Key Events This Shortened Week: GDP And Durables On Deck As 2025 Closes

Tyler Durden
Mon, 12/22/2025 – 10:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/key-events-shortened-week-gdp-and-durables-deck-2025-closes 

Journo Freaks Out After Bari Weiss Spikes ’60 Minutes’ Segment On El Salvador Prison

Tyler Durden
Mon, 12/22/2025 – 09:45

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bari-weiss-spikes-60-minutes-segment-el-salvador-prison 

MELBOURNE, Australia — A man accused of killing 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach conducted firearms training in an area of New South Wales state outside of Sydney with his father, according to Australian police documents released on Monday.

The documents, made public following Naveed Akram’s video court appearance from a Sydney hospital where he has been treated for an abdominal injury, said the two men recorded footage justifying the meticulously planned attack.

Officers wounded Akram at the scene of the Dec. 14 shooting and killed his father, 50-year-old Sajid Akram.

The state government confirmed Naveed Akram was transferred Monday from a hospital to a prison. Authorities identified neither facility.

The 24-year-old and his father began their attack by throwing four improvised explosive devices toward a crowd celebrating an annual Jewish event at Bondi Beach, but the devices failed to explode, the documents said.

Police described the devices as three aluminum pipe bombs and a tennis ball bomb containing an explosive, gunpowder and steel ball bearings. None detonated, but police described them as “viable” IEDs.

The pair had rented a room in the Sydney suburb of Campsie for three weeks before they left at 2:16 a.m. on the day of the attack. CCTV recorded them carrying what police allege were two shotguns, a rifle, five IEDs and two homemade Islamic State group flags wrapped in blankets.

Police also released images of the gunmen shooting from a footbridge, providing them with an elevated vantage point and the protection of waist-high concrete walls.

The largest IED was found after the gun battle near the footbridge in the trunk of the son’s car, which had been left draped with the flags.

Authorities have charged Akram with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded survivors and one count of committing a terrorist act.

The antisemitic attack at the start of the eight-day Hanukkah celebration was Australia’s worst mass shooting since a lone gunman killed 35 people in Tasmania state in 1996.

The New South Wales government introduced draft laws to Parliament on Monday that Premier Chris Minns said would become the toughest in Australia.

The new restrictions would include making Australian citizenship a condition of qualifying for a firearms license. That would have excluded Sajid Akram, who was an Indian citizen with a permanent resident visa.

Sajid Akram also legally owned six rifles and shotguns. A new legal limit for recreational shooters would be a maximum of four guns.

Police said a video found on Naveed Akram’s phone shows him with his father expressing “their political and religious views and appear to summarise their justification for the Bondi terrorist attack.”

The men are seen in the video “condemning the acts of Zionists” while they also “adhere to a religiously motivated ideology linked to Islamic State,” police said.

Video shot in October shows them “firing shotguns and moving in a tactical manner” on grassland surrounded by trees, police said.

“There is evidence that the Accused and his father meticulously planned this terrorist attack for many months,” police allege.

An impromptu memorial that grew near the Bondi Pavilion after the massacre, as thousands of mourners brought flowers and heartfelt cards, was removed Monday as the beachfront returned to more normal activity. The Sydney Jewish Museum will preserve part of the memorial.

Victims’ funerals continued Monday with French national Dan Elkayam’s service held in the nearby suburb of Woollahra, at the heart of Sydney’s Jewish life. The 27-year-old moved from Paris to Sydney a year ago.

The health department said 12 people wounded in the attack remained in hospitals on Monday.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/bondi-beach-shooting/ 

NEW YORK — Most Americans aren’t making end-of-year charitable giving plans, according to the results of a new AP-NORC poll, despite the many fundraising appeals made by nonprofits that rely on donation surges in the calendar’s final month to reach budget targets.

The survey, which was conducted in early December by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that about half U.S. adults say they’ve already made their charitable contributions for 2025. Just 18% say they’ve donated and will donate again before the year is over. Only 6% report they haven’t given yet but will do so by December’s end. The rest, 30%, haven’t donated and don’t plan to.

Everyday donors faced competing priorities this year. President Donald Trump’s social services grant cuts, severe foreign aid rollbacks and November SNAP benefits freeze — plus natural disasters like Los Angeles’ historically destructive wildfires — left no shortage of urgent causes in need of heightened support. Trump’s tax and spending legislation offered an extra incentive to give, too; most tax filers will see a new charitable deduction of up to $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for married couples.

But weaker income gains and steep price inflation meant that lower-income households had less money to redistribute. Other surveys have also found a yearslong decline in the number of individuals who give.

December still serves as a “very important deadline” for donors, according to Dianne Chipps Bailey, managing director of Bank of America’s Philanthropic Solutions division. She cited estimates from the National Philanthropic Trust that nearly one-third of annual giving happens in the final month.

“December 31 does provide a target to make sure that they’ve given what they intended to give before the year is over,” Bailey said.

Few donate on GivingTuesday

Perhaps no day is more consequential for fundraisers than GivingTuesday. Beginning as a hashtag in 2012, the well-known celebration of generosity now sees many nonprofits leverage the attention to solicit donations on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Americans donated an estimated $4 billion to nonprofits this most recent GivingTuesday.

But Americans were much more likely to make a Black Friday purchase than a GivingTuesday gift this year. Just under half say they bought something for Black Friday, according to the poll, compared to about 1 in 10 who say they donated to a charity for GivingTuesday.

“Black Friday gets the lion’s share of things,” said Oakley Graham, a 32-year-old from Missouri. “And then you’ve got GivingTuesday a couple days later. Most people have probably spent all their spending money at that point.”

Graham said his family has “definitely tightened the financial belt” in recent years. He and his wife are dealing with student loan debts now that the Trump administration suspended their repayment plan. Their two young children are always growing out of their clothes. It’s good if there’s anything left for savings.

He still tries to help out his neighbors — from handiwork to Salvation Army clothing donations.

“Not that I’m not willing to give here and there,” he said. “But it seems like it’s pretty tough to find the extra funds.”

Checkout charity proves more popular

Another avenue for nudging Americans to give is more widely used, even if individual donations are small. The AP-NORC poll found that about 4 in 10 U.S. adults say they donated to a charity when checking out at a store this year.

Graham is among those who reported giving at the cash register. As an outdoorsy person who enjoys hunting and fishing when he can, he said he is “always susceptible to giving for conservation.” He said he likely rounded up once or twice at Bass Pro Shops for that reason.

“With the finances, I don’t do a lot of buying these days. But a couple cents here or there is like — I can do that,” he said. “It doesn’t sound like much. But I know if everybody did it would make a difference.”

The poll found that older adults — those over 60 — are more likely than Americans overall to donate at store checkouts.

One Texas architect’s unusual process for year-end donations

About one-quarter of Americans plan to donate in the last weeks of the year, and Chuck Dietrick is one of them. The 69-year-old architect applies what he calls a “shotgun approach” as the year comes to a close.

He and his wife give monthly to Valley Hope, a nonprofit addiction services provider where their son did inpatient rehab. And then there are eight or so organizations that they support with end-of-the-year gifts.

“We’re doing our own thing,” he said. “I don’t do Black Friday or Cyber Monday, either … So, I don’t do the GivingTuesday thing.”

Dietrick estimates their household donated somewhere between $501 and $2,500. The Dallas-Fort Worth area couple mostly contributes to organizations that have touched their lives or those of their friends.

There’s the Florida hospice that Dietrick said did a “super job” caring for his mother. He has relatives and friends who served in the military, so he also gives to the Disabled American Veterans and the Wounded Warrior Project.

“I would rather give a smaller amount of money to a variety of institutions that I care about rather than giving a big chunk of money to one,” he explained.

Giving plans went unaffected by federal funding cuts or the shutdown

Most 2025 donors say the amount they gave wasn’t affected much by this year’s federal funding cuts or the government shutdown, according to the AP-NORC poll, although about 3 in 10 say those situations did impact the charities they chose to support.

The survey suggests that, while private donors mobilized millions to fill funding gaps and hunger relief groups saw donation totals spike last month, many Americans did not respond with their pocketbooks to the nonprofit sector’s newfound pressures this year.

Jeannine Disviscour, a 63-year-old Baltimore teacher, is among 2025 donors who say the cuts prompted them to give more.

“I did not donate on GivingTuesday,” she said. “But I did donate that week because I was feeling the need to support organizations that I felt might not continue to get the support they needed to get to be successful.”

She estimates her household gave between $501 and $2,500. That included support for National Public Radio. Congress eliminated $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting this summer, leaving hundreds of NPR stations with some sort of budget hole. She said she wanted to ensure journalism reached news deserts where residents have few media options.

Living in an area that is home to many refugees, Disviscour also donated her time and money to the Asylee Women Enterprise. She said the local nonprofit helps asylum-seekers and other forced migrants find food, shelter, clothing, transportation and language classes.

“There is a gap in funding and there’s more need than ever,” she said. “And I wanted to step up. And it’s in my community.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/year-end-charitable-contributions/ 

AP Media Writer — CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday didn’t air a planned story on Trump administration deportations of immigrants to El Salvador, pulling it only hours before airtime at the direction of new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.

The story, where correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi spoke to deportees who had been sent to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, was held because Weiss sought to add perspective from the Trump administration, according to people at the network.

In an email sent to some colleagues and reported by multiple media outlets, Alfonsi said she’d learned on Saturday that Weiss had decided not to air it. She said her story was factually correct and cleared by CBS attorneys and news standards officials. “In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

The shift, publicly announced two hours before the broadcast aired, is sure to increase scrutiny on Weiss, the founder of the Free Press website who was installed at the top of CBS News this fall when its parent company, Paramount, was bought out.

President Donald Trump has been sharply critical of “60 Minutes.” He sued the network last fall over its interview with election opponent Kamala Harris, which was settled this summer, and recently complained about the show’s interview with former ally turned foe Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Weiss told The New York Times in a statement: “My job is to make sure that all the stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom.”

She said she looked forward to airing Alfonsi’s piece “when it’s ready.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/60-minutes-trump-deportation/ 

Por DAVID BAUDER

El programa “60 Minutes” de CBS News decidió no emitir el domingo un reportaje sobre las deportaciones de inmigrantes a El Salvador durante la administración Trump, retirándolo solo horas antes de su emisión bajo la dirección de la nueva editora en jefe, Bari Weiss.

La historia, en la que la corresponsal Sharyn Alfonsi habló con deportados que habían sido enviados a la notoria prisión CECOT de El Salvador, fue retenida porque Weiss buscaba añadir la perspectiva de la administración Trump, según fuentes de ese canal televisivo.

En un correo electrónico enviado a algunos colegas y reportado por varios medios de comunicación, Alfonsi declaró que se enteró el sábado de que Weiss había decidido no emitirla. Afirmó que su historia era factualmente correcta y había sido aprobada por los departamentos de estándares y asuntos legales. “En mi opinión, retirarla ahora, después de que se han cumplido todos los rigurosos controles internos, no es una decisión editorial, es una decisión política”.

El cambio, anunciado públicamente dos horas antes de que se emitiera el programa, seguramente aumentará el escrutinio sobre Weiss, la fundadora del sitio web Free Press, quien fue instalada en la cima de CBS News este otoño cuando su empresa matriz, Paramount, fue adquirida.

El presidente Donald Trump ha sido muy crítico con “60 Minutes”. Demandó a la cadena el otoño pasado por su entrevista con la oponente electoral Kamala Harris, la cual se resolvió este verano, y recientemente se quejó sobre la entrevista del programa con la exaliada convertida en enemiga Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Weiss dijo al The New York Times en un comunicado: “Mi trabajo es asegurarme de que todas las historias que publicamos sean lo mejor que puedan ser. Retener historias que no están listas por cualquier razón —que carecen de contexto suficiente, por ejemplo, o que les faltan voces críticas— sucede todos los días en todas las salas de redacción”.

Expresó que esperaba con ansias emitir la pieza de Alfonsi “cuando esté lista”.

___________________________________

Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/60-minutes-retrasa-emisin-de-reportaje-crtico-sobre-poltica-de-deportacin-de-trump/ 

Por JAKE OFFENHARTZ

NUEVA YORK (AP) — Hace cuatro años, el alcalde de la ciudad de Nueva York, Eric Adams, asumió el cargo con una confianza arrolladora, prometiendo liderar un gobierno como ningún otro en la historia y declarándose el “futuro del Partido Demócrata”.

En cuanto a la primera promesa, el alcalde cumplió con creces. Pero a medida que su tumultuoso mandato llega a su fin, Adams, de 65 años, se encuentra políticamente aislado y sus aspiraciones de líder partidista son si acaso un recuerdo lejano.

En cambio, ha pasado sus últimas semanas en el poder recorriendo el mundo, reflexionando públicamente sobre trabajar en el sector privado y arremetiendo contra los “criticones” y “detractores” a quienes acusa de pasar por alto sus logros.

Para muchos de sus seguidores, la era de Adams será recordada como una oportunidad perdida. Solo el segundo alcalde negro en la historia de la ciudad, ayudó a guiar la recuperación de la pandemia de COVID-19, a menudo vinculando el resurgimiento de la ciudad con su propio ascenso desde humildes raíces en Queens.

En un momento en que muchos demócratas luchaban por abordar las preocupaciones de los votantes sobre la seguridad pública, atrajo la atención nacional por una agenda “radicalmente práctica” centrada en reducir el crimen y reactivar la economía.

Pero aunque la mayoría de las categorías de delitos volvieron a los niveles prepandémicos, Adams probablemente será recordado por otro superlativo: es el único alcalde de la ciudad de Nueva York en la era moderna que ha sido acusado mientras estaba en el cargo.

“Eso decepcionó a los votantes, especialmente los votantes negros, que tenían grandes expectativas y aspiraciones”, declaró Basil Smikle, un estratega político que se desempeñó como director ejecutivo del Partido Demócrata del estado. “Entró con mucho capital político pero lo desperdició, en parte debido a su propia arrogancia”.

Igualmente memorables, quizás, fueron los casos extraños a lo largo del camino: su odio a las ratas y miedo a los fantasmas; los misterios sobre su hogar, su dieta, su infancia; y su interminable expresión de frases, gestos e historias desconcertantes que podían transformar instantáneamente un evento burocrático mundano en un meme ampliamente compartido.

“Muchos alcaldes quieren ser filtrados, quieren pretender quiénes son y actuar como si fueran perfectos”, indicó Adams durante un reciente discurso en el Ayuntamiento, un evento desenfrenado que terminó con el alcalde enterrando una cápsula del tiempo de sus logros bajo una acera de Manhattan. “Yo no lo soy”.

Arrogancia versus seriedad

Adams asumió el cargo después del período del alcalde Bill de Blasio en enero de 2022, en medio de un repunte de COVID-19 que estaba matando a cientos de neoyorquinos cada día, junto con un preocupante aumento tanto en el crimen violento como en el desempleo.

Adams, un ex capitán de policía, alcalde del distrito de Brooklyn y senador estatal, aumentó las patrullas en las calles y el metro, reintrodujo una controvertida unidad anticrimen y nombró a la primera comisionada de policía mujer del departamento. También levantó cejas por instalar a muchos de sus antiguos aliados del departamento de policía, incluidos algunos exfuncionarios que habían sido acusados de conducta inapropiada.

Mientras animaba a los neoyorquinos a volver a sus vidas previas a la pandemia, Adams hizo un esfuerzo por liderar con el ejemplo, frecuentando clubes privados y restaurantes de lujo para “probar el producto” y “devolver la bravura” a la ciudad, dijo.

Pero si los neoyorquinos inicialmente toleraron la pasión de Adams por las fiestas nocturnas, parecía haber una creciente sensación de que el alcalde estaba distraído, o incluso holgazaneando, según Hank Sheinkopf, un consultor demócrata de larga data y partidario de Adams.

“Había una tensión entre la arrogancia y la seriedad”, señaló Sheinkopf. “Los neoyorquinos querían ver más seriedad. No querían verlo de fiesta en algún club para el cual no podían pagar”.

No ayudó que Adams a menudo se negara a decir quién pagaba sus comidas, su entrada a clubes privados o sus vuelos fuera de la ciudad. Cuando los reporteros vigilaban sus actividades nocturnas, descubrían que Adams, quien durante mucho tiempo profesó ser vegano, pedía regularmente el branzino.

Preguntado sobre su dieta, el alcalde reconoció que comía pescado y ocasionalmente “picoteaba” pollo, describiéndose a sí mismo, como a menudo lo haría en los años venideros, como “perfectamente imperfecto”.

Crisis en el Ayuntamiento

La investigación por corrupción en la campaña de Adams, iniciada silenciosamente en las primeras etapas de su alcaldía, salió a la luz pública en el otoño de 2023, cuando agentes federales incautaron los teléfonos del alcalde mientras salía de un evento. La pesquisa siguió durante casi un año, mientras Adams enfrentaba nuevos retos, incluida una oleada de migrantes que llegaban a la ciudad en autobús.

Luego, el 26 de septiembre de 2024, los fiscales federales presentaron cargos de fraude y soborno contra Adams, acusándolo de permitir que funcionarios turcos y otros empresarios compraran su influencia con contribuciones de campaña ilegales y grandes descuentos en viajes al extranjero.

Los investigadores también incautaron teléfonos del comisionado de policía, el director de escuelas y varios vicealcaldes. Cada uno negó haber actuado mal, pero inmediatamente hubo un éxodo de funcionarios municipales y crecieron las preguntas sobre la capacidad del alcalde para gobernar.

Adams insistió, sin pruebas, en que había sido políticamente atacado por la administración de Biden por su crítica a la política de inmigración. Pero su mantra de “mantente enfocado, sin distracciones, y trabaja duro” parecía perder fuerza con cada nuevo escándalo.

Entre ellos: un asesor acusado por fiscales estatales en un supuesto esquema de soborno separado que involucraba un carril para bicicletas y un papel menor en televisión; otro asesor de larga data obligado a renunciar después de entregar una bolsa de papas fritas llena de dinero a un reportero; y una serie de acusaciones de abuso y corrupción dentro del departamento de policía, muchas de ellas vinculadas a amigos de larga data que Adams había instalado en posiciones de alto rango.

Al mirar hacia atrás en lo que salió mal, tanto los partidarios como los críticos del alcalde tienden a estar de acuerdo en al menos un punto: Adams podía ser leal hasta el extremo, negándose a distanciarse de sus aliados incluso después de que parecieran cruzar líneas éticas.

“Había un Ayuntamiento compuesto por líderes dedicados y competentes enfocados en ejecutar sus prioridades”, sostuvo Sheena Wright, quien fue vicealcaldesa de Adams. “Había otro Ayuntamiento compuesto por personas que conocían al alcalde desde hace mucho tiempo y que se les permitía operar fuera de las normas del gobierno”.

“Una bomba nuclear”

Ante la caída en las encuestas y la perspectiva de años en prisión, Adams comenzó a alinearse con el presidente Donald Trump, haciendo grandes esfuerzos para evitar criticar al republicano e incluso dejando abierta la posibilidad de cambiar de partido.

Eso pareció funcionar: semanas después de que Trump asumiera el cargo, el Departamento de Justicia desestimó el caso de corrupción, escribiendo en un memorando de dos páginas que había interferido con la capacidad de Adams para ayudar con la agenda de inmigración del presidente.

Pero en la opinión de Evan Thies, uno de los asesores más cercanos de Adams en ese entonces, ese fue el momento que selló el destino de Adams como alcalde de un solo mandato.

“Ese memorando nos cayó como una bomba nuclear”, aseguró Thies.

El daño empeoró unos días después, cuando Adams apareció en Fox & Friends junto al zar de la frontera de Trump, Tom Honan, quien amenazó con “estar encima de él” si el alcalde no cumplía con la agenda de Trump.

“Parecía confirmar la creencia de que Adams cambió su responsabilidad hacia los neoyorquinos por su libertad personal”, recordó Thies. “No era cierto, pero esa era la percepción”.

Adams negó rotundamente haber hecho un trato con la administración Trump. Ha continuado sugiriendo una amplia conspiración en su contra, a veces culpando a burócratas en el “estado profundo”.

Incluso habiendo superado el caso penal, Adams tuvo dificultades por construir una campaña de reelección. A principios de este año, su lugar en las encuestas cayó a un mínimo histórico. En septiembre, abandonó sus esfuerzos, apoyando al exgobernador Andrew Cuomo, un rival de antaño al que recientemente había llamado “serpiente y mentiroso”.

A finales de diciembre, los planes de Adams para su vida después de alcalde siguen siendo inciertos.

“Hice lo que tenía que hacer, dejé todo lo que tenía en la cancha, y estoy ansioso por el próximo paso de mi viaje”, aseveró el alcalde a los reporteros durante un discurso de despedida en el Ayuntamiento.

Luego, aunque le faltaban varias semanas en el cargo, se fue a México.

___________________________________

Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/alcalde-de-nueva-york-deca-que-era-el-futuro-del-partido-demcrata-qu-fall/ 

An elderly woman died and another woman was critically injured in a house fire near Spring Grove, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

The identity of the 83-year-old woman has not yet been released.

Authorities were alerted to the fire at around noon Friday in the 38300 block of North 6th Avenue.

Police said a man, 52, who lives at the house, was on the second floor when he noticed smoke. He tried to aid the elderly woman and a 55-year-old woman who also lives there, but was unable because of the smoke and heat, police said.

The man was able to exit through the rear of the house and sustained minor injuries, authorities said.

The 83-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene. The other woman was brought to a hospital with critical burn injuries and was later transferred to a burn unit.

Authorities are working to determine the cause of the fire.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/spring-grove-fatal-fire/ 

Leases For Five Offshore Wind Projects Suspended Over Radar-Related National Security Concerns

Tyler Durden
Mon, 12/22/2025 – 09:05

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/leases-five-offshore-wind-projects-suspended-over-radar-related-national-security 

The Gary School Board agreed Thursday to dip into its cash reserves to cover more than $5 million in unexpected expenses not included in its 2025 budget..

After a public hearing, the board voted to add $2 million into its operations fund; $2.5 million into the education fund and $548,244 into the debt service fund.

Chief Financial Officer Linda Zaborowski said the district needed approval to spend more money than originally appropriated in its budget last year, per the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.

Zaborowski attributed the shortfall to unexpected expenses, including a new teacher bargaining agreement and repairs at the Frankie Woods McCullough Academy after a March 19 tornado ripped the roof off the gym.

“I would have never imagined a tornado, but we had one,” she said. The district had to pay $450,000 from its operations fund for repairs at the school. Zaborowski said the district’s insurance company will reimburse it, but the bill needed to be paid in November.

“I just can’t overspend,” she said of the need for the additional appropriation action. “We do have cash in our cash balance to support what I’m requesting.”

The education fund needed more money because an agreement reached with the Gary Teachers Union gave teachers a raise and some received stipends. Administrators and other staff also got raises.

In addition, Zaborowski said the state mandated districts to adopt the science of reading for its literacy curriculum and the district had to purchase about $650,000 in new curriculum materials and provide professional development for teachers.

A weak property tax collection rate of 52%, which is reduced further by a new revenue sharing law with the city’s eight charter schools, led to a transfer out of operations to debt service to support common school fund loans, Zaborowski said.

Also, Zaborowski said for years the district didn’t align its debt payments within the budget period. She realigned the payments in June and December to be paid within the budget cycle.

During the public hearing, Gary attorney and parent Tracy Coleman asked why the district used a cash-based accounting method instead an accrual method, which matches income with related costs, unlike cash accounting which records revenue when money is received. She said the accrual method would be easier for taxpayers to understand.

“The budget hearings put us at a disadvantage. We’re at the mercy of the CFO and what numbers she wants to give us. I ask we look at the way we budget.”

Zaborowski said districts throughout Indiana use the cash accounting method and changing would make it difficult for Gary to compare its finances with other districts.

Coleman complained the district has failed to address the non-functioning swimming pool at the West Side Leadership Academy, the lone pool in the district. The pool has been closed for years because the district couldn’t afford to repair it.

She said it’s important for children to learn to swim given the proximity to Lake Michigan.

Zaborowski said a pool expert from Detroit recently examined the pool and she’s waiting to hear his findings.

Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/22/cash-reserves-rescue-gary-school-budget-shortfall/