US Gov’t Foils Terror Plot By Far-Left Group Plotting New Year’s Eve Bomb Attack

Tyler Durden
Mon, 12/15/2025 – 14:45

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/us-govt-foils-terror-plot-far-left-group-plotting-new-years-eve-bomb-attack 

A Cook County judge on Monday found a Chicago police officer not guilty of sexually abusing a woman while she was in custody and handcuffed to a wall.

Officer Stephan Shaw, 33, who has been relieved of his police powers and detailed to the alternate response section, had been charged with multiple felony counts including aggravated criminal sexual abuse, custodial sexual misconduct and official misconduct.

In acquitting Shaw, Judge Adrienne Davis pointed to what she said were multiple inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony, but she still condemned Shaw for exchanging Facebook messages with a woman he had arrested. Davis had been overseeing the bench trial that began in October.

“This court finds that Mr. Shaw’s conduct was inappropriate in the least and the citizens of the city of Chicago deserve better,” Davis said. “But the state … did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Last month, the woman, then 22, took the stand and testified that Shaw, while on duty, stuck his hands down her shorts and touched her inappropriately after she was arrested for shoplifting from a Michigan Avenue department store in May 2023. The Tribune is not naming her because she has alleged she is a victim of sexual assault.

Shaw’s attorney Tim Grace had argued that there is no physical or corroborating evidence to support the woman’s allegations.

The woman testified that Shaw groped her and forced her to touch him during the booking process at the Near North District (18th) station. He positioned himself so it appeared like he was adjusting her handcuffs, she said.

After she was released from custody, the woman and Shaw exchanged messages on Facebook messenger about her next court date and Shaw asked if she wanted to go out for pizza.

She testified that she did not want him to touch her, nor did she want to touch him.

“I just wanted to go home,” she said.

The woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Shaw and the city of Chicago, alleging that while she was being processed after her arrest, Shaw subjected her to a “barrage of sexually explicit comments and propositions.”

Davis noted the pending lawsuit, saying in her ruling that the woman contacted a civil attorney before reporting the assault to police.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/cpd-officer-sexual-assault-verdict/ 

DePaul University has laid off 114 staff members to help plug its budget deficit, school officials announced Monday.

The reduction accounts for 7.6% of full-time and part-time staff, according to a message from President Rob Manuel. The university is aiming to reduce $27.4 million in spending following a dramatic drop in international enrollment.

“Supporting our students and providing an excellent education remain our top priority,” Manuel wrote. “We want to emphasize that university leaders worked to minimize cuts to the student experience, including on-campus employment.”

DePaul is facing a $12.6 million budget deficit for the 2026 fiscal year. To maintain long-term sustainability, the university is also aiming for a 2.5% operating margin — which means another $14.8 million in cuts.

Every area across the university will be impacted by staff and operational cuts, DePaul said.

About $11.4 million in savings will come from eliminating merit raises, a hiring freeze, reducing 403(b) contributions and executive pay cuts. The remaining $16 million in cuts will come from the layoffs and other operating expense reductions.

Manuel called recent weeks “some of the most difficult our community has ever experienced.” Impacted staff will be provided with severance packages, he said.

DePaul announced in October that there are 755 fewer international students enrolled compared with last fall. The drop was even steeper for first-year international graduate student enrollment, which declined by nearly 62%.

Increased vetting, travel bans and a temporary pause in visa interviews under President Donald Trump has created a maze of obstacles for foreign students. International enrollment declined at nearly two dozen universities across the state, a Tribune analysis found.

Other factors are squeezing DePaul’s budget. Student financial aid is expected to cost the university roughly $7 million above budgeted levels. Higher health care costs are also adding strain — overall benefit costs have grown by $23 million over the past five years, the university previously said.

Continuing undergraduate enrollment has also dropped by roughly 300 students.

“During these pivotal times for higher education, we can all find strength in those shared acts of compassion and service that define our community,” Manuel said.

A spokesperson added that DePaul is launching a new strategic plan to create alternative revenue streams and “build a resilient and mission-aligned future.”

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Other Chicago universities have struggled amid demographic shifts and federal funding cuts. Northwestern University, which faced a $790 million federal funding freeze, eliminated 425 staff positions in July. The University of Chicago announced spending and hiring reductions in August to alleviate its structural deficit.

Columbia College Chicago also laid off 20 faculty members in June, seeking to close a $40 million shortfall.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/depaul-university-layoffs/ 

Por ROB MAADDI y STEVE MEGARGEE

Una resonancia magnética confirmó que el destacado cazamariscales de los Packers de Green Bay, Micah Parsons, se rompió el ligamento cruzado anterior de la rodilla izquierda, dijo el lunes a la Associated Press una persona con conocimiento de los resultados de la prueba.

La persona habló bajo condición de anonimato porque el equipo no ha anunciado los resultados. Parsons quedó fuera por el resto de la temporada.

Schultz Report fue el primero en informar sobre los resultados de la resonancia magnética.

La lesión sin contacto ocurrió el domingo durante el tercer cuarto de la derrota de Green Bay por 34-26 ante Denver, lo que rompió la racha de cuatro victorias consecutivas de los Packers y los sacó del primer lugar en la NFC Norte. Los Packers (9-4-1) visitan el sábado a los Bears de Chicago, líderes de la NFC Norte (10-4).

Parsons había superado al tackle derecho Mike McGlinchey y estaba persiguiendo al quarterback de los Broncos, Bo Nix, cuando se detuvo y cayó al suelo. Parsons se agarró la rodilla mientras los entrenadores y compañeros de equipo se acercaban para revisarlo.

“Puede que esté fuera de juego, pero no estoy derrotado”, afirmó Parsons el lunes en una publicación en redes sociales. “Esta lesión es mi mayor prueba, un momento que Dios permitió para fortalecer mi testimonio. Creo que ÉL camina conmigo a través de esta tormenta y me eligió para esta lucha porque sabía que mi corazón podría soportarlo. Estoy profundamente agradecido con la organización de los Packers y mis compañeros de equipo por su apoyo inquebrantable, amor y confianza en mí durante esta temporada. Confío en Su tiempo, Su plan y Su propósito. Me levantaré de nuevo. ¡Los quiero a todos!”

Parsons, de 26 años, tuvo 12 ½ capturas en 14 juegos este año, convirtiéndose en el primer jugador en tener al menos 12 en cada una de sus primeras cinco temporadas en la NFL desde que la liga comenzó a medirlo como una estadística oficial en 1982.

Esta fue la primera temporada de Parsons con los Packers, quienes enviaron sus selecciones de primera ronda de 2026 y 2027, así como al veterano liniero defensivo Kenny Clark a Dallas para adquirirlo. Los Packers también le dieron a Parsons un contrato de cuatro años por 188 millones, de los cuales 136 millones son garantizados, convirtiéndolo en el jugador no mariscal de campo mejor pagado de la liga.

Parsons había pasado cuatro temporadas con los Cowboys antes de que una disputa contractual lo llevara a solicitar un intercambio.

Ahora los Packers deben averiguar cómo aplicar una presión constante al mariscal de campo sin Parsons. El segundo en el equipo en capturas es Rashan Gary, quien tuvo 7 ½ de ellas en los primeros siete juegos de Green Bay, pero no ha tenido ninguna en los últimos siete encuentros de los Packers.

“Le dije que mantuviera la cabeza en alto y que vamos a terminar fuertes por él”, expresó Gary después del partido del domingo. “Eso fue lo que le dije. Voy a mantenerme en contacto con él a lo largo de lo que esté haciendo. Ese fue mi primer mensaje para él. Dolió. Dolió”.

___

Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/resonancia-confirma-rotura-del-ligamento-anterior-cruzado-de-parsons-segn-fuente/ 

Dwayne Tyson, coach of a Dixmoor middle school football team, said he stood on a Florida football field Wednesday with his team, just weeks after winning a national tournament in Las Vegas, with two minutes to go in the final Florida game.

The team, Grand Champions Elite, was attempting to become the first team to win both East and West Coast national champions during their final season together, which they called the last ride because the players are going to high school next year, and Tyson may retire. Tyson said he coached a lot of the players since they were 8.

At that final Florida game, he said the team had just recovered the ball but had 99 yards to go in two minutes. He said the passes, dives and runs felt like watching an NFL team on TV. The team was 5 yards from making a touchdown that would tie up the game when they lost the ball at the last second, he said.

The team placed second at that tournament out of 29 elite teams and first at the Las Vegas tournament out of 84 teams. More importantly, he said, the players had fun and made memories. His previous players, now 26, still recall and take similar pride in their accomplishments.

Tyson said many players were just excited to be traveling out of state or flying on a plane for the first time.

“The kids are just constantly saying thank you, and they get emotional about certain things like this because they say they just can’t believe we’re living the dream and actually doing this,” Tyson said. “A lot of the kids come from teams that say if you don’t have the money, then you don’t go, but I believe in no kid left behind.”

Tyson said they could not have done it without the donations they received. He said a lot of players come from low-income families and could not afford the travel costs, and the team made a plea for donations in early November.

The team qualified for national tournaments for the past five years and also asked for funding in 2023, when the team placed second in Division 1 of the 11-U championship, a national title.

“When you look at the kids being able to be down here, you know, for people to donate and they’re not even their kids, it’s doing a good deed and it goes a long way,” Tyson said. “These memories, these kids won’t forget this.”

Tyson said a few players had to stay home because their families did not want to send them without a parent but couldn’t afford to send multiple people. He also said several families saved money by driving to the Las Vegas and Florida tournaments.

Deon Stewart competes at a national tournament in Florida with his middle school Dixmoor football team Grand Champions Elite. (Dwayne Tyson)

Tyson said the team become a family, having meals together after every practice and spending a lot of time with each other outside of practices. He said this is important because he has lost 16 players to gun violence or sickness over the years.

“All type of stuff happens, it’s a real life thing and we are really close,” Tyson said. “And that doesn’t just stop now. When we come home, they usually still come to my house, and it’s a family, but that doesn’t mean every day is good. There is so much adversity.”

Tyson said the team members are not only successful on the field, but all the players also have 3.0 GPAs.

Tyson said he wants to focus more on mentorship as he retires from this program and said Thornton High School asked him to create a youth football program there next year.

Calumet City team

Another south suburban youth football team, the Midwest Knights, made it to a national tournament for the first time, and also sought financial assistance with the travel costs.

The team, based out of Calumet City and operating under Tomorrows Youth Foundation, went undefeated this season and qualified in late November for the 5 Star National Championship this past weekend in Atlanta, Georgia.

The team placed sixth in the tournament, just ahead of another Chicago area team, the 290 Elite.

Chance Peggs, the team’s new coach, said it is the first time the team qualified for a national championship and most of the players had never left the state to play football.

“It was kind of an unreal feeling for a lot of the boys, you know, the smiles on their faces, and I’m just trying to follow through with my promise to put them on a different platform,” Peggs said.

The Midwest Knights, a middle school football team in Calumet City, qualified for a national championship for the first time. (Chance Peggs)

He said several parents told him they would not be able to afford the travel costs. Peggs estimated it would cost $8,000 to cover the hotel, two van rentals, gas and food for the 25 players and their families.

The team raised $790 out of the $8,000 goal, through an online GoFundMe, as of Thursday. He said the van rental costs were covered via Double Good, a fundraising company teams and other organizations use to raise money by selling gourmet popcorn online.

Coaches and other families planned to cover the families who need help with the travel costs because they want every player to be able to attend, he said.

Peggs said he has seen how important attending national tournaments can be for young players, given his experience attending similar tournaments.

It not only give players the chance to be noticed by successful high school programs, but can inspire the players to see their own potential while also giving them a weekend away from hard things in their life.

Peggs planned to take the team to see an amusement park, along with the Georgia Bulldogs stadium to give them the chance to walk around, see where college teams play and hopefully see a vision of them being in a similar stadium some day.

The Midwest Knights, a middle school football team in Calumet City, during its fall 2025 season, in which it qualified for a national championship for the first time. (Chance Peggs)

“I’m really just trying to take the kids on a different adventure, save a lot of these kids’ lives, get them away from, sometimes, some of them, the setting they come from, where they have to battle going to school, just trying to get them away from all that for a weekend and just do different stuff,” Peggs said.

Peggs said he had the team focus on mental preparation because their plays were already pretty much down, but the tournament would be a new environment.

“It’s just mental preparation, what not to fall for, how to respond in certain situations, how to fight adversity if we’re down, something that we haven’t dealt with all year,” Peggs said.

awright@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/dixmoor-calumet-city-youth-football-teams-compete-in-national-championships/ 

Renegade Chicago aldermen battling with Mayor Brandon Johnson over competing 2026 budgets announced tweaks to their proposal Monday morning, but withheld critical details.

The City Council majority group is dropping its plan to raise the garbage pick-up fee, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, said in a statement. The group will also maintain youth summer job funding at levels first proposed by Johnson after previously pushing for a smaller amount, Villegas said.

The changes are an apparent bid to convince more colleagues to join them and blunt Johnson’s near-daily criticism that their package would hurt working class Chicagoans.

Johnson said Monday of the latest tweaks, “hopefully this is a sign that, through our advocacy for working people, these members understand the importance of not passing budgets that disproportionately impact people already experiencing Trump cuts and struggling to make the ends meet.”

Johnson had pledged to veto a budget with a garbage fee increase. He did not respond directly Monday when asked whether he would veto the alternate budget now that such an increase has been removed.

But the mayoral opponents omitted the hard part by declining to say how they would be able to balance the budget while adding those costs and cutting fees.

They had previously counted on their garbage fee hike to bring in $35 million and said their cuts to youth job spending would save $6.2 million, so they need new fees, taxes or cuts to replace that money in order to make the math work.

“We’ve seen nothing,” Ald. Jason Ervin, the City Council’s Budget Committee chair and a close Johnson ally, said Monday. “The devil is in the details in all of these things. We need to know and understand how this budget is balanced.”

And Johnson referred at his Monday news conference to “some exaggerated projections” from opponents for 2026, which he called irresponsible budget management that would increase the city’s deficit.

More details could come quickly as a group of the aldermen at odds with Johnson are set to meet with him Monday afternoon at City Hall. But the clock is ticking: Johnson and the City Council must pass a budget by the end of the year to avoid breaking state law and suffering murky, but surely destructive consequences.

And with just two holiday-filled weeks to get the job done, Johnson remains far from a majority of the 50-member council supporting his budget, while the backers of the aldermen’s competing budget are similarly distant from the supermajority of at least 34 votes they would need to overcome a possible mayoral veto.

Backers of the alternative budget led a charge last week to fill the City Council’s schedule with four meetings in four days, a move they said was needed to speed up negotiations. But around 30 members of the same group did not show up for the first such meeting Monday, a clearly coordinated decision that prevented a quorum needed to start the meeting.

During an impromptu news conference after the meeting failed to commence, progressives and other Johnson allies who attended said they received no notice from their competing colleagues.

“People have been working all through the weekend, but I think just to decency and respect, you call the meeting, you show up for the meeting,” Ervin said. “I’m disappointed that our colleagues have not decided to show up today to do the business of the people.”

Ervin and the other supporters of Johnson’s budget had little to say about the tweaked counter-proposal.

Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, left, speaks to Ald. Gregory Mitchell, 7th, after a City Council meeting at Chicago City Hall on Dec. 10, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Pressed on if changes will come to Johnson’s own 2026 package, which has already been decisively voted down in the Finance Committee and opposed in two petitions by City Council majorities, Ervin said he was open to proposed changes and waiting on others “to put something on the table that makes sense.”

“In life, I’ve determined that I’m not going to bargain against myself,” he said.

The largest sticking point for aldermen opposed to Johnson’s proposal remains his plan to reinstate a head tax at $33 a month for every worker at company’s with over 500 Chicago employees. Some progressive aldermen who do not oppose the head tax have also said they oppose Johnson’s plans to borrow money to pay for police settlements and firefighter backpay, as well as his plan to cut short a previously planned advanced pension payment.

On the other side, the tweaked counter-proposal announced Monday also includes a full restoration of the Chicago Public Library collections budget, as well as unspecified “additional funding” for gender-based violence programs, Villegas said.

The proposal’s biggest change, cutting plans to double garbage fees, could win over aldermen who complained that hike would hit working-class Chicagoans too hard.

Villegas said the plan now “represents the position of an even broader number of alders than we had just a few days ago.” He did not specify how many aldermen support the plan or who had been convinced to support it.

His statement referred to the changed plan as a “final proposal.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/renegade-aldermen-2026-budget-plan-withhold-details/ 

Por SAFIYAH RIDDLE

MONTGOMERY, Alabama, EE.UU. (AP) — Un grupo de estudiantes y profesores de universidades públicas en Alabama solicitó a un tribunal de apelaciones que detenga una ley estatal que prohíbe las iniciativas de diversidad, equidad e inclusión en las escuelas públicas y prohíbe el respaldo de lo que los legisladores republicanos denominaron “conceptos divisivos” relacionados con la raza y el género.

La medida de Alabama, que entró en vigor en octubre de 2024, es parte de una ola de propuestas de legisladores republicanos en todo el país que apuntan a los programas de inclusión en los campus universitarios.

La ley estatal prohíbe a las escuelas y universidades públicas usar fondos del gobierno para cualquier programa o currículo que respalde “conceptos divisivos” relacionados con la raza, la religión, la identidad de género y la religión. También se prohíbe a los instructores “alentar” a una persona a sentir culpa debido a esas identidades.

El juez federal de distrito, David Proctor, permitió que la ley permaneciera en vigor, escribiendo que la libertad académica de un profesor no anula las decisiones de una universidad pública sobre el contenido de la instrucción en el aula.

La ley “no anula toda enseñanza o discusión de estos conceptos del campus o, en ese caso, incluso del aula”, escribió Proctor. “Por el contrario, permite expresamente la instrucción en el aula que incluya ‘discusión’ de los conceptos enumerados siempre que la ‘instrucción se dé de manera objetiva sin respaldo’ de los conceptos”.

La apelación llega a raíz de un mandato del Departamento de Justicia en julio que describe cambios similares requeridos en los campus de escuelas públicas en todo el país. En 2025, los grupos de afinidad estudiantil han cerrado sus puertas, los profesores han sido puestos en licencia, las publicaciones estudiantiles negras han cerrado y los currículos han cambiado.

Antonio Ingram, abogado del Fondo de Defensa Legal que está con los demandantes, dijo en una entrevista que la ley no define claramente qué implica el respaldo, lo que hace que los profesores sean vulnerables a investigaciones frívolas y limita su capacidad para presentar investigaciones verificadas.

“La verdad se convierte en lo que el estado dice frente a lo que los investigadores independientes y teóricos y académicos han pasado décadas elaborando”, dijo Ingram.

Si se permite que se mantenga, dijo Ingram, la ley convierte a “las universidades en portavoces del estado que podrían ser utilizadas para propaganda, que podrían ser utilizadas para cosas que no son precisas ni empíricamente fundamentadas”.

Dana Patton, una demandante que enseña ciencias políticas en la Universidad de Alabama, en Tuscaloosa, dijo en una entrevista que la ley estatal la llevó a cambiar el currículo que ha enseñado durante décadas.

“Nos sentimos muy limitados por la vaguedad de la ley”, dijo Patton, ya que algunos estudiantes podrían malinterpretar una lección como respaldo de un cierto punto de vista.

El año pasado, cinco estudiantes se quejaron de que el currículo de Patton para el programa de honores interdisciplinario que administra está en conflicto con la ley. Patton insiste en que siempre ha tomado medidas para asegurar que se representen una amplia gama de puntos de vista, pero eso no ha calmado sus temores. Desde entonces, ha eliminado algunos materiales de su programa de estudios.

“Es simplemente más seguro no enseñar ciertas cosas y evitar posibles repercusiones o quejas”, dijo Patton.

______

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/profesores-y-estudiantes-piden-a-juez-anular-ley-de-alabama-que-prohbe-iniciativas-de-inclusin/ 

D.C. Appeals Court Pauses Boasberg’s Contempt Hearings On Trump Deportations

Tyler Durden
Mon, 12/15/2025 – 14:25

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dc-appeals-court-pauses-boasbergs-contempt-hearings-trump-deportations 

Former Illinois football coach Mike White, who led the Illini to the Rose Bowl in the 1983 season, died Sunday at age 89, the school announced.

White coached Illinois from 1980-87, going 47-41-3 and leading the Illini to three bowl games.

That included the 1983 team that went 10-1 in the regular season and 9-0 in the Big Ten. That’s the only team in Big Ten history to defeat every other conference member in the same season, according to Illinois’ sports information department. UCLA beat Illinois 45-9 in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2, 1984.

White was the Walter Camp and Big Ten coach of the year that season. His West Coast offense helped the Illinois passing game thrive under quarterbacks such as Tony Eason, Jack Trudeau and Dave Wilson.

White resigned from Illinois in 1988 after an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations. The team was placed on probation twice during his tenure for such violations, and the punishment included a postseason ban in the 1984 season and not being allowed to play on TV in 1985.

He began his head coaching career at California from 1972-77. He went on to coach in the NFL and was the Oakland Raiders head coach from 1995-96 and an offensive assistant for the St. Louis Rams from 1997-99, helping them win the Super Bowl in the 1999 season.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/15/illinois-football-mike-white-obit/ 

Wealthy U.S. Investors Embrace AI Tools… But Don’t Let Them Run Their Retirement Accounts

Tyler Durden
Mon, 12/15/2025 – 14:05

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/wealthy-us-investors-embrace-ai-tools-dont-let-them-run-their-retirement-accounts