Category: News
U.S. Freezes Korea Trade Talks After Seoul Ignores Warnings Over Big Tech Shakedown
U.S. Freezes Korea Trade Talks After Seoul Ignores Warnings Over Big Tech Shakedown
One month after it looked like South Korea was backing off Big Tech with an ongoing shakedown of fines for violating arbitrary laws, the Trump administration just left the chat – canceling a key bilateral trade meeting and signaling that continued regulatory pressure on American technology firms will carry immediate consequences.
Seoul now gets to enjoy life on the outs – as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) this week scrapped a scheduled meeting of the KORUS Joint Committee, the primary forum for managing the U.S.–South Korea free trade agreement, Politico reports. The move reflects a growing determination in Washington to ensure compliance with explicit commitments made under an updated trade framework negotiated earlier this fall.
Administration officials familiar with the decision said the meeting was canceled after it became clear that South Korea was pushing forward with digital regulations the United States views as discriminatory, despite assurances to the contrary during negotiations.
The message was unambiguous: agreements will be enforced, not debated.
Congress Reinforces The Administration’s Position
The USTR decision follows a Tuesday House Judiciary Committee hearing that underscored bipartisan congressional backing for a tougher line. Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) warned that South Korea’s regulatory posture – particularly actions by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) – had crossed a threshold from competition policy into targeted economic pressure on U.S. firms.
“Chairman Ju Byung-ki of the Korea ‘Fair Trade’ Commission – that’s a wonderful title – in his own words, disparages America, takes us down,” said Issa. “He says: ‘So, why are many Americans, especially white workers in the Rust Belt in the Midwest, so angry?’ I’ll tell you why they’re so angry, as somebody born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio – and somebody who happened to work for the Trump administration – because in fact, they believe in free and fair trade. The fact is we now have to take on the status quo of global competitiveness.”
📺 MUST WATCH: @repdarrellissa rips countries like South Korea for attacking American businesses and American workers.
Republicans and the Trump administration won’t let them get away with it. pic.twitter.com/sf2pR7IAxe
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) December 16, 2025
Lawmakers framed the issue not as a technical regulatory dispute, but as a matter of fair treatment, reciprocity, and credibility in trade relationships.
Issa criticized KFTC Chairman Ju Byung-ki for advancing enforcement policies while publicly disparaging American workers, arguing that such rhetoric and conduct reflect a deeper disregard for the principles underpinning the bilateral trade relationship.
Fitzgerald – who previously sent a warning letter to the KTFC – pointed to economic research indicating that Korea’s approach could impose hundreds of billions of dollars in losses on the U.S. economy, with higher costs ultimately borne by American consumers.
Woke countries like South Korea are attacking American companies to fulfill their leftist agendas.
President Trump won’t let it slide! pic.twitter.com/7WfDidRWCR
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) December 16, 2025
Watch the entire hearing below:
A Pattern Washington Has Long Tolerated – Until Now
For years, South Korea’s KFTC has operated as an aggressive and unpredictable regulator whose enforcement actions fall disproportionately on foreign market leaders. American firms have been subjected to raids, intrusive investigations, and fines that critics say far exceed international norms.
Now, over 40 members of congress recently sent a letter urging the Trump administration to stop the KFTC’s “criminal threats for standard business practices.”
Major U.S. companies including Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Qualcomm, Tesla, and others, have faced repeated penalties and probes tied to app stores, digital advertising, search rankings, privacy rules, and platform operations. Korean “network usage fees” and billing mandates have further tilted the playing field, according to industry groups.
One thing is clear – the Trump administration is over it, and Seoul thinks they can wriggle out of promises they made during Trump’s October visit to South Korea – during which the administration secured clear commitments under a revised U.S.–ROK trade framework. Seoul agreed to refrain from discriminatory digital regulations, ensure fair treatment of U.S. companies, and improve procedural safeguards in competition enforcement, including recognition of attorney-client privilege.
In return, Korea received tariff relief and expanded access to the U.S. market, while committing tens of billions of dollars in U.S.-approved investments and defense purchases.
From Washington’s perspective, that bargain is not optional – and recent moves by Korea’s parliament to introduce new digital platform bills – alongside signals that regulators may continue aggressive enforcement – were interpreted by U.S. officials as noncompliance, not negotiation.
The cancellation of the KORUS meeting was the response.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has repeatedly warned South Korean officials that failure to adhere to digital trade commitments could trigger a Section 301 investigation, opening the door to new tariffs and countermeasures, Politico notes further.
Administration officials say the issue is not escalation for its own sake, but enforcement of agreed terms. As one White House official put it, tariffs remain “a stick we carry” – and Seoul understands that.
The administration’s broader posture has been consistent: digital trade rules that single out American companies will be met with consequences, whether in Asia or Europe.
Strategic Alignment Comes With Expectations
The firm stance on trade coincides with deepening U.S.–Korea security cooperation, including Washington’s recent approval for South Korea to pursue nuclear-powered submarine capabilities long denied under previous administrations.
Former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien has emphasized that economic fairness and strategic trust are inseparable. Regulatory campaigns that target U.S. firms, he warned, create a “climate of fear” inconsistent with alliance obligations – particularly as the U.S. works to counter China’s growing economic influence in the region.
The Trump administration’s decision to halt talks rather than indulge prolonged dispute marks a shift in tone, as it’s now clear that Washington is no longer content to subsidize discriminatory regulation under the banner of alliance politics. Market access, tariff relief, and strategic cooperation now come with enforceable expectations.
Or as Issa put it on Tuesday, the United States is done absorbing regulatory abuse from partners while honoring its own commitments.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/18/2025 – 17:20
Gary man gets 15-year split term for role in drug dealer slaying
A Gary man was sentenced Thursday to a 15-year split term for his role in a drug dealer slaying.
Davion “Ray-Ray” Dean, 29, pleaded guilty in March in separate criminal cases to attempted armed robbery and dealing in a narcotic drug.
Judge Natalie Bokota sentenced him to 12 years in prison, two in Lake County Community Corrections and one year on probation. Dean indicated he won’t appeal.
“You lured him there,” she told him.
Authorities alleged Dean set up to rob Jordan Miller, 24, of East Chicago, during a drug buy. Co-defendant Brandon “FettyBando” McFadden shot Miller dead.
The killing “changed my life,” the victim’s sister Bianca Miller wrote in a letter read aloud by Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Brandewie. He was a “source of support,” “laughter,” and “strength.”
His death “took away a future” and “reshaped who I am,” she wrote.
Another woman who testified on Dean’s behalf said she was faced with raising their children alone.
“He has to do better,” she said, “and it’s killing me he has to be here.”
Brandewie asked for a stiffer sentence, saying Dean was on bond at the time. They had hoped to get him to testify against McFadden, but they refused to cooperate and prosecutors considered pulling his plea deal.
He wasn’t the “shooter,” but ultimately set Miller up to be killed. It was a “grave betrayal,” Brandewie said.
Defense lawyer Casey McCloskey argued Dean was very “intelligent” and very remorseful. He asked for his client to avoid prison.
It was “not the life he wants to lead,” the lawyer said.
Dean apologized in court.
“I know it wasn’t right,” he said, adding he wanted a “chance to get home to my kids.”
Bokota noted Dean had encouraged McFadden to bring a gun.
Miller died from six gunshots to the torso, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office. His death was ruled a homicide.
Gary Police arrived at 1:40 p.m. on March 30, 2023 to the 4400 block of Delaware Street, where they found Miller on the front steps of a small apartment building.
Witnesses said Miller and another man were there to sell drugs, according to the affidavit.
Police found a handgun on Miller’s body, which was unused, and noted the apartment’s back door was “barricaded.”
A witness said a man named “Ray-Ray” called Miller “several times” to get marijuana and mushrooms. The man was a longtime customer, according to court records.
Miller went inside, while the other man stayed in the car.
About five seconds later, Miller walked out. McFadden shot him from behind, then stood over the body, according to the affidavit. A third man with Miller returned fire, then ran into an alley, court records state.
2 claims dismissed in Orland Park lawsuit against former Mayor Keith Pekau
A Cook County judge granted former Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau a partial win in an ongoing lawsuit brought by the village against him.
Judge Kate Moreland dismissed the village’s requests Dec. 12 to limit Pekau’s speech in relation to confidential documents the village claims Pekau brought with him after he lost his bid for reelection to Mayor Jim Dodge, and left office in May. She also struck the village’s request for injunctive relief.
Moreland in August granted the village a temporary restraining order barring Pekau from publishing “future statements disclosing the village’s attorney-client privileged communications and confidential non-public information contained in village personnel files,” and ordering he remove any publications of such information.
That temporary restraining order is still in place, and the village’s attorneys will relitigate the issue of prior restraint of Pekau’s speech, Dodge said Thursday.
“The judge told our lawyers to be a bit more specific on one of the issues that we brought up, which is what they’re working on,” Dodge said. “We’re still pretty comfortable that this is going to prevail — you can’t release confidential information of the village that your received while you were mayor.”
Moreland denied Pekau’s motions to dismiss the complaint and to strike any references to his retention of confidential information and his obligation to destroy or return those records.
Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge takes the oath of office May 5, 2025. (Troy Stolt for the Daily Southtown)
Pekau on Thursday said the lawsuit overall represents an effort to infringe on his freedom of speech and intimidate him into silence. In a social media post Wednesday, he claimed Moreland dismissed “six of the village’s seven claims for relief,” which Dodge said was false.
“Ultimately, they don’t like someone calling them out,” Pekau said.
The former mayor said there is no law preventing him from holding onto copies of documents.
“If there’s something they think they don’t have that I do, I’d be more than happy to give them a copy of it,” Pekau said. “They haven’t identified it.”
Dodge said the lawsuit “has always and only been about protecting confidential village information,” and Pekau’s social media and blog posts have threatened other of the village’s ongoing lawsuits.
“This is just a former politician starving for attention,” Dodge said.
The village’s complaint filed July 29 states that after leaving office, Pekau held onto village documents that include personnel records containing confidential information and that he “intentionally published and circulated” that information. The confidential information in question includes “documentation divulging privileged attorney-client information” and “litigation case assessments and strategy,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit was filed six days after the village sent Pekau a cease-and-desist letter demanding he return written records and destroy their electronic forms. Pekau “publicly represented that he intends to continue to disclose the village’s confidential information,” according to the complaint.
Pekau, in an affidavit filed by attorneys Aug. 4, said at the end of his term he turned over all village property in accordance with state law and did not disclosed information “that was not already publicly available or would not have been available to the public under Illinois’ access laws.”
He said he runs a political newsletter that discusses village business but does not disclose confidential information and, since leaving office, has not engaged in conversation with litigants involved in pending lawsuits or stated he will release confidential information.
“The purpose of my newsletter is to create open dialogue about community issues and to express views on what is best for our community,” the affidavit said.
The next hearing in the case is at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 20 in Room 2302 of the Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St., Chicago.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/orland-park-lawsuit-former-mayor-keith-pekau/
Skubal se une a Skenes en el cuerpo de lanzadores de Estados Unidos para el Clásico Mundial
NUEVA YORK (AP) — El dos veces ganador del premio Cy Young de la Liga Americana, Tarik Skubal, de los Tigres de Detroit, lanzará para Estados Unidos en el Clásico Mundial, uniéndose a un cuerpo de lanzadores que incluye al actual ganador del Cy Young de la Liga Nacional, Paul Skenes, de los Piratas de Pittsburgh.
El equipo de Estados Unidos en el torneo de 2023 no incluyó a ningún lanzador que hubiera recibido votos para el Cy Young en 2022. Japón ganó el juego de campeonato 3-2.
Los relevistas estelares Mason Miller de los Padres de San Diego y David Bednar de los Yankees de Nueva York también han sido añadidos al roster de Estados Unidos para este torneo, que se jugará del 5 al 17 de marzo.
Se unen a un cuerpo de lanzadores que incluye a Clay Holmes y Nolan McLean de los Mets de Nueva York, y Joe Ryan de los Mellizos de Minnesota.
Bednar y Williams regresan del roster de Estados Unidos de 2023.
Los jugadores de posición de Estados Unidos incluyen a los receptores Cal Raleigh y Will Smith, los infielders Gunnar Henderson, Brice Turang y Bobby Witt Jr., los jardineros Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong y Aaron Judge, y el bateador designado Kyle Schwarber.
Además, los lanzadores Matthew Boyd de los Cachorros de Chicago y Garrett Whitlock de los Medias Rojas de Boston dijeron que han sido seleccionados para el roster.
En 2023, se requería que cada roster de 30 jugadores incluyera al menos 14 lanzadores, y Estados Unidos llevó 15.
La profundidad del cuerpo de lanzadores es importante debido a las restricciones para los lanzadores. En 2023, un pitcher estaba limitado a 65 lanzamientos en la primera ronda, 80 en los cuartos de final y 95 en la ronda de campeonato, con el derecho a exceder el límite para terminar una aparición en el plato.
Además, se requerían cuatro días de descanso después de 50 lanzamientos y un día después de 30 lanzamientos. No se permitía que nadie lanzara en tres días consecutivos.
___
Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Man accused of lighting woman on fire on CTA train faces new charge in arson outside City Hall
A man accused of lighting a woman on fire on the CTA Blue Line last month has been indicted on additional federal charges alleging he lit a fire outside City Hall three days earlier.
Lawrence Reed, 50, was charged in a two-count indictment made public Thursday with terrorism against a mass transportation system and arson involving a public building.
The bare-bones indictment does not provide any details into the City Hall fire. However Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters last month that occurred at about 11 p.m. on Nov. 14, when surveillance cameras captured someone igniting a fire outside the building at 121 N. LaSalle St. The person fled the scene and the fire did not spread, the mayor said at the time.
Three days later, federal prosecutors say Reed approached a young woman on a Blue Line train as it neared downtown, poured gasoline over her head and set her on fire. The woman suffered third-degree burns and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was last reported to be in critical condition.
Reed has been in custody since his arrest the next day. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura McNally scheduled an arraignment on the indictment for Friday afternoon.
The case has garnered national headlines for its brutality. It’s also been held up by President Donald Trump and others in conservative circles as an example of what they say is a revolving door of crime in mostly blue cities, where violent offenders remain free despite mounting arrests.
Court records show Reed has a history of mental illness that has been a factor in several earlier criminal cases, including a 2020 attempt at setting the Thompson Center on fire.
At the time of the Blue Line attack, Reed was on pretrial release for an aggravated battery case stemming from charges that he allegedly hit a social worker in the face in a Berwyn hospital so hard the alleged victim lost consciousness.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Reed was captured on surveillance footage filling a bottle with gasoline at a Garfield Park gas station about 30 minutes before the Blue Line attack took place, then getting on a train at the Kedzie stop before he allegedly approached the victim.
After using a lighter to ignite the fire, Reed allegedly stood at the front of the train car and watched as the 26-year-old woman, “engulfed in flames,” rolled on the floor of the train trying to snuff out the blaze, according to the complaint. She was able to get off when the train pulled into the Clark/Lake station, where two bystanders came to her aid.
Speaking to reporters after Reed was charged last month, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said the surveillance video from the train is “difficult to watch” and showed there was no altercation between Reed and the victim before the incident.
“(She) was minding her own business and reading her phone when the defendant doused her with gasoline and lit her on fire,” Boutros said. Other passengers, he said, either “got out of the way” or simply watched while she desperately tried to put herself out.
Reed was arrested a day later while walking near Daley Plaza. As Chicago police officers drove him to a West Side station for questioning, Reed yelled “burn alive, (expletive)” from the back seat, according to the complaint.
His erratic behavior continued at his first court appearance on Nov. 19, where he immediately started shouting over McNally, saying “I plead guilty! I plead guilty!” over and over. As the judge tried to continue with the hearing by advising him of his rights, Reed said “Don’t talk to me!” and started singing “la-la-la-la ” to drown her out.
A prosecutor later told the judge they were seeking detention based on a danger to the community and the fact the charge carries a maximum of life in prison, prompting Reed to shout, “What’s my charge?”
“Terrorist attack?” Reed said, shooting his head back. “Terrorist attack? Terrorism? Is that my charge? You said terrorism is my charge?”
After McNally confirmed it, Reed repeated: “It’s cool, it’s cool, it’s cool, it’s cool.”
The attack on the CTA was the latest in a long line of charges for Reed that appeared to be worsening.
In July 2021, Reed was convicted of aggravated arson after he poured gasoline along a window ledge of the Thompson Center, which at the time was home to much of the state of Illinois’ Chicago operations, and tried to set the fluid on fire, court records show.
He was sentenced to two years of mental health probation, which court records show he completed in December 2023.
Two years earlier, he’d been arrested and charged with criminal damage to government property for smashing out windows on a Blue Line train, for which he was later sentenced to two years of probation, records show.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/man-woman-fire-cta-charged-arson/
Tether CEO Warns AI Bubble Is Bitcoin’s Biggest Risk In 2026
Tether CEO Warns AI Bubble Is Bitcoin’s Biggest Risk In 2026
Authored by Helen Partz via CoinTelegraph.com,
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, has raised concerns about how a potential AI bubble could affect Bitcoin by 2026.
Ardoino shared his outlook on Bitcoin and the broader crypto industry on Thursday during the Bitcoin Capital podcast, co-hosted by Bitfinex Securities and Blockstream.
The executive said he sees Bitcoin “still too much correlated” to capital markets, thus potentially being impacted by the AI bubble, or a theorized stock market bubble growing amid the current AI boom.
“That is the so-called AI bubble, this concern about the fact that AI companies are spending too much money in AI infrastructure and data centers and trying to build a gazillion gigawatts of power and installing GPUs,” Ardoino said.
Ardoino predicts no sharp BTC corrections as seen in 2022 anymore
In a potential scenario where AI sentiment shifts in 2026, the associated stock market turmoil in the US could affect the price of Bitcoin, Tether CEO predicted.
Apart from AI bubble-associated risks, Ardoino sees no other major risks to Bitcoin performance in 2026 due to growing adoption by pension funds and governments.
Bitcoin (BTC) price chart since 2018. Source: Bloomberg
“So I would imagine that sharp corrections of 80%, like we saw in 2022 or early 2018, might not be the case anymore,” Ardoino predicted.
Ardoino also expressed bullishness on real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, saying that tokenized securities and commodities are “going to be massive.”
“The only downside I see is like. Bitcoin is for Bitcoin, right? You don’t want 99% of Bitcoin being institutionalized,” he said.
Ardoino bearish on Europe and “just treasury companies”
While remaining bullish on Bitcoin and tokenization in 2026, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino expressed a far less optimistic view on crypto adoption in Europe and on certain developments in digital asset treasuries in the year ahead.
“I’m very bearish on Europe,” Ardoino said in the interview, arguing that the region continues to lag behind on innovation.
Source: Bitfinex
“Europe will always remain the last wheel of the cart whenever we talk about innovation. Europe is trying to regulate something that it doesn’t understand yet. That is very sad,” he added.
Ardoino pointed to the implications of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which has intensified debate over centralized versus local oversight in the crypto sector.
Tether has been among the most prominent companies to openly refuse compliance with MiCA, a stance that has led many European crypto asset service providers to delist the Tether USDt stablecoin.
Addressing DATs, Ardoino said he’s “not very bullish” on crypto treasury companies that are “just treasury companies.”
“I think that you want a treasury company to have an amazing operational business,” Ardoino said, adding remarks about the Tether-backed Bitcoin company Twenty One:
“The aim for Twenty One is for Twenty One to be an amazing Bitcoin company that provides Bitcoin services and also has a Bitcoin treasury, a very important, big Bitcoin treasury.”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/18/2025 – 17:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/tether-ceo-warns-ai-bubble-bitcoins-biggest-risk-2026
Lake Forest’s Church of St. Mary and a local winery create a custom wine collection for 150th anniversary
A custom collection of five wines was created by Oakwood Vines in Lake Forest in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest. The label on each specially-designed bottle pictures either an image of one of the stained-glass windows in the church or a portrait of the building from an oil painting by artist Bridget Halloran. A portion of the sale of each bottle will be donated to the church.
The wine collection is part of the yearlong celebration of the landmark year.
Shari Wiseman of Lake Forest, a parishioner at St. Mary for around 25 years, is one of more than 40 church members on the Anniversary Planning Committee, who have been planning the celebration for nearly two years. She serves as one of four members of the Public Relations, Merchandising, and Communications Team, which includes Wiseman’s husband, Tom Wiseman, plus husband and wife Paul and Kathy Blahunka.
An image of an oil painting of the Church of St. Mary by artist Bridget Halloran is on the labels of two wine bottles in a special collection highlighting the church’s 150th anniversary. (Rebecca Quackenbush)
Initially, they were going to work with a winery in California, but that would have required them to buy a large amount of wine.
“There was such an interest by a majority of the people at a meeting that we kept exploring it,” Wiseman said. Anniversary Planning Committee Co-Chairs Kirk and Nadine Shepard connected them with Emily Long of Lake Forest, who co-owns Oakwood Vines with her husband, Rick Long.
“She started exploring different wineries that she works with. They’re all boutiques. None of the great big wineries want to do anything like this,” Wiseman said. “She got samples in. We did tastings. We zeroed in on five different wines.”
Those were Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sparkling Wine.
“We’re able to preorder wine. We can order one bottle or we can order a thousand bottles,” Emily Long said.
“They weren’t locked into something where they weren’t sure how much they could sell,” Rick Long said.
“Then we said, ‘Let’s showcase our original church,’” Wiseman recalled. They decided to use an oil painting of the church by Bridget Halloran and images of two of the beautiful stained-glass windows in the church for the labels on the bottles of the wine.
This was a familiar process for the Longs. Emily Long has designed labels for private events, such as weddings and fundraisers.
Prices for the wine range from $36.50-$44.50 per bottle. At press time, over 150 bottles had already been sold. To order the wine, visit churchofstmary.org/150wine.
“Our committee is hoping that we can raise enough money—not just from this wine program but the merchandise that we’re selling—to pay for all the events we are having for the 150th,” Wiseman said.
Rick Long said that he was happy to contribute a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the wine to the Church of St. Mary.
“My kids have all grown up going to St. Mary,” Rick Long said. “I’ve got four children, and they received all of their sacraments there; a couple of them went to preschool there. It was a way of giving back.”
The yearlong celebration started with a kickoff picnic on Sept. 14 that was attended by over 500 people.
Wiseman is particularly excited about one upcoming event. Father Robert J. Miller, a retired priest and author, will talk about his book “Faith of the Fathers” in April. The book is about how Catholic priests ministered to the Civil War soldiers.
Images of the magnificent stained-glass windows at the Church of St. Mary in Lake Forest are on three of the labels of wine bottles from Oakwood Vines in Lake Forest in celebration of the church’s 150th anniversary. (Rebecca Quackenbush)
Wine sales will continue throughout the celebration year, with different labels on the bottles to commemorate different occasions, such as Easter.
To learn about additional events in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Church of St. Mary, visit churchofstmary.org/celebrating-150-years.
Thriving for 150 years is a rare milestone. “I believe that there is such a commitment of the people that attend there,” Wiseman concluded. She praised the “caring, loving, respectful nature of what’s going on and the good work that people do. We’re so involved in the food pantry, we have overseas ministries, we have ministries within the United States. People are very, very engaged in all of these things.”
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/lake-forest-church-of-st-mary-150/
Lake County anti-gun violence group moves to solidify funding: ‘We’ve stopped a lot of shootings and killings’
As Lake County’s Gun Violence Prevention Initiative — created in the wake of the 2022 Highland Park July 4 parade shooting that shocked the region — enters its fifth year in 2026, it is moving to solidify its funding and create long-term programs.
The initiative is part of a growing trend of community violence interruption models across the country, and the field has seen growing professionalization as it gains acceptance.
On the ground, the GVPI is most visible through the Lake County Peacemakers, an initiative made up of a team of just over a dozen “credible messengers” — trained staff with ties to the community and area.
Tierra Lemon, director of the GVPI, said reliability is key for these messengers. That means a hyper-local approach with people who know the community and can connect with residents, often having overcome similar challenges to those they work with, she said.
“If there’s a youth who may be at high-risk, if the team doesn’t know them specifically, they may know their aunt, they may know their uncle,” Lemon said.
According to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, about $1 million goes through the Waukegan Township to the Peacemakers program.
Peacemakers is led by Shawn Lewis, who has nearly 15 years of experience in the field of violence interruption. He previously worked with what was formerly known as CeaseFire in Chicago, now called Cure Violence.
Lewis trained with Gary Slutkin, a former professor of epidemiology and global health at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, who founded Cure Violence and was a pioneering voice in the approach of treating violence and crime like an infectious disease.
Lewis views violence as a learned behavior, and said Peacemakers’ work in Lake County is to try and change the mindset of those committing crimes and shootings. Their goal is to get the most high-risk individuals to further their education, gain employment, and step out of cycles of violence.
High-risk individuals might be those just out of jail or living in a bad area, Lewis said. They sign up for the Peacemaker’s program and are given a tailored 90-day risk-reduction plan.
“We ask them, ‘What do you want to do?’” Lewis said. “After that 90 days, we try to take them from a high-risk to a low-risk.”
Credible messengers aren’t just connecting people to training programs, however. They also work to actively diffuse tension before and after incidents of gun violence, and have stepped into more than 50 conflict incidents over the years, Lewis said.
“We’re hoping to get guns out of people’s hands,” he said. “We want everybody to get home at the end of the night to their kids, to their family.”
For now, at least, the Peacemakers are operating in three Lake County cities — North Chicago, Waukegan and Zion. Lewis is from North Chicago and Waukegan himself, and said the work is personal.
“I love that it’s getting safer for my mom to walk into Walmart,” he said. “My kids ride their bikes up and down the streets, and go to the park without me having to hold their hand.”
The three communities have seen decreases in firearm homicides and non-fatal firearm injuries since peaking in 2022, which saw 23 fatal and 102 non-fatal shootings. In 2024, there were nine firearm homicides and 38 non-fatal shootings. Homicide data comes from the Lake County Coroner’s Office, and shooting data comes from law enforcement, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said.
While correlation isn’t causation, Rinehart said, “Gun violence is down everywhere these programs are.
“The jurisdictions and physical areas that use these programs to talk with kids, and get into their decision-making process before something bad happens, are seeing much larger decreases in gun violence than the areas that don’t have it,” he said.
County Board member Paul Frank said he’s convinced; the data shows violent crime is down.
“I’ve seen data that demonstrates the value,” Frank said. “Efforts to reduce crime and violent crime are multi-factored; this is one part of it.”
The programs have also enjoyed support from local law enforcement and city leadership, Rinehart said.
But while law enforcement and Peacemakers have shared goals — and what Rinehart, Lewis and Lemon described as a “professional understanding” — credible messengers do not report to police. And while they collaborate with the State’s Attorney’s Office, Peacemakers are employed through Waukegan Township. Those minor distinctions have critical implications for Peacemakers’ on-the-ground credibility.
The two play different roles, they explained, with the Peacemakers able to potentially de-escalate incidents before they occur, or help diffuse tensions after incidents using personal connections and discussions.
Growing trend
Dallas Wright is the assistant director of communications with the Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research & Science at Northwestern University. Launched in 2018, the center researches community violence interruption.
While the approach has gone by various names, fundamentally, such programs utilize hyper-local, credible messengers with direct ties to the community, Wright said.
These programs have historically faced funding challenges, Wright said. And according to Steve Spagnolo, Lake County chief of government relations and external affairs, inconsistent funding can be devastating, with violence shooting up after the money dries up.
“Studies have shown it takes five years to get back to the place where the violence was previously,” Spagnolo said.
But things have begun to change, Wright said, with a switch from private or grant funding to public money. Lake County, which recently shifted the GVPI to county funding, is an example of a broader shift that goes back to the pandemic, when the American Rescue Plan Act money pushed millions of federal dollars into similar initiatives across the country.
And as money stabilizes, the field has begun to innovate, seeing increased standardization and professionalization, Wright said. Stable funding reduces existential threats to programs, meaning more multi-year evaluations.
Wright said the field has also matured, with people beginning to progress vertically through organizations and assuming leadership roles. There’s been a growing acceptance and recognition of community violence interruption.
But while preventing violence is the end goal for such programs, he said the work can involve various services, from education and employment to housing.
Lemon said Lake County’s initiative is an overarching umbrella of efforts to reduce gun violence. Beyond Peacemakers, they work in youth engagement, resource ecosystem, intervention, restorative justice, victim services and firearm risk reduction — all aspects highlighted by the GVPI to help address root causes of gun violence.
It includes work such as the State’s Attorney Office’s diversion programs, where first-time gun possessors — not shooters — can go through a 9-12 month treatment to potentially have the charge dismissed. Twenty-three people have taken part in 2025, Rinehart said.
Lemon said they’ve also held various town halls to spread awareness, but also keep in touch with the ever-changing perceptions and concerns of community members.
For Lewis, they’ve done good work.
“We’ve stopped a lot of shootings and killings on the front end,” he said. “We’ve gotten some people in our program into school … got some pretty good jobs. We changed a lot of people’s lives.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/18/lake-county-gun-violence-prevention/
Napoli vence 2-0 al AC Milan y avanza a la final de la Supercopa de Italia
RIAD, Arabia Saudí (AP) — La estrella del Napoli Rasmus Højlund brillo y el campeón defensor de la Serie A venció el jueves 2-0 al AC Milan para alcanzar la final de la Supercopa de Italia.
El exjugador del Manchester United asistió en un gol y anotó el otro para llevar al Napoli a la final del lunes. El Napoli jugará contra el ganador de la otra semifinal, que se disputa el viernes, entre el Bologna, ganador de la Copa de Italia, y el subcampeón de la Serie A, el Inter de Milán.
La Supercopa de Italia, que se juega en Arabia Saudí, involucra a los ganadores y subcampeones de la Serie A y la Copa de Italia de la temporada pasada.
El Milan perdió ante el Bologna la pasada final de la Copa de Italia.
Los Rossoneri, que ganaron la Supercopa de Italia la temporada pasada, llevaban camisetas especiales con sus nombres en letras árabes en la parte posterior.
Tanto el Milan como el Napoli estaban lidiando con numerosos problemas de lesiones, pero el Napoli dio la bienvenida de nuevo a Romelu Lukaku al equipo por primera vez desde que se desgarró un músculo en agosto.
Lukaku, quien probablemente fue incluido en caso de penales, inició en el banco y celebró ambos goles.
El Napoli tomó la delantera poco antes del descanso. El portero del Milan, Mike Maignan, alcanzó a tocar con la punta de los dedos el centro bajo de Højlund, pero solo logró empujarlo aún más hacia el camino de David Neres, quien lo empujó al fondo de la red en el segundo poste.
Højlund se anotó en el marcador él mismo a los 64 minutos con un disparo al ángulo tras otro pase filtrado de Leonardo Spinazzola, quien también asistió a Højlund para el primer gol.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Court Axes Trevor Milton Lawsuit, Awards Attorney’s Fees To CNBC And Hindenburg
Court Axes Trevor Milton Lawsuit, Awards Attorney’s Fees To CNBC And Hindenburg
A New Jersey appellate court on Monday threw out Trevor Milton’s lawsuit against CNBC and short-seller Hindenburg Research, ruling that the case was time-barred and improperly framed.
In a unanimous opinion, the Appellate Division held that Milton’s claims—styled as “trade libel”—were, in substance, ordinary defamation claims subject to New Jersey’s one-year statute of limitations. Because Milton filed suit well after that deadline, the court ordered the case dismissed with prejudice and directed the trial court to award attorneys’ fees and costs to the defendants under the state’s anti-SLAPP law.
The panel rejected Milton’s attempt to recharacterize his allegations as trade libel to avoid dismissal, concluding that the complained-of statements targeted Milton personally and concerned his credibility and conduct, not any product he sold. Since the underlying claim against CNBC failed, the court also dismissed Milton’s related allegation that Hindenburg aided and abetted the network’s reporting. At oral argument, Milton’s counsel conceded that the Hindenburg claim could not survive independently. The court emphasized that New Jersey’s Uniform Public Expression Protection Act exists to deter lawsuits aimed at punishing or chilling reporting on matters of public concern.
The lawsuit stemmed from CNBC coverage and Hindenburg Research reports in 2020 that scrutinized Milton and his electric-truck startup Nikola Corp. The reporting alleged that Milton had exaggerated Nikola’s technological capabilities, including claims about proprietary battery systems and a prototype truck that was later shown to have rolled downhill rather than driven under its own power.
Milton argued that the coverage destroyed his reputation and future business prospects, asserting that CNBC knowingly broadcast falsehoods and that Hindenburg coordinated with the network to amplify them.
Both defendants countered that their reporting was accurate, newsworthy, and protected speech. Lower courts initially dismissed portions of Milton’s complaint, and the Appellate Division’s decision effectively ends the case entirely, while opening the door for CNBC and Hindenburg to recover significant legal fees. The ruling marks one of the more forceful recent applications of New Jersey’s anti-SLAPP protections to high-profile media defendants.
The decision arrives as Milton continues efforts to rebuild his business career after his dramatic fall from Nikola, which he founded in 2014 and led until his resignation in the wake of the 2020 allegations. Since then, Milton has publicly promoted new entrepreneurial ventures and investments outside Nikola, positioning himself as an innovator once again despite ongoing controversy surrounding his past claims.
After Hindenburg Research published its September 2020 report, Nikola itself publicly acknowledged that several of Trevor Milton’s prior statements were inaccurate or misleading. The company admitted that a promotional video showing a Nikola One truck “in motion” had been filmed by rolling the vehicle downhill rather than driving it under its own power, contradicting earlier impressions that the truck was fully functional.
Nikola also walked back claims that it had developed proprietary battery technology in-house, conceding that it had relied on third-party suppliers rather than owning breakthrough battery innovations as Milton had suggested. In subsequent disclosures, Nikola stated that Milton had made statements about the company’s technology and readiness that were not always supported by facts, and it emphasized that those statements were not authorized by the company—an acknowledgment that helped cement the core factual basis of the scrutiny triggered by the Hindenburg report.
Milton was indicted by federal prosecutors in 2021 on wire fraud and securities fraud charges, went to trial in 2022, and was convicted for misleading investors about Nikola’s technology and readiness. He was later spared further punishment after receiving a presidential pardon by President Trump, which wiped out the conviction.
Hindenburg Research closed up its shop at the beginning of 2025, and Milton has since moved on to his new venture, SyberJet. You can read the NJ court’s opinion here.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/18/2025 – 16:40
