Category: News
Niles, Pace continue talks to restore the town’s free bus service
The free bus service that Niles put the brakes on in September continues to be halted, though village leaders hope to have it running again soon.
The village of Niles suspended its free in-town Pace bus service about four months ago, blaming a dispute with the suburban commuter bus company over paying insurance — though Pace officials said at that time that it offered to temporarily cover that cost.
Local commuters will have to wait a bit longer for the service to restart, as negotiations continue between the village and the transit provider.
According to Pace spokeswoman Maggie Daly Skogsbakken, Pace made a policy change in 2002 to no longer provide insurance for fixed route buses when the suburban commuter bus company does not directly manage the service or employ the personnel. She said this policy approach allows Pace to “better manage risk, ensure fairness across communities, and focus resources on providing reliable transit service.”
As a result, towns such as Niles, which has helped to subsidize the cost of the free bus service, have been negotiating new contracts with Pace. In Niles, the affected routes include 410, 411 and 412.
The three lines of free bus service run through the east, west and north sides of town, and help give riders access to major shopping strips and centers, area high schools, the library, apartment complexes and more. Buses had operated seven days a week, from morning to late-afternoon.
It has been anticipated that the interruption of service likely disproportionately affects seniors and people with limited mobility.
“Since August 2025, Pace and Niles have been actively discussing a new agreement pertaining to Niles’ service,” Skogsbakken previously wrote in a statement to Pioneer Press. “When Niles communicated to Pace on Sept. 14, 2025, that it would be suspending its service that day because of having no insurance, Pace offered to insure Niles’ service until Nov. 5, 2025, to allow time to finalize the new agreement while avoiding a service interruption.”
She stated at that time that Niles hadn’t accepted the offer.
However, Skogsbakken told Pioneer Press she believes recent negotiations have gone well, but declined to share details on what exactly is being negotiated.
“Service has not been restored due to ongoing negotiations,” she said. “I will not know the funding sources until negotiations are complete, but the goal is to restore service as soon as possible.”
Niles village spokesman Mitch Johnson echoed Skogsbakken about the continued talks.
“The village is in ongoing negotiations with Pace and until an agreement is reached, the bus routes remain out of service,” Johnson said. “The village is working with Pace to restore service. Until an agreement can be reached, we do not have details to share.”
But in his 2026 outlook for the village, mayor George Alpogianis expressed his hope that service would restart in late February. He is anticipating a cost to the village of about $600,000, with Pace paying $1 million toward the transit service, he said.
In the meanwhile, though, the mayor is considering an advisory referendum to determine if the ridership for this free bus service is still there and if the routes need to be changed to better serve the community.
“I really want our citizens to have a good, solid understanding of where they’re money is going,” Alpogianis said. “I want to be transparent.”
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/12/niles-pace-working-to-restore-free-bus-service/
Most US Debanking Cases Stem From Government Pressure, Report Says
Most US Debanking Cases Stem From Government Pressure, Report Says
Authored by Stephen Katte via CoinTelegraph.com,
The majority of debanking cases in the US are a result of government pressure, rather than individual banks’ policies, according to a new report from the American think tank the Cato Institute.
Cato Institute analyst Nicholas Anthony explained in a report on Thursday that debanking could take several forms: religious or political, the idea that a financial institution closes accounts solely due to political or religious belief or affiliation; operational, when a bank chooses to close a customer’s account as it’s no longer in the bank’s interest; or government, when a government pressures a financial institution to close a customer’s account.
“While media and political narratives often attribute these closures to political or religious discrimination, this study finds that the majority of debanking cases stem from governmental pressure,” he said.
Cato Institute analyst Nicholas Anthony said there are generally four types of debanking. Source: Cato Institute
“Based on public evidence, governmental debanking appears to be the most significant issue majority of cases over time can be found where government officials have intervened in the market by either directly or indirectly telling banks how to run their business.”
Crypto firms have been facing account closures and denials of banking services for years, and many in the industry have speculated these actions are part of a policy-driven effort to suppress the digital assets sector, particularly by the Biden administration.
Two forms of government debanking
Anthony said government debanking can take two forms: direct, when it uses a letter or court order to order an account closure, or indirect, when lawmakers use regulations and legislation to force an account closure.
He cites the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sending letters to financial institutions ordering them to halt crypto-related activity as an example of direct action.
Source: Cato Institute
“Furthermore, the agency failed to provide a timeline or follow up with those financial institutions. So, in practice, these letters were effectively termination orders,” Anthony added.
In December, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon denied debanking customers based on their religious or political affiliation during an interview with Fox News. He also claimed both sides of politics in the US, Democrats and Republicans, were equal offenders when it came to leaning on banks to debank people.
In November, Jack Mallers, the CEO of the Bitcoin Lightning Network payments company Strike, accused JPMorgan of closing his personal accounts without explanation, and Houston Morgan, the head of marketing at non-custodial crypto trading platform ShapeShift, shared a similar story the same month.
Congress has the power to end debanking
US President Donald Trump’s administration has addressed this alleged debanking through executive orders on debanking, while appointing agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission with more pro-crypto leaders.
However, Anthony argues that Congress needs to take more action by reforming the Bank Secrecy Act, repealing confidentiality laws, and permanently ending reputational risk regulation.
“Doing so would reduce the incentives to debank, expose how widespread debanking has become, and cut out the tools that the government has used to pressure banks and other financial institutions,” he said.
“If Congress wants to bring relief and reduce the debanking phenomenon, it’s time to eliminate the confidentiality that has shrouded the system. It’s time to take the practice of reputational risk regulation off the table. And it’s time to reform the Bank Secrecy Act regime that has deputized financial institutions as law enforcement investigators.”
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/12/2026 – 15:05
Small Modular Reactor Developers Push New Partnerships And Use Cases
Small Modular Reactor Developers Push New Partnerships And Use Cases
Hot on the heels of the biggest nuclear energy deal by a tech company to date, one which saw Meta validate Oklo’s “proof of concept” by committing to purchase 1.2 GW of new energy …
… peer Small Module Reactor (SMR) developers, Nano Nuclear and NuScale Power, released their own updates on new engineering partnerships and potential use cases.
Nano Nuclear, which in recent months had focused on its project at the University of Illinois (UI), had put its various other business segments – including an exciting project with its laser uranium enrichment partner LIS Technnologies – on the backburner. The UI project is a full-scale deployment of Nano’s Kronos reactor design, a 15 MW high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor (HTGR).
While the project may include a power purchase agreement eventually, its primary purpose is R&D of the reactor design. Nano investors are hoping that it will soon become a source of revenue as well, while shorts are pressing their skepticism, which explains why more than a third of the company’s float – a record – is now shorted.
Nano had previously announced the potential for deploying a fleet of reactors, but the study itself could take months, with a Final Investment Decision likely years away. But in the company’s latest news, Nano unveiled some real traction with the announcement that it has selected EPC firm Ameresco to develop and deploy all three of their reactor designs: Kronos, Zeus, and Loki. As the initial assessment advances, the companies plan to coordinate on government funding and other available incentives.
$NNE Breaking News: “NANO Nuclear Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Ameresco (NYSE: $AMRC) to Explore the Deployment of Advanced Microreactor Technologies on Federal and Commercial Sites – $AMRC is a leading energy infrastructure solutions provider https://t.co/67BhVSKDqy
— NANO Nuclear Energy (NASDAQ: NNE) (@nano_nuclear) January 12, 2026
Ameresco announced partnerships in 2025 with the two other junior public reactor developers, Terrestrial Energy and Terra Innovatum. With Terra also working on an HTGR design, and Terrestrial working on a molten salt reactor (MSR), Ameresco holds a relatively full docket for a firm that has yet to deploy any nuclear plants, big or small. Adding to the likelihood that deployment timelines are likely not going to move rapidly, executives at Ameresco said they were looking years past 2027 for reactor deployments on the recent earnings call:
“I would not say 2026 or 2027 though. That is a little early, even for a traditional power plant … I think the opportunity is very real, especially with the Army announcements that just came out a couple of weeks ago and more from the Department of Energy that we believe that it is certainly in the future. Probably a few more years than 2027.”
Meanwhile, light water SMR developer NuScale published the results of a study performed with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The study evaluated the economics of utilizing the heat and electricity produced by NuScale’s 77 MWe Nuclear Power Module (NPM) for use by a chemical processing facility. Results indicate the arrangement would lead to profitable operations for the reactor developer famous for their licensing Odyssey with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — only they’re less famous for gaining a Design Certification for their administrative efforts and more famous for failing miserably to ever capitalize on the achievement.
NuScale has made multiple announcements regarding potential use cases, including training facilities, desalination plants, and now industrial process heat. They currently hold a loose agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority to construct dozens of NPMs for up to 6 GW of new generation capacity, coupled with $25 billion of support from the Japan-US trade agreement.
Expect to see more “steel in the ground” news from Nano and NuScale as they seek to convince investors they are
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/12/2026 – 14:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/smrs-nano-nuclear-and-nuscale-push-new-partnerships-and-use-cases
Illinois extends Affordable Care Act open enrollment, as fate of subsidies remains uncertain
Illinois is giving residents more time to shop for health insurance on the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange, as Congress continues to tussle over whether to extend subsidies that reduce the cost of coverage.
Illinois will now give residents until Jan. 31 to choose health insurance plans on the state’s new Affordable Care Act exchange, at GetCoveredIllinois.gov. Previously, the open enrollment period was slated to end Jan. 15.
“As a state-based marketplace, not only do we now have the authority to offer this special enrollment extension, but we also have more resources to support our customers in finding affordable health coverage options,” said Morgan Winters, director of Get Covered Illinois, in a news release.
The extension comes as the fate of enhanced premium subsidies remains unclear. People have long been able to get subsidies to offset the cost of their monthly premiums, but in 2021 a bill was signed into law to make the subsidies more generous and offer them to more people. The Inflation Reduction Act then extended the more generous subsidies through 2025.
Those subsidies expired at the end of last year, with Congress unable to reach agreement about them even after a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Lawmakers could, however, still revive the enhanced subsidies for coverage this year.
The House passed a bill last week to extend the enhanced subsidies for three more years, and the bill is now before the Senate, where it’s expected to face significant opposition. Also, on Sunday, President Donald Trump said he might veto a bill to extend the subsidies, even if it does pass, according to Bloomberg.
If the enhanced subsidies aren’t put back in place, Illinois residents with exchange plans can expect to pay 78% more, on average, next year across the state because of both less generous subsidies and increases in the costs of the plans, according to the Illinois Department of Insurance.
In Illinois, about 550,000 people enrolled in exchange plans last year, and 91% of them got the enhanced premium tax credits.
Prior to this year, Illinois residents who wanted exchange coverage shopped on the federal exchange at Healthcare.gov. But this year, Illinois is running its own exchange at GetCoveredIllinois.gov, which allows the state to make a number of its own decisions about the marketplace, including the length of open enrollment windows.
The deadline has already passed for people wishing to enroll in coverage for this month, but people who enroll by Jan. 31 can get coverage starting Feb. 1.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/12/illinois-affordable-care-act-open-enrollment/
Lake County deputy hospitalized after bear-spray attack
A Lake County sheriff’s deputy was attacked with bear spray as he and others attempted to serve a mental health writ Monday on a Libertyville man, police said.
The deputy was part of a crisis outreach team that went to the man’s residence in the 200 block of Pond Ridge Road at about 7:10 a.m.
The deputies and mental health workers were there to serve court papers ordering the man to be brought for mental health care, police said.
Police said the man was inside a closed bedroom armed with a hatchet when they arrived. Officers were able to convince the man to drop the axe, and police entered the room.
However, the man grabbed a nearby canister of bear spray and discharged it at officers, including the deputy who was sprayed directly in the eyes. Officers used a taser to subdue the man.
He was brought to a hospital, where he kicked a nurse, police said.
Charges have yet to be filed, police said.
“Our staff routinely place themselves in harm’s way while trying to help people during their most difficult moments,” Sheriff John Idleburg said. “Mental health writs are inherently unpredictable, and this incident underscores those risks.
“I’m incredibly proud of the deputies on scene for remaining calm, professional, and focused on safety, and I am hoping for a fast recovery of our hospitalized deputy,” he said.
Other deputies were treated for exposure to the spray.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/12/libertyville-bear-spray-attack/
Influyente ministro de Venezuela dice que avanza proceso para reanudar relación diplomática con EEUU
Associated Press
CARACAS (AP) — El ministro de Relaciones Interiores Diosdado Cabello, considerado el hombre más poderoso de Venezuela después del depuesto presidente Nicolás Maduro, afirmó el lunes que avanza el proceso para restablecer las relaciones diplomáticas con Estados Unidos y destacó que la prioridad es tener una representación que vele por los derechos del exmandatario, preso en ese país.
“Yo aprovecho para aclararlo: se está avanzando en el reinicio y la apertura de las embajadas de Venezuela en Estados Unidos, de Estados Unidos en Venezuela”, dijo Cabello en la rueda de prensa semanal del oficialista Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela. “Eso nos va a permitir tener representación consular para que puedan estar velando por la seguridad y la tranquilidad de nuestro presidente Nicolás Maduro”. Los comentarios de Cabello se produjeron tres días después de que Caracas y Washington anunciaron que evaluarían la posibilidad de reabrir sus embajadas y restablecer las relaciones diplomáticas rotas desde 2019.
El anuncio supone un acercamiento luego de la impactante intervención militar estadounidense en el país sudamericano y la captura de Maduro y la de la primera dama, Cilia Flores.
“Ese es el objetivo fundamental, que nos permita a nosotros tener allá (representantes), porque en este momento no tenemos a nadie. (Maduro) está secuestrado allá y no tenemos a nadie salvo los abogados, que no son venezolanos”, insistió Cabello.
Caracas y Washington rompieron relaciones diplomáticas en febrero de 2019 por decisión de Maduro y cerraron sus embajadas luego de que el mandatario estadounidense Donald Trump apoyó al líder opositor Juan Guaidó, entonces titular de la Asamblea Nacional, quien se declaró en enero de ese año presidente interino de Venezuela.
Como primer paso en este proceso de evaluación de ambos países para reabrir sus sedes diplomáticas una delegación de la administración de Trump llegó el viernes a Venezuela, informó el Departamento de Estado. No hubo detalles de su estadía en el país.
Se trató de un pequeño equipo de diplomáticos y agentes de seguridad que pertenece a la Unidad de Asuntos Venezolanos, que opera desde afuera del país desde que la embajada cerró sus puertas en 2019.
Un comunicado del gobierno venezolano informó por su lado que la delegación estadounidense “realizará evaluaciones técnicas y logísticas inherentes a las funciones diplomáticas” y “de igual manera, una delegación de diplomáticos venezolanos será enviada a Estados Unidos para cumplir las labores correspondientes”, sin precisar la fecha.
La administración de la presidenta encargada de Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, ha dicho que el proceso tiene como propósito “abordar las consecuencias derivadas de la agresión y del secuestro del Presidente de la República y la Primera Dama, así como abordar una agenda de trabajo de interés mutuo”.
Rodríguez fue juramentada como presidenta encargada el 5 de enero en reemplazo de Maduro ante la Asamblea Nacional, de abrumadora mayoría oficialista. La entonces vicepresidenta era, de acuerdo con la Constitución, la primera en la línea de sucesión.
Going Full Spartacus: Democrats Hold Chest-Thumping Press Conferences To Fuel Anti-ICE Rage
Going Full Spartacus: Democrats Hold Chest-Thumping Press Conferences To Fuel Anti-ICE Rage
“Say her name.” From Portland to Philadelphia, the mantra is being used by politicians to fuel the anger over the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis. While many of us have noted that the shooting appears to fall within the guidelines set by the Supreme Court for the justified use of lethal force, there is an effort to make Good the personification of a “resistance movement.”
Across the country, Democrats are holding “I am Spartacus” moments like a low-budget casting call for B-grade actors, chest-thumping demands for everything from the defunding of ICE to the arrest of law enforcement officers. Sen Cory Booker (D., N.J.) was widely ridiculed for his own such moment years ago. However, he found that while most people found his self-aggrandizement cringeworthy, many longed for such demonstrations.
From Portland to Philadelphia, Democratic leaders are engaging in performative press conferences to try to outdo each other in declaring the shooting of Renee Good “murder” or declaring a “war” with the federal government over the enforcement of immigration policies.
The tone was set almost immediately after the shooting by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who not only declared the officer a murderer but called claims of self-defense “bllsh*t” and told ICE, “get the f–k out” of the city.
When many of us denounced his conduct, he mocked his critics by apologizing if his profanity “offended their Disney princess ears.”
Frey seemed to trigger a race to the bottom. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and others rushed to the nearest camera to condemn the officer and fuel the rage. Democratic politicians seemed to struggle to find ways to up the ante with new levels of profanity or escalated threats. Rep. Dan Goldman (D., NY) is facing a serious challenge from a Mamdani-endorsed socialist in the primary and has fought to out-rage the competition.
Goldman not only called for the arrest of the officer but also moved to strip all ICE officers of immunity. Goldman is, of course, protected by immunity as a member of Congress and, as an heir to the Levi-Strauss fortune, can afford any litigation. However, he wants to strip protections for law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day. It seems that no price is too great to secure Goldman a third term.
In Portland, Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, expressed outrage over ICE being in the city after a shooting. It did not seem to matter that the wounded were two suspected Tren de Aragua gang associates who were shot after allegedly trying to run over ICE officers.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day finally confirmed that Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras are Venezuelan criminal illegal aliens with ties to TdA. He admitted that the Portland Police Department hesitated to disclose the suspected gang connection because it did not want to be accused of “historic injustice of victim blaming” by law enforcement.
He then began to cry, saying, “It saddens me that we even have to qualify these remarks because I understand or at least have attempted to understand your voices, your concern, your fear, your anger.”
In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner and Sheriff Rochelle Bilal took the performative press conference to a new and absurd level.
Krasner, who has been known to make sensational and unfulfilled pledges in the past, told ICE to stay out of the city, and portrayed their conduct as criminal, adding, “You will be arrested. You will stand trial. You will be convicted.”
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal then went full Spartacus in an embarrassing demonstration more befitting an Antifa activist than a law enforcement official.
She called ICE officers “fake, wannabe” law enforcement and claimed that they were violating both “legal law” and “moral law.”
Bilal pandered to the mob, warning the federal government that “You don’t want this smoke. Cuz we will bring it to you.” She added that “the criminal in the White House would not be able to keep” ICE agents from heading to jail.
These are leaders who are openly playing to the mob. In my forthcoming book, Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution, I discuss how elected officials often try to enlist mobs to advance their political agendas — only to be consumed by the unrest they helped fuel. This yielding to a “mobocracy” was one of the critical dangers that the Framers sought to deter through protections against majoritarian tyranny.
The problem with these “I am Spartacus” moments is that you need an actual Spartacus. Instead, we have the violence without the cause.
We have the same figures who have trafficked in rage for centuries, including recently in this very city.
In Minneapolis, a Black Lives Matter leader seemed to advocate violence as a vehicle for change, suggesting that the prosecution of officers in the George Floyd case only occurred because protesters burned down part of the city in 2020. She told protesters to ignore “don’t set [the city] on fire” pleas.
In the movie, Caesar is asked if he, too, had “left us for…the mob.” Caesar responds, “I’ve left no one, least of all Rome. This much I’ve learned … Rome is the mob.”
These politicians are attempting to harness the power of the mob to direct it against their political opponents. One Antifa activist called for people to “show up with guns and end this,” adding that “this is what the Founding Fathers gave us the Second Amendment for.”
In reality, what we are watching are calls and performative rage that led not to the American Revolution but the French Revolution. If history is any measure, these “new Jacobins” will find that they are no more protected from the rage than their opponents, as today’s revolutionaries become tomorrow’s reactionaries.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the author of the forthcoming “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution,” which will be released on Feb. 3 as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 01/12/2026 – 14:25
ICE impide que congresistas inspeccionen centro de detención en Minneapolis
Por MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — La administración de Trump reimpuso en secreto una política que limita el acceso de los miembros del Congreso a las instalaciones de detención de inmigrantes un día después de que un agente inmigración matara a tiros a una mujer en Minneapolis, informaron el lunes los abogados de varios demócratas del Congreso al pedir a un juez federal que interviniera.
Tres legisladores demócratas de Minnesota no pudieron visitar una instalación de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas cerca de Minneapolis el sábado, tres días después de que un elemento de ICE matara a la ciudadana estadounidense Renee Good en la ciudad.
El mes pasado, la jueza Jia Cobb en Washington, D.C., le prohibió temporalmente a ICE hacer cumplir políticas que limitan el acceso de congresistas a instalaciones de detención de inmigrantes. En un documento judicial el lunes, los abogados de los demandantes pidieron a Cobb que celebrara una audiencia de emergencia y decidiera si la política de aviso duplicado viola su orden.
Cobb dictaminó el 17 de diciembre que probablemente es ilegal que ICE exija un aviso de una semana para cualquier vista de legisladores a centros de detención. La jueza declaró que el requisito probablemente excede la autoridad legal del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional.
Los abogados que piden a Cobb una audiencia de emergencia dicen que el asunto es urgente porque los congresistas están negociando la financiación para los departamentos de seguridad nacional e inmigración para el próximo año fiscal.
“Este es un momento crítico para la supervisión, y los miembros del Congreso deben poder realizar supervisión en las instalaciones de detención de ICE, sin previo aviso, para obtener información urgente y esencial para las negociaciones de financiación en curso”, escribieron los abogados.
Cobb ha dictaminado sobre la solicitud. Los abogados del gobierno tampoco han respondido por escrito.
El sábado, los representantes Ilhan Omar, Kelly Morrison y Angie Craig intentaron recorrer la instalación de ICE en el edificio federal de Minneapolis. Inicialmente se les permitió entrar, pero unos 10 minutos después se les dijo que tenían que salir.
Los funcionarios que los rechazaron citaron una política de aviso de siete días recién impuesta para las visitas de supervisión del Congreso. El jueves pasado, un día después de la muerte de Good, la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional Kristi Noem firmó en secreto un memorando que reinstauraba el requisito de aviso previo, según los abogados de los demandantes.
Cobb, quien fue nominada para el cargo por el presidente demócrata Joe Biden, falló el mes pasado a favor de otros 12 legisladores que demandaron para impugnar las políticas de visitantes enmendadas de ICE después de que se les negara la entrada a las instalaciones de detención. Su demanda acusó a la administración del presidente republicano Donald Trump de obstruir la supervisión del Congreso de los centros durante su agresiva campaña de detención de inmigrantes.
Los abogados del gobierno habían argumentado que los demandantes no tenían legitimación legal para presentar sus reclamos. Añadieron que es meramente especulativo pensar que las condiciones en las instalaciones de ICE cambien en el transcurso de una semana. Pero la jueza rechazó esos argumentos.
“Las condiciones cambiantes dentro de las instalaciones de ICE significan que probablemente sea imposible para un miembro del Congreso reconstruir las condiciones en una instalación el día en que inicialmente buscó entrar”, escribió Cobb.
Una ley le prohíbe al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional usar fondos asignados para impedir que los miembros del Congreso ingresen a las instalaciones del esa agencia con fines de supervisión. Los abogados de los demandantes de la Fundación Democracy Forward dijeron que la administración no ha demostrado que ninguno de esos fondos se esté utilizando para implementar la última política de aviso.
___________________________________
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Gary woman gets 45 years for killing child’s father during custody handoff
A Gary woman was sentenced to 45 years Monday in a plea deal for killing her daughter’s father during a custody handoff.
Shasta Young, 40, pleaded guilty — but mentally ill — to murder in December. The agreement called for a 45-year term. Indiana law requires inmates to serve 75% of their term with good behavior.
The victim, Willie Perry, 59, of Gary, was shot once in the chest. He was pronounced dead at 12:10 p.m. on June 14, 2024 in his apartment. His death was ruled a homicide.
Police responded at 11:20 a.m. to the 5700 block of Cypress Avenue in Gary.
Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force Detective David Moran wrote Young sat on the sofa while her 18-month-old daughter watched TV. She nodded to the door — where Perry lay outside — when he asked who the toddler’s father was.
“I was just defending myself, so it’s not a problem,” she told police later in an interview at the Gary Police Station.
Young was getting ready and Perry walked inside, holding the girl and a “camera.” He shoved it in her face and they “started tussling,” she said.
Young “stole a life,” the victim’s father Major Lee Perry said Monday in court. His son was a devoted father.
Defense lawyer Ben Murphy said she had no history of violence and would go to prison for a “substantial period of time.”
Deputy Prosecutor Tara Villarreal said they had a “very strong case,” since the victim “recorded his own killing.” Texts showed they could prove it was intentional, she said.
During the hearing, Young loudly retorted as Perry’s niece left the witness stand. That was a sign of her “temper,” Villarreal said.
“I just made a mistake,” Young said in court, of the slaying. “It just happened.”
She apologized to Perry’s family and said her family was watching the girl, who would seek out her father’s family one day.
After the hearing, Perry’s sister said he was a “good man.” Her family had no contact with the child and didn’t know where she was.
The shooting happened “rather quickly” and it was “pretty horrific” that Perry recorded his own death, Judge Salvador Vasquez said, adding Young would pay the price, going to prison for maybe the rest of her life.
“I’ll be out before I’m 60,” Young said as she was led away.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
Talla Mountjoy: ‘This is the time the regime will fall.’ Iran’s protests as seen through my family’s group chat.
A WhatsApp group serves as a lifeline for my maternal family, including my aunts and uncles, all still in Iran, and my cousins, who have left Iran. With the protests in Iran growing by the day, the conversations in our chats changed to signs of hope even amid grave concerns about our family’s safety.
“I feel it this time. This is the time the regime will fall, and we’ll all finally be reunited,” one cousin said. The last time we were all together was December 2014 in Tehran.
“I’ve never wanted to be with you all more,” a second responded. “Do you have internet?” another asked. The family members in Iran don’t respond. The regime once again had cut off the internet. But this time, it wasn’t the sound of missiles that filled Iran’s air, as it was last June, but the voice of the Iranian people demanding freedom, demanding economic stability, demanding a future. And it is the voice of the people that the regime fears most.
My father left Iran in 1977 to pursue his graduate degree in the United States. “I walked into the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for my visa. Even on the hottest day, you could always find shade in the American Embassy of Tehran.” A quick stamp from the immigration officer, and he was off. He boarded a direct flight from Tehran to New York City. And two years later, in 1979, from a dorm room in Philadelphia, he watched a revolution unfold in his home country of Iran.
“Did you support the revolution then?” I asked. “Yes,” he said. “Why?” I asked. “Because I wanted democracy. I wanted freedom. The shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) was a dictator.”
My mom witnessed the 1979 revolution firsthand from Tehran. My parents met in the United States several years later after my mom’s own emigration from Iran during the Iran-Iraq War.
“Don’t trust the mullahs,” she heard her grandpa say. My great-grandpa was a general in the shah’s army. “But the shah has given away all our oil,” my mom argued. “And we’re treated like second-class citizens in our own country. We need to manage our own economy and build a democracy!” My great-grandpa responded, “I want a democracy too. But that path is not with the mullahs.”
How I wish we could turn back the clock 47 years and heed the words of my great-grandpa. Instead, the major political factions of the time — from the moderates to the communists to the Islamists to millions of everyday Iranians — put their trust in the mullahs to bring them a free Iran.
Fast-forward to today, where the name being shouted in the streets is none other than Reza Pahlavi — the son of the dictator overthrown by the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Are we going in circles? Or is the road to a lasting free and democratic country merely full of twists and turns?
The street names in Tehran change with the passage of power. Pahlavi was the name of a beautiful large boulevard in Tehran under the shah. It is now Valiasr, named after the 12th Shia Imam. Though for a brief time, it was Mossadegh, named after the democratically elected leader overthrown in a CIA-assisted coup in 1953. As a child, I remember hailing a taxi with my aunt in Tehran. My aunt would always say Mossadegh when we were going to the famous boulevard. “Khanoom (ma’am), it’s actually Valiasr now,” the driver would say. “It’ll always be Mossadegh to me,” she quipped.
Time will tell whom the streets will be named after this time. Pahlavi again? Another politician? Another imam?
I hope, this time, it’s named Mardom (the people). May the Iranian people, at last, get the real freedom and true democracy they have sought for decades.
Talla Mountjoy is senior director of programs for the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression at the University of Chicago.
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https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/12/opinion-iran-protests-family/
