Category: News
Calumet City aldermen hire their own legal counsel, Mayor Thaddeus Jones plans veto
Amid rising tensions with Mayor Thaddeus Jones, Calumet City aldermen brought their own legal counsel to represent them during Monday’s City Council meeting.
The council voted 6-0 Thursday to hire Odelson, Murphey, Frazier and McGrath as its legislative counsel. Ald. DeAndre Tillman voted present, as he works for the firm.
Attorney Burt Odelson represented aldermen Monday, when Jones intended to veto the aldermen’s hiring of the firm, according to the meeting’s agenda. The mayor ultimately decided to table the veto until the Jan. 22 meeting.
“The reason we were brought back is because of a lack of information coming from the mayor’s office to the aldermen,” Odelson said. “And they needed someone who were municipal lawyers who wouldn’t back down and would get to the bottom of their questions, really, and do the work.”
Aldermen raised concerns about Jones’ recent spending via a municipal credit card that came to a head when they found the mayor spent $44,000 in September, much of which was during the Congressional Black Caucus’ 54th annual legislative conference in Washington.
They voted to lower the credit card limit from $50,000 to $5,000 but continued to report difficulties receiving financial information from city staff. Jones, who is also a state representative, is under federal investigation for tax issues involving his campaign funds, the Tribune has reported, with the mayor and state representative paying tens of thousands of dollars in the first quarter of this year to a law firm that specializes in criminal defense.
Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones presides over a City Council meeting Nov. 9, 2023. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Second Ward Ald. Monet Wilson, who has spearheaded calls for transparency, said she and other aldermen had repeatedly asked for legal representation from village attorneys Ancel Glink, a Chicago firm, to no avail.
Among Wilson’s concerns were lack of implementation of actions taken by the City Council and unclear information being provided by city attorneys.
She said she was at first hesitant to hire Odelson, Murphey, Frazier and McGrath, who represented Dolton trustees in opposition of the village’s former mayor, Tiffany Henyard. The firm also represents Thornton Township Supervisor Napoleon Harris’ administration.
“We didn’t want to be tied to the sensationalism that was Dolton,” Wilson said.
The council eventually landed on the firm based in Evergreen Park due to its experience working for the city, Wilson said. Odelson, Murphey, Frazier and McGrath was Calumet City’s attorneys before Jones was first elected mayor in 2021. Jones was reelected in April.
“We were able to come together and agree that for the best interests of our residents, (Odelson) would be best,” Wilson said. “We are not Dolton, we are not Thornton Township, and we have an educated legislative body that tend to put the people of Calumet City first.”
Jones said Tuesday that he welcomes efforts to bring more transparency to the city’s government, but hiring Odelson, Murphey, Frazier and McGrath creates a conflict of interest due to Ald. Tillman’s employment there.
“It may have been unanimous, but it was illegal,” he said about the council’s vote to hire the firm.
Attorney Burt Odelson at an Oak Lawn High School District 229 Board meeting in January 2022. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Jones said he will veto the firm’s appointment to serve as aldermen’s legislative counsel as part of a larger challenge to the legality of the firm working for the city. The mayor also called Odelson personally for his previous work with his predecessor and other south suburban communities.
“It’s time somebody called him for the slave master that he is,” Jones said. “He needs to stop brutalizing these Black communities — coming in and getting the legal services. In this case, he knows that he’s not supposed to be the attorneys in Calumet City.”
Odelson said beginning work for the Calumet City aldermen felt like “going back home,” and he is excited to help them understand the city’s finances. He said rather than going through city staff, he will request information directly from Ancel Glink attorneys.
“Let them tell me ‘no, you can’t have it,’” Odelson said. “They won’t do that, they know what the consequences are there.”
Still, Odelson said his goal isn’t “to get anybody,” but to get questions answered.
“My job is to find out where everything is, do some of the work and report to the City Council,” he said.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/calumet-city-aldermen-legal-counsel/
Supreme Court deals Trump a defeat on bid to deploy National Guard in Illinois
The conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request from President Donald Trump’s administration to allow the Republican president to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois while a lower court’s restraining order is appealed.
The high court’s order represents a victory so far for Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democratic governors in their escalating battle with Trump over his authority to go against their wishes and use federalized troops on U.S. soil.
While considering a motion to stay a lower court’s order blocking the deployment, the Supreme Court asked the Trump administration and the state of Illinois to submit supplemental briefs regarding a provision in federal law that Trump says allows him to dispatch National Guard troops in cases where there is an invasion, a rebellion or a time when the president “is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the order Tuesday said. “Thus, at least in this posture, the Government has not carried its burden to show that (the law) permits the President to federalize the Guard in the exercise of inherent authority to protect federal personnel and property in Illinois.”
The key issue the high court sought briefings on was whether the term “regular forces” means “the regular forces of the United States military,” and if so, how that fits into existing law involving the president’s power to order up the National Guard.
In the temporary order denying the stay on Tuesday, the justices did not find merit to the Trump administration’s argument that “regular forces” refers to civilian law enforcement such as immigration agents.
“We conclude that the term “regular forces”… likely refers to the regular forces of the United States military,” the order said. “This interpretation means that to call the Guard into active federal service … the President must be ‘unable’ with the regular military ‘to execute the laws of the United States.’ Because the statute requires an assessment of the military’s ability to execute the laws, it likely applies only where the military could legally execute the laws.”
Three of the conservative justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, logged dissents, with Thomas and Alito writing that the court “has unnecessarily and unwisely departed from standard practice.”
Unlike a recent appellate ruling allowing troops to be deployed in Oregon, the Supreme Court in this case went against the president’s wishes, keeping a restraining order in place that currently has no termination date.
Right now, 300 Illinois National Guard troops remain under Trump’s control over Pritzker’s objections until April 15 to support the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement efforts under Operation Midway Blitz, even though the Guard members have carried out no significant operational missions and have spent most of their time stationed at a northern Illinois base.
But with Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling, it remains to be seen how much longer those troops will truly remain under the president’s purview.
U.S. District Judge April Perry’s temporary restraining order barring National Guard troop deployment in the Chicago area and elsewhere in Illinois was issued Oct. 9 and was later extended indefinitely pending a hearing on a more permanent injunction.
But in granting the stay, the Supreme Court had effectively given Trump the green light to send in National Guard troops while the case is playing out, which could take several months or more.
In its filing asking the Supreme Court to issue a stay on Perry’s order, the Trump administration called it part of a “disturbing and recurring pattern” that “improperly impinges on the President’s authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property.”
It asked that President Donald Trump be allowed to deploy some 700 troops in Illinois — 300 from the Illinois National Guard and another 400 federalized out of Texas earlier this month.
In the 46-page response, the state said it would be inappropriate for the high court to get involved at this stage in the proceedings, where a district court’s decision has yet to be decided on appeal.
The filing also said lawyers for Trump offered “no meaningful response” to the factual basis for Perry’s restraining order, adding that declarations submitted by a series of immigration officials outlining purported violence against agents and out-of-control protests simply did not hold water.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/supreme-court-trump-national-guard-illinois/
Piratas firman al primera base All-Star Ryan O’Hearn por dos años, según fuente de AP
Por WILL GRAVES
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Los Piratas de Pittsburgh dieron otro paso hacia ser contendientes en 2026, al llegar a un acuerdo con el primera base/jardinero All-Star Ryan O’Hearn en un contrato de dos años diseñado para darle un impulso a una de las peores ofensivas de las Grandes Ligas.
Una persona con conocimiento del acuerdo informó a The Associated Press que el martes el contrato tiene un valor de 29 millones de dólares. La persona habló con AP bajo condición de anonimato porque aún no era oficial.
La firma de O’Hearn es el primer contrato de agente libre de varios años que los Piratas han concretado desde 2016. El zurdo O’Hearn viene de la mejor temporada de su carrera en las Grandes Ligas. Bateó para .281 con 17 jonrones y 63 carreras impulsadas en 2025 y fue seleccionado al equipo All-Star por primera vez mientras jugaba para Kansas City y San Diego.
El raro derroche de los Piratas es su segunda adquisición significativa en menos de una semana. Pittsburgh adquirió al segunda base dos veces All-Star Brandon Lowe de Tampa Bay el 19 de diciembre como parte de un acuerdo de tres equipos que incluyó enviar al lanzador abridor Mike Burrows a Houston.
Pittsburgh ha prometido construir alrededor de un cuerpo de lanzadores que incluye al actual ganador del Premio Cy Young de la Liga Nacional, Paul Skenes, y al novato Bubba Chandler. Los Piratas vienen de una temporada de 71-91 en la que la ofensiva terminó en o cerca del fondo de las Grandes Ligas en la mayoría de las categorías estadísticas significativas, incluyendo carreras y jonrones.
O’Hearn le da a Pittsburgh un poco de versatilidad. Ha jugado tanto en la primera base como en una posición de jardín. Los Piratas tienen al bateador zurdo Spencer Horwitz en la primera base, aunque O’Hearn podría ver tiempo allí y quizás en el jardín para jugar junto a Oneil Cruz y el dos veces All-Star Bryan Reynolds.
O’Hearn tiene un promedio de bateo de .252 en su carrera, aunque sus números han aumentado en las últimas tres temporadas. Está bateando para .277 con 46 jonrones y 182 carreras impulsadas desde el inicio de 2023 y ahora se encuentra jugando la mitad de sus partidos en un estadio donde la pared Clemente de 21 pies de altura comienza a solo 320 pies del plato.
___
Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
“Winter Isn’t Over”: NatGas Soars As Another Cold Blast Targets US East
“Winter Isn’t Over”: NatGas Soars As Another Cold Blast Targets US East
U.S. natural gas futures surged the most since late October as one energy trader warned that “winter isn’t over,” with another wave of cold air set to spill into the eastern half of the Lower 48 early next week. The upcoming cold blast arrives even as much of the U.S. enjoys a brief warm-up following an early-month polar vortex that plunged large parts of the U.S. East into Arctic-like conditions.
“Winter isn’t over yet. Here are forecast anomalies for this time next week showing a large area of unseasonably chilly temperatures across the major population centers of the Eastern US,” energy trader Celsius Energy wrote on X.
Winter isn’t over yet. Here are forecast anomalies for this time next week showing a large area of unseasonably chilly temperatures across the major population centers of the Eastern US. #Natgas pic.twitter.com/U1N63JU7tE
— Celsius Energy (@CelsiusEnergyFM) December 23, 2025
Celsius Energy noted, “Near-term #natgas demand will be quite volatile with very bearish daily storage withdrawals under +5 BCF/d through this weekend surging to nearly -30 BCF/d by this time next week, more than double the 5-yr avg. In general, these projections have improved considerably.”
Near-term #natgas demand will be quite volatile with very bearish daily storage withdrawals under +5 BCF/d through this weekend surging to nearly -30 BCF/d by this time next week, more than double the 5-yr avg. In general, these projections have improved considerably. pic.twitter.com/lHZQOr5Wxb
— Celsius Energy (@CelsiusEnergyFM) December 23, 2025
By late afternoon Tuesday, NatGas futures are up nearly 10%, the largest intraday jump since October 30’s 17% price spike. Prices are trading around $4.365 per MMBtu.
Looking at Heating Degree Days for the Lower 48 – the weather-based measure of US heating demand -the index is projected to surge well above the 30-year average early next week and remain elevated through year-end.
Cold is returning to the eastern half of the Lower 48. Time to stack the firewood and get the gas-powered snowblower ready.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/23/2025 – 15:45
https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/winter-isnt-over-natgas-soars-another-cold-blast-targets-us-east
Early morning practices swell choir at Glenwood’s Longwood elementary
Skylar Jamison, 9, said she felt embarrassed and nervous at first to be performing in front of so many people at the Longwood Elementary School holiday show, as it was her first year in choir and her first time performing.
But by the time the show ended at the Glenwood school, she said she felt happy. She also said her friends, who convinced her to join choir, were not nervous for the performance but were “just having fun.”
Jamison is one of more than a dozen students who showed up for choir practice at 7 a.m., long before the school bell rang. Her mom, Edrinna Jamison, said those early practices allowed her to drop off Skylar early at school before work, while also giving Skylar an outlet to explore her own personality.
Those early morning singers were joined by more than 80 other students, from kindergarten to fourth grade, who danced and sang in Longwood’s highest attended annual holiday show Dec. 17.
Principal Carnisha Mayze credited this year’s high attendance to the school’s ability to include more students in the performance by offering more accommodating practice times.
She said the morning practice allowed students to still participate in after-school activities and also try out choir for the first time.
Longwood Elementary students dance and sing to holiday songs at their holiday concert Dec. 17. The Glenwood school is a part of Brookwood Elementary District 167. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
Mayze also said it’s important for young students to explore music because the practices teach students to focus and have discipline. Music activities also give students another way to make friends, and she said she hopes music could lead to scholarships or other opportunities down the road.
Edrinna Jamison said choir practice also brought out a lot of character, pizazz, confidence and spunk in Skylar.
“I’m just trying to give her more personality and see what she likes,” Jamison said. “She’s coming into her own individuality.”
Skylar Jamison, 9, sings with other Longwood Elementary students at the school’s holiday concert Dec. 17. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
Mayze said the event’s high attendance meant a lot because it emphasized her partnership with the families.
“I believe in that old saying, ‘it takes a village,’ and when children see that we have a good relationship with their families, they want to be here,” Mayze said. “You can’t teach a child if you have not reached them.”
Mayze opened up the school gym, library and cafeteria at the holiday event for a rotation of activities for families, such as photos with Santa, frame and ornament crafts, hot cocoa, winter snacks and raffle prizes.
The students could also write texts to an elf and receive responses in real time. Parents had the opportunity to win gift cards in a raffle.
“I always try to have some type of raffle for parents at events, I mean, that’s the least I can do, and I appreciate them bringing their kids here, especially with all the demands they have,” Mayze said.
Longwood Elementary School Principal Carnisha Mayze welcomes families and introduces the students performing in the school’s holiday show. (Addison Wright/Daily Southtown)
Mayze said these activities gave the parents more time to gather at the school, especially when a lot of families can not come during the day due to work demands.
She said taking time to make these memories with the students builds the school’s relationships with the families, which she said improves student attendance, comradery and learning because it builds trust.
Mayze said that when students know staff are on a first-name basis with their parents, it makes them more comfortable being in school.
“The parents support me, and they know that I’m going to treat their children like my own, and that just makes me feel like I’m doing something right,” Mayze said.
Mayze said the staff is already thinking about how they can do something new with the event next year.
awright@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/holiday-choir-concert-glenwood-longwood-elementary/
El posible último partido de Travis Kelce con los Chiefs: un emotivo duelo navideño
Por DAVE SKRETTA
KANSAS CITY, Misuri, EE.UU. (AP) — Travis Kelce ha jugado 96 partidos de temporada regular en casa para los Chiefs de Kansas City.
El próximo podría ser el último.
Kelce, de 36 años, quien fue elegido para el Pro Bowl por undécima vez el martes, estará dentro del Arrowhead Stadium el jueves por la noche para un enfrentamiento navideño con los Broncos de Denver .
Y con los Chiefs eliminados de la contienda por los playoffs por primera vez en una década, y un viaje a Las Vegas para su final, podría ser la última vez que Kelce salga de su amado campo.
“Lo que Travis ha hecho por esta organización, por sus compañeros de equipo, sus entrenadores, esta ciudad, es especial. Espero con todo mi corazón que eso no sea cierto. Simplemente tengo mucho respeto por él”, señaló Matt Nagy, coordinador ofensivo de los Chiefs.
Kelce aún no ha anunciado si se retirará después de una carrera superlativa de 13 años en la que ganó tres anillos de Super Bowl y fue All-Pro en cuatro ocasiones. Pero ha dicho que su decisión se tomará rápidamente después de que termine la temporada, dando a los Chiefs tiempo suficiente para prepararse no solo para la agencia libre y el draft, sino para su futuro sin él.
“Prefiero mantener el enfoque en este equipo ahora mismo y todas las conversaciones que tenga con el equipo y todo lo que venga serán con ellos. Y creo que es un momento único en mi vida, y desafortunadamente sé cuándo terminará la temporada este año. Normalmente entramos en ella y no sabemos cuándo terminará”, dijo Kelce la semana pasada.
Ha tenido una temporada final increíble, si resulta ser el caso.
Después de redoblar esfuerzos en su condición física tras la derrota de los Chiefs ante los Eagles en el Super Bowl el pasado febrero, Kelce ha jugado en todos los partidos durante una temporada difícil para el equipo. Tiene 68 recepciones para 803 yardas, lo que le permite unirse a Jerry Rice como los únicos jugadores en la historia de la NFL en superar la marca de 800 yardas de recepción en 12 temporadas consecutivas.
Kelce también tiene cinco recepciones de touchdown, igualando la mayor cantidad que ha tenido en las últimas tres temporadas.
Y aunque Kelce podría haber dejado de jugar después de que los Chiefs fueran eliminados de la contienda de postemporada por primera vez desde su primera temporada completa en la NFL, ha continuado saliendo al campo todos los días. Tuvo una sola recepción para seis yardas en la derrota de la semana pasada por 26-9 ante los Titans, pero extendió su racha, la más larga activa en la liga, a 189 juegos con al menos una recepción.
No ayudó que el quarterback suplente Gardner Minshew se uniera al buen amigo de Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, al desgarrarse los ligamentos de la rodilla una semana después del dos veces MVP. Chris Oladokun terminó el juego como QB y comenzará el jueves por la noche contra Denver.
“Diré esto: Lo que (Kelce) está pasando incluso en estos últimos partidos — estamos fuera de los playoffs, estamos fuera, y él está ahí todos los días, practicando, liderando, ayudando a la gente. Eso debería mostrar a muchos de estos chicos más jóvenes por qué está jugando este juego, y por qué es tan especial”, señaló Nagy.
___
Deportes en español AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Obesity Economics: How Subsidies Distort The American Diet
Obesity Economics: How Subsidies Distort The American Diet
Authored by Laura Williams via TheDailyEconomy.org,
“Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Let me introduce you to Sam. Sam has obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. His diet consists mostly of refined grains and trans fats. He’s got cabinets full of dirt-cheap junk food and sky-high healthcare costs to address its effects. He takes home $27,000 a year, but spends $36,000. He’s in debt up to his jaundiced eyeballs, and he wants his niece to foot the bill for weight-loss medication.
As a real-life niece of my Uncle Sam, I’m concerned about his diet. Some 56.2 percent of the daily calories consumed by US adults come from federally subsidized food commodities: corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, sorghum, dairy, and livestock. While these calorie-dense foods once made sense for a government preparing for famine or total war, in recent decades they’ve instead helped make us fatter and sicker.
Obesity is a top driver of healthcare costs. One study compared the health of people who eat mostly foods the federal government subsidizes to those who eat fewer. Those who follow the revealed preferences of what the government subsidizes (rather than the diet it consciously recommends) are almost 40 percent more likely to be obese and face significant diet-related health issues. Those with the highest consumption of federally subsidized foods also have significantly higher rates of belly fat, abnormal cholesterol, high levels of blood sugar, and more markers of chronic inflammation. All these are increasing contributors to the most common causes of death in the developed world.
The negative impact of subsidized crop consumption on health — while it can’t be called causal — persists even after controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic factors. But life does not control for those factors.
The Great Grain Giveaway
The federal government recommends one diet to Americans, and subsidizes another. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans from the USDA and HHS promote eating fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein, and moderate dairy, while limiting saturated fats, sugars, salt, and refined grains. According to data compiled for Meatonomics, American agribusiness receives about $38 billion annually in federal funding, with only 0.4 percent ($17 million) going to fruits and vegetables. Just three percent of cropland is devoted to fruits and vegetables, despite USDA guidelines’ insistence that they should cover half of your dinner plate. Just 10 percent of Americans consume the recommended amount of fresh produce, and the poor consume the least. (Fruit and vegetable producers’ exclusion from the federal direct payments program provides a valuable example of a food industry thriving without significant subsidies. They do, however, rely heavily on migrant labor to lower costs.)
Instead, the US spends tens of billions annually to subsidize seven major commodities. The three largest farm subsidy programs contribute 70 percent of funds to producers of just three crops — corn, soybeans, and wheat. Approximately 30-40 percent of US corn, over half of soybeans, and nearly all sorghum feed livestock, heavily discounting high-fat, lower-nutrition meat and dairy (especially compared to grass-fed options). The prevalence of grain-fed livestock generates demand for commodities used to feed them, completing the circle.
Subsidies also contribute to our consumption of refined grains, sugary drinks, and processed foods. About five percent of corn becomes artificially cheap high-fructose corn syrup (which allows it to compete with tariffed natural sugars), and half of soybeans are processed into oils, which also contribute to obesity.
My Uncle Sam is sick because he eats the food the government makes artificially more affordable. Those foods are poorer in quality and more harmful to health than their unsubsidized alternatives. We are paying to make ourselves sicker.
Diet-Related Health Issues Fuel Healthcare Costs
For more than 20 years, the FDA has known that trans fats and refined grains harm health, damage metabolism, and cause disease. Diet-related illnesses like obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure are increasing, while heart disease remains the leading cause of death. These epidemics are intertwined at the artery level, and both contribute hugely to rising US health care costs.
In an economic order awash with subsidies and regulation, agricultural policy is health policy. Government subsidies for agricultural products have shaped the current American nutritional environment, and they are exacerbating obesity trends.
An article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine confirms: “Current agricultural policy remains largely uninformed by public health discourse.”
Johns Hopkins physician (and current Commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration) Marty Makary called out the disconnect clearly. “Half of all federal spending is going to health care in its many hidden forms,” he told an interviewer in October, but Americans continue “getting sicker and sicker… Chronic diseases are on the rise. Cancers are on the rise. And we have the most medicated generation in human history.”
We’re getting more medicated every day — and more of it is at taxpayer expense.
A Better Answer Than Ozempic?
Government spending on healthcare now exceeds the entire discretionary budget. Excess weight is a significant risk for older Americans, who are also the most likely to both have high healthcare costs and to rely on government health care. Forty percent of Americans over 60 are classified as having obesity, which is a contributing or complicating factor in diseases that kill older Americans: cancers, heart disease, infection, stroke, and cirrhosis.
Late last year, the Food and Drug Administration approved the weight-loss drug Wegovy as a treatment for people at risk of heart attack or stroke. Medicare is forbidden by statute from covering prescription drugs for weight loss alone, but in 2021 regulators approved Wegovy for reducing weight-related risks in patients with diabetes. Medicare Part D plans spent $2.6 billion last year on related compound Ozempic to keep 500,000 patients with diabetes stable. Wegovy’s list price is around $1,300 per month, but that’s still small compared to the $1.4 trillion Americans spend on direct and indirect costs from obesity.
It has a certain economic logic. Instead of waiting for a patient to develop a cascade of expensive comorbidities like heart failure or diabetes, we could consider asking Medicare to pay for anti-obesity meds on the front end. That wouldn’t work as well as lifestyle changes, but all our health and activity messaging over the past several years doesn’t seem to have moved that needle, and significant evidence suggests our efforts are counterproductive.
The Tangled Web of Farm Subsidies
To understand the insanity of American agricultural and health policy, it’s hard to do better than comedian-illusionists Penn & Teller, who in characteristically salty style explained it this way 15 years ago:
High fructose corn syrup is a dirt-cheap way to add sweetener and extend shelf life. And why is it so cheap? Because we subsidize corn farmers! Our government gives about 10 billion of our tax dollars to corn farmers every year so they can produce more corn than we need. They then sell the corn at artificially low prices. They spend our money to make corn syrup cheap, and now the same government that uses our tax money to keep soft drinks cheap wants more of our tax money to make soft drinks more expensive. Does anyone else think this is incredibly f—d up?
Yes, Penn. We do. And since that clip aired, obesity rates have worsened 50 percent, and rose 78 percent in children. Medical spending on the consequences of obesity doubled. Over the same period, subsidies to corn growers (which includes disaster aid and insurance) have tripled.
Rather than cut back on his terrible diet, Uncle Sam wants us to pony up for weight loss drugs — to undo what our food policy has done.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/23/2025 – 15:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/obesity-economics-how-subsidies-distort-american-diet
Primer ministro libio confirma muerte del jefe militar del país y otras cuatro personas en caída de avión en Turquía
EL CAIRO (AP) — Primer ministro libio confirma muerte del jefe militar del país y otras cuatro personas en caída de avión en Turquía.
Poderosa tormenta invernal amenaza California mientras se acerca la Navidad
Por TRÂN NGUYỄN
Una serie de poderosas tormentas invernales amenazan con azotar California con lluvias implacables, fuertes vientos y nieve de montaña mientras los vacacionistas tomaban carretera para Navidad.
Se tiene previsto que millones de personas de todo el estado salgan de viaje. Probablemente se encontrarán con condiciones peligrosas, incluso imposibles, ante los pronósticos de varios ríos atmosféricos que atravesarán el estado, advirtió el Servicio Meteorológico Nacional. Los meteorólogos señalaron que el sur de California podría tener su Navidad más húmeda en varios años y advirtieron sobre posibles deslizamientos de tierra y escombros en áreas afectadas por los incendios forestales de enero pasado.
“Va a haber mucha agua en las carreteras, y los viajes serán muy peligrosos en los próximos días”, destacó Mike Wofford, del Servicio Meteorológico Nacional.
La mayoría de las áreas recibieron lluvias dispersas la mañana del martes, y se tiene previsto que el sistema se intensifique por la tarde y hasta la víspera de Navidad. Las lluvias y vientos disminuirán en algunas regiones el miércoles, antes de la llegada de otra tormenta.
Gran parte del Valle de Sacramento y del área de la Bahía de San Francisco se encontraban bajo aviso de inundaciones y advertencia de vientos fuertes hasta el viernes. Los meteorólogos advirtieron sobre nevadas intensas y ráfagas de viento en partes de la Sierra Nevada a partir del martes, lo que creará “condiciones de visibilidad prácticamente nulas” que harán que sea “casi imposible” circular a través de los pasos de montaña.
También existe un riesgo de intensas tormentas eléctricas y una pequeña posibilidad de tornados a lo largo de la costa norte del estado.
Las fuertes lluvias e inundaciones repentinas que comenzaron el sábado en el norte de California ya obligaron a llevar a cabo rescates acuáticos y al menos una persona ha perdido la vida, informaron funcionarios locales.
Por lo general, el sur de California recibe entre 1,3 y 2,5 centímetros (media pulgada y una pulgada) de lluvia en esta época del año, pero esta semana muchas áreas podrían ver entre 10 y 20 centímetros (cuatro y ocho pulgadas, destacó Wofford. La cifra podría ser incluso más elevada en las montañas.
Es muy probable que se produzcan inundaciones generalizadas y deslaves, especialmente en áreas afectadas por el incendio de Palisades de enero pasado, agregó. Partes de Los Ángeles se encontraban bajo advertencias de evacuación a partir del martes y agentes de policía iban de puerta en puerta en hogares particularmente vulnerables para ordenarles su evacuación, indicó la oficina de la alcaldesa de Los Ángeles, Karen Bass.
Los meteorólogos instaron a la población a quedarse en casa o hacer planes de viaje alternativos.
Funcionarios locales y estatales se preparan para responder a emergencias durante la semana. El estado ha desplegado recursos y socorristas hacia varios condados a lo largo de la costa y en el sur de California antes de las tormentas. La Guardia Nacional de California también está en espera para brindar asistencia.
“Cuando el clima severo amenaza a nuestras comunidades, no esperamos para reaccionar. Nos adelantamos a ello”, declaró el gobernador Gavin Newsom en un comunicado.
Un río atmosférico es una banda larga y estrecha de vapor de agua que se forma sobre un océano y fluye a través del cielo, llevando consigo humedad desde los trópicos hacia el norte.
Persistentes ríos atmosféricos empaparon el estado de Washington con casi 19 billones de litros (cinco billones de galones) de lluvia en una semana a principios de este mes, amenazando con imponer nuevos récords de inundaciones, indicaron los meteorólogos. Esas lluvias se intensificaron gracias al clima cálido y el aire, además de condiciones climáticas inusuales que se remontan a un ciclón tropical en Indonesia.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Naperville News Digest: Magical Starlight Theatre to present ‘Shrek: The Musical’; feedback sought on proposed Plank Road Park name
Magical Starlight Theatre to present ‘Shrek: The Musical’
Naperville Park District’s Magical Starlight Theatre will perform “Shrek: The Musical” on two weekends in January, officials said.
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9 and 16; 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 10 and 17; and 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11 and 18, at Naperville Central High School, 440 Aurora Ave.
A sign language interpreter will be present at the 1:30 p.m. Jan. 10 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16 performances.
Tickets are $23 at the door and $20 in advance online at napervilleparks.org/magicalstarlighttheatre or by calling 630-848-5000 or going to the Alfred Rubin Riverwalk Community Center and Fort Hill Activity Center during regular business hours.
The cast of the production has been rehearsing since early October. The story follows the adventures of Shrek the ogre, Donkey and Princess Fiona as they find acceptance and beauty in themselves, a park district news release said.
Feedback sought on proposed Plank Road Park name
Resident input is being sought on the name Plank Road Park for a new 0.62-acre site being donated to the Naperville Park District as part of The Claire subdivision development.
The Claire will be built on about 8.2 acres of land west of Naper Boulevard and north of Plank Road. It will include 90 rental townhomes.
It will be the district’s 141st park and is to include a playground, site furnishings and landscaping.
Park district staff suggested the name Plank Road Park based on the historical significance of the wooden plank road that ran along Ogden Avenue through Naperville, allowing travelers to go to Chicago by carriage or wagon, officials said in a news release.
The future park will use the historical theme when designing park structures and furnishings, the release said.
Under district policies, residents have 60 days to offer input before the park board moves to give it an official name.
DuPage Foundation awards $100,000 to local food pantries
The DuPage Foundation has awarded $100,000 to five area food pantries, including Loaves & Fishes Community Services in Naperville.
Food insecurity has become one of the county’s most pressing challenges, affecting more than 94,000 residents, a foundation news release said. About 8.4% of DuPage children are food insecure, in part because they live in households that do not qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits.
The foundation is using a portion of its proceeds from a recent benefit to donate $20,000 each to Loaves & Fishes Community Services, Neighborhood Food Pantries, The Outreach House, People’s Resource Center and West Suburban Community Pantry.
The donation will help support immediate food purchases, the release said.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/23/naperville-shrek-dupage-food-plank-park/
