DOE Orders Indiana Coal Units Totaling More Than 950 MW To Run Past Retirement Dates

Tyler Durden
Wed, 12/31/2025 – 07:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/doe-orders-indiana-coal-units-totaling-more-950-mw-run-past-retirement-dates 

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain.

South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks strike midnight in Auckland, a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball drops in New York’s Times Square.

The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from various floors of the 240-meter (787-foot) Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s North Island on Wednesday due to forecasts of rain and possible thunderstorms.

Australia plans defiant celebration after country’s worst mass shooting

Australia’s east coast welcomes 2026 two hours after New Zealand, but in Sydney, the country’s largest city, celebrations will be held under the pall of Australia’s worst mass shooting in almost 30 years. Two gunmen targeted a Hannukah celebration at Bondi Beach on Dec. 14, killing 15 and wounding 40.

A heavy police presence monitored the thousands who thronged to the downtown waterfront on Wednesday to watch a fireworks show centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Many officers openly carried rapid-fire rifles, in a first for the annual event.

An hour before midnight, the massacre victims will be commemorated with one minute of silence while images of a menorah are projected on the bridge pylons. The crowd has been invited to show their solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community by shining their phone torches across the harbor.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns urged Sydney residents not to stay away through fear, saying extremists would interpret smaller crowds at New Year’s Eve festivities as a victory.

“We can’t be in a situation where this horrible, criminal, terrorist event changes the way we live in our beautiful city,” Minns told reporters on Wednesday.

“We have to show defiance in the face of this terrible crime and say that we’re not going to be cowered by this kind of terrorism,” he added.

Indonesia and Hong Kong hold subdued events

In Indonesia, one of Australia’s nearest neighbors, cities scaled back New Year’s Eve festivities as a gesture of solidarity with communities devastated by catastrophic floods and landslides that struck parts of Sumatra island a month ago, claiming more than 1,100 lives.

The capital, Jakarta, will not ring in 2026 with its usual fanfare, choosing instead subdued celebrations with a calm and reflective program centered on prayers for victims, city Gov. Pramono Anung said last week.

Makassar Mayor Munafri Arifuddin urged residents of one of Indonesia’s largest cities to forgo parties altogether, calling for prayer and reflection instead. “Empathy and restraint are more meaningful than fireworks and crowds,” he said.

Concerts and fireworks on Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali have been canceled and replaced with a cultural arts event featuring 65 groups performing traditional dances.

Hong Kong, too, will ring in 2026 without the usual spectacular and colorful explosions in the sky over its iconic Victoria Harbor, after a massive fire in November killed at least 161 people.

The city’s tourism board will instead host a music show featuring soft rock duo Air Supply and other singers in Central, a business district. The facades of eight landmarks will turn into giant countdown clocks presenting a three-minute light show at midnight.

Many parts of Asia welcome the new year by observing age-old traditions.

In Japan, crowds will gather at a Buddhist temple in Tokyo for a bell striking at midnight. In the South Korean capital Seoul, a bell tolling and countdown ceremony will be held at the Bosingak Pavilion.

China’s Xi renews threats against Taiwan

Chinese President Xi Jinping in a New Year’s Eve address broadcast by state media hailed his country’s technological progress in areas such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors while renewing threats against Taiwan, which it claims as part of its sovereign territory.

“We Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a bond of blood and kinship,” he said. “The reunification of our motherland, a trend of the times, is unstoppable.” China this week launched large-scale military drills around the island.

Berliners celebrate in snow

Tourists and Berliners alike marked the end of 2025 by enjoying snowfall, taking selfies and making snowmen in front of the German capital’s cathedral and the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The famous Berlin TV Tower was nearly invisible thanks to the falling flakes and fog.

Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/new-zealand-new-year/ 

CONCORD, N.H. — Imagine the buffet.

Forty-thousand oysters, lobster worth $400,000 and a cache of crabmeat all were stolen in separate incidents within weeks of each other in New England.

The first seafood vanished on Nov. 22 in Falmouth, Maine, where authorities suspect someone stole 14 cages full of oysters from an aquaculture site in Casco Bay. Many of the oysters were full-grown and ready for sale, and together with the cages were worth $20,000, according to the Maine Marine Patrol.

“This is a devastating situation for a small businessman,” said Marine Patrol Sgt. Matthew Sinclair.

The other two thefts happened in Taunton, Massachusetts, about 160 miles (255 kilometers) away. First, a load of crab disappeared after leaving the Lineage Logistics warehouse on Dec. 2. Then, on Dec. 12, lobster meat destined for Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota was stolen by a fraudulent trucking company, according to the broker who arranged the pickup.

“The carrier we hired impersonated a real carrier,” Dylan Rexing, CEO of Rexing Companies, said Tuesday. “They had a spoofed email address. They changed the name on the side of the truck. The made a fake certified driver’s license. It’s a very sophisticated crime.”

Lineage Logistics, Costco and Taunton Police did not respond to requests for comment, but Rexing said police told him about the crab theft from the same warehouse.

That kind of cargo theft has been a problem for over a decade, he said, but has gotten worse in recent years.

“It happens every day, multiple times a day,” he said.

Freight theft generally falls into two categories, said Chris Burroughs, president and CEO of Transportation Intermediaries Association, a trade organization for the freight brokerage industry. The lobster heist fits in the first type, which involves someone impersonating a legitimate trucking company. The second type, known as strategic theft, often involves using phishing emails to gain access to computer systems and get paid without actually stealing the product.

“This is a massive growing problem that needs to get addressed,” he said.

Given its short shelf life, the stolen lobster likely ended up restaurants, both said. And while he’s seen plenty of quips about stealing butter to go with the lobster, Rexing said such thefts ultimately harm consumers.

“Whether you eat seafood or not, they’re stealing other items. They’re stealing items to build your cars. They’re stealing items that go into computers,” he said. “Ultimately, that cost gets thrown to the consumer.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/oysters-crab-lobster-meat-stolen-new-england/ 

No. 1 Indiana spent several December weeks reveling in the luster of the best season in school history.

The Hoosiers sung the school’s fight song in the confetti celebration after their first Big Ten championship since 1967 and first outright title since 1945. They were featured on “60 Minutes.” They signed their offensive and defensive coordinators to contract extensions. They even flew to New York and took photos of quarterback Fernando Mendoza and his brand-new Heisman Trophy in Times Square.

And now that they know their Rose Bowl opponent after Alabama rallied for a 34-24 victory at Oklahoma, Indiana has spent the past 10 days preparing to prove it’s worthy of holding both the No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the College Football Playoff.

“We understand that just like the Big Ten championship game, just like any other big games we played this season, this page is now folded, although I will be in the (Heisman) fraternity for the rest of my life,” Mendoza said after returning to campus with the Heisman. “Our focus right now is winning the College Football Playoff. That’s what would make this trophy so much sweeter.”

QB Fernando Mendoza is the 2025 Chicago Tribune Silver Football winner — Indiana’s 1st winner in 24 years

Last year was the first for the expanded 12-team playoff, and the top four seeds with first-round byes — Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State — all lost in the quarterfinals. This year’s top seeds — Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia and Texas Tech — want to prove last year was a fluke.

Georgia (12-1) faces conference foe Mississippi (12-1) in a New Year’s Day rematch in the Sugar Bowl; the Bulldogs dealt the Rebels their only loss.

Defending champion Ohio State (12-1) has spent the past couple weeks getting healthy and making one key change. Coach Ryan Day will be calling the plays when the Buckeyes face Miami (11-2) in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night.

“There’s not a game that’s gone by where I’m not involved or listening to every call and making sure it’s what we’ve agreed upon going in (to the game),” Day said, explaining why he’s taking over the play calling from new South Florida coach Brian Hartline. “So it’s similar to the way it was before.”

The other quarterfinal pits Texas Tech (12-1), the Big 12 champion, against Oregon (11-1) in the Orange Bowl on Thursday.

The Hoosiers (13-0) never lost their focus in 2025, thanks partly to second-year coach Curt Cignetti but mostly because their returning contingent — players such as linebacker Aiden Fisher, defensive end Mikail Kamara and wide receivers Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. — wouldn’t allow it.

Neither did the newcomers such as Mendoza and starting center Pat Coogan, who immediately embraced Indiana’s mission to avenge the two losses that tainted Cignetti’s otherwise flawless first season: at eventual national champion Ohio State and at eventual national runner-up Notre Dame.

Outsiders entered this season wondering whether the remarkable turnaround of the losingest football program in FBS history was merely a one-hit wonder. Yet with each passing week, the Hoosiers answered the challenge, turning some doubters into believers.

“For us, it’s not really three weeks of being off, it’s more so about getting better at what you do right now,” Fisher said. “And when the time comes to scout another opponent, you’ll be an even better player and in a better situation to do that. That’s a big thing.”

Indiana football’s rise to national title contender rewards fans who endured decades of losing

Now comes the toughest test so far: a game at the Rose Bowl against the Crimson Tide, who have won six national championships since 2009. Cignetti is a former Alabama assistant, while Tide coach Kalen DeBoer is a former Indiana assistant.

“We understand we’ve got a great football team with Indiana,” DeBoer said. “Coach Cignetti, just what he’s done is amazing here these last two years, just building the program as quickly as he’s done to the level it’s at. Really looking forward to us diving back into our process here, getting back to work.”

So far, Indiana has met every challenge, with late scores to win at Iowa, at Oregon and at Penn State before upsetting the then-top-ranked Buckeyes on Dec. 6. Cignetti has relied on those lessons to help his team through its long layoff.

“Until we knew the opponent, we treated it like two bye weeks. Now we have almost two weeks to prepare for the opponent,” he said last week. “Would I prefer to play earlier? Yeah, I probably would, to be quite honest with you. But that’s not the case. We’re excited about playing. We’re off to a good start, and it will be a tremendous challenge.”

The Hoosiers don’t expect anything less from themselves. They intend to be rested and ready — not rusty.

“I believe we’ve earned these bye weeks,” Mendoza said. “It’s a great honor to have a bye week, and we still have great momentum going into the playoff. It’s a great opportunity to rest our bodies and stay sharp on our fundamentals.”

AP’s Charles Odum in Atlanta and Joe Reedy in Columbus, Ohio, contributed.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/cfp-quarterfinals-top-seeds-rusty/ 

The NFC North champion Chicago Bears close out the 2025 regular season Sunday against the Detroit Lions, needing a victory — or a Philadelphia Eagles loss — to secure the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.

Also at stake will be some individual milestones — including one never reached in the Bears’ 105-year history. The Tribune’s Brad Biggs begins his weekly Bears mailbag there.

Do you think it happens? Does Caleb Williams get to 4,000 yards on Sunday? — Bob D., Colorado Springs, Colo.

He has a heck of a chance to reach that plateau. In fact, it’s right there for Williams, who needs 270 yards to become the Bears’ first 4,000-yard passer — the only franchise never to have one.

The Lions limited the Minnesota Vikings to 51 passing yards in Week 17, but that was an outlier. The performance came against undrafted Vikings rookie Max Brosmer, who was completely overwhelmed.

The Lions have been hit hard with injuries in the secondary, and three of their last six opponents have thrown for 366 or more yards. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers had 266 two weeks ago. In the five games before the Week 17 meeting with Brosmer and the Vikings, the Lions allowed an average of 328.6 passing yards.

Williams is coming off a season-high 330 yards against the San Francisco 49ers, and while he has reached 270 yards in only three other games this season, this certainly looks like an attainable mark. If Ben Johnson believes Detroit is vulnerable in the secondary — and he should — you have to figure he’ll try to cook up some big plays. San Francisco was vulnerable to the pass, and Johnson leaned into Williams and his right arm.

The Lions have a major issue at safety with starters Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch out for the season. Thomas Harper was the top backup, and he suffered his second concussion of the season last week. Avonte Maddox has been the fourth option, and he sat out last week with a back injury. The Lions could be down to Nos. 5 and 6 for the season finale. That’s a position no defense wants to find itself in.

On top of that, top cornerback Terrion Arnold is out for the season. D.J. Reed has returned from a hamstring injury that landed him on injured reserve, but he isn’t playing well. Nickel cornerback Amik Robertson is playing with a broken hand. So the secondary as a whole is a mess that the Lions will have to address in the offseason. Veteran quarterbacks, including the New York Giants’ Jameis Winston, have exposed Detroit in the second half of the season, and that has been part of the Lions’ undoing.

Provided weather isn’t a major factor, Williams very well could become the franchise’s first 4,000-yard passer. Something that looked like a bit of a long shot a month ago just might happen.

Having four players with more than 600 receiving yards seems impressive. Is it uncommon in the league? I’ve always thought it is better to have multiple go-to guys instead of just one receiver who gets 1,000 yards. A defense can’t cover everyone. Is this a trend in the league? — Dave, Albuquerque

Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III (10) celebrates with tight end Colston Loveland (84) after a touchdown reception in the first quarter against the 49ers on Dec. 28, 2025, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

It’s not uncommon for good passing offenses to have four receivers with that kind of production. Where it gets uncommon is when you start talking about having a trio of receivers with 900 yards or more. The Vikings last accomplished that feat in 2023 with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson. It has happened eight times since 2002.

What’s truly rare is finding a team with three 1,000-yard receivers, something that has occurred only five times. The Arizona Cardinals are the last to accomplish the feat in 2008 with Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston when former Bears wide receivers coach Todd Haley was offensive coordinator.

I agree that the Bears can create matchup problems for opponents with a wealth of options, and that’s why they used a first-round pick on tight end Colston Loveland and a second-rounder on wide receiver Luther Burden III. DJ Moore (671 yards), Rome Odunze (661), Loveland (622) and Burden (617) are all capable of leading the team in a given game.

The Bears have had four players with 600 or more receiving yards only once: in 2014, when Alshon Jeffery, Brandon Marshall, Earl Bennett and Matt Forte reached that level. They came close in 2018, when Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel and Tarik Cohen were over 600 and Trey Burton had 569.

As the passing game continues to evolve with Caleb Williams, we will see the Bears accomplish a lot of things from a receiving standpoint that haven’t happened in team history. Having four capable receivers isn’t really a trend as much as it’s something you see when you’re watching more advanced passing offenses.

Will D’Marco Jackson start getting snaps at linebacker over Tremaine Edmunds? Edmunds has been terrible since his return. — @joebaubkus

Bears linebacker D’Marco Jackson (48) tackles Browns wide receiver Gage Larvadain during the fourth quarter Dec. 14, 2025, at Soldier Field. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

There weren’t a ton of complaints about Edmunds a week ago after the Bears shut out the Green Bay Packers in five trips to the red zone, which was really the key to that remarkable comeback victory. The Bears’ red-zone defense was one thing that was solid about last year’s unit, and it has been good at times this season. Of course, the red zone was a disaster Sunday night, when the 49ers were 5-for-5 in the 42-38 loss.

Edmunds is one reason the Bears are solid in the red zone at times. When the field is compacted and passing windows are even tighter, he’s a difficult guy for quarterbacks to work around because of his size — 6-foot-4, 251 pounds — length and range. No one played well enough in the red zone against a high-powered San Francisco offense.

The mailbag included a number of questions about this topic this week after Jackson played only on special teams. The first thing everyone is missing is there isn’t a person inside Halas Hall who knows Jackson better than defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, who was the head coach in New Orleans in 2022 when the Saints drafted Jackson in the fifth round out of Appalachian State. Allen was the man in charge in New Orleans (until the second half of last season) when Jackson got a grand total of 73 snaps on defense over three years.

I don’t want to take anything away from what Jackson has done when called upon this season. He’s one of many reserves the Bears have turned to and gotten solid play from, earning NFC defensive player of the week honors after the win over the Cleveland Browns in which he had seven tackles, an interception and a sack. He had 15 tackles in the win over the Steelers last month.

If we’re going to acknowledge Allen as one of the better defensive coordinators in the league, he’s probably deserving of the benefit of the doubt here. Allen is on the practice field every day. He’s watching video of practice daily. He has a lot of autonomy when it comes to making personnel decisions on defense.

The Bears used more 4-3 personnel against San Francisco than they have in a while with Noah Sewell on the strong side. He got 13 snaps before suffering an Achilles injury midway through the third quarter. The defense remained in sub packages for the remainder of the game, but at that point the 49ers were doing most of their damage with the passing game.

Jackson could figure into 4-3 plans moving forward, as it’s likely Sewell will be out for the remainder of the season. But I don’t believe you will see him replacing Edmunds. Let’s not overlook that Edmunds was playing the best he has since joining the Bears earlier in the season, when he had four interceptions, nine pass breakups and three quarterback hits through the first 10 games.

Winning teams need players like Jackson who can fill in when called upon. He reminds me a little bit of Jamar Williams, a reserve linebacker the Bears had for four seasons beginning in 2006. Williams once had 18 tackles in a victory over the St. Louis Rams in 2009. He had some solid games for Lovie Smith’s defense, but he started only three games in those four seasons.

Besides an awful defensive showing, the loss Sunday was on Ben Johnson for not doing what he knows often works best — run the ball most of the time to keep Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey off the field so the Bears could dominate time of possession. Almost the entire game the Bears were winning or within one touchdown, and each time the 49ers scored they did it quickly. Please ask Ben why he only called 17 runs — averaging more than 5 yards — and 42 passes. — Howard E.

Bears running back Kyle Monangai runs for a first down as 49ers linebacker Dee Winters falls during the tackle in the fourth quarter Dec. 28, 2025, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

I think the answer is more layered than the final numbers would lead you to believe. Time of possession was warped in the first half, when the 49ers ran 47 offensive plays, an extremely high number for one half, and held the ball for 21 minutes, 56 seconds. The reason the numbers were so skewed is the Bears were 0-for-3 on third down in the half, and on their two scoring drives, they scored quickly — possessions that lasted 1:54 and 1:24.

The Bears had 12 pass attempts, one scramble (on a called pass play) and six handoffs in the first half.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at the exact numbers,” Johnson said Monday when asked about running the ball in the first half. “My guess is we probably had less than 20 plays. A handful of those would’ve been second-and-longs and third downs. And so if you take those out, we’re probably about 50-50 run to pass, which is probably what we typically average.”

Looking at the gamebook, the Bears ran twice on second-and-8 in the first half. They threw on a second-and-10 and a second-8 and threw three times on third down when they needed 3, 4 and 7 yards. Like I said, the bigger problem was they couldn’t convert third downs and that short-circuited drives.

The 49ers are sixth in the league in run defense, allowing 103.3 yards per game. They rank 26th versus the pass and are 32nd in sacks per pass attempt. The Bears took advantage of a defense susceptible to the pass. I’d also point out that in the second half, time of possession shifted. The Bears held the ball for 18:23.

I don’t think the run-pass distribution was a real factor in the defeat. Where there a few instances when, in retrospect, Johnson may have preferred a run? Sure. You get 64 snaps in a game and you always will want a few calls back. But the defense was a sieve and I can’t blame not running the ball enough for that problem. That’s a stretch.

How can the Bears improve their passing defense prior to the playoffs to create a deep run? Do you have faith Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen will be able to fix these issues? — @jamesmacklin15

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jauan Jennings scores a touchdown during the fourth quarter against the Bears on Dec. 28, 2025, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

The Bears have surrendered 880 yards over the last two games, and I think the focus has to begin with firming up the run defense. They allowed 392 rushing yards to the Packers and 49ers and consequently were back on their heels in both games. When the opponent can run with that kind of success, it gives the offensive coordinator a ton of options. Malik Willis completed 9 of 11 passes for 121 yards and was particular effective with play action because Green Bay was running the ball so well.

The Bears rank 28th in the league on first down, allowing 6.1 yards per play, and that’s suboptimal because second-and-manageable is an offensive play caller’s dream. The Bears are facing a host of issues on defense right now. They’re not new. They’ve been dealing with them all season, and the takeaways have helped mask some of them. The defense has produced six takeaways in the last four games, but three came in the victory over the lowly Browns.

“It always comes back to fundamentals, and so it’s gap integrity in terms of the run defense,” Johnson said Monday. “We were playing a really good offense. I do think that has to be stated because they were averaging about 35 points (34.4) over the last five weeks. So they’re hot.

“I didn’t feel like our offense did our part in the first half. We did not possess the ball. We had a couple three-and-outs, and you look at our defense and they got a pick-six, they got a couple punts and if we bow up in the red zone, I think we feel better about the performance.

“That’s not to take anything away from San Fran, they did a great job, but there are certainly things fundamentally that we can improve on we’re going to look to address this week.”

Some of the ongoing trouble spots — the run defense and pass rush — won’t be magically resolved at this time of year. Can the Bears play better on a week-to-week basis? Sure. They need to be better getting off blocks versus the run and be more sound in general. They need to win one-on-one matchups, when available, in passing situations.

The good news is the offense has been more consistent over the second half of the season, and the Bears have shown the ability to control a game with the running attack as quarterback Caleb Williams continues to improve while limiting turnovers.

Defensive success probably will come down to two key areas: continuing to produce takeaways and playing much better in the red zone (see the Green Bay game) than the Bears did last time out.

In the big picture, I don’t know anyone who said at the start of the season, “I wonder what this defense will look like at the end of the year.” The focus was where it should have been: on Williams and the development of the offense in Year 1 under Johnson. The Bears returned the majority of their defensive players from 2024. That unit looked like it had a chance to be maybe middle of the pack. I think that’s about where it is when you consider a broad spectrum of categories. We’ll see what it looks like Sunday. It will be a good test if the Lions come into the game motivated with some of their key players in action.

Why isn’t Tyrique Stevenson getting more playing time? He had some early season success, so much so that teams were going away from him. Jaylon Johnson has not been good and doesn’t even try to tackle. — @historyczar0

Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson shows off his oral jewelry before a game against the 49ers on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Johnson made a really nice play on the first snap Sunday when he read Jauan Jennings’ route and Brock Purdy’s eyes and broke up the pass, leading to T.J. Edwards’ interception return for a touchdown. Stevenson got into the game in the second half, playing 18 snaps when Johnson was rested. I asked Johnson about that after the game, and he emphatically declared that he’s 100% back from the injury that kept him on injured reserve much of the year.

Stevenson has been a little bit better this season. According to Pro Football Reference, opponents’ passer rating when targeting him is 86.3, a tick better than the 87.5 rating in 2024. Opponents have gone at Nahshon Wright with more regularity. He has produced some big plays with six interceptions but also has been the man in coverage on six touchdown passes as opposed to one for Stevenson. Wright took a poor angle on Christian McCaffrey’s 41-yard run.

There’s a decent chance we continue to see all three on the field Sunday and in the playoffs. They need to be better on the back end, but keep in mind pass defense is a combination of rush and coverage.

Understanding the Bears are down two DEs and have been without Kyler Gordon for most of the year, what position(s) are the biggest needs for free agency and the draft? — @mmesq11

That’s easy. A handful of positions will need to be addressed — and we have plenty of time to analyze that in the weeks and months to come — but they need a more consistent and formidable pass rush. That’s easy to identify as the No. 1 goal for the offseason.

While defensive end Montez Sweat has not been on the injury report of late, I suspect he’s dealing with something. No one has shared any information with me; it’s just a hunch I have. Sweat was on the field for 45 snaps (62.5%) at San Francisco and 49 (68.1%) the week before against Green Bay, and that’s below his typical rate. Generally he plays a little more than 75% of the snaps. Considering both games were very close, I’m of the mind that he’s dealing with some kind of ailment that has led the coaching staff to closely monitor his playing time.

The Bears are thin at defensive end right now unless Joe Tryon-Shoyinka can come out of concussion protocol this week. Austin Booker played 90% of the snaps against the 49ers, and Dominique Robinson (18 snaps) and Tryon-Shoyinka (16) rotated in.

Given that Ryan Poles completely rebuilt the interior O-line into a major force in a single offseason, is it feasible for him to do the same in 2026 on the defensive side? — Chris R., Midlothian

It will be a focus of the offseason. Let’s not ignore that the Bears made a pair of big moves on the defensive front, signing tackle Grady Jarrett and end Dayo Odeyingbo in free agency and committing pretty good money to them in three-year contracts that include guaranteed money in 2026. So I see them being part of the picture, and obviously the Bears will need more.

Not every move is a home run like the trades for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson and the signing of center Drew Dalman. But improving the defensive line will have to be job one for the Bears come March.

Other than money, what levers do teams pull to keep their coaching staffs from being raided? What are the options beyond dollars? And do coaching salaries have any cap/limits to them? — @crickhowell

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There are really no ways to prevent coaches from seeking career advancement. It will be a very good thing if other teams come to the Bears looking for rising stars in the coaching world in the next couple of years. That would be the result of a lot of winning. If the Bears are just getting started with Ben Johnson — and that’s surely what most everyone reading this is hoping for — then prepare for his staff to be raided in the future. Every team looking for a new head coach or to build out a staff will want a piece of Johnson.

Consider a partial list of coaches who once worked under Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams: Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur, Kevin O’Connell, Raheem Morris, Brandon Staley, Shane Steichen, Brian Callahan, Dave Canales and Zac Robinson. You know the primary reason the Rams have kept rolling along? McVay.

There’s no salary cap for coaching staffs and the Bears can try to sweeten deals to keep existing coaches. But how do you tell a coordinator, “Hey, it’s better to stay here than chase your dream of becoming a head coach?” Or how do you tell a position coach, “Why would you want to pursue a goal of becoming a coordinator when you have a job here?”

If the Bears continue to excel, the time will come when Johnson’s staff is poached. He did a terrific job in building the current staff, and one thing that stood out is he made smart hires with key coaches he never had worked with, such as defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, secondary coach Al Harris and offensive line coach Dan Roushar. If the idea of Johnson losing coaches to other teams really irks you, I’d suggest putting your faith in Johnson to make quality hires for their replacements.

This is one of the more irrational fears that folks have. If no one is coming to hire coaches away from a team, it means the team isn’t playing well and no one is impressed by the tape, which is ultimately each coach’s resume. If the Bears win and have coaching turnover and continue to win, guess what? Johnson will have a pool of strong candidates to consider when he’s looking to fill roles.

Winning coaches don’t just develop rosters. They aid in the development of coaches too.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/chicago-bears-mailbag-caleb-williams-4000-yards/ 

It’s once again time for the Chicago Bulls to employ one of the most crucial clichés in sports: Next man up.

The Bulls were forced to embrace that tenet over the last three months. Injuries defined this season before it even began. So when guards Coby White and Josh Giddey exited Monday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves with injuries and were ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans — joining center Zach Collins, who is out for at least a week with a sprained toe — a sense of frustrated familiarity hung over the locker room.

White is dealing with right calf tightness, while the Bulls said Tuesday that Giddey has a left hamstring strain. Forward Isaac Okoro described the injuries as a “shock” after Monday’s game but fell back on the same platitude: “At the end of the day, we’ve got to step up as a team.”

The Bulls pride themselves on depth. It’s one of the few consistent positives that coach Billy Donovan and the front office have cited throughout this 15-17 season. Despite the results, the Bulls see themselves as a deep squad with young talent that can be developed into a competitive future.

This belief is built on the foundational ethos that a great depth of moderate talent can outplay a team with smaller reserves of much greater skill. Executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas serves as the architect for this vision, which he unveiled at last season’s trade deadline — an idea that “nine to 10 very good players” could equate to “two to three star players surrounded by role players” in building a fundamentally sound team.

It’s an unproven hypothesis. The Bulls do play a lot of guys — mostly out of necessity to keep up the second-fastest pace of play in the league. When enough bodies are available, Donovan typically favors a 10- or 11-man rotation. Seven Bulls average double-digit scoring. On paper, this might convey confidence in the bench.

Chicago Bulls’ Coby White drives during the first half against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

But midway through the season, the team’s prized depth feels like more of an illusion than a reality.

The NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder offer the best example of legitimate depth in the league. Their only starter to average fewer than 10 points (Lu Dort) was an All-Defensive selection who finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2024-25. Three bench players average double-digit scoring. And the secondary rotation is flush with two-way players who can gobble up switches while producing efficient scoring.

The Bulls don’t need to compare themselves to the Thunder — after all, this is a rebuilding team attempting to become playoff competitive, not a reigning champion set on terrorizing its conference. But putting the league standard for the concept of depth side by side with the Bulls creates a stark contrast between true versatility and a cheap knockoff.

Despite the sermons they preach about depth and balance, the Bulls are desperately dependent on Giddey and White. Giddey supplies a third of the team’s assists. After cooling off from their 5-1 start to the season, the Bulls have won only one game without White on the court. The pair provided 28.2% of the team’s points over the last 10 games despite missing the bulk of Monday’s loss.

Most importantly, White and Giddey create two clear centers of gravity for the Bulls, the type of offensive presence that forces defenses to switch, trap and help — and in turn creates more opportunities for every other Bulls player. Without either player on the court, opponents can revert to their standard settings.

The Bulls hoped Matas Buzelis would elevate his game to create a third gravitational pull in the offense this season, but the second-year forward hasn’t made that leap yet. He still can’t — or won’t — take over a game, even when his star teammates are sidelined.

Chicago Bulls forward Matas Buzelis and Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey high-five during a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025, at the United Center in Chicago. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Tre Jones and Ayo Dosunmu are reliable guards. Jalen Smith and Collins have been dutiful backups in the frontcourt. Patrick Williams, Julian Phillips and Dalen Terry all fit the same limited mold — decently athletic players who are purely reactive, relying on others to create opportunities for them to convert.

But when the Bulls begin to lean heavily into their bench rotations, they suffer a sizable drop in creativity and playmaking. Players such as Williams aren’t elite enough defenders to offset their lack of offensive output. And while reserves such as Kevin Huerter and Dosunmu can pack a punch offensively, they’re not gifted enough creators to sustain the offense with the ball in their hands over the course of an entire game.

The conclusion is obvious — but painful nonetheless. Despite Karnišovas’ stated vision for the roster, the Bulls are still a team with two to three star players surrounded by role players. Their stars are relatively low-watt. Their role players aren’t impactful enough to make up the difference. This isn’t a new model for success. It’s just the original blueprint built with lower-grade materials.

The Bulls bench now enters another grueling stretch of attempting to survive absences. The last time this occurred, the Bulls suffered a seven-game skid. The injury report is shorter now — three players at most, rather than seven — than it was during that collapse. But Giddey’s left hamstring strain could sideline him for a few weeks.

Nevertheless, the role players will be stuck carrying a burden that’s too heavy until White and Giddey are back on the court.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/chicago-bulls-roster-depth-josh-giddey/ 

The doldrums of January can be tough, leaving us feeling trapped inside for weeks on end. That can be especially hard on anyone looking after an infant. A new sensory performance from Filament Theatre, called “RAIN: for babies and their carers,” provides a warm and inviting opportunity to leave the house, baby in tow.

It’s not quite a play. Nor an activity, exactly. “We refer to it as a performance installation because it walks that line between an art installation and a performance,” says director Ellie Levine. “It’s an interactive experience.”

Geared toward pre-walking babies — “from newborn through crawling, before they’re toddling around,” Levine says — the total experience takes place over 45 minutes to an hour.

“Families arrive at the theater and take some time in the lobby to get prepared. We have two performers and a cellist in the show, so the two performers are in the lobby, meeting people and getting to know everyone’s names and maybe acknowledging that it’s really hard to get places with a baby sometimes — like, ‘Good job for getting here, you’ve already done an amazing job.’ You want people to feel calm and present.

“Then we move through the first space, which allows the babies to adjust to some new lights and sounds, and also let the adults have a moment to leave the busy world behind them. There’s a big net overhead that has little soft strings hanging down from it, evoking rain. And then from there we move into the main space, which is where the cellist is, so we start to hear some beautiful cello music. There’s a big white rug and overhead there are pieces that hang down and look like raindrops. There is space for families to sit down on the rug as the performers move through the cycle of a rainstorm, and the performers are interacting with the babies and the elements of the installation while they’re doing that. And then afterwards, families are free to explore the space with their little one. The performers are still around, the cello is still playing. There are some mirrored puddles on the ground, for example, that babies love to look into, and other elements they can interact with.”

An image from the Australia production of “RAIN: for babies and their carers.” (Jacquie Manning)

The show’s origins:

The concept originated with a theater company in Australia and this is the first time the show is being done by a different company.

“The goal is for it to feel the same as the Australian version,” says Levine. Myself and a few of the other people with Filament went to Australia to meet everyone who made the show and see some performances of it. There are differences between an audience in the United States and Australia, so that’s part of our rehearsal and development process and seeing what might need to shift or change to make the show feel the same but executed in a slightly different way.”

U.S. audiences might enter the space with a different, more frazzled, frame of mind.

“Maternity leave works differently in Australia than it does in the United States, so we might be seeing families that have to go back to work a lot earlier, and then might be bringing different expectations with them into the space. A core part of this is the idea of giving people permission to take a breath and relax and enjoy this time with their little one, so it’s about finding ways to use the pre-show in the lobby space to put people at ease.”

Nothing kills a vibe faster than someone pulling out their phone, and Filament has anticipated this.

“We ask folks to declutter and leave most things in the lobby, including their phones. Or they can keep their phone in a pocket. But we encourage them to take this time to be with their baby, and we let them know that there will be a good time to take out their phone and take a photo at the end of the performance. When I was observing in Australia, everyone had their phones away until they were invited to bring them out.”

But, she acknowledges, not everyone may be able to resist the habit.

“If someone pulls their phone out, I’m going to approach it from a place of empathy. It’s probably because they need to check on something. People still have lives going on, maybe they have an older child who is with a sitter and they feel they need to check in on that. If you have to check your phone, no one’s going to be mad at that. But I think people are happy to do it. Like, oh, it will be really nice to put my phone away for 45 minutes and really be present for this.”

Sometimes people check their phones because, well, they’re bored. At a show designed for babies, will adults be engaged as well?

“Absolutely,” says Levine. “There’s something beautiful about not only watching the babies watch the performance, but watching the carers look at the reactions of their child.” No one is more entertaining than your own child! “And because it’s not a typical play, there’s a fourth wall. The performers are really engaging with the babies and the grownups and there’s nothing more lovely than watching your child have this kind of experience, but also having someone reflect that back to you and being like, ‘Wow, your child is amazing!’ — that feels wonderful.”

An image from the Australia production of “RAIN: for babies and their carers.” (Jacquie Manning)

One anxiety that comes with caring for babies in a public setting: What if they cry?

“Anything that your baby does during the performance is totally fine. That’s why we call it more of a performance installation rather than a play, because people have expectations about bringing children to the theater. But this experience was created for you and your baby. If your baby cries, that’s totally fine. Babies cry. If they need to feed, that’s OK. If they want to crawl all around the space, that’s totally fine. Anything they might do, this space is created for you.

“When we were in Australia observing, there was one performance where pretty close to the beginning a baby started crying, and you could see the parent immediately be like (sharp intake of breath) and this feeling of, they need to get up and leave: My baby can’t be crying in the theater. So they gathered up their baby and started leaving and the performers paused and said, ‘If you need to step out, that’s OK. It’s also totally fine to stay. It’s OK for your baby to be crying. It’s all right.’”

Yes, a crying baby can be distracting in the moment. But “RAIN” is about “allowing the carers to feel comfortable doing what they need to do. That carer knows their baby better than we do, so maybe they do need to step out for a minute. But perhaps the baby is just fussy and needs to be moved into a different position and the baby will stop crying.

“There’s nothing in the performance that’s more important than the babies and their carers having a nice, relaxing time.”

“RAIN: for babies and their carers” runs Jan. 6-18 at Filament Theatre, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave.; more information at filamenttheatre.org

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/theaters-newest-audience-babies/ 

The Brits Want The Poles To Contain Russia In The Baltic

Tyler Durden
Wed, 12/31/2025 – 06:30

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/brits-want-poles-contain-russia-baltic 

NEW ULM, Minnesota – Leaders in this southern Minnesota city, famous for its German heritage, have adopted a new philosophy to combat its housing crisis: saying “ja.”

Over the past few months, the City Council in this town of about 14,000 has approved a flurry of housing projects, including nearly two-dozen shed houses in an industrial area, more than a dozen 400-square-foot tiny homes and a 148-unit apartment complex that faced opposition from residents who said New Ulm is moving too fast on housing.

It’s a deliberate choice to hear out real estate developers proposing projects that could be seen as “out there” or experimental, said City Manager Chris Dalton.

It’s “not saying ‘no’ to an idea right off the bat, but looking at it, seeing if it’s a fit for our community, and then seeing how you can say ‘yes,’ ” Dalton explained.

Like many cities in greater Minnesota, New Ulm has a housing shortage, with a total vacancy rate that’s hovered below 1%, high property prices that freeze out most buyers and employers complaining that they’ve lost out on workers who can’t find a place to call home.

The shortage, in part, is due to high construction costs that led to developers giving up on building homes cheaper than $250,000, a 2022 report by Maxfield Research and Consulting found. New Ulm has a record-low supply of housing for sale, and there’s a chokepoint in the real estate ecosystem due to the city’s aging population staying in their family homes with few independent living options to downsize into.

New Ulm is one of many cities trying to fight persistent shortages by being more flexible with zoning and more accommodating to developers in recent years, said Ryan Allen, an urban and regional planning professor at the University of Minnesota.

“We’re starting to see the balance shift; they’re willing to be more experimental in the face of the lack of affordable housing,” Allen said. “Things have gotten critical enough in many contexts that I understand the instinct to throw a lot of things at the wall and see what sticks.”

One of New Ulm’s experiments is planned directly behind the Walmart on the west side of town.

On a recent fall day, Tony Gulden, a local developer, looked out at the dirt behind the big box store. To his left, trucks laden with retail goods glided into loading docks. Above him, a single-engine airplane droned as it approached the city’s airport nearby. All around, a relentless wind tore across the prairie.

His eyes were on the patch of dirt before him, which he hopes will become a community of 22 residential “barndominiums.”

These would be metal-sided structures, the type often used for storing RVs or tractors, but with the option to include living quarters. In his vision, a retiree would park their Winnebago in the shed after a summer’s worth of traveling and then spend the winter in an apartment built into the back.

“The people that are looking for this type of housing are looking to simplify their life,” Gulden said, adding he got the idea from a similar project in Crosslake, north of Brainerd.

In order to approve the project, which would have people living in an industrial zone, the city agreed to it being zoned as a Planned Unit Development.

Roughly half of New Ulm’s housing projects this year rely on the approval of Planned Unit Developments, a legal instrument used to make things easier for developers, which sometimes attracts controversy.

At a June meeting, Council President Andrea Boettger said she had reservations about the shed house project shortly before voting for approval. “I don’t love it,” Boettger said. “But I’m not afraid to try it.”

Anyone wanting to live in the shed houses needs to join a homeowners association, and they would have to agree that they are aware that they would be moving into a noisy industrial area, with neighboring plots that could be developed into a trucking or a steel yard.

“Everyone’s being given, you know, fair warning,” Gulden said. “The city just does not want to be responsible for any type of noise or pollution calls.”

The grading for a road through the barndominium complex began this fall, with bulldozers scraping the earth. Gulden says he has eight people interested in the properties. One has committed to buy. A model shed house will be built in the spring.

Not everyone in New Ulm shares a willingness to say yes so easily.

Some residents voiced their opposition to a conventional 148-unit apartment complex on land zoned agricultural.

Opponents, many of whom live in single-family homes next to the proposed development, argued via letters, emails and phone calls that the city was moving too fast. “Changing our 20-year plan in less than a year without proper due diligence is hard to reconcile,” one letter said.

Resident Paulo Pagliari said he supports housing but feels New Ulm is favoring developers over residents — many of whom, he contends, could see their property values decrease due to increased noise and traffic.

“They want to be recognized as the city council that built all this infrastructure, no matter how many people will need to move out of the city” because of it, said Pagliari, who works for the University of Minnesota Extension in Lamberton and moved to New Ulm 14 years ago.

The mayor and council approved the apartment complex unanimously, arguing the project was necessary for the town’s survival.

Another of New Ulm’s experiments is a village of tiny homes, a project approved over the summer that would build 15 units, each 20 feet wide, 20 feet deep and 20 feet tall.

The tiny homes would be market-rate rentals aimed at attracting traveling nurses, engineers and other temporary workers, said Steve Brown, who leads the New Ulm Business Resource Innovation Center, the nonprofit in charge of the project.

There have been other tiny home projects in Minnesota, with one high-profile case that didn’t fare well. A project in Duluth became a social media punching bag after the house, listed at nearly $200,000, sat empty for about a year until it was taken off the market and its developer went into default and then dissolved.

The plan in New Ulm is to build two model homes out of the 15 needed to be financially feasible, and gauge interest before building the rest, Brown said.

“I don’t see it as a gimmick at all,” he said. “I wanted to build a couple, and let people see it.”

Other municipalities are already keeping an eye on the city, which has approved seven housing projects this year.

“A project like what New Ulm has is going to be something that I think a lot of cities across the state will be watching, to see if it really does work,” said Bradley Peterson, a lobbyist for the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities.

The willingness to try different types of housing can be uncomfortable, New Ulm officials acknowledge. “You have to be willing to take these risks to see if they work or not,” said Dalton, New Ulm’s manager, who added that when he moved to the city in 2018, he struggled to find housing.

“It’s obvious that single-family dwellings are not going to be built at a capacity to keep up with population,” Dalton said. “We have to consider other options.”

Dalton said he knows people think that projects such as the shed houses and tiny homes can seem like a gimmick.

“The evaluation will be if the projects get built,” Dalton said. “Once they get developed, and if the community accepts them, that opens the door to the next ones.“

A shed house project in New Ulm plans to create residential units in an industrial zone behind a Walmart. (Jp Lawrence/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/minnesota-housing/ 

Editor’s note: We asked readers to submit what their hopes are for the new year. Here is a selection of those letters. We will publish the remainder on Thursday and Friday.

The possibility of repair

I have optimistic hopes for the new year, and personally, I think I am due for a better year in 2026; the past five years, basically since COVID-19, have been dreadful.

My personal hopes include beginning to repair family relationships and friendships. To make music that is worthy of making money, both performances and compositions. To spend my remaining time with activities of wholesome goodness. Also with this, talking about better things than some of the garbage that’s out there.

For our world, I hope for sustained peace deals. I hope for a healthier political climate. I hope for better general behaviors. I hope for improved conditions for our inner cities. I hope to end the hatred out there with love and charity. And generally, serious movements to really end violence. And frankly, for people to cheer up. I would also hope these ideas are more than just nice wishes, but something that we all can really begin. If not now, when?

Still, finally, I hope things are laid out for not just things becoming nicer, but some really amazing things, e.g., space exploration, cures for cancer and, with me as a musician, global melting pot super-orchestras!

— Benjamin Amenta, Flossmoor

Remember we can heal

It is my hope that 2026 will bring hope. Not just for me and the ones I love, but for all of us who hope for something greater than our individual achievements. We live in a time when social media platforms too often magnify division instead of connection, when artificial intelligence replaces human thought and relationships, and when politics aim to push humanity toward a type of aggression most of us have never experienced in our lifetimes. As I look ahead to the new year, it’s often hard to feel hopeful when it feels as if we are standing on the brink of self-destruction.

Yet my hope is that, even in this fractured society, we remember we can heal. We can refocus on our collective responsibility to one another, choose empathy, choose thoughtfulness and embrace each other with warmth over all the forces that try to reduce us to rubble.

— Dana Turner, Chicago

Embrace humanness

The new year may be the time to stop and take stock of what is really important. We are all born human, but being human is a risk. Are we capable of being human in the new year? We are human, and it starts inside of us all.

When we accept our human side, we accept loving ourselves, and then we love others. May the new year help us learn to be human.

— Sandra Perryman, Oakbrook Terrace

Rediscover commonality

I wish for long-ago dreams to come to fruition, hopes for the world, hopes for our land, hopes for continued health to pursue the never-ending desire to create and connect.

Hopes for family: The primal need to protect and love the ones dearest to us, to dream with and for them, to keep giving them safe haven, and to pray the following year will be one of growth and joy.

Hopes for citizens: May caring voices prevail; may we bring back compassion and concern for others ahead of self-interest. May we look around and understand we are a part of one shared planet, of which we are all stewards.

Hopes for faith: May we rediscover the commonality of people all around us and make friends, not enemies, by acting on our own best instincts.

— Joanne Hoffman, Highland Park

My hope versus reality

My hope for the new year is a return to civility and for a nation where people can discuss opposing viewpoints without angry rhetoric and repeated lies, one that accepts all people regardless of race, religion, sexuality or income. But my hope for 2026 is the same hope people have had for centuries that is still unfulfilled today. So although I continue to be hopeful, I am unfortunately realistic enough to realize that in 2026 or in the years I have left on this earth, my hopes will remain hopes and not reality.

How sad that we continue to hate, to demonize and to be willing to go to war than make the effort to achieve acceptance and understanding. And since that hate continues and we don’t address mental health and gun control, nothing will be solved.

— Joy Orlowsky, Northbrook

Seeing the bigger picture

Before I even noticed the editor’s appeal for letters expressing readers’ hopes for the new year, I had planned to send in a response to Jodi Bondi Norgaard’s compelling piece “When silence becomes a green light for normalizing cruelty” (Dec. 21). It has now occurred to me that my hopes for 2026 tie in perfectly with Norgaard’s message.

Basically, I pray that Americans heed the author’s dire warning. That silence in the face of hateful speech — especially that of our leaders — coupled with inaction in response to the terrible cruelty we are witnessing daily from our government, most evident in the treatment of immigrants, the LGBTQ community, the disabled and others, is fast-changing our American culture for the worse. It is more than alarming to see people’s tolerance grow for objectionable speech, behavior that causes harm and egregious government policy that in the past would have stirred widespread protest and/or outrage.

True, via the “No Kings” rallies, millions did make an effort to stand up to injustice and the slide toward fascism. But the awareness of the crisis is not as widespread as it needs to be.

Many of us are so wrapped up in the challenges of managing our daily lives that we fail to see the bigger picture — the serious threat represented by a culture at risk of moral disintegration. A civil society that is no longer “civil” in its interactions. A system of government being dismantled at breakneck pace as the people in power thumb their noses at constitutional constraints. Officials and legislators afraid to voice opposition, unwilling to sacrifice their own political careers to do the right thing.

Above all, a leader driven exclusively by his own narcissism, an unquenchable quest for power and an overriding sense of grievance, with no regard for “the public good.”

Even regular citizens like me may understandably hesitate to stick our necks out.

Too often, we are so overcome by the barrage of negative events that we think it necessary, for our own sanity, to tune out. Norgaard cautions us, however, that the consequences of such “silence” will be dire. We must gird ourselves to jump back into the fray. If not, we will wake up one day and realize we are at the point of no return, that our society is no longer recognizable as the America we knew and cherished — and it will be too late to get it back.

— Janet Garcia, Highland Park

May organizations survive

My hope for the new year is that places such as Misericordia, the Ray Graham Association and the Bethshan Association can manage to stay financially solvent in 2026. They provide much needed services for people with profound physical and developmental disabilities.

With so many cuts from the federal government, it will be a challenging task! These institutions deserve all the support we can give them.

Happy New Year!

— Genie Urick, Elmhurst

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/31/letters-123125-hopes-new-year/