and making plays for her teammates, shooting three-pointers and finishing through contact in the paint. Her multifaceted game is a massive boost to the Roadrunners’ attack.
“AAU can get so much faster [than high school],” Sakalas said. “It’s fun incorporating an AAU style into the high school game; getting out and taking [the ball] and getting by everyone. That’s something we really emphasize in practice. And we’ve all started playing that way on the team much more. [Everyone] is just taking the ball and getting to the basket.”
Getting Sakalas to deliver offensively consistently is necessary for Nazareth (8-1, 1-0 ESCC) to be successful, and so far this season, she’s delivered emphatically. Still, they also need the younger players to step up and become more comfortable in their more prominent roles.
One player who’s really stepped up is senior guard Allia von Schlegell. von Schlegell — a Valparaiso commit — is quick with the ball in her hands. She can blow by her defender without a ball screen. Her ability to get to the paint creates easy scoring opportunities for herself and her teammates.
von Schlegell — who scored eight points — is one of the players who had to wait her turn last season. But now, she’s making the most of her starting opportunity. Her success comes from her comfortability with her teammates — von Schlegell transferred to Nazareth last season and was still acclimating to her teammates and the Roadrunners’ system.
“Last year, I was getting to know [Nazareth] and how we played,” von Schlegell said. “But I felt ready coming into the starting role and knew what to focus on. Last year, I understood the players I would be playing with better.”
In addition to von Schlegell and Sakalas, Nazareth also received contributions from sophomore guard Sophia Towne (nine points), and junior guard Lyla Shelton (10 points).
One benefit of playing in the state championship five of the last six years is that the program knows what it takes to return. And thanks to a loaded schedule, the young Roadrunners will certainly be battle-tested come March — they will only graduate two seniors after this season — and the experience will be beneficial for this year and next.
“Everybody out there wants to be in that state championship and play in that game, but not everyone’s willing to put in the work to get there,” Sakalas said. “We have a team that is capable of doing that.”
After more than 12 years, Chicago Bulls legend and NBA Hall of Fame great Michael Jordan’s Highland Park mansion has sold for $9.5 million.
The mansion, 2700 Point Ln, sits on over 7 acres and first went on the market for $29 million in 2012. The property went under contingent contract in September with an asking price of $14,855 million.
The 56,000 square foot mansion sold Tuesday for $9.5 million, according to the mansion’s listing on the real estate marketplace Zillow.
The name of the buyer was not known.
The mansion, built in 1995 after Jordan announced his return from his first retirement, features nine bedrooms and 19 bathrooms, as well as a basketball court, cigar room, tennis court and swimming pool.
The asking price was reduced several times, last changing in 2015. That year, Jordan was willing to include 29 pairs of signature Jordans for whomever met his asking price.
Listing agent Katherine Malkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AJ Demirov had a decent look at the basket and a chance to win it for Crystal Lake South at the buzzer on Wednesday in McHenry, but the shot didn’t fall.
It was that kind of night for the Gators, who shot 4 of 30 from three-point range and never found any rhythm offensively against the Warriors’ swarming defense.
McHenry earned a 51-49 win against Crystal Lake South, an early sign that the Fox Valley conference may be wide open this season. The Gators were 18-0 in the conference last season and 31-5 the past two years.
Adam Anwar, a 6-7 junior, is the Fox Valley’s new star. He had 19 points and seven rebounds to lead McHenry (6-0, 3-0).
“Playing inside and outside is my thing,” Anwar said. “I just found the open holes wherever they were.”
Anwar is averaging 20 points this season while shooting more than 40% from three-point range.
“We want him to float and go in and out,” Warriors coach Corky Card said. “Any shot he gets is good for us.”
Demirov, one of the area’s leading scorers the past two seasons, was held to just nine points.
“You just want to make him fight for everything,” Card said. “He’s such a good player. I can’t tell you how many times he has hit shots like the one he took at the end. We just tried to make it difficult for him.”
“They did a great job guarding [Demirov] and not giving him clean looks,” Gators coach Matt LePage said. “He did a good job all year of getting guys going and then he finds his scoring after. It just didn’t happen for him tonight.”
Crystal Lake South (5-2, 2-1) was 4-for-30 from three-point range and had 19 turnovers.
“It’s early December and we are still sorting things out,” LePage said. “We played a little frantic at times and looked uncomfortable. For the first time all year. Even against a good Waukegan team, we didn’t look that frantic.”
Senior Caleb Jett’s basket with 2:15 left put McHenry ahead 48-41, but the Warriors struggled to hold on to the lead. Crystal Lake South sophomore Carson Trivellini scored with 33 seconds left to cut the lead to 50-49, but that was as close as it would get.
Crystal Lake South’s AJ Demirov (4) draws a foul and makes the shot against McHenry.
Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times
“They did a really good job of scrapping to get back into it,” Card said. “We turned the ball over a couple of times. It was a good learning experience for us tonight.”
Anwar wasn’t the only promising, tall underclassman on the court. Crystal Lake South has a pair of identical twin freshmen, Johnathan and Ryan Morgan. They are 6-5 and strong.
Cooper Buelna led the Gators with 13 points and nine rebounds. Trivellini scored 11 and Anthony Santarelli added 11 points and six rebounds.
Jett scored nine for McHenry and senior Connor McLean added eight points off the bench.
“Getting this early win against the reigning conference champion is a huge confidence booster for us,” Anwar said.
Acero Charter Schools community members raged during an emotional meeting Wednesday night in Gage Park against the private organization’s leadership, urging the board to reverse course on its plan to shutter seven schools next year.
Dozens of students, teachers, parents, staff and Chicago Teachers Union members attended a rally outside Acero Idar Elementary School ahead of the board meeting.
They chanted “Whose schools? Our schools” and “Save our schools.” Many held up signs reading “Keep Tamayo open” and “Keep our schools open.”
Parents, students, CTU members rallied outside Acero Idar Elementary before Wednesday night’s contentious meeting.
Reyna Rodriguez, mother of students at Esmeralda Santiago — one of the schools slated for closure — said she doesn’t want to spend the holidays looking for a new school for her children. She said that if Acero CEO Richard Rodriguez can’t figure out how to keep the schools open, he should resign.
“I don’t want to have to worry thinking, ‘Oh, are they going to close the schools, do I have to keep looking for my son’s school?’” Reyna Rodriguez told reporters at the rally. “Rich Rodriguez, make up your mind. If you cannot do your work, quit my friend.”
During the board meeting, which was held inside the school’s gymnasium, Acero officials ceded their speaking time to allow more time for public comment. It was the first time since the closures were announced that families had a chance to face the board, CTU leaders said. More than 200 people packed the gym. Speakers, including several young children, had harsh words for Acero leaders.
Acero community members attend the first public meeting since the charter operator decided to close seven schools before the next school year. They had tough words for the charter leaders.
“It appears to us that you view students as dollar signs and prioritize making money to giving students an education,” said Melanie Soto, an eighth grader at Sandra Cisneros Elementary, another school that is planned for closure.
“You are not only leaving teachers and students with no schools or jobs, you are destabilizing and tearing apart our communities,” said America Murillo, Soto’s classmate. “This is deeply disappointing because we are supposed to look up to you, Mr. Rodriguez.”
Many had the same message for the board: “Shame on you.”
Acero announced plans in October to close seven of its 15 campuses at the end of this school year, citing rising expenses and falling enrollment over the last several years. The schools primarily serve Latino students, and these would be the largest school closings ever in Chicago’s Latino communities, affecting 2,000 students.
Acero has come under fire from parents, students, educators, the mayor and board members for the proposed closings. Among the solutions proposed by CPS include giving Acero more money to continue running the schools for a short time and the district taking over the schools.
