A federal appeals court in Chicago issued a mixed opinion Thursday in a high-profile immigration case, blocking the immediate release of hundreds of people detained during Operation Midway Blitz but allowing the extension of a consent decree governing so-called warrantless arrests.

The 2-1 split opinion from the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings overstepped his authority in ordering the release of people arrested with “I-200” warrants that agents filled out in the field.

The appeals court said Cummings also erred in issuing a blanket order granting bond to other detainees who’d been arrested without judicially approved warrants, saying that each individual needed to be assessed for potential danger to the community.

“After all, this is not the bargain the Defendants agreed to, and the Consent Decree carefully maps out what the district judge can or cannot order, balancing Defendants’ immigration enforcement responsibilities…and the need to maintain public safety,” the majority opinion stated.

In upholding the extension of the consent decree until February, however, the majority opinion said Cummings “cited multiple instances where (immigration officials) had failed to comply with the Consent Decree while making warrantless arrests” and “also relied on the unilateral proclamation by a DHS senior official…that DHS would no longer comply with the Consent Decree.”

”Accordingly, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion when finding that Defendants’ substantial non-compliance with the Consent Decree constituted a significant change in circumstances that warranted a modification,” the majority opinion stated.

The appeals court agreed to stay its order on the consent decree extension to allow the Trump administration to file an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court.

The third member of the panel, Judge Thomas Kirsch II, dissented, saying Cummings went well beyond his authority both in his release order and in extending the consent decree, which he said essentially dictates how the executive branch should enforce the nation’s immigration laws.

“It was wrong about how much flexibility the executive branch is due when it gives up enforcement authority to the judiciary,” Kirsch wrote.

The ruling comes nearly a month after Cummings ordered the release of hundreds of detainees — the vast majority arrested during Operation Midway Blitz — on a $1,500 bond and some form of monitoring, including electronic ankle monitors, pending the outcome of their immigration proceedings.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, immediately asked for a stay from the 7th Circuit, arguing Cummings made a “bevy of legal errors” that put public safety at risk and “cripple” immigration enforcement.

At issue is a 2022 consent decree known as the Castañon Nava agreement, which bars agents from making warrantless immigration arrests unless they have probable cause to believe someone is in the U.S. unlawfully and that the person is a flight risk.

It was originally supposed to sunset in March. Instead, after the second Trump administration began ramping up immigration enforcement efforts in January, lawyers for the National Immigrant Justice Center and ACLU alleged dozens of violations, mostly involving “collateral arrests,” or the detaining of individuals who are not targets.

In his Oct. 7 order extending the consent decree until February, Cummings said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had improperly told its field offices over the summer that the consent decree had been canceled. He also called into question the recent immigration raid on an apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood, where agents in military gear burst through doors and zip-tied residents regardless of citizenship.

Cummings also took particular issue with a practice by ICE agents of carrying blank I-200 warrant forms with them on missions and filling them out at the scene.

U.S. Department of Justice attorney Benjamin Hayes said the government was seeking a stay on both the extension of the consent decree as well as Cummings’ release order pending a full appeal.

The 7th Circuit panel that heard the case included Kirsch, a Trump nominee who previously served as U.S. attorney in Hammond, as well as a pair of Democrat-nominated judges: John Lee, a President Barack Obama nominee, and Doris Pryor, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022.

During oral arguments last week, Lee said he found the Castañon Nava case unique because the Trump administration seemed to be arguing that the district court should not enforce a consent decree that “the government entered into eyes wide open.”

“The court is not kind of making things up on its own,” Lee said.

Lee cited a PowerPoint presentation disclosed during the litigation showing agents were being instructed to “go out with blank I-200 (warrants) to get around the requirements of the consent decree.”

Where is the line between operating in good faith and trying to duck a court order, Lee asked.

“It seems to me odd that the government — whoever has the White House at the time — can just say, ‘Oh, well, I think this sheet of paper is good enough,’” Lee said.

Toward the end of the 45-minute session, Kirsch asked Karen Zwick, the plaintiffs’ attorney with the National Immigrant Justice Center, whether issuing a stay of the consent decree extension would automatically trigger a stay on the release order as well.

“I think you’re probably right,” Zwick acknowledged.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/chicago-appeals-court-blocks-release-of-hundreds/ 

Addressing issues with food deserts in Gary is important to Mayor Eddie Melton, he said, going back to his days as an Indiana state senator.

“I tried to pass legislation to study food and pharmacy deserts in urban communities,” Melton said. “It didn’t pass, but I continued to try to work on it through other organizations, and coming in as mayor, I knew this was going to be an issue I wanted to address. … Based on Gary’s geographic footprint and our population, it’s clear we don’t have the level of quality and quantity of providers for fresh and healthy food.”

Indiana University Northwest professor Ellen Szarleta speaks during a press conference to highlight a grant to start the FAITH Food is Medicine program on Monday, October 17, 2022. (Kyle Telechan for the Post-Tribune)

The city of Gary and Indiana University Northwest have collaborated on a food security study, which is expected to be released in the early spring of 2026. Indiana University’s Center for Urban and Regional Excellence has worked to gather data from various resources, including the U.S. census, Feeding America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to understand food insecurity and what’s needed in Gary.

Ellen Szarleta, director of CURE, said the city approached the university to create the study, which will then help create strategies to help address food insecurity issues throughout Gary. The organization began work during the fall semester when students returned to campus, Szarleta said.

CURE looked at statistics over the course of a decade, Szarleta said, seeing what information might be available in cities, counties and states.

“If you look at some of the maps out there, you’re going to see that food desert areas that are mapped don’t stop in the urban core areas,” Szarleta said. “You can pretty clearly see that this is an issue that more than urban areas face, so it’s important to recognize that this doesn’t stop at city boundaries, and it goes into other municipalities and into other counties.”

Addressing food insecurity in Gary is “extremely timely,” Szarleta said, because food security and economic development go hand-in-hand. Since Melton was inaugurated, he’s focused on improving economic development and the quality of life, Szarleta said.

In August, two Gary grocery stores — Miller K Market and Save More Foods — closed due to health code violations. The two stores opened following early September health inspections, according to Post-Tribune archives.

Melton previously said the city increased inspections to raise standards for local businesses and “create healthier and safer spaces for our community.”

Szarleta believes the food security study will open conversations between the city of Gary and its residents that can find the best approaches to improving economically.

CURE has looked at food security before, Szarleta said, but the organization hasn’t focused specifically on Gary. The city and CURE have worked together on other projects, which Szarleta said is an important partnership to maintain.

“The city and other municipalities, they not only have the subject matter and expertise, but they know what will be most impactful,” Szarleta said. “The university can have the expertise but maybe not the connection to issues and what decision makers are thinking about those issues. When you bring those two together, you’ve got information that becomes very impactful.”

For Melton, the partnership between CURE and the city of Gary is important, and he’s worked with the organization for years, including when he was a state senator.

“Our working relationship and their expertise is able to bring people from different walks of life and different perspectives together to think through complicated issues, and it’s very helpful,” Melton said. “Having the credibility of a higher education institution that is based in Gary just makes it even more beneficial.”

Melton is already in conversation with local grocers to assess the viability of data from the food security study, he said. He expects the data will help discover where stores are needed to provide best access to fresh fruits and vegetables and quality meats.

So far, Melton has found most of the city’s stores on the perimeter of Gary, and he’s also considered having the city work with a private entity to sustain grocery stores.

“We’re also in conversation with other grocers to figure out the viability of their presence here, even if it’s not a full grocery store but having some of those essentials that we can have access to,” Melton said. “At the end of the day, I’m looking at this from a health perspective … and all those things that plague minority communities. That’s very important to me.”

Szarleta is excited for the study findings to be released because they will serve as a framework for decisions made citywide.

“I’m really excited about the fact that they’re embracing it, and we’re going to be contributing to it,” she said. “For the general public, increased awareness of the situation in Gary will be important, so people can see how much food insecurity affects them.”

mwilkins@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/gary-iun-collaborate-on-food-security-study-that-will-shape-city-actions/ 

Letitia James Off The Hook Again As 2nd Grand Jury Refuses To Indict

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/11/2025 – 18:50

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/letitia-james-hook-again-2nd-grand-jury-refuses-indict 

The heavily Republican-led Indiana Senate on Thursday rejected a mid-decade redistricting plan aimed at giving the state two additional GOP U.S. House members in a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump’s pressure to try to help maintain a congressional majority in next year’s midterm elections.

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Needing 25 votes for passage, only 19 Indiana state senators backed the plan, which the Indiana House had already approved, as 31 senators rejected it. The remap was designed to extend Indiana’s 7-2 GOP U.S. House delegation to 9-0 Republican. The state Senate chamber comprises 40 Republicans and 10 Democrats, meaning a majority of its GOP caucus sided against the rare mid-decade redistricting push.

Illinois played a role in the debate. Supporters of the effort cited Democratic-led states, such as Illinois, to argue that Indiana needed to act because heavily partisan congressional boundaries have denied the GOP proper representation in Washington, D.C. Illinois’ current map has resulted in a 14-3 Democratic House majority in its congressional delegation.

Led by Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois Democrats had been awaiting the outcome of the Indiana vote, warning that Illinois was ready to respond by redrawing its own boundaries to try to squeeze out at least one additional Democratic U.S. House district if Indiana Republicans had approved the new map. For now, it appears Illinois will stand down in that effort.

“Our neighbors in Indiana have stood up to Trump’s threats and political pressure, instead choosing to do what’s right for their constituents and our democracy,” Pritzker said in a statement on X. “Illinois will remain vigilant against his map rigging — our efforts to respond and stop his campaign are being heard.”

Democratic Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch described Indiana Republicans who voted against the remap as “courageous” and said they “rightly stood up to Donald Trump’s gerrymandering schemes.”

“To protect and preserve our Republic, we need more Republicans across the country to stand up and fight back against Trump and MAGA’s tyranny,” Welch said in a statement. “In Illinois, we remain vigilant and committed to protecting our democracy.”

But Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, who pushed the remap effort at Trump’s behest, said he was “very disappointed that a small group of misguided State Senators have partnered with Democrats to reject this opportunity to protect Hoosiers with fair maps and to reject the leadership of President Trump.”

“Ultimately, decisions like this carry political consequences,” Braun warned in a statement on X, echoing Trump’s comments that Republicans who opposed the remap might face Trump-backed opponents in next year’s primary. “I will be working with the President to challenge these people who do not represent the best interests of Hoosiers.”

The vote in Indianapolis came on Indiana’s 209th anniversary of statehood and many speakers in the nearly three hours of debate sought to frame the legislature’s actions in historic tones.

The Senate sponsor of the House-passed plan, Sen. Mike Gaskill of Pendleton, contended the nation’s sharp political divisions represented a “second Civil War” as he urged Republicans in the chamber to “stand up and fight” against Democrats, telling them they could either be “Churchills” or “Chamberlains.”

“The rhetoric that we hear from the national Democrat Party is absolutely insane. I know you guys don’t support that,” he told Republican members, “but they’re riling up people to commit heinous acts. We have to stop evil right now.”

Pointing to a map of Illinois’ congressional districts, Gaskill said, “The very things they are criticizing us for doing with this (new Indiana) map, they’re doing it for their political advantage and they’re watering down your voice.”

Conservative Sen. Greg Goode of Terre Haute reflected the tensions among Republican lawmakers in deciding whether to prioritize loyalty to Trump over voters’ feelings. He declared his “love” for Trump and his team in their efforts to push for a new map, but said his constituents guided his vote against it.

Goode decried that the nation’s political polarity outside the state had “now very blatantly infiltrated the political affairs in Indiana — misinformation, cruel social media posts, over the top pressure from within this state house and outside, threats of primaries, threats of violence, acts of violence.”

“Friends, we’re better than this. Are we not?” he asked. “We can’t allow ourselves to keep getting caught up in all of this noise. We have to redirect our focus on what really matters,” and he urged his colleagues to rely on “Hoosier common sense.”

Other Republicans, while expressing their commitment to conservatism, said the map lines drawn by an out-of-state GOP consultant divided areas of common interest and pushed some rural regions into the urban Indianapolis area. The bill would have split the 1st District, currently held by U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, a Democrat from Highland, into two, and the 7th District, currently held by U.S. Rep. André Carson, a Democrat from Indianapolis, into four districts.

Democratic state Sen. J.D. Ford of Indianapolis said government “works best when we listen to the folks who have elected us to serve,” but he said, “this map does not do that.”

“Overwhelmingly, Hoosiers, reaching out, have said one thing, and that is that they do not, and I do not, want to live in a country where our republic is as fickle as this legislation asks it to be,” Ford said.

Democratic state Sen. J.D. Ford speaks against a bill to redistrict the state’s congressional map, Dec. 11, 2025, at the Statehouse in Indianapolis. (Michael Conroy/AP)

But Sen. Liz Brown, a Republican from Fort Wayne, contended Republicans were underrepresented in the U.S. House and that the new map was needed to ensure Indiana conservatives have a stronger voice in the nation’s capital.

“The U.S. is waiting. The U.S. is waiting to make sure that we move forward as a democratic republic, not a Socialist Democrat country,” she said.

Brown said that while critics of the redistricting contend “Hoosier voices are going to be harder to hear, without this, they’re going to be silenced because there will be no conservative voices in Washington, D.C.”

Sen. Chris Garten of Charlestown was among the most vocal in saying the state’s Republicans needed to assist Trump in Washington by passing the new map.

“Make no mistake, for the last four years our country was burning. We are only now, in this last year, beginning to clear the smoke and to see the light again,” Garten said in contrasting Trump to his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.

“The White House, our partners in Washington, have asked us for help. … They’ve not asked us for money and they’ve not asked us for blind loyalty. They have asked us for reinforcements,” he said. “By passing this map, we are amplifying the voice of the Hoosier value system that is currently saving this country.”

Sen. Michael Young, an Indianapolis Republican, went so far as to liken the vote for the map to Abraham Lincoln’s issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation and Harry Truman’s desegregation of the armed forces, saying they were not universally popular moves in the short term but necessary.

“I don’t want to wake up the morning after the election in November and find out we lost the (U.S) House of Representatives by one vote. If I knew that I did that, I would feel horrible,” the lawmaker said. “Only a handful of districts throughout the United States will determine who controls Congress, and we may or may not do our part today to keep our nation in the hands of Republicans and to do the right things for our state.”

Trump and White House allies had spent several months trying to pressure Indiana Republicans to take up the redistricting issue against internal state GOP opposition among institutionalists who did not want to break the traditional post-federal census redrawing of districts in line with new population data.

On the Wednesday night eve of the vote, Trump complained about the reluctance of Indiana Republicans, saying other GOP-led states have embraced mid-decade redistricting “willingly, openly and easily.” He also called out the Republican Senate president pro tempore, Rodric Bray of Martinsville, as someone who “enjoys being the only person in the United States of America who is against Republicans picking up extra seats.”

Trump also encouraged primary challenges against Republicans who opposed the new map.

“Rod Bray and his friends won’t be in Politics for long, and I will do everything within my power to make sure that they will not hurt the Republican Party, and our Country, again,” he wrote. “One of my favorite States, Indiana, will be the only State in the Union to turn the Republican Party down!”

Kukulka is a reporter for the Post-Tribune. Chicago Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner contributed.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/illinois-democrats-applaud-as-gop-led-indiana-senate-rebuffs-president-trumps-push-for-new-redistricting-map/ 

While farming associations and officials applauded President Donald Trump’s announcement earlier this week to provide $12 billion in aid to farmers struggling under his far-reaching tariff policies, some Illinois farmers say more needs to be done.

“It was all over TV on those news channels, it was everywhere,” said Ben Curtin, 73, a corn and soybean farmer in Taylorville. “I was glad that they’re going to do something, but nothing’s going to make up for them killing the Chinese market.”

The soybean industry has been hit hard, especially in Illinois, the No. 1 soybean producer in the country. Last year, the state exported more than $1.4 billion worth of soybeans to China, the world’s largest buyer, according to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

The aid package, unveiled during a White House roundtable Monday afternoon, marks one of the administration’s latest moves to bring some stability to a farming industry increasingly beset by lower crop prices and lost export markets. A combination of the country’s trade wars and rising costs has led to projections of billions in losses for growers this year.

Of the total aid package, $11 billion will be used for one-time payments through the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program to row crop farmers, who grow soybeans, corn and wheat, among others. Those payments are expected to be released by Feb. 28, 2026.

The other $1 billion will be spent on commodities that are not covered by the program, including specialty crops and sugar, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.

But farmers across Illinois say they need trade over aid.

“We think it’s a positive first step,” said Scott Gaffner, a soybean farmer in Greenville. “What I think everybody needs to also understand is there’s been a lot of losses incurred to farmers … But ultimately, remember, our goal is not to have financial assistance through the government. Our goal is to have fair trade opportunities with our buyers.”

Soybeans, corn and other major crop industries in Illinois have struggled from other pressures too. American farmers have had to increasingly contend with South American markets, while they face growing costs from fertilizers and equipment, squeezing their bottom lines.

Soybean seeds in the hopper of a no-till drill in south suburban Manhattan on April 24, 2025. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Meanwhile, farming associations praised the Trump administration’s decision to take the edge off losses incurred by farmers. “While we await additional details, we believe the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program is a positive first step to restore certainty as soybean farmers market this year’s crop and plan for the 2026 planting season,” the American Soybean Association said in a statement.

Monday’s announcement was also quickly lauded by some state lawmakers.

“President Trump’s announcement (Monday) of $12 billion in one-time bridge payments to support America’s farmers is welcome news for Southern Illinois,” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, six-term congressman from Murphysboro, said in a statement.

The Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods saw Beijing cut all its imports of U.S. soybeans from May until an agreement was reached in October to restore a fraction of those purchases.

The trade deal reached by the Trump administration with Beijing required the country to buy 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans before the end of the year. But reports say that the USDA on Dec. 5 confirmed that only about 2.25 million tons of soybeans have been purchased.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also announced the year-end deadline for the trade agreement has been extended until the end of February, a decision that has stoked more unease in the farming community.

“ There’s so much smoke and mirrors going on that it’s extremely frustrating,” Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II told the Tribune.  ”Farmers are being crushed. You’ve got a number of farmers that have had to sell into very depressed commodity markets. You’ve got other farmers who are storing grain, hoping to see some price recovery.”

In its first term, the Trump administration similarly implemented a bailout program known as the Market Facilitation Program, a USDA program that provided direct payments to farmers who had been hurt by the trade war.

Federal assistance for farmers at the time of Trump’s first trade war reached around $23.1 billion, about twice the amount of Monday’s aid package. The original bailout program received criticism for not evenly distributing its assistance to farmers who had been hurt the most.

“While we await additional details to assess the impact that the farmer bridge assistance program will have on corn growers, we also need immediate market-based solutions,” the National Corn Growers Association said in a statement. In search of more long-term solutions, the soybean and corn farming industries have shifted some of their attention to more biofuel production to expand their markets.

After Monday’s announcement, though, farmers across the state, including John Bartman, a soybean farmer in Marengo, hope that more can be done to save their livelihood.

“Agriculture is still the No. 1 industry in Illinois,” Bartman said. “I see what’s happening. And there are a lot of really good farmers out there who are also frustrated by this whole situation because they don’t understand what’s happening.”

Jerry Wu is a freelancer.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/illinois-farmers-trump-aid-soybeans/ 

Senate Democrats Unite To Condemn Tucker Carlson Over Nick Fuentes Interview

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/11/2025 – 18:25

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/senate-democrats-unite-condemn-tucker-carlson-over-nick-fuentes-interview 

The following items were taken from Naperville police reports and press releases. An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt:

An 18-year-old man from Plainfield was arrested on two charges of battery at 1:02 a.m. Dec. 7 in the 0 to 100 block of Testa Drive.
A 48-year-old man from Hammond, Indiana, was arrested on a warrant and on charges of burglary and criminal damage to property/$500 to $10,000/school or place of worship at 1:39 p.m. Dec. 7 in the 700 block of South Route 59.
A 21-year-old man from Naperville was arrested on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol at 10:10 p.m. Dec. 7 in the 1100 block of Book Road.
A 19-year-old woman from Naperville was arrested on a charge of retail theft not exceeding $300 at 1:06 a.m. Dec. 8 at the police station, 1350 Aurora Ave.
A 21-year-old man from Katy, Texas, was arrested on a charge of retail theft at 4:20 p.m. Dec. 8 in the 2500 block of West 75th Street.
A 48-year-old man from Whitestone, New York, was arrested on a charge of residential burglary at 9:15 p.m. Dec. 8 at the police station, 1350 Aurora Ave.
A 26-year-old man from Naperville was arrested on two warrants at 12:52 a.m. Dec. 9 at West Ogden Avenue and West 5th Avenue.
A 71-year-old woman from Crest Hill was arrested on a warrant at 6:45 p.m. Dec. 9 in the 1800 block of Wehrli Road.

A 50-year-old woman from Naperville was arrested on charges of driving the wrong way and driving under the influence of alcohol at 8:22 p.m. Dec. 9 at Rieser Circle and Clyde Drive.

A 51-year-old man from Aurora was arrested on four warrants at 6:33 p.m. Dec. 10 at the police station, 1350 Aurora Ave.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/naperville-police-arrests-blotter-december-3/ 

Por LIAM McEWAN

LOS ÁNGELES (AP) — Hace tres años, Arden Cho estaba lista para dejar la actuación. Había conseguido su primer papel protagónico en la serie de Netflix “Partner Track”, solo para ver cómo se cancelaba después de una temporada. Estaba desolada.

Su agente no la dejó ir. “Se negó a decir ‘Has terminado’. Simplemente seguía enviándome cosas”, dijo Cho. “Seguía diciéndome: ‘Mira, sé que no estás haciendo audiciones. Sé que no quieres más, pero creo que te gustaría esto’”.

Ahora, Cho está manejando múltiples proyectos después de dar voz al personaje principal Rumi en la sensación animada de verano de Netflix “KPop Demon Hunters” (“Las guerreras K-pop”), que se ha convertido en la película más vista de todos los tiempos en la plataforma, y ha generado los pegajosos temas “Golden” y “Soda Pop” mientras su banda sonora dominaba las listas de pop.

“Estoy tan lista”, dijo Cho. “Siento que es mi momento dorado”.

Ahora, Cho está entre los Artistas Revelación de 2025 de The Associated Press. El momento se siente casi cósmico. Netflix anunció que “KPop Demon Hunters” fue su película más vista el 26 de agosto, exactamente tres años después de que comenzara a transmitir “Partner Track”. “Fue como un regalo de Dios, de ‘oye, perdiste algo, pero te he dado algo mejor’”, dijo Cho.

Cho, quien no canta en la película, dice que ve sus propias inseguridades en el personaje, una ídolo del K-pop y cazadora de demonios que pierde su voz. Y está lista para unirse a más historias en el mundo creado por Maggie Kang.

“Espero que haya secuelas, espero que haya precuelas, espero que cada niña y niño asiático se sientan muy reflejados y sientan que merecen ser el personaje principal. Espero que esto abra puertas para más proyectos colaborativos entre coreanos y estadounidenses”, dice. “Espero que… Rumi pueda descubrir un poco más sobre su mamá y su papá. Espero saber cómo HUNTR/X se convirtió en HUNTR/X. Y espero poder ir a salvar a Jinu”.

La película ha generado una nueva ola de interés mundial en la comida coreana, la cultura y la vida de los ídolos del K-pop, en la que Cho, sus coprotagonistas y los cantautores detrás de HUNTR/X se han apoyado mientras la gira de promoción de la película avanza hacia la temporada de premios de Hollywood.

“Me siento tan bendecida de poder tener estas conversaciones porque estoy tan orgullosa de ser, obviamente, estadounidense, pero al mismo tiempo, también estoy tan orgullosa de ser coreana”, dijo Cho.

Al crecer en Texas y Minnesota, no pensaba mucho en la identidad racial. Pero mientras asistía a la Universidad de Illinois en Urbana-Champaign, algo cambió. “Me di cuenta de que fue la primera vez que pensé, oh, la gente me mira y no piensa que soy estadounidense”, recordó. “Y fue interesante porque me di cuenta en ese momento, hay dos formas de verlo. Puedes simplemente enojarte y decir, ‘Oh, odio que no tengamos representación, odio a la gente que no nos ve, odio que la gente no vea nuestras historias’, o puedes decir, ‘Voy a intentarlo’”.

Así que lo intentó. En 2007, se mudó a Los Ángeles. “Fue difícil dejar atrás a mis amigos y familia, fue difícil mantenerme positiva y no permitir que las cosas me afectaran. Todavía no tengo la piel tan gruesa”, dijo.

Encontró éxito como la poderosa Kira Yukimura en la serie “Teen Wolf” de MTV a partir de 2014, pero de lo contrario luchó por encontrar papeles sustanciosos antes de “Partner Track”.

Para el drama legal, finalmente fue la número uno en la lista de llamadas. Pero dice: “Parpadeé y se acabó y estaba devastada”.

“Soy del tipo de personalidad que quiere cuidar de todo y de todos. Y quiero hacerlo todo. Y creo que toda esa experiencia pasó de una manera en la que terminó antes de comenzar”, dijo Cho. “Perdí mi momento porque estaba tan ocupada tratando de hacerlo perfecto, tratando de arreglarlo todo por mí misma. Y de una manera extraña, me recuerda mucho a Rumi”.

Luego llegó “KPop Demon Hunters”. La productora de la película, Michelle Wong, dijo que ella y otros cineastas redujeron a los finalistas a seis actores, luego hicieron una “prueba de escucha” a ciegas para elegir la voz de Rumi. Cho fue la elección unánime.

“Nuestra película es dramática, es acción, es comedia, es todo. El talento necesita estar al más alto nivel, lo cual, ya sabes, Arden obviamente encapsula todo eso. Tiene un gran rango”, dijo Wong. “Espero que esto le abra puertas porque lo merece”.

Cho celebró su cumpleaños número 40 en agosto, cuando “Demon Hunters” alcanzaba su punto máximo de popularidad.

“Creo que para las mujeres, a veces la gente siente tímida para decir eso porque piensan que 40 es viejo”, dijo. “Pero nunca me he sentido más joven y mejor conmigo misma. Nunca me he sentido más cómoda en mi piel. Y quiero correr y decírselo a todos porque espero que eso le dé a la gente esperanza de que la edad es realmente solo un número”.

___

Para más información sobre la clase de Artistas Revelación de 2025 de AP, visita https://apnews.com/hub/ap-breakthrough-entertainers.

___

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/2025/12/11/artista-revelacin-de-ap-arden-cho-aprovecha-su-momento-dorado-tras-desamor-en-hollywood/ 

Por JOSHUA GOODMAN y MICHAEL BIESECKER

MIAMI (AP) — El buque petrolero navegaba cerca de la costa de Guyana recientemente cuando su transpondedor de ubicación mostró que comenzaba a zigzaguear. Era una maniobra aparentemente improbable y la última pista digital de que el barco, el Skipper, trataba de ocultar su paradero y la valiosa carga almacenada en su casco: petróleo crudo ilícito valorado en decenas de millones de dólares.

El miércoles, comandos estadounidenses descendieron en cuerdas desde helicópteros y tomaron el control del barco de 332 metros de eslora (1.090 pies), no donde parecía navegar en las plataformas de seguimiento de barcos, sino a unas 360 millas náuticas al noroeste, cerca de la costa de Venezuela.

La incautación marcó una escalada dramática en la campaña del presidente Donald Trump para presionar al presidente venezolano Nicolás Maduro cortando el acceso a los ingresos petroleros que han sido durante mucho tiempo el sustento de la economía de Venezuela. También podría señalar una campaña más amplia de Estados Unidos para ir tras buques como el Skipper, que expertos y funcionarios estadounidenses dicen que es parte de una flota fantasma de buques oxidados que contrabandean petróleo para países que enfrentan sanciones severas, como Venezuela, Rusia e Irán.

“Hay cientos de petroleros sin bandera ni Estado que han sido un salvavidas para los ingresos, ingresos petroleros sancionados, para regímenes como el de Maduro, Irán y para el Kremlin”, explicó Michelle Weise Bockmann, analista senior en Windward, una firma de inteligencia marítima que rastrea tales embarcaciones. “Ya no pueden operar sin ser desafiados”.

Desde que la primera administración de Trump impuso sanciones petroleras severas a Venezuela en 2017, el gobierno de Maduro ha dependido de decenas de estos petroleros para contrabandear su crudo en las cadenas de suministro globales.

Barcos petroleros que operan en las sombras

Los barcos ocultan sus ubicaciones alterando su sistema de identificación automática —una característica de seguridad obligatoria destinada a ayudar a evitar colisiones— para ir completamente a oscuras o para “falsificar” su ubicación para parecer que navegan incluso a océanos de distancia, bajo una bandera falsa o con la información de registro falsa de otra embarcación.

Las flotas oscuras se expandieron tras las sanciones de Washington a Moscú por la guerra en Ucrania iniciada en 2022. Los expertos dicen que muchos de los barcos apenas son aptos para navegar, operan sin seguro y están registrados a nombre de empresas fantasma que ayudan a ocultar su propiedad.

Las embarcaciones a menudo transfieren sus cargas a otros buques mientras están en el mar, oscureciendo aún más sus orígenes, dijeron los expertos.

En su mayor parte, el gobierno de Maduro ha logrado usar tales tácticas para llevar su petróleo al mercado. La producción del país ha aumentado un 25% en los últimos dos años, según datos de la Organización de Países Exportadores de Petróleo (OPEP). Aun así, la incautación del miércoles podría marcar un punto de inflexión, dijeron los expertos, presagiando un posible bloqueo petrolero que podría disuadir el contrabando incluso de algunos de los peores actores de la industria naviera.

“El costo de hacer negocios con Venezuela acaba de aumentar considerablemente”, explicó Claire Jungman, directora de riesgo marítimo e inteligencia en Vortexa, una firma de análisis petrolero. “Estos son operadores muy tolerantes al riesgo, pero incluso ellos no quieren perder un casco. Una incautación física es una categoría de riesgo completamente diferente a falsificar documentos y multas bancarias”.

Las últimas semanas del Skipper

Las últimas semanas del Skipper escondiéndose en el Caribe fueron reconstruidas por Windward, que utiliza imágenes satelitales en las que confían las autoridades estadounidenses para mapear los movimientos de flotas fantasma.

Estados Unidos sancionó al Skipper en noviembre de 2022, cuando se conocía como el M/T Adisa, por su presunto papel en una red de embarcaciones oscuras que contrabandeaban crudo en nombre de la Guardia Revolucionaria de Irán y el grupo político-paramilitar libanés Hezbollah. La red supuestamente era dirigida por un comerciante de petróleo ucraniano con sede en Suiza que también fue sancionado, dijo el Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos en ese momento.

En los últimos meses, el barco ha navegado a China con una carga de petróleo iraní, y también ha estado vinculado a cargamentos ilícitos de Rusia, según Windward. En el momento de su incautación, informó Windward, el petrolero estaba manipulando digitalmente sus señales de seguimiento para indicar falsamente que navegaba frente a la costa de Guyana, que comparte frontera con Venezuela, y adyacente a un enorme campo petrolero en alta mar desarrollado por Exxon con fuerte apoyo de Estados Unidos. También ha ondeando falsamente la bandera de Guyana, según registros internacionales de barcos, una violación importante de las reglas marítimas.

Windward informó que el Skipper es uno de unos 30 petroleros sancionados que operan cerca de Venezuela, muchos de ellos vulnerables a la interceptación de Estados Unidos porque están falsamente abanderados, lo que los hace apátridas bajo la ley marítima internacional.

“Es bastante audaz”, opinó Bockmann, la analista de Windward. Aquí está este barco falsamente abanderado de Guyana pretendiendo estar en un campo petrolero de Guyana. “Es bastante extraño”.

El Skipper tenía unos 2 millones de barriles de crudo a bordo

El Skipper partió de aguas venezolanas a principios de este mes con alrededor de 2 millones de barriles de crudo pesado, aproximadamente la mitad perteneciente a un importador estatal de petróleo cubano, según documentos de la empresa estatal PDVSA que fueron proporcionados a The Associated Press bajo la condición de anonimato porque la persona no tenía permiso para compartirlos.

El alto riesgo genera enormes oportunidades de ganancias: el petróleo venezolano en el mercado negro cuesta unos 15 dólares menos por barril que el crudo legítimo, según Francisco Monaldi, experto en petróleo venezolano de la Universidad Rice en Houston.

Monaldi dijo que espera que el precio del crudo venezolano ilícito baje porque menos compradores estarán dispuestos a arriesgarse a que se les confisque la carga. Sin embargo, advirtió que es demasiado pronto para saber si Estados Unidos impondrá un bloqueo total al petróleo venezolano, como el que lideró Estados Unidos contra Irak tras su invasión de Kuwait en 1990.

“Depende de si esto es solo un evento aislado o algo más sistemático”, dijo.

La campaña podría aumentar los precios del petróleo

Monaldi señaló que un posible freno para que Trump lleve a cabo más incautaciones de Estados Unidos es el impacto que podría tener en los precios de la gasolina en un momento en que los estadounidenses están preocupados por los altos costos de vida. Aunque la producción de petróleo de Venezuela ha disminuido como resultado de la falta de inversión a menos del 1% de la producción mundial, los precios de las materias primas son notoriamente volátiles y los comerciantes pueden estar preocupados de que las tácticas agresivas en Venezuela puedan intentarse en otros lugares, dijo.

Para Maduro, quien calificó la incautación como un “acto de piratería internacional”, las apuestas no podrían ser más altas. El petróleo ha sido durante mucho tiempo el sustento de la economía de Venezuela, generando una enorme riqueza, pero también creando una profunda dependencia de los recursos naturales. Reflejando esa dependencia de doble filo, el fundador de la OPEP, un venezolano llamado Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, en 1975 se refirió a los vastos depósitos de petróleo del país como el “Excremento del Diablo”. Los precios del petróleo cayeron 2% el jueves.

El jueves, la líder de la oposición venezolana respaldada por Estados Unidos, María Corina Machado, aplaudió la decisión de la administración Trump de incautar el petrolero.

“El régimen está utilizando los recursos —los flujos de efectivo que provienen de actividades ilegales, incluido el mercado negro del petróleo— no para dar comida a los niños hambrientos, ni para los profesores que ganan un dólar al día, ni para los hospitales”, dijo Machado dijo a los periodistas en la capital de Noruega, donde fue galardonada con el Premio Nobel de la Paz. “Utilizan esos recursos para reprimir y perseguir a nuestro pueblo”, aseguró.

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Biesecker informó desde Washington y Regina García Cano desde Caracas.

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/incautacin-de-buque-petrolero-en-venezuela-indica-nueva-ofensiva-de-eeuu-contra-flota-clandestina/ 

Jeff Thorne, who coached the North Central College football team to its first NCAA Division III national championship in 2019, was known as a man of strong faith and fierce competitive spirit.

Those qualities buoyed him after he was diagnosed with stomach cancer in February and learned over the summer that the tumor was inoperable.

Jeff Thorne, a Naperville resident, died Tuesday at age 53. He is survived by his parents, John and Kathie; his wife, Joanna; and his children, Payton, Noelle and Lauren.

Brad Spencer, who succeeded Jeff Thorne as NCC’s coach following the 2021 season and has won two more national titles, last saw his mentor and former boss in late October, when the team hosted the Refuse to Lose: Cardinals for a Cure game. NCC beat Augustana College 76-14.

“He spoke to our team in our Friday night meeting and led the team out onto the field for the coin toss for the game,” Spencer said. “It was a neat moment to look back and watch him.”

“Refuse to Lose” is a slogan coined by John Thorne, who won four state championships at Wheaton Warrenville South before taking over the NCC program in 2002.

“That chant is not about refusing to lose a football game,” Spencer said. “That chant is about making a decision in life and not letting adversity control you. That became Jeff’s mantra after the summer.”

Jeff Thorne, who was inducted into NCC’s Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 4, repeated that phrase during his final appearance at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

“He looked at his dad and said, ‘I refuse to lose,’ and it was a really powerful moment,” Spencer said. “He was a fighter, and he was still in fighting shape.

“His mind and his spirit was very high. That’s how I’m going to remember him.”

Jeff Thorne played quarterback, first under his father at Wheaton Central (now Wheaton Warrenville South) and then at Eastern Illinois, where his 6,578 career passing yards rank fourth on the university’s all-time list behind Jimmy Garoppolo, Sean Payton and Tony Romo.

Jeff Thorne was working in finance when he was hired by his father to be NCC’s offensive coordinator. The Cardinals went 118-30 under John Thorne, who retired after the 2014 season. Jeff Thorne replaced him and guided NCC to a 65-10 record and six playoff appearances in six seasons.

Spencer, who played on Naperville Central’s 1999 state championship team, was an NCC junior receiver when the Thornes arrived. Spencer joined the staff after graduation.

“I was really excited because when I was playing at Naperville Central, I really admired what they were doing at Wheaton South because they ran such a wide-open offense,” Spencer said. “As a receiver, that was something to envy in those days.”

The Cardinals, who have played in the past five national championship games, have become the envy of the Division III football world. Spencer said that’s a result of hard work and team-building plans that started under John Thorne.

“The idea was to get the players to know each other better,” Spencer said. “To do that, you’ve got to take time away from X’s and O’s. That’s something we do to this day.”

Jeff Thorne was an innovator who always wanted to add to his knowledge of the game.

“He visited Bill Walsh and wanted to know about the West Coast offense,” Spencer said. “Bill Walsh said, ‘Ah, none of that stuff matters. What matters is the relationships with your players.’

“That was kind of the idea and a lot of what Jeff did as an offensive coordinator and head coach, and that informed my coaching style. I’m using his kaleidoscope to view football.”

Retired Naperville Central football coach Mike Stine views Jeff Thorne as a brother. Stine coached Payton Thorne, who played quarterback at Michigan State and Auburn.

“We had Hall of Fame dads who were football coaches, and we wanted to be our dads growing up and follow in their footsteps,” Stine said. “Obviously, Jeff did that with John.

“I did with that my father. We had a lot of similarities, and we could talk about a lot of things that we had in common. I learned a lot from John and Jeff and Payton just on how to live your life.”

Jeff Thorne lived his life with a purpose that went beyond X’s and O’s.

“If there are young coaches out there, and you want to build something, then don’t look any farther than Wheaton South and North Central College to build your platform because they do it the right way,” Stine said.

“It’s not necessarily about winning and losing. It’s about teaching life lessons and becoming good, positive role models and good husbands and good sons and good fathers. If you win some football games along the way, so be it. They were fortunate to do both. They raised great young men, and they won a lot of football games.”

Faith underpinned Jeff Thorne’s approach to coaching. Spencer has continued that tradition.

“God has been a part of this program since his dad took over,” Spencer said. “He was a man of faith, and that’s a really important thing because you have all these Christian principles throughout our program — love, kindness, generosity.

“Those are principles Jesus laid out for us as humans to follow and to live by. That’s how we’re trying to run our program, where we’re treating people the right way. So I think that’s No. 1 about him.”

No. 2 was the competitive fire, which wasn’t restricted to football. Spencer found that out when they were assistant coaches.

“In our younger days, we used to play basketball against the players, and if we lost, we weren’t getting off that floor until we won,” Spencer said. “I’m dead serious. So as a coach you want to go really hard in that first game and win and not get stuck out there playing three or four games against 19- and 20-year-olds.”

Jeff Thorne and Stine grew up attending games, spending many Friday nights on the sidelines and in the locker room watching their fathers coach. Later, Stine joined Jeff Thorne to watch Payton Thorne’s college games.

“I was fortunate to be with them all for the Senior Bowl and the Hula Bowl last year,” Stine said. “At that time, we didn’t know what was going on.

“Their faith as a family was really unique and special, and it just got stronger as they all went through the last nine to 10 months.”

Stine said he last spoke with Jeff Thorne at Thanksgiving.

“Through the whole process, he was just so positive,” Stine said. “A couple days after Thanksgiving, Payton texted me and let me know that things had kind of turned for the worse and to give some extra prayers for his dad.”

Stine said his prayers are with the entire Thorne family, which he said has set an exemplary example.

“As I told them yesterday, they’ve impacted so many lives they don’t even know,” Stine said. “Jeff is truly going to be missed.

“His legacy will live on for a long, long time with all the lives that he’s touched.”

Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/11/former-north-central-college-football-coach-jeff-thorne-remembered-for-refusing-to-lose/