Category: News
Chicago Cubs acquire RHP Edward Cabrera in trade with Miami Marlins for OF Owen Caissie and 2 other prospects
The Chicago Cubs added Edward Cabrera to their rotation Wednesday, acquiring the right-hander in a trade with the Miami Marlins in their first major offseason move.
The Cubs sent outfielder Owen Caissie — the team’s top prospect, according to MLB Pipeline — and infield prospects Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon to Miami for Cabrera, who went 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA in a career-high 26 starts and 137 2/3 innings last year.
The Cubs announced the trade Wednesday evening.
Cabrera, who turns 28 in April, is eligible for arbitration and cannot become a free agent until after the 2028 season.
The Cubs finished second in the NL Central last year with a 92-70 record. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2020 before they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers in a five-game NL division series.
Cabrera joins a deep rotation that includes Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Cade Horton and Jameson Taillon. Colin Rea and Javier Assad are two more starting options, and Justin Steele is coming back after undergoing left elbow surgery April 18.
Rated as the No. 47 prospect overall, Caissie can play all three outfield positions but has played primarily in right field. He has a .280 average (.384 on base average), 81 home runs and 301 RBIs in 505 minor-league games over five seasons.
The left-handed-hitting Caissie, 23, could compete for a starting job after making his major-league debut in August. Caissie, a second-round pick in the 2020 draft, hit .192 in 12 games with the Cubs, but he batted .286 with 22 home runs and 55 RBIs with Triple-A Iowa last season.
The 6-foot-5 Cabrera made his major-league debut with the Marlins in 2021. He is 25-29 with a 4.07 ERA in 87 career starts and two relief appearances.
Cabrera arrives in Chicago with some injury concerns, including recurring blisters on his right middle finger. He also was placed on the injured list Sept. 1 with a right elbow sprain. He returned Sept. 23 and pitched five shutout innings against the New York Mets in his final start of the season Sept. 28.
Cabrera has made 11 trips to the injured list as a professional. Beyond the injury concerns, the Marlins had been trying to trade Cabrera in part because they want to improve their depth of offensive talent in the system and in part because they’re comfortable with their pitching depth.
Cubs right fielder Owen Caissie high-fives teammates in the dugout during Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Brewers on Aug. 19, 2025, at Wrigley Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
While the addition of Cabrera strengthens the Cubs rotation, Caissie was expected to compete for time in right field. Kyle Tucker is expected to leave the Cubs in free agency.
The Marlins went 79-83 in their first season under manager Clayton McCullough, a 17-game improvement from their last-place finish in 2024. Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez lead the team’s rotation.
Hernandez, 22, batted .252 with seven home runs and 53 RBIs for High A South Bend last year. He was the Cubs’ No. 11 prospect, according to MLB.com. De Leon, 18, played for the Cubs in the Arizona Complex League in 2025, hitting .276 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in 43 games.
Also Wednesday, the Cubs claimed left-hander Ryan Rolison off waivers from the Chicago White Sox. Rolison, 28, made his big-league debut with the Colorado Rockies in May.
Tribune news services contributed.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/07/chicago-cubs-edward-cabrera-owen-caissie-trade/
Rescuers use drone technology to find dog that escaped along New Jersey Turnpike
A dog escaped from a rest stop along the New Jersey Turnpike and wandered for about 25 miles before she was found safe the next day with help from a drone.
Abbie, a 9-year-old golden retriever mix, was travelling from a South Carolina shelter to a planned new home in Maine. She was one of several dogs in a van that had stopped at a service area in East Brunswick around 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the shelter, Final Victory Animal Rescue.
The dogs’ handlers were letting them take a bathroom break when Abbie ran off.
Abbie was equipped with a tracking tag to show her general location, and volunteers with the New Jersey-based Unmanned Search and Rescue drone team — which assists with pet search and rescue efforts as part of its mission — used thermal imaging from an unmanned drone to lead rescuers to her. They found the wayward dog in a wooded area, and Woodbridge Township police eventually rescued Abbie around 2 a.m. Sunday, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from where she initially escaped.
Abbie was cold and very fearful when the officers found her, and she was later found to have suffered a hip injury that will require surgery, police and rescuers said.
It was the USAR’s 123rd dog rescue, the team said.
In a social media post late Monday night, Final Victory Animal Rescue said Maine was no longer in Abbie’s future — she’s back in South Carolina and will be adopted by the Columbia family that had been fostering her.
“With boots on the ground and eyes in the sky, Abbie was located and recovered safely,” the shelter said. ”A huge thank you to every agency involved for showing up when it mattered most.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/07/dog-rescue-drone-new-jersey-turnpike/
Column: Tyrique Stevenson may get a shot to help leaky Chicago Bears secondary: ‘There’ll be a plan in place’
From the sound of things, Tyrique Stevenson could get another opportunity to help a leaky Chicago Bears secondary Saturday night.
The third-year cornerback did not play Sunday when Jared Goff passed for 331 yards in the Detroit Lions’ 19-16 victory. Secondary coach Al Harris said it was strictly a football decision and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen pledged “there’ll be a plan in place for Tyrique” as the Bears ready to host the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card round of the playoffs at Soldier Field.
Stevenson’s playing time has dipped in recent weeks as Jaylon Johnson got physically stronger in his return from early-season surgery to repair a core muscle injury. Johnson and Nahshon Wright were on the field the entire game when Goff had a field day — against the secondary as a whole — and now the Bears have to consider at least a couple of options preparing for a win-or-go-home situation.
Will Kyler Gordon practice well enough in a short week to make a return from injured reserve and play at a high enough level to make a difference? If not, who would step up with C.J. Gardner-Johnson in concussion protocol?
Does Stevenson warrant playing time? If so, in place of Johnson or Wright?
It’s a fair question as to which cornerback the team might pull off to give Stevenson some run — which illustrates the problem. Johnson isn’t going to be all the way back until he has had a full offseason to recover, and opposing quarterbacks are finding ways to create space and windows against Wright. No objective analysis of the secondary can overlook the reality that the pass rush hasn’t done enough to help on the front end this season.
If the Bears cannot find legitimate solutions, they’re at least in need of some patches. Gordon was limited Wednesday in practice, his first since before the Week 14 trip to Lambeau Field when his groin injury flared up in pregame warmups. The coaching staff was positive in discussing the possibility Stevenson will be a factor.
If you exclude the Week 15 blowout win against the Cleveland Browns, the last four opponents have converted 27 of 47 (57.4%) third downs. That includes two games against the Packers and losses to the San Francisco 49ers and Lions.
A category in which the Bears were near the top of the league through the first half of the season has become a problem area. The Bears have been so porous they finished the season ranked 22nd at 40.8%. The Packers offense finished No. 2 on third down at 48.8%, and quarterback Jordan Love has a passer rating of 110.4 on third-and-7 or more this season, completing 39 of 64 passes for 663 yards.
It looked as if Goff was in a shooting gallery at times. He completed passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown on third down to move the chains four times in the first half alone Sunday. The Bears had to know what was coming yet couldn’t stop it.
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) puts a spin move on Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright after making a catch late in the fourth quarter Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, at Soldier Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
“Getting off the field on third down, that’s probably been the biggest issue that we’ve had,” Allen said. “Part of it is we’ve played some really good teams the last couple weeks — some really good offenses. ”
Some of the recent struggles can be linked to early-down issues. Twenty-two of the 47 third downs in the four games have been third-and-3 or less. Of the 17 instances in which it was third-and-7 or more, opponents have converted eight. The Packers had three long touchdown passes on third down against the Bears — two to Christian Watson in the Week 14 meeting and one to Romeo Doubs in Week 16.
Allen said the team was more or less going with the “hot hand” in the secondary, and those clamoring for explanations for why Stevenson didn’t get any playing time ignored that Johnson’s snap count has been increasing each week.
Wright’s five interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries have given a big boost to the league’s No. 1 defense in terms of takeaways. Opponents also have hit him for a slew of big plays, especially of late. On the other side, Johnson has gotten behind in the route too often as his hands and feet haven’t been in sync. He struggled on crossing routes against the Lions.
“We’ll see how the game plays out,” Allen said. “But I think all those guys have to be ready to play.”
Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson breaks up a pass for Packers wide receiver Romeo Doubs in the end zone in the second quarter Dec. 20, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
Harris said Stevenson, who did not meet with reporters after practice Wednesday, has been upbeat and “hadn’t done anything wrong or anything like that. It was just something as a staff that’s the way we went.”
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“Rique is doing a good job of being a pro,” Harris said. “So, this week is a new week. Last week was last week. I think he’s attacked every day as a professional ¯ practice, practice habits, everything. He’s doing a good job.
“When Rique is locked in and tuned in to what he has to do, really good football player. That’s with anybody, not just Tyrique. So it’s just little details here and there with all the guys. Him being locked in, focused in on what he has to do, sky’s the limit.”
If a healthy Gordon can be stickier than Gardner-Johnson, that will help, especially in the middle of the field where Goff and the 49ers’ Brock Purdy feasted on the Bears. It’s where there have been big run-after-catch opportunities.
“At the end of day, we’ve got to cover that,” Harris said.
No matter who is lined up at cornerback.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/07/chicago-bears-tyrique-stevenson-playoffs/
Of Notoriety: WJOB radio broadcasting returns to 1956 Hammond studio space
Tuesday morning marked an interesting first for me while behind the microphone broadcasting my weekly radio show, which happens to share the same name as this Tribune column.
For the previous nine years when broadcasting my WJOB 1230 AM radio show Of Notoriety with Phil Potempa, my studio surroundings have always been in the station’s leased space in the Purdue Northwest Commercialization Manufacturing Excellence Center at 7150 Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond, which had been home for the media company under Vasquez Development for 13 years.
As WJOB celebrates its 102nd year of continuous operations, owner and on-air morning radio personality Jim Dedelow decided “it was time to return to the radio station’s roots,” since even during their decade-long relocation, the broadcast company had always continued to own and maintain the existing studio space at 6405 Olcott Ave. in Hammond across the road from what once was Woodmar Shopping Mall.
After my Tuesday inaugural broadcast in the cherished homebase studios, which were constructed in 1956, I crossed paths in the reception lobby with Schererville attorney and former Lake County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Wieser, 74, who was waiting to be interviewed by Dedelow.
“I feel like I’m back home again, being in this station after so many years at the other location,” Wieser told me.
“My first time being interviewed in this same building for a radio show was 50 years ago, when I was running for Highland Town Council. I was 27 years old, and it was 1975 when I was interviewed by Larry Peterson. And anytime I was ever interviewed by Larry, I never felt comfortable with him because he asked such tough questions. If you didn’t answer him directly, he’d nail you.”
Recalling the roster of many broadcasting greats whose voices have traveled along the WJOB airwaves, Dedelow said Tuesday that Peterson taught him how to read newscasts when he first began working at WJOB in 1985, before departing for a financial career in downtown Chicago.
“Peterson had a style that wasn’t as aggressive and even hostile as we have in 2026, but he definitely used a ‘velvet hammer’ when necessary,” Dedelow said.
“The first license issued to a radio station in the Calumet area was in 1923 to Hammond-Calumet Broadcasting Corporation, with Dr. George F. Courier and Lawrence J. Crowley as the licensees, with the broadcasting model it would be a radio station for allowing voices to be heard.”
The original radio station structure was in downtown Hammond at 402 Fayette St., right at Hohman Avenue before it moved to 449 State St. for a time before the “new studios” were built at the present location in 1956 on Olcott Avenue.
While many associate the iconic Hammond-born and raised broadcaster Jean Shepherd with starting his career at WJOB in 1945, he only spent a short time doing sports commentary for the station before departing for better broadcast opportunities in Toledo, Ohio, and then on to New York.
Street signs in the Woodmar neighborhood of South Hammond designate the intersection address for WJOB radio station’s transmitter and studio building, erected in 1956 and now including an additional sign honoring late broadcaster Irv Lewin. (Philip Potempa/for Post-Tribune)
Irv Lewin, who began as an on-air personality at WJOB in the early 1960s, had a far longer and illustrious local career at WJOB before his death from cancer in August 1995 on his 81st birthday. As the co-owner of Lewin Brothers Clothing Store in East Chicago, Lewin’s career as a radio name blossomed under the guidance of later station owner Julian Colby. Lewin also served as the Northwest Indiana campaign manager for presidential hopeful John F. Kennedy, which garnered him two in-person studio visits for on-air interviews with Kennedy in the early 1960s, helping catapult Lewin’s clout and emerging radio name.
Peterson was Lewin’s 30-year broadcasting colleague and eventual successor behind the microphone with his “Afternoon Party Line Show.”
In 2002, when George and Norma Stevens’ St. George Broadcasting purchased WJOB after 13 years of ownership by M&M Broadcasting, drastic changes included Peterson disappearing from the airwaves as well as other popular programs such as “Bargain Bonanza” and on-air personalities like Gregg Doffin, Wally Skibinski’s “Polka Hour” and news personalities like Thurm Ferree, Mike Bonaventura, Vincent Gino, Jessica Morgan and Laura Waluszko.
When Dedelow purchased the station with partnership investors in 2004, WJOB was saved from going off the airwaves and likely bankruptcy. With new on-air talent like Chicago’s WBBM radio personality Ric Federighi as morning show host and Steven “The Preacher” Glover in the afternoons, the station prospered with new audience growth and influence.
Dedelow plans to continue further growth in the station’s next century while never letting listeners forget the airwaves’ roots and names who helped the station’s reach grow.
“WJOB had East Chicago native and newsman Frank Reynolds, who went on to host the national ABC Nightly World News, as a news talent, as well as Felicia Middlebrook of WBBM starting out here and Steve King of the ‘Steve and Johnnie Show’ who went on to a 26-year radio run on WGN,” Dedelow said.
On Wednesday, King, 81, said he was pleased to see WJOB return to the address he remembers so well.
“Am I wrong, or is that the same studio I broadcast from when I got my first start in radio at WJOB, in 1966?” King said.
“I believe the control board would have been in front of where I see Jim [Dedelow] seated, turntables would be to his right, reel-to-reel tape recorders would have been to his left, and the newsroom, complete with teletype machines, would have been the room seen over his shoulder. I had great conversations in that studio with Irv Lewin, Larry Peterson, Cosmo Currier, blues legend Jimmy Reed’s wife, Mary, and Jimmy’s son, and many more. If those walls could talk, indeed.”
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and weekly radio host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at philpotempa@gmail.com.
Trump Warns NATO: Without America There Is No Alliance
Trump Warns NATO: Without America There Is No Alliance
President Trump says that Russia and China “have zero fear of NATO” without the US being in the alliance, in a Wednesday Truth Social post, which comes not only as the White House says it intends to acquire Greenland – which has set up a diplomatic fight with European NATO allies – but also soon on the heels of the ultra controversial US military ouster of Venezuela’s Maduro.
Trump in the post expressed doubt that “NATO would be there for us if we really needed them” and simultaneously touted that “We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us.”
He focused his explanation on Ukraine, saying that “Without my involvement, Russia would have ALL OF UKRAINE right now” – in reference to the nearly four year long Russian-Ukraine war, which has a definite and deep NATO vs. Moscow proxy war element to it.
He continued: “Everyone is lucky that I rebuilt our military in my first term, and continue to do so.”
Trump’s main sentiment actually echoes the words of his top advisory official Stephen Miller, who the day prior was discussing that no one gave fellow NATO-member Denmark the ‘right’ to control Greenland.
Miller had expressed: “The US is the power of Nato. For the US to secure the Arctic region to protect and defend Nato and Nato interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the US. And so that’s a conversation that we’re going to have as a country. That’s a process we’re going to have as a community of nations.”
Despite the somewhat absurd diplomatic circus surrounding the lingering Greenland question, which has of course remained highly entertaining, both Trump and Miller actually have an indisputable point on America’s role in the Western military alliance.
If Washington were to ever pull out of NATO, the military alliance would simply become one only on paper – akin to a mere ‘EU Army’. Indeed Russia and China would not at all ‘fear’ NATO – and maybe they don’t fear it too much already (though there’s probably some significant fear and anxiety in dealing with a United States under highly unpredictable Donald Trump).
The quiet part in all this – and not often enough discussed – is that NATO has left a legacy of ashes and destruction in many places it has intervened over several decades – from Belgrade (in 1999) to the regime change war against Libya’s Gaddafi, and involvement in the Afghan forever war. For example, NATO still touts its ‘successful’ so-called ‘responsibility to protect’ mission in Libya, but now Libya is divided into at least three rival power centers, and there may yet be new civil war on the horizon. Another result was that ISIS popped up there, where it wasn’t before.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/07/2026 – 17:40
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-warns-nato-without-america-there-no-alliance
Cops: Man killed in Calumet Heights auto crash on South Side
A 50-year-old motorist was killed Wednesday when the vehicle he was driving was fatally struck at an intersection on the city’s South Side, according to Chicago police.
The motorist was behind the wheel of a blue Mini Cooper when he was struck by a black Cadillac SUV traveling south in the 9200 block of South Stony Island Avenue around 10:40 a.m., police said.
The force of the collision forced the Mini Cooper into a nearby business, but no other injuries were reported, police said.
The motorist was taken to the University of Chicago medical center, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the death, but only identified the victim as a Dolton resident. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.
The Cadillac’s driver was taken to the same hospital, where he was listed in good condition. The police Major Accident Investigation Unit is handling the crash.
Trump propone aumentar al gasto de defensa para 2027 a $1,5 billones debido a “tiempos peligrosos”
Por AAMER MADHANI
WASHINGTON (AP) — El presidente Donald Trump propuso el miércoles establecer el gasto militar de Estados Unidos para 2027 en 1,5 billones de dólares, argumentando “tiempos problemáticos y peligrosos”.
El mandatario hizo su llamado para el enorme incremento en el gasto de defensa apenas días después de que ordenó una operación militar que resultó en la captura del presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro, quien fue trasladado para enfrentar cargos de tráfico de drogas en Estados Unidos. Las fuerzas estadounidenses mantienen una importante presencia en el mar Caribe.
El presupuesto militar para 2026 es de 901.000 millones de dólares.
Trump también ha renovado en los últimos días su llamamiento para tomar el control del territorio danés de Groenlandia por razones de seguridad nacional, además de que ha dejado entrever que está dispuesto a ordenar operaciones militares en Colombia. El secretario de Estado, Marco Rubio, ha advertido ominosamente que Cuba “está en problemas”.
“Esto nos permitirá construir el ‘Ejército de Ensueño’ que nos merecemos desde hace tiempo y, más importante aún, que nos mantendrá seguros y protegidos, sin importar el enemigo”, publicó Trump en la red social Truth Social al anunciar su propuesta. Añadió que se siente cómodo con el incremento en el gasto militar debido al aumento de ingresos creado por su gobierno mediante los aranceles que ordenó sobre aliados y adversarios en todo el mundo desde su regreso al cargo.
En tanto, Trump también amenazó el miércoles con poner fin a las adquisiciones de armamento del Pentágono a Raytheon –uno de los principales contratistas de defensa de Estados Unidos– si la empresa no dejaba de lado su práctica de recompra de acciones e invertía más fondos para expandir su capacidad de fabricación de armas.
Trump se ha quejado repetidamente en los últimos meses de que las empresas de defensa aquejan lamentables retrasos en la entrega de armamento crítico y, sin embargo, seguían distribuyendo dividendos y recompra de acciones a sus inversionistas, además de ofrecer salarios deslumbrantes a sus altos ejecutivos.
“O Raytheon da un paso adelante y comienza a invertir más en inversión inicial como plantas y equipos, o ya no harán negocios con el Departamento de Guerra”, señaló Trump en redes sociales. “Además, si Raytheon quiere más negocios con el gobierno de Estados Unidos, bajo ninguna circunstancia se les permitirá hacer más recompra de acciones, donde han gastado decenas de miles de millones de dólares, hasta que logren organizarse”.
En Wall Street, las acciones de los contratistas de defensa cayeron. Northrop Grumman perdió un 5,5%, Lockheed Martin cedió un 4,8% y RTX Corp., la empresa matriz de Raytheon, cayó un 2,5%.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
US Expands List Of Countries Subject To Visa Bonds Of Up To $15,000
US Expands List Of Countries Subject To Visa Bonds Of Up To $15,000
Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The U.S. State Department has expanded its list of nations whose citizens will be subject to visa bonds of up to $15,000 to enter the United States, adding 25 more nations, according to its website.
The latest additions will bring the total number of nations to 38, according to the department’s website, with visa bonds for the newly listed countries set to take effect on Jan. 21.
The newly added countries include Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Côte D’Ivorie, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Fiji, Gabon, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tajikistan, Togo, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
The expansion came just a week after the department added Bhutan, Botswana, the Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, and Turkmenistan to the list, with visa bonds going into effect on Jan. 1.
Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Tanzania, Gambia, Malawi, and Zambia were placed on the list in August and October of last year.
Citizens of those nations who are deemed eligible for B1/B2 visas, which are used for short-term tourism and business travel, are required to post a bond ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, with the amount being determined during the visa interview.
The department said that the visa bond policy is intended to deter visa overstays by citizens of the listed nations.
Bond payments will be returned when a visa holder departs from the United States before the expiration of the authorized date of stay, or if the person is denied admission at a U.S. port of entry, it stated.
“A bond does not guarantee visa issuance. If someone pays fees without a consular officer’s direction, the fees will not be returned,” the department states on its website.
The list of nations stems from a 12-month visa bond pilot program the department launched in August last year. It targeted countries with high visa overstay rates, insufficient screening and vetting, or those that offer citizenship to individuals via investment.
In an Aug. 5, 2025, federal register document, the department said the program is “intended to encourage foreign governments to take immediate action to reduce the overstay rates of their nationals when traveling to the United States for temporary visits, and to encourage countries to improve screening and vetting and the security of travel and civil documents, including in the granting of citizenship.”
The Trump administration has sought to tighten entry requirements for foreign nationals, including imposing visa restrictions and entry limits on citizens of certain countries identified as having “severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing,” according to a White House fact sheet published in December.
Other steps include adding an online presence review to the vetting requirements last year for H-1B visa applicants and their dependents, as well as for student visa and exchange visitor applicants, in an effort to safeguard Americans and national interests, according to the department.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 01/07/2026 – 17:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/us-expands-list-countries-subject-visa-bonds-15000
Aurora City Council considers financially supporting city-connected fiber network
The Aurora City Council is set to consider financial support for OnLight Aurora, a city-connected organization established to manage Aurora’s fiber network, amid ongoing budgetary issues at the organization.
Last year, Mayor John Laesch said that OnLight was nearly $1 million in debt after failed attempts to bring internet service to residents’ homes and “unregulated debit card expenses for marketing purposes” that took place before he took office. The city-owned fiber network managed by OnLight stretches for over 60 miles and provides internet access to city government facilities as well as other institutions, nonprofits and businesses in Aurora.
The Aurora City Council next week will consider a proposal to give OnLight either a loan or a grant of $80,000. That money is expected to help the organization catch up on outstanding bills and give it a small amount of operating cash for the near-term, Aurora’s Director of Fiscal Integrity and Operations Management, Brian Caputo, told Aurora aldermen at a meeting of the City Council’s Committee of the Whole on Tuesday evening.
“I think we all recognize they are facing some significant financial challenges,” Caputo said of OnLight Aurora.
In September, Laesch said that OnLight Aurora was losing $27,000 each month, a large part of which was because of debt payments. The organization got into that financial state, he said at the time, in part because of three failed attempts to bring internet service through city fiber to residents’ homes, including one that ended up costing over $110,000 in legal fees.
There was also roughly $337,000 in “unregulated debit card expenses for marketing purposes” since 2018, which included cash withdraws, sponsorships, airfare, lodging, limos or car services, restaurants and bars, “adult entertainment clubs” and political contributions, among others, according to Laesch’s presentation to the Aurora City Council last year.
Those formerly in charge of OnLight have disputed claims made by Laesch about what the organization spent money on, and also said he was overreaching in his power as mayor in order to target those associated with former Mayor Richard Irvin’s administration.
OnLight is no longer running a large monthly operational deficit due to efforts by the organization’s volunteer director, Austin FitzCorbett, Laesch recently told The Beacon-News.
Some strategic planning is set to be done to map out the long-term future of OnLight, Caputo said at the Tuesday meeting of the Committee of the Whole. That plan will determine whether the $80,000 Aurora is proposed to give OnLight will be a loan or a grant, he said.
“We’re not sure it’s reasonable that OnLight will be able to pay us back,” Caputo said. “We’re hopeful that they will.”
Laesch told The Beacon-News that the proposed $80,000 payment was a “temporary funding measure” to help pay bills, including large legal bills related to the organization’s previous efforts to bring the fiber connection to residents’ homes and other bills related to operations, he said. At Tuesday’s committee meeting, Caputo said the payment was to address the organization’s most pressing needs through mid-March.
In response to a question about what would happen if the City Council decided not to approve the payment, Caputo said at the meeting that, at some point, the operation would start to close down. Similarly, FitzCorbett said that the proposed payment was to “keep the lights on.”
Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, said the city was possibly not the best steward of its “great asset,” the fiber network. It is unfortunate that the city now needs to put money towards it because of past actions, but its necessary, he said.
This may not be the last time the Aurora City Council is asked to approve funding for OnLight, Caputo said at the meeting. Laesch told The Beacon-News that it will take more than this $80,000 to stabilize the organization.
Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, called the currently-proposed payment a “Band-Aid,” which Caputo agreed with.
The city just went through a budget process where it had to dig itself out of a hole, she said, and this feels like the city is putting itself into another one.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
Orland Park Plan Commission endorses Amazon retail center, despite residents’ concerns
The Orland Park Plan Commission faced a packed Village Hall Tuesday night as residents raised questions and concerns about a proposed Amazon retail development for the busy 159th Street and LaGrange Road intersection.
“How is my life going to be better?” Carol McGury asked the seven Plan Commission members, stressing the project “should not be rushed.”
The proposed nearly 230,000-square-foot commercial retail space at the site of the former Petey’s II restaurant “will likely be one of the first of its kind,” according to Katie Jahnke Dale, a Chicago attorney representing Amazon. It will include items from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods and online goods.
Jahnke Dale told the commission Amazon is aiming to create a more comprehensive shopping experience where visitors to the store in person can use their phone or an in-store kiosk to find items not on the sales floor.
Customers can also order items to be brought to their vehicles, either at the front of the store or in a reserved parking spot.
“Nothing that we’re doing here, though, is different from what we are all experiencing in retail stores that exist today,” Jahnke Dale said. “It’s just done in a more purposeful, thoughtful manner.”
Amazon plans a retail store at the southwest corner of LaGrange Road and 159th Street, site of the former Petey’s II, restaurant in Orland Park. (Petey’s II)
Amazon representatives and village staff said the site would not be used as a warehouse, a concern of some residents and members of the Plan Commission.
“I think I’m satisfied that this is a retail center,” Commissioner John Paul said, checking with village staff to make sure Amazon couldn’t turn the building into a warehouse if its retail concept fails.
Other concerns raised Tuesday largely surrounded traffic issues.
The village presented plans to abate traffic by extending Ravinia Avenue east to connect to 161st Street, potentially rerouting 25% of the intersection’s eastbound right and northbound left-turning traffic. However, the Amazon facility could be completed before the road extension.
Orland Park also hopes to coordinate with the Illinois Department of Transportation and Cook County to make other traffic improvements, including replacing the traffic signal at the 159th Street and 94th Avenue intersection and adding right-turn and left-turn lanes on at least some approaches.
“The village has been working on this project for over 10 years,” Orland Park Engineering Director Khurshid Hoda said.
He said this development is not the cause of traffic problems.
“Even if you go out today, we have all experienced it, that intersection is operating at a very congested level,” Hoda said.
Alongside the retail building would be 837 parking spaces and seven loading docks, according to Amazon’s application.
Retail customers would enter through 159th Street, LaGrange Road or 161st Street while delivery drivers would enter through the south or west, coming off of 161st Street, and have a designated parking area south of the building.
Six acres would be dedicated to open and landscaped space, and Amazon plans to construct a stormwater detention area on the property, according to the plans.
The Plan Commission ultimately approved the proposal 6-1, with Daniel Sanchez voting no due to lingering concerns raised by residents.
“Overall, I think it’s great, I think it’s pretty exciting,” Sanchez said. “Some of the other comments about traffic and overall scale and fit in that location do concern me a little bit.”
The proposal will next move to the Orland Park Village Board for approval, with Mayor Jim Dodge expressing his support for the development last week.
Dodge told the Daily Southtown developer interest for the 35-acre parcel has been high, with the village previously considering to zone it for mixed use including residential.
“It’s a prime spot to be developed,” Dodge said, adding he is “pleased to see it go commercial.”
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/07/orland-park-plan-commission-amazon-store/
