Category: News
Second school resource officer to manage traffic outside Oak Lawn’s Richards High School
Richards High School in Oak Lawn will have a school resource officer to manage traffic amid safety concerns at the school at 106th Street and Central Avenue.
Mike Conroy, who has worked for the Oak Lawn Police Department for 26 years, started Tuesday managing traffic outside of Richards both before and after school. During school hours, he helps out with an adult transitions program at the High School District 218 office, said Richards Principal MaLinda Majoch.
Majoch said the district has sought to address concerns about students’ safety crossing Central Avenue since before she was hired as principal in fall 2024. The High School District 218 board discussed the benefits of hiring an another school resource officer May 15, with board President Carol Kats saying the area becomes very hectic as students walk to school in the mornings.
“I drive past Richards every morning on my way to work, and I see how unsafe it is,” Kats said. “There’s really only one light for them to cross, and they just dash across the street.”
Superintendent Josh Barron mentioned what he called unfortunate situations where students have been hit. In 2019, 15-year-old Amira Nairat was struck and killed by a suspected drunken driver at the 107th Street and Central Avenue crosswalk.
Majoch said many students try to cross Central at the four blocks located from 103rd Street to 107th Street, putting them at additional risk.
“Unfortunately, students will eyeball it and try and get across the street, because they don’t want to walk out of their way to get to a crosswalk,” she said.
Officer Mike Conroy has worked for the Oak Lawn Police Department for 26 years and began work as a Richards High School school resource officer Tuesday. (Community High School District 218)
Richards’ current school resource officer, Brian Black, helps manage traffic as he can while working the building of 1,600 students during school hours.
“Traffic happens to be one of the things he’s assisted with, but by and large he’s a very busy man all throughout the day,” Majoch said.
Hiring an another resource officer aims to deter students from illegally crossing the busy intersections, either by foot or electric scooter. Majoch said the scooters, which are available to rent, remain a common mode of transportation for some students, though Oak Lawn passed regulations in September requiring riders to be 16 or older.
Majoch also hopes Conroy’s squad car will remind to drivers to slow down and look for pedestrians while in the school zone.
“Unfortunately nowadays, people are constantly doing other things while driving — they’re on their phones, they’re putting on their makeup, they’re sipping on their coffee,” Majoch said. “We’re in a world full of distractions, so anytime you can have flashing lights in a car and a uniformed officer making sure to alert you of what’s going on … that’s a huge help.”
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
Trump Touts “Total And Permanent” Access To Greenland, While Nobody Has Any Clue What’s In The Deal
Trump Touts “Total And Permanent” Access To Greenland, While Nobody Has Any Clue What’s In The Deal
Trump said on Thursday he had secured “total and permanent” US access to Greenland in a deal with NATO, whose head said allies would have to step up their commitment to Arctic security to ward off threats from Russia and China.
News of a framework deal came as Trump backed off tariff threats against Europe and ruled out taking Greenland by force, bringing to an end what was brewing to be the biggest rupture in transatlantic ties in decades. Yet despite the optimism, details of any agreement were unclear and Denmark insisted its sovereignty over the island was not up for discussion. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc’s U.S. relations had “taken a big blow” in the past week, as EU leaders met for an emergency summit.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed Trump’s comments but said he was still in the dark on many aspects.
“I don’t know what there is in the agreement, or the deal, about my country,” Nielsen told reporters in the capital Nuuk.
“We are ready to discuss a lot of things and we are ready to negotiate a better partnership and so on. But sovereignty is a red line,” he said, when asked about reports that Trump was seeking control of areas around U.S. military bases in Greenland as part of a wider deal.
“We cannot cross the red lines. We have to respect our territorial integrity. We have to respect international law and sovereignty.”
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said a new deal was being negotiated that would be “much more generous to the United States, so much more generous.” And while he skirted questions on sovereignty, Trump said: “We have to have the ability to do exactly what we want to do.”
Earlier Trump told Fox Business Network the deal would essentially bring “total access” for the United States. “There’s no end, there’s no time limit.”
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Trump had agreed in Davos on further talks between the U.S., Denmark and Greenland on updating a 1951 agreement that governs U.S. military access and presence on the Arctic island. The framework they discussed also calls for prohibiting Chinese and Russian investments in Greenland, the person said.
Another source familiar with the matter said what had been agreed was “a frame on which to build,” adding that “anything being reported on specific details is speculative.”
Rutte told Reuters in Davos it was now up to NATO’s senior commanders to work through the details of extra security requirements.
“I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly, I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026,” he said.
Meanwhile, the country that Greenland (semi-autonomously) belongs to, remains fully in the dark: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said no negotiations had been held with NATO regarding the sovereignty of Greenland.
“It is still a difficult and serious situation, but progress has also been made in the sense that we have now got things where they need to be. Namely that we can discuss how we promote common security in the Arctic region,” she said.
Speaking later ahead of the emergency summit of EU leaders, Frederiksen called for a “permanent presence of NATO in the Arctic region, including around Greenland.”
Kallas said “disagreements that allies have between them, like Europe and America, are just benefiting our adversaries who are looking and enjoying the view.”
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he hoped allies could put together a plan to boost Arctic security by a NATO summit in Ankara in July. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Rutte on Thursday that the UK stood ready to play its full part in ensuring security in the Arctic.
After meeting with Rutte, Trump said there could be a deal that satisfies his desire for a “Golden Dome” missile-defence system and access to critical minerals while blocking what he says are Russia and China’s ambitions in the Arctic.
Adding to the confusion, Rutte said minerals exploitation was not discussed in his meeting with Trump, even though Trump said that it has been.Specific negotiations over the Arctic island would continue between the United States, Denmark and Greenland itself, he said.
The 1951 agreement established the U.S. right to construct military bases in Greenland and move around freely in Greenlandic territory. This is still the case as long as Denmark and Greenland are informed of its actions. Washington has a base at Pituffik in northern Greenland.
“It is important to clarify that the U.S. had 17 bases during the Cold War and much greater activity. So that is already possible now under the current agreement,” said Marc Jacobsen, a professor at the Royal Danish Defence College.
“I think there will be concrete discussions about Golden Dome, and I think there will be concrete discussions about Russia and China not being welcome in Greenland.”
Separately, China’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters on Friday that claims China is a threat are “baseless”, when asked to respond to the Arctic comments. At the same time, the ministry said that China opposes other countries using it as “an excuse” to push their own agenda.
China has repeatedly said its scientific expeditions in the Arctic and commercial shipping operations in the region followed international treaties and laws, accusing the West of distorting facts and hyping up its activities as clues to military intent. Last week, the state-backed Global Times newspaper said in an editorial that it ” firmly opposed attempts by the United States and Europe to label China with terms such as ‘military threat,’ ‘resource grabber’ or ‘rule breaker’ in Arctic affairs.”
Eslewhere, the president of the European Parliament said the European Union will likely resume work on a trade deal with the United States after Trump took back his tariff threats. The parliament decided this week to suspend work on the deal because of Trump’s threats. However, diplomats told Reuters EU leaders will rethink U.S. relations as the Greenland episode has badly shaken confidence in the transatlantic ties. Governments remain wary of another change of mind by Trump, who is increasingly seen as a bully whom Europe will have to stand up to, they said.
Residents in the Greenland capital, Nuuk, are also wary.
“It’s all very confusing,” said pensioner Jesper Muller. “One hour we are, well, almost at war. Next hour everything is fine and beautiful, and I think it’s very hard to imagine that you can build anything on it.”
Nobody asked Muller if he would rather have gotten $10 million and agree, together with the other 57,000 residents, to cede Greenland to the US.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/23/2026 – 14:20
Governors State University student scammed by caller threatening to report him to ICE
Governors State University notified students of scam that led an international student to pay $2,400 out of fear that he would be reported to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The university, through a campus notification, said the student was targeted by a caller who falsely claimed to be a member of the Governors State Department of Public Safety “and indicated that if the student did not pay a $2,400 fine immediately, he would be reported to ICE.”
The student paid the fine before calling the public safety to verify the request, which the department confirmed was a scam.
A spokesperson for Governors State said because the call was taken off campus, investigating it is outside of the its jurisdiction. University Park police said no report was filed related to the scam.
Governors State declined to share more information about the student or incident.
The university in its campus notification emphasized that its public safety department will not contact students asking for money, and encouraged students who receive such a request call the department at 708-534-4900.
“Governors State University is committed to protecting all students during these uncertain times,” the notification said.
It also asked students to watch out for red flags for scams including messages that employ high pressure tactics and threats or demand unusual payments.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/23/governors-state-university-student-scammed-ice/
US Homicide Rate Plummets To 125-Year Low, Group Reports
US Homicide Rate Plummets To 125-Year Low, Group Reports
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
Crime rates continued to fall in 2025, with homicide rates expected to drop to about 4.0 per 100,000 residents, “the lowest rate recorded in law enforcement or public health data going back to 1900,” according to a new report published by the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) on Jan. 22.
Based on an analysis of crime trends in 40 large American cities, homicides are down 21 percent from 2024, and 44 percent from the recent peak of 2021, the CCJ said. Last year’s decline in criminal activity numbers would “mark the largest single-year percentage drop in the homicide rate on record,” the group said. The complete 2025 numbers will be reported by the FBI later this year.
“This monumental turnaround is a direct result of President Trump’s unwavering commitment to Make America Safe Again,” said the White House in a statement, touting the numbers as a result of closing the border, deploying a “whole-of-government offensive,” and bringing back order on American streets.
Meanwhile, the decline in homicide has been ongoing. “Over the past eight years,” a CCJ analysis found, “the highest average homicide rate was in 2021—18.6 per 100,000. The 2025 rate (10.4) was 44 percent below that peak.”
Eleven out of the 13 offences covered in the Jan. 22 report saw a decline in 2025 from the prior year, with nine of the offenses falling 10 percent or more. CCJ noted that drug crimes increased during this period by 7 percent, while sexual assaults remained even.
After peaking during the pandemic, carjacking and shoplifting have come down significantly in the country. Reported carjacking has declined 61 percent since 2023, while shoplifting is down 10 percent from 2024.
“This is what happens when you have a president who fully mobilizes federal law enforcement to arrest violent criminals and the worst of the worst illegal aliens,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X. “Promise Made. Promise Kept.”
Since President Donald Trump assumed office last year, the administration has instituted strict law enforcement measures across the country, which include arresting and deporting illegal immigrant criminals, strengthening enforcement against gangs and transnational cartels, disrupting drug trafficking, and securing the southern border.
On Jan. 16, the Customs and Border Protection agency announced zero parole releases along the southwest border in December 2025, compared with 7,041 releases under the prior administration in December 2024. This is the eighth consecutive month of zero releases.
Crimes in US Cities
Overall data from 35 U.S. cities showed the homicide rate dropping by about 21 percent in 2025. There were declines in 31 of the 35 cities, with roughly 40 percent drops reported in Denver; Omaha, Neb.; and Washington.
Three cities that registered an uptick in the homicide rate were Little Rock, Ark., up 16 percent; Fort Worth, Texas, up 2 percent; and Milwaukee, up 1 percent.
“The overall reduction in crime, especially homicide, is welcome news,” said CCJ senior research specialist Ernesto Lopez, lead author of the report, adding that there was a trend of homicide rates declining since the late 2000s.
CCJ President and CEO Adam Gelb said that it was difficult to “pinpoint what’s actually driving the drop” but noted there have been “big swings in criminal justice policies, programs, and rhetoric, big advances in crime-fighting technologies, and big social, economic, and cultural shifts all happening at the same time.”
CCJ is a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lauded the administration’s first year of law enforcement efforts in a Jan. 20 post on X.
“In President Trump’s first year back in office, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 deportations,” Noem said.
“In the last year, fentanyl trafficking at the southern border has also been cut by more than half compared to the same period in 2024. The U.S. Coast Guard alone seized enough cocaine to kill more than 177 million Americans.”
Furthermore, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested about 7,000 gang members in 2025.
According to a Jan. 19 post by FBI Director Kash Patel, there has been a 20 percent drop in the murder rate nationwide. About 1,800 gangs and criminal enterprises operating in the country have been disrupted.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/23/2026 – 14:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/us-homicide-rate-plummets-125-year-low-group-reports
Hammond man sentened for stalking, battering and shooting woman he’d dated
Devontae Christian Harris, 28, will serve 11 years in connection with a Nov. 23, 2022, incident in which he stalked, battered and shot in the head a woman he had dated.
Harris, of Hammond, was sentenced to serve seven years in an Indiana Department of Correction facility and an additional four years in the Lake County Community Corrections Kimbrough Work Program in Crown Point, if he qualifies, court documents state.
Harris, who received his sentencing on Thursday in the courtroom of Lake Superior Court Judge Samuel Cappas, stood calmly with his attorney, Nicholas Barnes, while agreeing to the terms.
In his plea agreement, Harris pled guilty to Count II, aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony.
At the time of sentencing, the state agreed to dismiss Count 1, attempted murder, a felony; Count II, stalking, a Level 4 felony; Count IV, stalking, a Level 5 felony; domestic battery by means of deadly weapon, Level 5 felony; domestic battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 5 felony; Count VII; domestic battery in violation of a not contact order, a Level 6 felony.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Harris was accused of stalking and battering a Hammond woman who had a protective order against him before he shot her 4-5 times in November 2022.
Hammond Police were called at 1:36 p.m. Nov. 23, 2022, to the 6600 block of Alabama Avenue, where a woman lay shot on the ground, the affidavit states.
The woman, with whom he had been previously dating, had a protection order filed against Harris in September, records show. Just two days before the shooting, he came over and left her with a black eye, charges state.
In addition, the victim reported she was unable to use her hand following the Nov. 23 incident and she reported suffering from ringing in her ears and headaches due to being shot in the head by Harris.
Another man told police he was staying with the woman to protect her and their 3-year-old child from Harris, charges state. Harris had beaten her in the past, was threatening her, and had a previous domestic battery case against her, the man said and court records show.
The woman told police she went to a grocery store with her child. When they returned, she got a text from Harris asking where she was. She ignored it.
Then, she saw Harris ride by in a gold Chevrolet Blazer, records show. She yelled for the other man, helping unload groceries, and their child to go inside. Within 15 minutes, two men in ski masks with guns were running toward her. She knew one was Harris, partly from his tattoos, documents state.
Harris was scheduled to return to Lake County Superior Court on Feb. 12 on charges of three counts of intimidation, a Level 5 felony.
Harris received those charges during a hearing held last July before Lake Superior Court Judge Gina Jones.
Jones, during the hearing, rejected his plea deal for stalking and shooting a woman in the head and lashed out at the judge and the courtroom bailiff in a profanity-laced tirade in the courtroom.
For his actions, Harris was charged with three counts of intimidation, a Level 5 felony, and the judge filed a motion to move his case to another courtroom.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Review: Perfume Genius at Lincoln Hall was a night of deep tracks and hushed intimacy
It was a quiet and intimate show Thursday night for Perfume Genius, who performed at Lincoln Hall as part of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival. Fans expecting a spectacle of past hits may have been disappointed by the song selection, but that didn’t take away from the show’s charms. Despite his major role in the festival, last night’s set was a true gift for hardcore Perfume Genius fans. Deep cuts, one-offs and never-performed-before songs were on the menu, and Michael Hadreas played them with warmth and charm. Luckily, audiences were fully on board for the experience.
The show opened with a true throwback, “Perry,” from his debut album, “Learning.” Moments like this would frame the rest of the evening. Later, he transitioned into “No Front Teeth,” from the 2025 album “Glory.” This got to the essence of the concert. Hadreas’s body of work is rich and vast, spanning decades of performance and artistry. Yet despite selecting tracks from his many different eras, all aligned to tell a singular story of Perfume Genius, one about the immense power of a man and a piano.
“Valley,” from his 2017 breakthrough album, “No Shape,” was one of the most stripped-down tracks of the evening. Thursday night’s rendition was light yet mournful. Gorgeous and sumptuous in its simplicity, “Valley’s” typical bombast instead sounded pulled from the ether, transported through the brilliant vessel that is Perfume Genius.
Situated in the back of the room, I took in the mood and temperament of the crowd, which seemed fully immersed in the concert. With just a few keyboards and synths, Hadreas, along with his performing partner, Alan Wyffels, created a beautiful experience. It was their first time performing like this, just the two of them, in years, he said.
I was reminded of the tiny jazz clubs and open mics that permeate the city. That’s how special the show felt. And that’s how engrossed the audience was in the show. Minus a quick video capture on their cellphones, most folks in the crowd were silent and face-forward.
This was felt most during tracks like “Die 4 You.” Hadreas’s whispery, haunting vocals were not unlike the recorded version of the track. Yet here, they also sounded like a lullaby of love, something more sweet than yearning and raw.
Despite the intimacies of the show, there was still a level of humor and casualness present. He often cracked jokes between songs and, in a meta play for the setting, acknowledged that he should and would be talking between many of the songs. Early on in the set, the two got their set list wrong and jumped into “On the Floor.” Noting the mixup, Hadreas sang the words “switch” and “switch it” as the audience laughed along.
During the performance, the two performers took “On the Floor,” from the 2020 masterpiece “Set My Heart on Fire Immediately,” from an upbeat slice of jangly indie pop into a soft ballad, just synth instrumentation and a steady beat. This made for the perfect accompaniment to “Full On,” the track they originally intended to play. This was the first time they’d ever played the song live, Hadreas said. And in the end, their hiccup was not awkward, and instead felt like a cheeky glimpse behind the curtain.
I couldn’t help but think of the show as something of a time machine. As fans, we generally have no clue how the songs we love grew from point A to point B. But Perfume Genius’s show felt like a trip back in time to the quiet moments when these songs were first written — just a man and his voice and a piano. No flourishes or production tweaks or excessive instrumental imaginations. No, it was just a show of warmth and openness, a journey to the heart of the music.
Britt Julious is a freelance critic.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/23/review-perfume-genius-chicago/
Photos: Dangerously cold weather hits Chicagoland
The National Weather Service has issued an extreme cold warning from 3 a.m. Friday until noon for central Cook County, including Chicago, Cicero, Oak Park, Oak Lawn and La Grange. Weather officials warned residents ahead of the cold stretch to expect dangerously cold wind chills as low as 30 to 35 degrees below zero.
A cold weather advisory is also in effect starting midday Friday, with wind chills between minus 15 to minus 30 degrees possible through Saturday morning, per the weather service. Forecasts called for a high of around 1 degree Friday, with gusts as fast as 30 miles per hour. By Saturday, weather officials say there’s a 50% chance of snow, primarily in the afternoon.
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A fisherman casts a line into a hole in the ice in Diversey Harbor, Jan. 22, 2026, as frigid weather descends on Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
George Miller’s beard is encrusted with ice after he took a frigid dip in Lake Michigan at Montrose Beach, on one of the coldest days in years, Jan. 23, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Brave swimmers tread water at Montrose Beach on one of Chicago’s coldest days in years, Jan. 23, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Brave souls layer up to take pics and experience the cold off Lake Michigan in below zero temps, at Montrose Beach, in one of the coldest days in years, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Layered up to take pics and experience the cold off of Lake Michigan at Montrose Beach, a person covers their face on one of the coldest days in years, Jan. 23, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Ice forms in DuSable Harbor on Lake Michigan on Jan. 22, 2026, as frigid weather descends on Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Ice forms in Monroe Harbor on Lake Michigan in front of the skyline, Jan. 22, 2026, as frigid weather descends on Chicago. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
An ice fisherman drags his portable ice shelther across Fox Lake on a bitter cold morning on Jan. 20, 2026, in Fox Lake. The temperature was in the single-digits with below-zero windchill. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Students leave Mollison Elementary School during dismissal after Chicago Public Schools canceled Friday classes due to sub-zero temperatures, Jan. 22, 2026. The National Weather Service has issued an extreme cold watch from 4 a.m. Thursday until noon Friday for Chicago as well as central, north central and northeast Illinois. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Homeless man Frank Solberg, who lives near Lower Columbus and South Water St., gives a hug to Angela Green, commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services after Solberg accepted a bag of donations during the annual Point-in-Time Count of people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 22, 2026. Solberg has been homeless for around 20 years. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Cristina Pacione-Zayas, chief of staff for mayor Brandon Johnson, gives out hand warmers while chatting with Andre Edward Holmes (cq) on South Water Street as the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services conduct their annual Point-in-Time Count of people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 22, 2026. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
People walk along West Monroe Street as the cold temperatures set in on, Jan. 21, 2026. (Josh Boland/Chicago Tribune)
With a below-zero windchill, a pedestrian passes pockets of steam along Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago on Jan. 20, 2026. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
Ice covers surfaces Jan. 20, 2026, after an overnight fire in an apartment building in the 800 block of North May Street in Chicago. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/23/photos-dangerously-cold-weather-hits-chicagoland/
Beijing Tells Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance To Prepare Nvidia AI Chip Orders
Beijing Tells Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance To Prepare Nvidia AI Chip Orders
Chinese regulators are nearing approval for Nvidia’s H200 AI chips for top domestic tech firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance, signaling Beijing is moving closer to formally green-lighting imports of last-generation AI accelerators, according to a Bloomberg report.
Approval would represent a material bull catalyst for Nvidia stock and a major win for CEO Jensen Huang, who has stated that the China AI chip opportunity alone could generate up to $50 billion in revenue over the coming years.
This report is notable given Nvidia shares have recently stalled below the $200 level. Any resumption of H200 shipments to China would potentially reignite upside momentum.
The Bloomberg report noted:
The companies are now cleared to discuss specifics such as the amounts they would require, the people said, asking to remain unidentified discussing private talks.
The report did reveal one caveat:
Beijing will encourage companies to buy a certain amount of domestic chips as a condition for approval, according to the people, though no exact number has been set.
H200 is a last-generation chip that the Trump administration has allowed to be exported to China. There have been a number of reports in recent weeks telegraphing the move by Chinese regulators:
China To Limit Nvidia’s H200 Chip Access After Trump Greenlights Exports
Nvidia Prepares To Ship H200 AI Chips To China By Mid-February
China Set To Approve Nvidia H200 AI Chip Purchases As Soon As This Quarter
ByteDance Plans $14 Billion Nvidia H200 AI Chip Buying Spree As Computing Demand Soars
Beijing appears set to approve imports of Nvidia’s H200 chips for major tech firms, while still prioritizing the buildout of domestic AI semiconductor production. This move only suggests a very real admission that China cannot yet meet domestic AI compute demand and must rely on downgraded US chips from Nvidia.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/23/2026 – 13:40
Forget Trump and Greenland. Howard Lutnick Gave The Davos Speech That Mattered
Forget Trump and Greenland. Howard Lutnick Gave The Davos Speech That Mattered
Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,
After Donald Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, the obligatory headline term was humiliation. “Lonely Trump Humiliated as Major Allies Refuse to Be Bullied,” was one of two Daily Beast stories on the theme, the other being “Trump, 79, Croaks Through ‘Peace’ Grift Speech After 48 Hours of Ritual Humiliation,” under the tag BORED OF PEACE. Jen Psaki on MSNOW chortled over his “humiliating ramble,” while Chris Hayes declared him “isolated and humiliated.”
Coverage of Trump long ago devolved into an homage to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, when comic Paul Reubens would get a secret word from Conky the robot in each show. After, audiences would have to shout in unison at every mention of it. I remember being in a room of stoned teenagers shouting “PLACE!” at the TV in 1986.
Trump news cycles are the same, only anchors shout TREASON! or FELON! or DICTATOR! His address on Greenland, NATO, and Emmanuel Macron’s sunglasses was blasted for a hundred reasons, many legitimate, but the real drama came from a non-Trump speech. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ripped his European hosts by declaring “Globalization has failed”:
Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy. It is what the WEF has stood for, which is export offshore, far-shore, find the cheapest labor in the world and the world is a better place for it. The fact is, it has left America behind. It has left the American worker behind. And what we are here to say is that America First is a different model—one that we encourage other countries to consider—which is that our workers come first. We can have policies that impact our workers.
Pop quiz: how was the previous President received at Davos? He wasn’t. Joe Biden was the first president this century to skip the WEF. It was just fine with world plutocrats that the United States was piloted by a wandering outpatient. The last major American Davos speech pre-Trump was delivered in 2024 by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, an unelected spooktocrat who declared that “major powers are vastly more interdependent than in any time during the Cold War” and pledged to stiffen “our ranks” at NATO. He earned nervous applause. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner meanwhile let the cat out of the bag, chiding European leaders that a possible Trump return required preparing for “fair burden sharing” under NATO, developing “capabilities to defend ourselves,” and returning to intra-European “competitiveness” economically. This damning speech was a de facto admission that Europe had been enjoying a world without American “competitiveness” for ages.
Lindner was preparing Europe for this week’s speech by Lutnick, which told Davosians the free ride was over. In onstage remarks and at an invitation-only dinner, the Commerce chief and longtime head of the Cantor Fitzgerald investment bank slammed former American pols for submitting to “lies”: that “offshoring was necessary, borders were not, and our national interest needed to submit to global lower cost of labor.” These remarks generated event-wide outrage, even inspiring Al “He’s Still Alive?” Gore to start booing and European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde to walk out, though some dispute this.
Trump was abrasive and insulting and no one budged. Lutnick was rational and clear, and the WEF attendees who didn’t throw fits cried anonymously to media. Trump is surely hated, but on Planet Davos the most unforgivable sin is abandoning the globalism gravy train in favor of a return to national-interest politics.
J.D. Vance’s much-derided speech at a Munich security conference last February was meant to declare an end to the Atlantic security dream while knocking Europe for abandoning free speech and democratic rights. It could have been historic, if the Trump administration had held up its end of the civil liberties bargain. The Lutnick speech is a similar moment. If it really marks the end of the globalization project, that will be a huge victory, no matter how insane our current political situation is. Think about the journey we’ve traveled in ten years:
Subscribers to Racket News can continue reading here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 01/23/2026 – 13:20
Prohibition-era loaded pistol found in wall of historic Thornton brewery
Andy Howell, the founder of Thornton Distilling Co., was trying to find a place to run a new electrical conduit in his brewery’s historic building when, instead, he came across a loaded gun.
The gun was found on Monday in a nondescript vent in a wall of the brewery’s artesian well, a part of the building that’s often host to weddings. Howell said wedding photographers had recommended he light the space better, leading him to search for a place for the conduit.
“There were two big chunks of mortar there, and they are loose,” Howell said. “When I stuck my arm in there, it felt like they kind of wiggled. Removed them, and shined the flashlight in there, and that’s when I saw the pistol.”
The pistol was loaded and in a holster when Howell found it. Howell’s not particularly knowledgeable about guns, he said, but he’s been told the gun is a Colt 1908.
“They told me it looks like the ammunition is from 1920,” Howell said.
Thornton Distilling Co. was founded in 2014, but operates out of a building with a brewing history that dates back to 1857, according to its website. It’s the oldest standing brewery in the state, Howell said.
They’ve turned up a variety of historical artifacts in the course of working on the building, but hadn’t found anything in a couple years, Howell said.
“We’ve done so much construction in the building, and any time we find something it’s really exciting,” Howell said.
However, his mood shifted when he realized the gun was loaded.
“There was a full gun, fully loaded, that was in an area where, you know, when we first opened, we were letting people just go down the well when they asked,” Howell said. “That was alarming. So it went from excitement to alarm.”
An underground chamber built more than a century ago houses the artesian well that became the basis for a series of breweries in Thornton and now, Thornton Distilling Co. (Paul Eisenberg/Daily Southtown)
Howell said he called immediately called the police.
The Thornton Police Department issued a statement saying officers conducted a standard check and confirmed the gun was not associated with any crimes.
That was a relief, Howell said.
“It’s so old it’s not in the system,” Howell said. “They consider it like an antique that you’d, like, find in your attic or something like that.”
Howell is having the gun cleaned and assessed.
“It’s in pretty good condition,” Howell said. “I was told by someone online that the chrome may have protected the exterior a bit. And then the inside’s got a good deal of rust in it, I don’t know if it’s fireable.”
Once it’s been cleaned, the gun may end up on display at the brewery, Howell said.
“We’re thinking about it, if there’s a way to do it securely,” Howell said. “We have all of the stuff we’ve found on display.”
When the Thornton Distilling Co. building was being remodeled, a cigar box containing old postcard beer orders from the 1800s fell from a ceiling. One of the cards requests the brewers to “Please send beer tomorrow.” (Paul Eisenberg/Daily Southtown)
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the gun and how it got stashed in the wall of the brewery.
“It’s begging more questions. We have more questions than answers,” Howell said. “Who put it there? When did it get put there? Why did it get put there?”
The brewery was involved with bootlegging operations during Prohibition, Howell said. It operated as Bielfeldt Brewing Company from its founding in 1857 up until Prohibition was enacted in 1920, when the head brewer, Carl Ebner, took over.
“That’s where the story gets murky. I think that year he registered as, like, a soda-pop bottler with the census,” Howell said. “But it was a front, apparently. There was a raid on the building at one point, during that time. I believe it was one of the largest raids in Chicagoland. They dumped thousands of gallons into Thorn Creek.”
Andy Howell holds an enlarged photograph in 2023 of a group purported to include Chicago area mobsters sitting outside the brewery in Thornton, though he hasn’t been able to verify the claim. (Paul Eisenberg/Daily Southtown)
Howell said that while there are plenty of rumors about Al Capone’s presence in the area, they haven’t verified any direct connections between the distillery and Capone. Capone arrived in Chicago in 1920, the same year Prohibition began and the brewery changed hands.
“We hear a lot of local legends about Capone having tunnels all over underground,” Howell said. “We’ve always taken that with a big grain of salt.”
They do have a photo they believe shows Johnny Torrio, Capone’s mentor and predecessor, in front of the brewery, Howell said.
“We think it was just like a hotbed for bootlegging activity,” Howell said. “But there’s a lot of unknowns. It wasn’t very well-documented.”
elewis@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/23/prohibition-era-pistol-found-thornton-brewery/
