Category: News
House committee hears bill aimed at electric bill affordability
After multiple state legislators said utility affordability is a priority in the 2026 session, the Indiana House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications committee heard a bill dedicated to make electric utilities more affordable statewide.
House Bill 1002 — authored by state Rep. Alaina Shonkwiler, R-Noblesville — offers multiple solutions to rising electricity bills, including automatically placing residential ratepayers on budget billing and prohibiting utilities from disconnecting low-income customers’ service during periods with extreme heat warnings. The bill also ties utility profits to performance metrics, including affordability and service restoration, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
The legislation would require utilities to put all ratepayers on a budget billing plan on July 1, according to the Indiana General Assembly website.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Shonkwiler told committee members that the legislation is “not fully baked,” and she welcomes feedback on the bill.
“This bill is the product of a deliberate, multi-year process, initiated by the General Assembly two years ago,” Shonkwiler said. “The legislature formally directed the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission … to undertake a comprehensive study of performance-based ratemaking for Indiana’s investor-owned utilities. That directive was intentional to ensure that any consideration of alternative regulatory tools would be grounded in data, stakeholder inputs and Indiana-specific conditions.”
The IURC found that the state’s cost of service framework provides long-term stability and reliability, and a wholesale overhaul would be “unnecessarily disruptive.”
Because of those findings, the bill would transition utilities to performance-based ratemaking gradually instead of all at once. A gradual move would help lower utility costs statewide.
State Reps. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, and Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, co-authored House Bill 1002, according to the Indiana General Assembly website.
“We’re trying to address the concerns of the public in multiple ways in this bill,” said Soliday, who’s also chair of the House Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications committee. “We are doing some things that other states are doing, and we have accountability in this bill.”
Committee members heard testimony from about 10 people during Tuesday’s meeting. The committee will later hear amendments on the bill, Soliday said, and they will next meet at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 20.
Kerwin Olson, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition, said his organization “strongly supports” the intent of the legislation, but as of now, they oppose House Bill 1002.
In July, the Citizens Action Coalition found that statewide electric utility bills have increased by more than $28 per month, or 17.5%, according to Post-Tribune archives. NIPSCO residential customers were hit hardest, with about a $50 per month, or 26.7% increase, in one year.
Olson is concerned that the legislation would automatically place ratepayers on a budget billing plan, saying that the budget billing is unpopular statewide. However, he does appreciate that the legislation would allow people to opt out of budget billing.
“We agree that seasons fluctuate, bills go up and down … when those winter bills hit, when those summer bills hit,” Olson said. “But the challenge is, especially if you’re a low-income customer, if you have a large balance … what happens to that arrearage? Do they have to pay that immediately? If so, from our perspective, we’re going to exacerbate unaffordability and increase disconnections, especially for vulnerable households.”
July 1 is a quick turnaround for utilities to place all customers on budget plans, Olson said, adding that the IURC should have more time to put together a plan.
Caryl Auslander, principal and founder at Torchbearer Public Affairs, testified in support of House Bill 1002, but she believes that the language can be strengthened to achieve better reliability and affordability outcomes and enhance savings. Auslander represented Advanced Energy United during her testimony.
Auslander recommended creating a peak load reduction metric, which she said would strengthen long-term affordability outcomes.
“Electricity prices are most expensive during the times of day where demand is highest,” Auslander said. “If utilities were incentivized to materially reduce the amount of power that their customers need during those times, actual savings for consumers would be compounded.”
Auslander also said that a “significant amount of workload” falls to the IURC with House Bill 1002, and she encouraged the committee to consider whether the commission has “adequate resources” to develop and implement multi-year rate case reporting requirements.
Olivia Smith, policy analyst with the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute, said she’s neutral on the legislation, but she supports language that would help prevent “rising utility costs from hurting the health and financial well-being of Hoosier families.”
Her organization has found that rising utility costs have been the top need for residents statewide, Smith said, adding that rising electricity costs tend to fall on low and middle-income ratepayers.
As committee members work on the bill, the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute would like some language strengthened, Smith said, including a changing “extreme heat warning” to language that protects low-income households during heat waves.
She would also like the IURC to approve customer assistance programs instead of being left “largely to the discretion of utilities.”
“Thank you … for prioritizing electric bill stability, energy affordability and predictability for Hoosiers this session,” Smith said. “We look forward to more opportunities to support policies that improve utility affordability for Hoosier families.”
Arizona Diamondbacks acquire 8-time All-Star 3B Nolan Arenado in a deal with St. Louis Cardinals
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado from the St. Louis Cardinals for minor-league pitcher Jack Martinez in a trade Tuesday in which the Cardinals also are including $31 million.
A 10-time Gold Glove winner, Arenado played for the Cardinals the last five seasons and was shopped extensively after the 2024 season by a rebuilding team. The 34-year-old isn’t the offensive force he used to be but will provide a veteran presence at the position after the D-backs traded slugger Eugenio Suárez at last season’s trade deadline.
Arenado batted .237 with 12 homers and 52 RBIs last season and has two years and $42 million remaining on a contract paying him $275 million over nine years. He is owed $27 million this year and $15 million in 2027.
St. Louis agreed to send Arizona $22 million to offset this season’s salary — $2,666,666.67 on the 15th of each month from April to September — and $9 million on Nov. 1, 2027.
Arenado waived a no-trade provision to accept the deal.
“We are grateful for Nolan’s five years as a Cardinal, on and off the field — for his drive, his competitiveness and for all of the memories he gave us,” Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom said in a statement.
“As we continue to move forward, we are pleased to add another intriguing pitching prospect to our organization and excited for the opportunity this move creates for a number of our players to step up and further establish themselves at the big-league level.”
Martinez was an eighth-round pick by the D-backs out of Arizona State in 2025.
Arenado is a career .282 hitter and has 353 homers over 13 seasons with the Cardinals and Colorado Rockies.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/arizona-diamondbacks-trade-for-nolan-arenado/
Portage school board adding projects for bond money after bids for new school come in low
The Portage Township School Board is adding more construction projects with bond money because bids for the new Aylesworth Middle School were so low.
Superintendent Amanda Alaniz said Monday the work will include moving the auto mechanics shop from the current Willowcreek Middle School, which is slated to be demolished when the new school is built, to Portage High School. Elementary school HVAC projects are planned, as well as some renovations at Fegely Middle School.
The board changed its agreement with Skillman Corp., the district’s construction management firm, on Monday to include the additional projects.
The new middle school will be the district’s first new school building since 1979, but Alaniz and the board take pride in how the buildings are maintained.
Over the holiday break, Alaniz said, the custodians and maintenance crews were busy, Alaniz told the board.
Work included new flooring in some high school classrooms, repairing drainage and plumbing issues in restrooms, installing a dishwasher at Kyle Elementary School, updating the scoreboard at the high school softball field, reorganizing the warehouse and other work.
“The buildings are all spic and span as they were first semester,” Alaniz said. “They’re very well maintained for their ages, something we’re very proud of.”
People think schools are closed during breaks, but a lot happens when students are in the buildings, Board President Andy Maletta said.
Maletta was reelected board president Monday. All the other officers remain the same as in 2025, with Wilma Vazquez as vice president and Lori Wilkie as secretary.
“I do enjoy being on the board with all of you and in this role,” Maletta said.
Monday was a busy day for the district’s staff.
The morning was the first time Alaniz met with the entire staff for a mid-year staff celebration, she said, celebrating many successes from the first district.
“We also had just time to laugh and enjoy each other’s company,” she said.
The afternoon included a leadership retreat for department heads.
“It seemed like there were probably 1,000 people there in attendance,” said Vazquez, who attended the morning celebration.
Every school, various departments and probably 50 to 100 individuals were singled out for honors, she said. “That just made them feel so valued.”
“You talked about supporting each other, and you talked about the joy they have of supporting each other,” Vazquez said.
“Things like this go a long way” in building the culture the board wants, Maletta said. “I think the culture has come a long way from where it had been in the past.”
Board member Matt Ramian gave a shout-out to the boys basketball team, which started its season with a 12-0 record, the first time since 1943-44.
“I’d like 1/16th of those boys’ energy. They’re unbelievable,” he said.
The PHS band adds to the atmosphere. “You go to those games, it’s like going to a college game,” with so much energy, Ramian said. The large band makes it difficult to hear the person next to you when it’s playing, he said with pride. “It’s amazing. I love it. I think they’re doing great.”
Maletta acknowledged members of the girls wrestling team who are going to state championships, a couple of them for the third time.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Indiana doxing bill passes; firing squad bill held in Senate committee
The doxing bill was amended and passed out of the Indiana Senate Corrections and Criminal Law committee, while the firing squad bill was held — with an ominous message from the committee chairman about the death penalty.
Doxing is when a person who knowingly or intentionally posts information, like address or phone number, of a targeted person in retaliation. Under Senate Bill 140, authored by State Sen. Vaneta Becker, doxing will become a Class A misdemeanor and a Level 6 felony if the posting of the personal information results in the targeted person or someone closely connected to the person suffering serious injury or death.
Under the bill, doxing would rise to a Level 5 felony if the posting of personal information of a specific person or someone close to the targeted person experienced catastrophic injury or death.
The bill defines a person closely connected to the targeted person as a child, parent, sibling, grandparent, person living in the same household, or a person involved in a dating relationship with the targeted person. The bill defines personal information as a person’s Social Security number, address, legal name, telephone number, and employer information.
Becker, R-Evansville, said in committee last week she filed the bill because of what many State Senators experienced with doxing and swatting, or false police reports to generate a large law enforcement response, amid the state’s discussion around mid-census redistricting in November and December.
The bill was amended Tuesday to remove a coworker as a person closely connected to the targeted person.
State Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, said she was concerned about the broadness of the bill as it relates to private communications being defined as doxing.
The bill passed 6-1, with both Democrats absent from the committee meeting at the time of the vote. Brown voted against the bill.
“I know the bill will pass, but I just need to preserve my reservations on this. It’s pretty broad right now, so I’m a ‘no’,” Brown said ahead of her vote.
In November, Senate Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, announced he would cancel the early December session to take up mid-census redistricting because the chamber did not have the votes to pass the measure.
Two days after the cancellation announcement, President Donald Trump issued a statement on his social media site Truth Social calling out “RINO” Bray and Greg Goode, R-Terre Haute, “for not wanting to redistrict their state, allowing the United States Congress to perhaps gain two more Republican seats.”
Hours after Trump posted his comment, Goode received a false swatting call. After Organization Day, when the Senate voted to reconvene in January, at least seven more State Senators — Dan Dernulc, Spencer Deery, Rick Niemeyer, Kyle Walker, Greg Walker, Linda Rogers and Andy Zay — received swatting calls.
Ultimately, the Indiana legislature met in early December to take up redistricting. The measure passed the House, but failed in the Senate.
Senate Bill 140 will move forward for consideration by the Senate.
Committee chairman Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, said he would hold Senate Bill 11, which would allow for firing squad executions for death penalty inmates, until next week.
Indiana is a death penalty state, Freeman said, and it will continue to be a death penalty state “as long as (he) has a say.”
“For those of you that disagree, fine. Good people can disagree and we can do so respectfully. I would just say this: Be careful what you wish for because it just might come true. The more you wanna try to eliminate something, you can’t do it through the legislature, and you try to do it through other means, well, the repercussion of that is you get Senate Bill 11. We’re going to carry out the death penalty some way in Indiana,” Freeman said.
Senate Bill 11, filed by State Sen. Michael Young, would allow for firing squad executions if medications for lethal injection can’t be obtained or the inmate chooses death by firing squad at least 30 days before the scheduled execution date.
The firing squad would be made up of five Department of Correction officers selected by the warden. The firing squad members’ identity would be kept confidential and not subject to discovery in civil or criminal lawsuits, according to the bill.
At the time of execution, four members will have guns with live ammunition and one member will have a gun with blanks. The guns would be loaded without the members knowing who has what kind of ammunition, according to the bill.
Young, R-Indianapolis, testified last week that it could cost up to $300,000 per dose of pentobarbital, which is the drug Indiana uses to conduct a lethal injection, and the medication often expires before use.
In 2024, Indiana resumed executions after a nearly 15-year pause because pharmaceutical companies were hesitant to sell the drugs for executions amid growing public scrutiny, said Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor Jody Madeira.
Three Indiana death row inmates — Joseph Corcoran, Benjamin Ritchie and Roy Lee Ward — have been executed in the last year.
Gov. Mike Braun disclosed in June that Indiana officials spent $1.175 million on lethal injection doses over the past year — $600,000 of which was spent on drugs that expired before use.
Four people testified against the bill before the committee last week.
Samantha Bresnahan, a Senior Policy Specialist with ACLU Indiana, said the organization opposes the bill because it further promotes the secrecy around how death penalty executions are carried out.
With broad language about protecting members of the firing squad, Bresnahan said the state could argue for not disclosing training methods, qualifications, and any safeguards.
“Precisely the information the public needs to evaluate whether the process is lawful, competent, and free from misconduct,” Bresnahan said. “This bill asks this legislature to do something extreme: expand the machinery of capital punishment and then hide how it works.”
As he closed, Young said it’s important for the firing squad member’s information to be private to avoid public harassment. Ultimately, Young said those who oppose the bill want to take away choice from an inmate.
“I just say, let the prisoner decide which way he prefers to have the execution carried out. If he’s okay with it, so am I,” Young said.
Trump Admin Ends Temporary Protection For Somalis In US
Trump Admin Ends Temporary Protection For Somalis In US
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The Trump administration has decided to end temporary protection for Somali nationals in the United States, officials said on Jan. 13.
“Temporary means temporary,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told The Epoch Times via email.
“Country conditions in Somalia have improved to the point that it no longer meets the law’s requirement for Temporary Protected Status. Further, allowing Somali nationals to remain temporarily in the United States is contrary to our national interests. We are putting Americans first.”
There are 2,471 Somali nationals in the United States under the status, also known as TPS. Another 1,383 are in the country with pending TPS applications.
TPS is authorized by federal law for people from countries with conditions such as civil war that prevent the citizens from returning there safely. TPS for Somalia has been in place since 1991.
The Biden administration in 2024 extended TPS for Somali nationals until March 17, 2026. Department of Homeland Security officials at the time cited “the ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions.”
“Somalia continues to experience widespread insecurity due to armed conflict involving state and non-state actors,” they wrote.
“The ongoing conflict, as well as other violence, has exposed civilian populations to ill-treatment, abuse, and displacement. Additionally, Somalia recently experienced intense flooding that damaged land and infrastructure, impeded efforts to address food insecurity, and exacerbated disease outbreaks. Significant barriers to the delivery of humanitarian aid persist.”
Noem previously terminated TPS status for nationals of multiple countries.
Federal judges have blocked some of those terminations, finding that they were arbitrary and capricious in violation of federal statute. The administration is appealing those decisions.
The ending of TPS for Somalis is the latest action by the administration in the wake of alleged fraud linked to Somali nationals.
On Jan. 7, for example, officials suspended assistance for the Somali government.
Billions of dollars were “stolen by really bad and deranged people,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Jan. 13. He was defending how federal officers have been conducting immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, which hosts a sizeable Somali population.
“For years, these corrupt, activist politicians have refused to protect Minnesotans and are now proposing illegal actions to keep their stranglehold on control and continue stealing from American citizens,” Noem said on X this week.
“We will root out this rampant fraud, we will arrest the criminal illegal aliens hurting Americans with impunity, and we will hold those who aid and abetted this criminality accountable.”
Tyler Durden
Tue, 01/13/2026 – 13:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-administration-ends-temporary-protection-somalis-us
Ayo Dosunmu has been a stabilizing force for the Chicago Bulls. Is he also one of their best trade assets?
Ayo Dosunmu just wants to get better.
That has been a consistent message throughout the guard’s five years with the Chicago Bulls. When he was a rookie, Dosunmu often fell back on the same mantra — “brick by brick” — when explaining his approach to his learning curve.
Dosunmu isn’t big on New Year’s resolutions. He doesn’t want to limit his expectations or parameters for growth to the start of a year — especially as he approaches the midway point of one of the most pivotal seasons of his young career.
“You can always find ways to get better and you can always find ways to evolve as a player,” Dosunmu told the Tribune. “You just have to put the work in.”
Dosunmu always has taken an egoless approach to his role with the Bulls. He was thrown into the deep end as an unexpected starting point guard in his rookie season after Lonzo Ball’s injury, then bounced around from the end of the bench to the top of the depth chart over the next three years.
His current position as an anchoring sixth man is a more accurate representation of his stabilized role with the Bulls. Dosunmu started seven games out of necessity when the Bulls were hit with a series of injuries in late November and early December. But when the roster is closer to whole, Dosunmu is typically the first man off the bench, averaging 26.2 minutes.
That represents his lowest playing time since his second season. Although he maintains a goal of ascending to a consistent starting role, Dosunmu isn’t one to fuss over rotations.
“I’m a solution guy,” he said. “I’m always looking for solutions.”
And the reduced minutes have stoked Dosunmu’s efficiency. He’s shooting 45% behind the 3-point arc on 4.1 attempts per game — both career-best numbers — and accomplishing that higher volume in significantly fewer minutes.
He credits the improved accuracy partially to his shot selection, which has improved by taking fewer midrange jumpers, lining up shots behind screens and pulling up off the dribble. But if he’s being honest, Dosunmu has to concede another source for his improved shooting: His shoulder finally works again.
Dosunmu missed the second half of the 2024-25 season to undergo surgery to repair his left shoulder, in which a fracture had caused repeated dislocations for nearly two years. While the injury wasn’t to his shooting shoulder, it still affected the overall carriage of his upper body, hampering his accuracy on the days when he couldn’t raise his left arm more than 90 degrees.
Now coach Billy Donovan has just one request for Dosunmu’s shots: Take more of them.
Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu makes a 3-pointer against the 76ers on Dec. 26, 2025, at the United Center. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)
“He’s very, very good in the open court, but I also think there’s opportunities — with the way he’s shooting the ball — where he can’t be turning down shots,” Donovan said. “He needs to take those. So the decision-making on when to shoot, when to pass, when to drive — all of that stuff needs to continue to get better.”
Shooting is crucial for Dosunmu, but if he wants to continue his growth, it can’t be the centerpiece of his game.
With Josh Giddey sidelined indefinitely by a hamstring injury, the Bulls need playmaking more than ever. Coby White and Tre Jones are providing the bulk of that creation in the starting lineup — with some help from Matas Buzelis — but in the second unit, the burden falls mainly on Dosunmu.
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Dosunmu doesn’t need to provide the same dynamism as Giddey, but he needs to offer stability with the ball in his hands, marshaling the offense and controlling the spacing and flow of action. Donovan believes Dosunmu is a natural playmaker in the open court. Now he aims to prove he can handle a greater responsibility in the half-court offense.
“I’ve been a playmaker my whole life,” Dosunmu said. “That’s what I’ve always hung my hat on. I’m a playmaker, a competitor, a two-way player.”
The better Dosunmu plays, the more one question grows: Is he more valuable to the Bulls on the roster or on the trade market?
Dosunmu is one of seven Bulls on an expiring contract this season. He’s extension-eligible, which means the Bulls could add four years and $87 million to his current contract anytime before July. But for a team hammering the importance of “flexibility” this summer, every role player is potentially on the market at the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
The problem with shopping Dosunmu is that no other team values him as highly as the Bulls do. It’s a common misconception outside Chicago. Executives, pundits and fans often will label a Bulls player as a potential “steal” leading up to the deadline. Dosunmu is only the latest example.
But it’s nearly impossible to fleece the Bulls for players whom they value so highly. Although his $7.5 million annual salary might not show it, Dosunmu, who turns 26 next week, still is seen as a crucial part of the “young core” around which Artūras Karnišovas plans to build.
Bears President Kevin Warren hugs Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu before the Bears-Vikings game Sept. 8, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
And the Bulls never have lost sight of the value that Dosunmu — as a born-and-raised Chicagoan who will serve as the face of the team’s charity foundation or don a cheese grater hat at a Bears-Packers game with equal enthusiasm — brings to the organization as a whole.
Teams aren’t wrong to seek out Dosunmu. But while the Bulls are open to hearing offers, their internal valuation of him could make it difficult to get a deal over the line. (Think back to last February, when they failed to move center Nikola Vučević.)
The Bulls aren’t wrong about Dosunmu either. He’s a valuable two-way guard who could bolster the second-unit backcourt for any number of teams. But prizing their assets too highly could be another recipe for inaction as the deadline creeps closer.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/chicago-bulls-ayo-dosunmu-trade-deadline/
Trials start for child molesting, sexual misconduct with a minor
A pair of Lake County trials started Monday for child molesting and sexual misconduct with a minor.
Hakeem Pittman
A Chicago man is on trial for allegedly sexually abusing an underage teen girl in East Chicago.
Hakeem Pittman, 30, is facing three counts of Level 1 child molesting and one count of Level 5 felony sexual misconduct with a minor. He has pleaded not guilty.
Deputy Prosecutor Keith Anderson said Pittman groomed the girl, starting with a “Truth or Dare” game that grew sexual, asking her to perform sex acts. Later, he texted her to start having sex.
Over time, he told her to delete scores of texts over a dozen times, the prosecutor said. The victim later testified she kept a lot of them, later texting her mom screenshots to tell her what had been happening.
Defense lawyer Roseann Ivanovich argued the victim’s text disclosure to her mom was “delayed” and there was no DNA evidence.
“I wanted it to stop, so I had to do something,” the victim said during her testimony Monday, referring to how she told her mother.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the mother was crying, “hyperventilating” and yelling for cops on April 26, 2024, at the East Chicago police station.
Her daughter’s behavior had been off in recent months, she said. When the girl said she needed to tell her something, the woman suggested she could write it in texts. Pittman had been touching her “inappropriately,” the girl told her.
The texts Pittman sent the child appeared to imply he had sexual contact with her. The girl told police Pittman had molested her eight times over two years, starting as a preteen. He raped her two months earlier.
Michael Langford
A Portage man’s trial started Monday for molesting three boys, charges allege.
Michael Langford, 47, is facing three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and two counts of child seduction. He has pleaded not guilty.
Deputy Prosecutor Shannon Phillips argued in opening statements that Langford gave the youngest victim money and gifts in exchange for sex acts.
Langford’s defense lawyer Herb Shaps declined to give an opening statement to jurors.
Court documents allege the youngest victim – who experienced the most sexual abuse – told relatives what happened on an August 2019 camping trip. Investigators wrote Langford molested the victims between March 2018 and July 2019.
He told police that he was sexually abused starting at age 5 or 6. He was molested at least “five hundred times,” including 50 times in Crown Point, court records allege.
mcolias@post-trib.com
Chicago Stars soccer asking Evanston for OK to play at Ryan Field
Northwestern University’s $862 million Ryan Field in Evanston likely won’t be hosting just the Wildcats.
On Friday, the Chicago Stars soccer team announced they had applied for a unique use permit from Evanston, because they would need special permission from the city to host professional soccer games in upcoming seasons, at Ryan Field.
If City of Evanston officials sign off on the Stars’ proposal, the National Women’s Soccer League team would call the rebuilt football stadium home for five years.
In fact, the team, which plans to host 15 home games every year at Ryan Field, would play several more games there than the Wildcats.
The Stars — already set to move from Bridgeview’s SeatGeek Stadium and play their 2026 season at Northwestern’s lakeside Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium field — don’t plan to call Evanston their forever home just yet.
The relocation to Ryan Field relocation would serve as a “lifeline” while the team explores building a permanent home, Stars Director of Community Noelle Schmitt said.
“We really like Evanston,” Schmitt told Pioneer Press.
Deepening its ties with Evanston and the north suburbs will complement the team’s plans to develop a training facility in Bannockburn. Announced earlier in January, the facility’s placement in the Lake County village appealed because of its north suburban proximity to Evanston, Schmitt added.
So for now, the Stars will follow the Wildcats from the temporarily spruced-up Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium to Ryan Field in northern Evanston. Ryan Field is set to open in fall 2026.
The Stars attracted more than 10,000 fans to a preview game in September 2025 at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium. However, the team ended the season last in the NWSL standings.
A Stars attempt to move to Ryan Field could face opposition from the neighborhood similar to what Northwestern experienced, however.
The Stars’ application for the unique use permit from the City of Evanston will likely appear before the Land Use Commission in February and lead to the City Council for a final decision.
That opens up the Stars’ proposal to the type of criticism from Evanston and Wilmette residential neighbors that the proposal for Ryan Field received when it was introduced.
In 2023, Northwestern presented its plans for rebuilding Ryan Field and hosting commercial concerts there. Some neighbors fulminated against the university, arguing that the extra events would bring more noise and traffic, and that the property tax-exempt institution would not pay its fair share.
The debate grew louder over a series of tense city meetings. Those tensions escalated after Mayor Daniel Biss broke a tie in the City Council’s initial vote on Northwestern’s commercial plans.
Soon afterward, Parielle Davis, an opponent of Northwestern’s vision, created a political committee called “Better than Biss” that inveighed against the mayor and sought to topple him in the next election. Evanston voters reelected Biss in 2025, but 7th Ward residents chose Davis as their next councilmember.
Though Northwestern made a benefits pact with the city, opponents kept up their fight. A group called the Most Livable City Association brought a legal challenge.
The Stars, meanwhile, plan to be good neighbors, Schmitt said. Polling commissioned by the team found that 82% of Evanston residents would approve of the Stars’ relocation. And the expected 6,000-person attendance for Stars games would be more akin to Northwestern basketball games at the adjacent Welsh-Ryan Arena. Ryan Field will have 35,000 seats.
The games would also bring more spending to Evanston, and the economic impact would grow over the course of the Stars’ five years at Ryan Field, Schmitt added.
The dueling arguments would come before a City Council whose members have sharply split on smaller but similar debates on development and growth. In November the council voted 5-4 in favor of a proposal to build a downtown apartment tower that would become Evanston’s tallest building.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/13/chicago-stars-soccer-evanston-play-ryan-field/
Trump Admin And Taiwan Close To Finalizing Trade Pact; $100B In TSMC Plants Slated For Arizona
Trump Admin And Taiwan Close To Finalizing Trade Pact; $100B In TSMC Plants Slated For Arizona
The Trump administration and Taiwan are in the ‘final stages’ of negotiations on a tariff agreement which would see the United States lower tariffs on the self-governing island’s exports to 15% from 20%.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks inside the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., November 12, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
In exchange, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) would commit to build five new chip plants in Arizona – roughly doubling its manufacturing presence in the state, along with building two advanced packaging facilities, Bloomberg reports.
The commitments are on top of existing plans for up to $165 billion in US investment by TSMC – a company which has come into recent focus as the world eyes China’s next move in light of the Trump administration snatching Maduro (and effectively Venezuela) over drugs and oil.
Given that a single fab costs roughly $20 billion to build in the US, TSMC’s additional investment would likely top $100 billion – with completion dates for the four extra fabs occurring sometime in the 2030s, the report continues.
In a Tuesday statement, the Office of Trade Negotiations in Taipei said that the two sides had arrived at a “broad consensus” on a trade, and are now in discussions to hold a concluding meeting, which would be sent to the legislature for review.
Assuming a pact is signed, it would mark another trade win for Trump, while bringing Taiwan’s levies from the US to the same level as neighboring Japan and South Korea.
Trump administration officials including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had laid out their expectations for Taiwan to promise significant additional investments by TSMC in chip production on US soil. Any agreement with Taipei risks provoking China, which claims the island as part of its territory — a view Taiwan rejects.
Taiwan has been trying to conclude a deal with the US before Trump meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China, according to a senior official in Taipei who declined to be identified discussing the sensitive issue. The US leader is expected to visit China in April. -Bloomberg
That said, the US Supreme Court could quickly make this exercise moot – or at least delay it, with a ruling set for as soon as Wednesday on the legality of Trump’s tariffs (which, as we noted earlier, has workarounds).
Tyler Durden
Tue, 01/13/2026 – 13:25
Stellar 30Y Auction Stops Through, Sees Solid Foreign Bidder Demand
Stellar 30Y Auction Stops Through, Sees Solid Foreign Bidder Demand
The last coupon auction of the first full week of 2026 was also the strongest one.
Moments ago the Treasury sold $22BN in 30Y paper in a very solid auction: the sale priced at a high yield of 4.825%, just fractionally higher than the 4.773% in December, and also stopped through the When Issued 4.833% by 0.8bps.
The bid to cover was a solid 2.418, up from 2.365 last month, and the highest since June.
The internals were also impressive, with foreigners buying 66.8%, up from 65.4% in December, and above the six-auction average of 63.7%. And with Direct Bidders awarded 21.3%, bit below the recent average of 23.9%, Dealers were left holding 11.95%, which was also below the recent average of 12.4%.
Bottom line: a very strong auction, which was also facilitated by today’s surprisingly cool CPI report, which swung the long-end from an intraday high of 4.20% to a low of 4.15%, and was last trading at 4.165%.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 01/13/2026 – 13:24
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stellar-30y-auction-stops-through-sees-solid-foreign-bidder-demand
