Pepsi Cuts Deal With Activist: Plans Product Overhaul And Layoffs

Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/09/2025 – 07:35

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pepsi-cuts-deal-activist-plans-product-overhaul-and-layoffs 

Good morning, Chicago.

Months after Chicago firefighters discovered a North Lawndale man dismembered inside his burning home, authorities have charged the man’s live-in caretaker with shooting the man to death, trying to cut his body into pieces and setting fire to the home they shared to conceal his killing.

In the days following Michael Lipford’s March 7 death, prosecutors alleged that the caretaker, DeParris Slaughter, searched the internet querying, among other things, whether death is painful and what the best knife was to cut through a human arm.

“I’d been praying for this for a long time,” said Evelyn Moss, a sibling of Lipford. “I thought it was going to be a cold case.”

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Caroline Kubzansky.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including the latest on the prolonged immigration arrest over the weekend in Elgin, Bears coach Ben Johnson on Sunday’s game-sealing interception and an interview with the cafe owner behind the Mexican everything bagels being served in Pilsen.

Today’s eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, questions the witnesses during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency hearing on “The War on Waste: Stamping Out the Scourge of Improper Payments and Fraud” on Capitol Hill, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett is running for US Senate in Texas

Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett launched a campaign yesterday for the U.S. Senate in Texas, bringing a national profile to a race that may be critical to Democrats’ long-shot hopes of reclaiming a Senate majority in next year’s midterm elections.

Luis Jesus Acosta Gutierrez closes his eyes as he sits on a second-floor balcony of an apartment on Maple Lane on Dec. 6, 2025, in Elgin. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

DHS claims man detained in prolonged immigration arrest in Elgin Saturday is member of Tren de Aragua

The Department of Homeland Security said yesterday the man they took into custody after a prolonged arrest in Elgin Saturday, where agents sprayed tear gas against protesters, was a “suspected member of Tren de Aragua,” a Venezuelan street gang.

It is not the first time federal authorities have claimed to have arrested members of the gang, which originated in a Venezuelan prison. Trump declared it a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year, reflecting his administration’s emphasis on deporting its members in the United States. In September, a controversial raid at 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago had been billed as an attempt to arrest known Tren de Aragua gang members and their associates in the country illegally.

US adds more penalties to those linked to Tren de Aragua gang

Resident Travaris Ivy speaks during a 7500 South Shore Tenants Union news conference in front of the South Shore apartment building in Chicago on Dec. 2, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Residents of raided South Shore apartment building still face eviction after judge denies pleas for more time

Despite a last-minute plea for more time, eviction looms for the remaining residents of the troubled South Shore apartment building raided by immigration agents earlier this year.

They were already living in one of Chicago’s worst apartment buildings. Then came the ICE raid.

Cook County Department of Corrections, Sept. 18, 2023. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

After two inmates die in Cook County Jail, a family seeks answers

The family of a man who died in Cook County Jail over the weekend gathered outside the criminal courthouse yesterday to call for clarity on the circumstances of his death.

Registered nurse and care coordinator Elizabeth Julian, right, talks with a patient during a consultation at Thresholds Centers for Mental Wellbeing in Chicago on Nov. 25, 2025. Thresholds, which serves people with serious mental health and substance use disorders in Illinois, brought the therapy insurance bill to Rep. Lindsey LaPointe. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Advocates hope newly passed bill will inspire more Illinois therapists to take private health insurance

Carey Carlock never imagined she’d have so much trouble finding a therapist for her teenage child. She was a hospital CEO, on the board of a prominent local mental health organization and well connected. Yet the Oak Park mother couldn’t locate a therapist in her community who took her health insurance.

“I found that to just be completely unacceptable,” said Carlock, whose experience led her to change careers and open a new therapy practice in 2021 that now has six locations.

Now, she and others are hoping a recently passed bill will make it easier for people across Illinois to find therapists who take private insurance.

Sergio Valencia, of Mundelein, waits for the horseback procession honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe to begin at the Dam No. 1 Woods in Northbrook on Dec. 6, 2025. Whenever he rides, he said, he thinks of his grandfather, who taught him how. (Shun Graves/for the Pioneer Press)

Faithful honor Mexican patroness in Guadalupe horse pilgrimage, but numbers lower after ICE raids

As they sat atop their horses to begin their hourslong pilgrimage, many Catholic faithful reflected on the Virgin Mary, revered by Mexicans as Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The riders had congregated in Dam No. 1 Woods, a Cook County forest preserve in the Northbrook-Wheeling area. Though they were significantly fewer in number than in previous years — which some attributed to fear generated by the recent federal immigration raids in the Chicago area — they readied for the roughly 5-mile procession to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines.

Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon intercepts a pass intended for Bears tight end Cole Kmet on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Bears coach Ben Johnson says DJ Moore wasn’t ‘the answer’ on game-sealing interception

Bears coach Ben Johnson said yesterday he didn’t believe wide receiver DJ Moore was the answer on the fourth-down interception that quarterback Caleb Williams threw in the final minute of Sunday’s 28-21 loss in Green Bay.

“I think he came open more after the ball was released from Caleb,” Johnson said of Moore.

Is this week’s game a must-win for Ben Johnson’s Bears? 5 pressing questions for Week 15.
Bears’ NFC lead was short-lived. Now they need more wins — ‘probably at least 2’ — to make playoffs.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman reacts on the sideline during a game against Stanford on Nov. 29, 2025, in Palo Alto, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Column: Notre Dame is justified in taking a stand against the College Football Playoff farce

Sometimes you have to take a stand, writes Paul Sullivan. And that’s what Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua is doing by declining a bowl invitation and slamming the process that left the Irish as the odd team out of the CFP field.

Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love is named 1 of 4 finalists for the Heisman Trophy
Illinois and Northwestern are headed to bowl games: Here’s what to know

Geoffrey Baer hosts the special “Chicago Works” on WTTW. (Liz Farina Markel/WTTW)

Column: WTTW’s Geoffrey Baer takes a look at Chicagoans at work

In his latest special for WTTW, Geoffrey Baer meets with a cross-section of workers around the city to get a behind-the-scenes look at what their jobs entail, writes Nina Metz. “Chicago Works,” airing today, tackles a variety of professions, from city employees on rat patrol to the crew at the United Center responsible for the frequent basketball-court-to-ice-rink changeovers.

The churro bagel dipped in vegan butter and cinnamon sugar at Rosca. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Restaurant news: Rosca makes Mexican everything at bagel cafe by chef Felix Zepeda in Pilsen

Rosca, a new bagel cafe making Mexican everything and hibiscus cured lox, just opened in Chicago.

“We don’t want to just be known as a bagel shop,” said chef and owner Felix Zepeda. The business’s other half, he said, is his general manager and girlfriend, Ariana Cabral. “We want to be known for a full immersive cafe vibe.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/daywatch-i-thought-it-was-going-to-be-a-cold-case/ 

Por GEIR MOULSON

BERLÍN (AP) — El canciller alemán, Friedrich Merz, afirmó el martes que la nueva estrategia de seguridad nacional del gobierno de Donald Trump subraya la necesidad de que Europa se vuelva “mucho más independiente” de Estados Unidos en términos de política de seguridad.

Merz también rechazó la idea de que la democracia europea necesite ser salvada.

La estrategia de Estados Unidos, publicada el viernes, pinta a los aliados europeos como débiles, mientras ofrece un apoyo tácito a los partidos políticos de extrema derecha, y fue crítica con la política europea de libertad de expresión y migración. El lunes, el presidente del Consejo Europeo, António Costa, advirtió a Estados Unidos que no interfiera en los asuntos europeos y dijo que solo los ciudadanos europeos pueden decidir qué partidos deben gobernarlos.

Merz, el líder de la nación más poblada de la Unión Europea y su mayor economía, dijo que no le sorprendió el contenido de la estrategia, ya que estaba en gran medida en línea con una conferencia que el vicepresidente de Estados Unidos, JD Vance, ofreció a los aliados europeos en Múnich en febrero.

Partes del documento son comprensibles, pero “algunas de ellas son inaceptables para nosotros desde el punto de vista europeo”, dijo a los periodistas en la ciudad de Mainz, en el oeste de Alemania.

“Que los estadounidenses quieran salvar la democracia en Europa ahora, no veo ninguna necesidad de eso”, expresó Merz. “Si necesitara ser salvada, lo gestionaríamos solos”.

Añadió que el nuevo documento de Estados Unidos “confirma mi evaluación de que nosotros en Europa, y por lo tanto también en Alemania, debemos volvernos mucho más independientes de Estados Unidos en términos de política de seguridad. Esto no es una sorpresa, pero ahora ha sido confirmado nuevamente. Ha sido documentado”.

Merz dijo que el discurso de Vance a principios de este año había “despertado algo en mí también, y se puede ver eso hoy en nuestro gasto en defensa”.

El gobierno de Merz, en el cargo desde mayo, ha permitido un mayor gasto al flexibilizar las estrictas reglas de deuda, sumándose a un esfuerzo por fortalecer el ejército de Alemania que ha estado en marcha desde que comenzó la invasión a gran escala de Ucrania por parte de Rusia en 2022.

Bajo la presión del presidente estadounidense Donald Trump, los miembros de la OTAN, incluida Alemania, acordaron en junio un aumento masivo en el objetivo de gasto en defensa de la alianza.

“En mis conversaciones con los estadounidenses, digo: ‘Estados Unidos primero está bien’, pero ‘sólo Estados Unidos’ no puede estar en su interés. También necesitan socios en el mundo”, dijo Merz el martes. “Y uno de los socios puede ser Europa. Y si no pueden hacer nada con Europa, entonces al menos hagan de Alemania su socio”.

___

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/2025/12/09/lder-alemn-dice-que-estrategia-de-eeuu-muestra-la-necesidad-de-independencia-europea-en-seguridad/ 

No Restrictions On How ‘Trump Accounts’ Can Be Used: Bessent

Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/09/2025 – 07:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-restrictions-how-trump-accounts-can-be-used-bessent 

Lake Zurich officials approved a 3.81% property tax hike at the village board meeting on Dec. 1.

This is the second property tax hike in as many years and the mayor says it is mostly due to the higher costs of business everywhere. The village held a meeting on the tax hike in November.

According to the agenda from the Nov. 3 meeting, the village will use the extra revenue for pensions and debt obligations and $400,000 will go toward improvements in the village’s special recreation area.

Troy Smith, a village resident, asked the board of trustees on Nov. 3 why taxes keep going up.

“Why is it we can’t seem to live within our budget?” he asked. He pointed to the healthy housing market with property values bringing in higher taxes, but still, he said, the village is going back to the taxpayers for more.

Mayor Tom Poynton asked the Public Works Director Mike Brown what his budget looks like.

“The cost of materials, the cost of everyday construction the cost of labor, just everything is going up,” Brown said. “The cost of everything is extremely higher than it was five years ago. Labor costs continue to climb, materials continue to climb, and unfortunately, that’s the cost of everything we do.”

Still, at the Dec. 1 meeting, Poyton announced the village holds a “stable financial position” with the budget.

He said the budget took months of work, is balanced but no department got everything it wanted.

“This has been another challenging fiscal year for the village and a challenging process, which starts in July,” Poynton said. “Nobody is getting everything they wanted nor everything they needed.”

The total budget is just over $90 million. There is $5.5 million in funding for roads and infrastructure $6.8 million in land and building improvements and $6.3 million in water and sewer. The general fund will receive $38.8 million, an increase of just over $5.3 million.

A copy of the budget is online at the village’s website and paper copies are at the library and at City Hall.

Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/lake-zurich-village-board-approves-budget/ 

BETH HARRIS

PASADENA, California, EE.UU. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani está alcanzando a más leyendas.

El superastro del béisbol termina 2025 ganando el premio al Deportista Masculino del Año de The Associated Press por cuarta vez, empatando con Lance Armstrong, LeBron James y Tiger Woods como los más galardonados entre los hombres.

“Recibir este premio varias veces es algo realmente especial”, dijo Ohtani en japonés en una entrevista exclusiva con la AP.

Ohtani recibió 29 de 47 votos en la votación entre periodistas deportivos de la AP y sus miembros después de que su dominio en dos facetas del beisbol culminara en un título repetido de la Serie Mundial para sus Dodgers de Los Ángeles, ofreciendo quizás la actuación individual más grande en un solo juego en la historia del deporte. Anteriormente ganó el premio en 2024, su primera temporada con los Dodgers, y en 2023 y 2021, cuando estaba con los Angelinos de Los Ángeles.

El galardón de la AP se otorga desde 1931. La destacada deportista multideportiva Babe Didrikson Zaharias ganó seis veces durante las décadas de 1930, 40 y 50, la mayor cantidad por un hombre o una mujer.

La última victoria del ultracompetitivo Ohtani rompió un empate con Michael Jordan, a quien, junto con Woods, siguió mientras crecía en Japón.

“El año pasado dije que quería ganar este premio nuevamente, y trabajaré duro para poder ganarlo nuevamente el próximo año también”, expresó.

El saltador de pértiga sueco-estadounidense Armand Duplantis, quien ganó su tercer título mundial consecutivo y ha establecido el récord mundial 14 veces, incluidas cuatro veces en 2025, fue segundo con cinco votos en la votación anunciada el martes. Carlos Alcaraz, el tenista mejor clasificado del mundo que ganó títulos en Roland Garros y el Abierto de Estados Unidos, fue tercero con cuatro.

El premio a la Deportista Femenina del Año de la AP se anunciará el miércoles.

___

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/2025/12/09/ap-nombra-a-shohei-ohtani-deportista-masculino-del-ao-por-cuarta-vez-igualando-rcord/ 

Every five years, a small group of biologists and environmentalists assemble in a large corner office in Springfield with long glass windows. Inside that room, they weigh in on the fate of every animal and plant that exists in Illinois.

They might not see it so starkly — who could wake up every morning with that burden?

And yet that’s the job of the nine voting members of the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board. They gather four times a year and consider and revise the Illinois state list of endangered and threatened animals, insects and plants, which, at the moment, includes 29 birds, 8 mammals, 16 reptiles, 40 fish and 338 plant species. They unveiled their latest five-year update in mid-November. The journey there was full of snoozy, polite meetings but the results will be far-reaching and complicated, even loved and hated by the same people. Joyce Hoffman, a research scientist with the Illinois Natural History Survey, steered the list through its last two revisions; she chaired the board for a decade and recently retired. She had clipped white hair and the calm of an elementary school teacher. She kept a notebook before her, jotting her thoughts longhand. Often seated alongside her was Phil Willink, the new chair, a former biologist with the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium.

They are disarmingly plaintive about their roles.

When she’s asked why the 53-year-old list of endangered species is important, Hoffman simply says: “Because, all of these animals, plants — because they’re there.”

“We are just making a list,” Willink says.

Towards the end of the five-year revision process, Hoffman took pains to remind the board that things change, and five years is a long time for an endangered species to be formally declared endangered, so yes, they can make alterations more often than every five years. Bats and bees and snails and sunfish will rise and fall without regard to them.

Yet after five years of deliberation, they must produce a new list.

Just as, five years from now, they will produce another list.

“OK, take a deep breath,” she said after they voted last winter. They removed southern water snakes from “endangered” status. They added eight bee species as endangered. They added the Little Wabash crayfish. The bluebreast darter went from “endangered” to “threatened.”

When they were done, they sat in silence, five years of meetings behind them, 10 months of approvals and public notices and legislative reviews before the list was released. Five years of board members being agnostic toward a species, even if it’s their specialty. Five years of speaking in measured tones, only laughing when someone lapsed into a blunt assessment. Five years of concerns that whatever goes on a new list is backed by data and, as Willink says, “legally defensible.” And five more years of worldwide ecological decline.

Hoffman broke the silence.

To think, she said, not so long ago, none of this would have gone this smoothly.

The headquarters of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is long and large and tucked lightly into the forest surrounding it. It’s muscular without looking imposing. It’s elegant, modern, modest. It’s like the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act itself, created in 1972, several months before the Federal Endangered Species Act.

On days when the endangered species board meets, its membership — which is staffed by volunteers given three-year terms, and must include at least two zoologists and a botanist — files through silent IDNR offices to the third floor, past mounted game heads and a taxidermy of a mountain lion that wandered into the state years ago, driven east by habitat loss or hunting. Several board members are retired scientists, several teach at universities. Most are still out there, actively surveying species in the wild.

The banded water snake (Nerodia fasciata), which has been placed on the Illinois Endangered Species Protection list, is at the Field Museum in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

They bring the latest news about osprey and fireflies and ground junipers and crayfish. There’s a request before them to consider the smooth greensnake, a perfectly-named creature. They’re long, they’re bright green; flip a hubcap in the Chicago area and you may run into one. The conversation is skeptical and pragmatic. Where are the numbers in this petition from? It’s hard to believe people aren’t seeing smooth greensnakes, offers a forest preserve biologist. Do they have enough information to pull the trigger on this one? They don’t.

Yet, sand reed leafhoppers. Hadn’t seen those in a decade, until one morning …

Should the Federal Endangered Species Act itself become a victim of the current White House — which has openly called for its gutting — the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act remains. Whatever is on the federal list automatically is on the Illinois list. Nevada was the first to assemble its own list. Today, 46 states update their own lists, each a little different than the next, each with a history of wins and losses. The Illinois list is often seen as a catalyst for helping to restore osprey, barn owls and river otters in Illinois.

But like the federal list, the majority of what goes on the Illinois list tends to stay there. That is often the argument of opponents — that the act inserts buffers around a species and its habitat without doing enough to restore those species. Todd Atkins, of the Ohio-based Sportsmen’s Alliance, a hunter’s advocacy group, said he agrees with the need to protect and preserve troubled species, but “I think where people tend to lose confidence in endangered species acts is when folks would rather give the species on these lists a sort of permanent protection — recovery is no longer the goal.”

But many others — especially the scientists who have direct experience with shaping endangered species lists — see a chicken-and-egg situation built into protecting species. Take the greater prairie chickens, which went on the list in the 1990s, and show no signs of leaving. “Some species will never come off,” said Michael Patrick Ward, a professor of sustainability at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who sits on the committee that advises on birds. “We put resources into them, and sometimes there is no way back — and yet they remain at risk of extinction.”

A male Illinois greater prairie chicken displays during a mating dance to try and establish dominance over other males and hopefully lure a hen at the Prairie Ridge State Natural Area near Newton, Illinois, on April 2, 2013. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)

One of the key problems with the list, he said, is that the state “has done a poor job of highlighting its successes, so what we hear about it tends to be all negative.” The IDNR often hears the assumption that once an animal or plant is designated endangered, the state can swoop in and acquire any land it’s found on. “We work with a lot of farmers, and a lot of the time they have an impression that their property can be seized.”

It can’t.

Federal endangered species law is more aggressive about land. At the state level, there are fines for harming endangered species, and sometimes restrictions on how land is used if a species is present, and occasionally, the IDNR might acquire land to protect a species headed for extinction. That said, explained Joe Kath, IDNR’s longtime director of the endangered species program, endangered and threatened species are largely found on land the state owns, and when endangered species are found on private land, “it generally works out, people are receptive, it’s a happy experience. Especially with companies, let’s face it, the situation can be good PR.”

But therein lies the rub.

After the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board releases its latest list, it’s tasked to the IDNR to carry out protection plans. The board and the IDNR itself are technically independent of each other. The board, however, has no paid staff. So the IDNR — here’s another big criticism — might make suggestions, but it can not force those changes.

A high-profile example played out recently in Rockford, where the Chicago-Rockford International Airport expanded into some of the last remaining habitat of the rusty patched bumblebee. Environmental groups sued the IDNR, claiming that it wasn’t doing enough. But there are other examples. Box turtles that halt wind energy projects. Dragonflies that stall state public works. Sometimes a species wins, and sometimes it’s steamrolled. Alan Branhagen, executive director of the Natural Land Institute, which sued over the rusty patched bee, said, “I’m glad the list exists, but sometimes it’s too little too late.”

Cargo planes are visible behind the Bell Bowl Prairie adjacent to Chicago-Rockford International Airport on Oct. 20, 2021, in Winnebago County. Airport construction cut through the five-acre virgin gravel prairie. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

At the root of endangered species lists are years, sometimes decades, of surveys that shape it, the field studies carried out by biologists and graduate students and amateur scientists. Birds, reptiles, mammals, plants — each gets a committee.

The problem is, of course, there will never be enough surveys. Can you ever be completely sure a Shawnee snail doesn’t exist?

“It’s not a problem unique to Illinois,” Kath said. “It’s true at the federal level, university, state — there’s never enough time or money to be more extensive, to know something 100%.”

Consider the northern long-eared bat, which, on the latest list, was changed from threatened to endangered. Tara Hohoff, project leader for the Illinois Bat Conservation Program, and a mammalogist who advises the endangered species board, said knowing exactly what’s still flying or walking or slithering is always “a best educated decision.” The northern long-eared bat is among many bat species in steep decline, primarily because of a fungus that’s caused white-nose syndrome. They were common in northern Illinois. Since her program started in 2016, she’s netted only one.

The northern long-eared bat, which has been placed on the Illinois Endangered Species Protection list, is at the Field Museum in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Until recently, for the first decades of the Illinois endangered species list, “you basically had a bunch of people meeting, pitching species, trying to make the best decisions they could with what they knew, and those decisions might not necessarily hold up to scrutiny,” Willink said. So Hoffman helped institute a new system to formalize the inclusion of a species, requiring data and proof of studies.

Take the latest list, which classified eight new bee species as endangered in Illinois; an additional four bee species were listed as threatened. Biologists who petitioned for those 12 species of bees noted they could have petitioned for even more.

But we’re in triage territory these days.

Chris Dietrich, an entomologist with the Natural History Survey who petitioned for leafhoppers — two new species made the list this cycle — said: “You’re faced with narrowing down the number of species to save because you don’t want to overwhelm the system. Plus, there are political considerations. There are those politicians who want to know why we’re not just supporting the next bald eagle, and if you throw a bunch of bugs onto every updated list, you could undermine support for the list in general.”

The bluebreast darter, which has been placed on the Illinois Endangered Species Protection list, is at the Field Museum in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

The first endangered species board in Illinois required that at least half of its members represent the fur industry. Indeed, its initial list of protected species included polar bears and snow leopards, not because polar bears and snow leopards were traipsing around the Midwest, but because early versions of the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Act focused on the trafficking of hides, shells and furs. It had been one of a series of ecologically-minded bills pushed by Gov. Richard Ogilvy, a Republican.

The Federal Endangered Species Act, enacted months after the Illinois act, had been supported by Richard Nixon. As for the Illinois version, the chief sponsor was State Rep. George Burditt, a Republican from La Grange.

Burditt signed the legislation while petting a tiger cub in the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Within months, there was already a court case pitting the habitat of a bald eagle against the private grounds of a small ski resort in southern Illinois. They saw some successes (bald eagles, mussels, turkeys, darters), and an occasional prosecution: Fran Harty, a longtime conservationist who worked for IDNR and the Nature Conservancy of Illinois, remembered being a witness against a Chicago pet store that sold endangered box turtles.

The Virginia miner bee, which has been placed on the Illinois Endangered Species Protection list, at the Field Museum in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

But for much of its existence, the board hasn’t had the funding or staff to be thorough. That’s never changed. Deanna Glosser, who led the endangered species program for IDNR in the ‘90s (and is now executive director of the Land Conservation Foundation), remembers “feeling personally responsible for ensuring a listed species continued, and when we failed, I would get depressed and stay like that for days.”

In 2012, the last time the board and the list had a comprehensive state review, findings were mixed: More than 600 species had been on the Illinois list since 1972, yet the criteria for making the list were vague. Of those 600 species, 160 species had been removed from the list, yet almost 50% were taken off because their species was now considered extinct. Only about 50 species were removed because their population had actually recovered.

“I think of this list like those old thermometer graphics for blood drives,” said Harty. “You may see movement, and the red goes up. But at a scale that will matter? You’re never sure.”

“Does anyone at the IDNR actually read these reports?” Chris Dietrich asked at a meeting of the board last winter, when they voted. He said later he’d been in a bad mood that day, maybe harboring the perpetual gripe of entomologists, that all of the attention on endangered species lists goes to “charismatic” animals — wolves, turtles, butterflies, birds with airplane-esque wingspans.

It’s also just an anxious moment to be making lists of species.

Even as scientists warn we are losing species at a faster rate than usual, even as science writer Elizabeth Kolbert has famously said we may be entering “The Sixth Extinction,” members of the Illinois Endangered Species board are hearing more often from politicians and developers concerned about the financial costs of any protection of any species.

The brassy minnow, which has been placed on the Illinois Endangered Species Protection list, at the Field Museum in Chicago on Nov. 12, 2025. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Meanwhile, the White House created what it refers to as a “God Squad” to weigh the fate of species, from grizzly bears to gray wolves. The administration would like to remove the word “harm” from federal protections, making it tougher to claim the actions of a logging business or mining operation are hurting a species.

Some remain cautiously optimistic.

National polls about endangered species acts have found, consistently, that the majority of Americans are supportive. Amy Doll, director of the Friends of Illinois Nature Preserves, said she would like to see more education about what the lists mean for landowners, and notes that many hunters often make excellent conservationists. (Indeed, the Endangered Species board never meets during deer season, partly because several IDNR staff are also hunters.) “Even if the federal list went away tomorrow, we have a state list,” she said. “I believe citizens will step up.”

In the meantime, we have the Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board. According to Willink, they are ever more reliant on hard data. He expects the next couple of years of meetings to weigh heavily on the question of what even counts now as a native Illinois species. “That’s becoming far more important these days because the more we see climate change in action, the more we’re seeing migrations.”

After they voted on the new list, he said they now had five years to make the next list.

There were light chuckles.

They faced years of petitions and disagreements and reflections ahead, he said. All of the known unknowns, and the unknown unknowns. “But I think we are doing this better and better.”

cborrelli@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/illinois-has-its-latest-list-of-endangered-species-the-end-result-of-many-difficult-choices/ 

The Chicago Bears came up short in Sunday’s 28-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers, with Caleb Williams throwing an interception with the game on the line in the final minute.

The Bears-Packers rivalry appears to be “alive and well,” as Bears coach Ben Johnson said after the game. These teams will meet again Dec. 20 in a prime-time game at Soldier Field.

Tribune Bears reporters Sean Hammond and Phil Thompson tackle this week’s pressing questions.

1. This version of the Bears-Packers rivalry, with Ben Johnson/Caleb Williams vs. Matt LaFleur/Jordan Love, is the most interesting iteration since when?

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers celebrates with his teammates after scoring a rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter of a game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Hammond: These games at this moment, with so much on the line, feel like the biggest Bears-Packers games since the infamous “I still own you” game when Aaron Rodgers and the Packers beat the Bears in Week 6 of 2021. That loss sent the 2021 Bears into a tailspin that coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace never recovered from. It will be fun to see how this plays out again in two weeks and what this rivalry might develop into over the next two or three seasons.

Thompson: Since Rodgers’ Packers bounced Jay Cutler and company from the NFC championship game in the 2010 season. Well, more like Caleb Hanie and company, thanks to Cutler’s untimely knee injury. Where this rivalry is concerned, calamity stalks the Bears in the most creative ways.

2. Kyler Gordon was injured in pregame warmups and has appeared in just three games after earning a big contract extension. The word to describe Gordon’s season is __________?

Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon warms up to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 28, 2025, at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)

Hammond: Concerning. Entering this season, Gordon had never appeared in more than 14 games in a season, but he had never missed this much time. Concerning is my word of choice because the new money in Gordon’s contract hasn’t even kicked in yet. The 2025 season is the final year of his four-year rookie contract. Beginning next season, his salary-cap number jumps to $13 million per year. We don’t know how bad Gordon’s latest injury is, but at this point it seems like the bigger concern is getting him healthy for the next three years beyond 2025. If he plays again this season, that feels like a bonus.

Thompson: Exasperating. Gordon has teased the fan base with glimpses of greatness, but it has been hard to keep him on the field for stretches of his four-year career. It’s also exasperating because the secondary has an interesting collection of skills for Dennis Allen to work with, but they can’t seem to all get on the field together because of injuries.

3. Rome Odunze missed the game with a foot injury. Which pass catcher has the best rapport with Caleb Williams when Odunze isn’t available?

Hammond: Colston Loveland. The rookie tight end has played well over the last two months and statistically has developed into the No. 1 tight end in the offense. When Williams throws to Loveland, good things usually happen. Loveland has to clean up some penalty issues (he has five since Oct. 13), but when he’s running routes, he and Williams look like they’re on the same page.

Thompson: Well, you can’t say it’s DJ Moore. Sometimes he feels like a decoy in this offense, though that’s not the case. Moore was Williams’ leading receiver (98 catches) in the quarterback’s rookie season, but this season it feels like Justin Fields had a better connection with Moore. This offense likes to spread the ball, but if I had to pick Williams’ next “safety blanket” after Odunze, I’d say it’s Loveland, based on how he’s targeted in high-leverage situations.

4. The Bears defense has totaled two or more takeaways in eight games. With an inexperienced QB in Shedeur Sanders coming to town, over/under 1.5 takeaways Sunday?

Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders runs with the ball during a game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Kirk Irwin)

Hammond: I’ll take the over. Cleveland’s offense is in the bottom half of the league with 17 turnovers. Eleven of those are interceptions. Sanders is coming off a good game, but that was against a 2-11 Tennessee Titans team. Dennis Allen has been creating exotic looks all season that have been tough for the more inexperienced quarterbacks the Bears have faced. Allen certainly will try to confuse the rookie.

Thompson: Over. Sanders operates with a lot of confidence, probably more than most rookies, and sometimes that can be the undoing of a young quarterback. He has had an interception in three of four games and also takes a lot of sacks, creating even more openings for an opportunistic Bears defense.

5. Ben Johnson said the Bears need at least two more wins to feel good about their playoff chances. So is Sunday’s game against the Browns a must-win?

Hammond: I mean, it’s not, but it is. I think the Bears will be in all of these games down the stretch — and they might even pull off some surprises — but beating the Browns really would take off some of the pressure. If the Bears don’t win Sunday, Chicago’s angst will be really high heading into the rematch against the Packers.

Thompson: Yes, it is. Granted, technically they would have three more opportunities to get two wins, but that schedule — the Packers rematch followed by the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions — is absolutely brutal. Those teams are playing for the playoffs, just like the Bears. Facing the Packers was a test, but so is this game against the 3-10 Browns. The Bears can’t toy around with a team that doesn’t have the postseason at stake.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/chicago-bears-cleveland-browns-pressing-questions/ 

The Chicago Bulls are in a record-setting skid, but the Illinois women’s and men’s teams are having a youth movement as Big Ten Conference play begins.

Every Tuesday, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local college basketball teams. Want more? Sign up for our Tribune sports newsletter.

Is Nikola Vučević hitting a slump?

Bulls center Nikola Vučević (9) is defended by Pacers center Jay Huff in the fourth quarter at the United Center on Dec. 5, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

The Bulls offense sputtered to a complete standstill on Sunday as the team scored a season-low 91 points in a loss to the Golden State Warriors.

It’s been a long time coming for the Bulls, who lack a severe combination of creativity and efficiency on the attacking end of the court. And Nikola Vučević is one of the key pieces that isn’t clicking as the center averages his lowest volume of scoring in nearly a decade.

After the best shooting season of his 15-year career, Vučević has tumbled back to earth in recent weeks. He’s still shooting the ball at a 38% clip from behind the arc, but his rim finishing and midrange shot have both taken a sizable step backward. Despite injuries across the roster, Vučević is also taking fewer shots (13.2) than ever for the Bulls. The center is currently averaging 15.9 points per game, a 2.6 decrease from last year.

More noticeable — and concerning — is the big man’s drop-off on the glass. Vučević is averaging 9.5 rebounds per game, which marks his first time logging fewer than 10 per game since the 2017-18 season.

Pair of Illinois freshmen make marks

Illinois guard Keaton Wagler passes the ball in the first half against Alabama at the United Center on Nov. 19, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler came up big to help fuel the No. 13 Illini’s 75-62 win over No. 20 Tennessee in Nashville on Saturday, totaling 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

But it was a freshman on the Illinois women’s team that earned a weekly award for her play.

Cearah Parchment, a 6-foot-3 forward from Canada, was named Big Ten freshman of the week after averaging 15.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game in Illinois’ 2-0 week against Bellarmine and Indiana.

She had 15 points, 13 rebounds and two assists in Illinois’ 78-57 win over Indiana, the Illini’s first win in a Big Ten opener since the 2016-17 season. It was her fourth double-double of the season for the Illini (8-1, 1-0).

Illinois coach Shauna Green said at her postgame news conference she was proud of the way Parchment adjusted defensively early in the game.

“She just continues to learn,” Green said. “She’s guarded some bigger bigs. She’s guarded some mobile bigs. Every game is going to be a first for her, but I do think she’s able to learn really quickly and adapt really quickly. … If she keeps doing that, she’s going to continue to grow.”

Parchment is the second Illinois woman to win the award this season after guard Destiny Jackson won it on Nov. 24. On the men’s side, Illini forward David Mirković has won it twice, though Wagler was the one to make an impact Saturday as Illinois (7-2) improved to 2-2 against ranked teams this season.

“The environment doesn’t bother him, maybe a little bit of the physicality,” coach Brad Underwood said of Wagler. “It’s just a matter of him getting comfortable. … We needed him to be more aggressive and more assertive, but the most impressive thing is no turnovers. And that’s almost every single day. He just takes care of the ball, and he’s a very, very mature decision-maker, and that’s usually not the case for a freshman.”

The Bulls are still chasing the Butler high

Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler leaves the crowd after falling into it in the second quarter against the Chicago Bulls, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, at the United Center in Chicago. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

More than eight years have passed since Jimmy Butler last donned a Bulls uniform. Yet the franchise is still attempting to reclaim the winning success they achieved with the six-time All-Star.

The Bulls won 276 games over six seasons with Butler on the roster. They have won 275 since he was traded to Minnesota in 2017, a fact that remained true Sunday when Butler returned to the United Center to hand the Bulls their seventh consecutive loss in a recent winless skid.

“That’s a hell of a stat,” Butler said with a laugh after the Bulls’ loss.

Number of the week: 25.9

Hannah Hidalgo of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish takes a shot during the second half against the Southern California Trojans at Purcell Pavilion on Nov. 21, 2025, in South Bend, Indiana. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)

Points per game from No. 19 Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo, ranked third in the nation.

Hidalgo was named the ACC player of the week for the third time this season after averaging 22.5 points, 5.5 assists, five rebounds and 3.5 steals in two games last week. Notre Dame went 1-1 with a loss to No. 17 Mississippi and a win over Florida State.

Week ahead: Bulls

Friday: at Hornets, 6 p.m., CHSN
Sunday: vs. Pelicans, 6 p.m., CHSN

After a brutal November packed with back-to-back games, the Bulls enjoy a relatively quiet period of scheduling in mid-December. This is primarily due to the NBA Cup, which creates a logjam of games in November and January to accommodate a lighter schedule for the elimination stages of the tournament. The Bulls will play only six games over the next 14 days, offering a crucial stretch for injured players to return to the court.

Week ahead: Best college basketball games

Tuesday: Illinois at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m., Peacock
Wednesday: Illinois women at Missouri, 6 p.m., SEC Network
Saturday: No. 23 Nebraska at Illinois, 3 p.m. Peacock

After closing out its slate of four games against ranked nonconference teams 2-2, the Illinois men open up Big Ten play at Ohio State and against Nebraska at home.

The Illini women have their Braggin’ Rights game against Missouri on tap.

What we’re reading this morning

Chicago Bulls Q&A: Did they make a mistake in drafting Noa Essengue? Who will be the starting center in 2026?
Why hasn’t Matas Buzelis taken a significant 2nd-year leap for Chicago Bulls yet — and what happens next?
The free-falling Bulls need help. Could Chicago native Anthony Davis offer answers?

Quotes of the week

“I think the group gets along very well. They all like each other — but until they love each other enough to block out, dive on the floor and do that not for themselves but for the guy next to them, this will continue.” — Billy Donovan after Sunday’s loss to the Golden State Warriors, the seventh straight for the Bulls

“I don’t get into all that. We got a job to do. It’s simple: go out there and do your job, whether you like me or not.” — Jevon Carter after Bulls practice Monday at the Advocate Center

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/chicago-basketball-report-chicago-bulls-illinois-notre-dame/ 

Coby White sometimes slips into a philosophical mindset after a game.

Especially after a loss. That’s when the Chicago Bulls guard begins reaching for metaphor and verse, trying out the patient wisdom that befits the veteran leader of a locker room — even if he’s only 25..

“I don’t know how y’all’s life goes,” White said, surveying the scrum of reporters assembled at his locker after Friday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers. “Is it always like this?” — he tipped his hand up, tracing a sharp upward curve as his face crumpled quizzically with the rhetorical question — “Or sometimes do y’all have ups and downs and ebbs and flows?

“Right now, we’re like this,” White continued, dipping his hand to demonstrate the decline the Bulls have traversed over the last month. “And then we have to figure out a way to get back up.”

Photos: Golden State Warriors 123, Chicago Bulls 91

The Bulls are certainly in the dip, having lost seven straight games and 13 of 16. Their 6-1 start didn’t do much besides hike expectations to unsustainable heights, creating a greater mess when they came crashing back down to reality. They now have completed a 10-game swing, going from five games above .500 to five games below in 33 days.

Something has to change. But the Bulls haven’t shown a clear strategy — or urgency — for shaking themselves out of this drought.

It doesn’t help that injuries have hollowed the roster into a husk of the one they assembled for training camp. The injury report stretches as long as the starting lineup: Kevin Huerter out with a groin strain, Tre Jones and Jalen Smith trying to ease back from muscle strains, Isaac Okoro sidelined indefinitely with a back injury and rookie Noa Essengue done for the season to undergo shoulder surgery.

But the Bulls can’t blame all of their woes on injuries and absences. A team can’t rely on its starting small forward and backup center to provide the majority of its defensive thrust. Or on a pair of guards to provide the majority of its offensive creativity.

“We’ve had an enormous amount of injuries,” Donovan said. “Having seven guys (available) is challenging for any team. I always believe that if you’ve got nine or 10 guys that are committed to doing the things necessary, there’s enough in that locker room. I really believe that.”

Even amid his optimism, White acknowledges the offense has taken a significant step backward. The Bulls had the fourth-worst offensive rating in the NBA over the last three weeks. Some of that regression is due to adjustments by opposing defenses — switching at all positions, greeting ballhandlers with a press at half-court, sending fewer offensive rebounders to keep the Bulls out of transition.

The Bulls understand the formula for getting themselves back on track. After all, it hasn’t changed since the first game of the season.

Bludgeon the ball to the rim, use discretion with 3-point shots, whip passes at a breathtaking pace. Force opponents off the offensive glass with box-outs, improve efficiency at the rim, alleviate pressure on ballhandlers by playing through the middle. These solutions may seem simple and straightforward, but the reality is more strenuous.

“Nothing in the league is easily fixable,” White said. “We’re playing against the best competition every night, the best players in the world. We’re going to have to put in the effort. We’re going to have to fight and claw our way back to where we want to get to. But I believe we can.”

Bulls players stand for the national anthem before a game against the Warriors on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, at the United Center. (Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune)

Nothing is hopeless. Not yet. The Bulls were 11th in the Eastern Conference through Sunday, the first rung below postseason positioning. And the conference is still a disaster — a fact that gives the Bulls crucial leeway.

The Washington Wizards, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets won’t make a run for the playoffs. And as long as Giannis Antetokounmpo stays on the injury report — or potentially is moved — the Milwaukee Bucks, who were 10th entering Monday, should be contained to the lower third of the standings. That doesn’t mean the Bulls are guaranteed anything without improvement, but it leaves enough runway for them to correct course.

First, they have to stop losing.

Frustration might boil over soon. This is a young roster. That five-game opening winning streak didn’t even begin to whet their appetite for success. Players such as White and Patrick Williams have played in only one playoff series during half a decade in Chicago. Hope is dangerous for a group with low expectations that somehow still never has lived up to its potential.

But losses have yet to fracture this team. Guard Josh Giddey feels the locker room has grown more unified through this skid than it was during the winning streak at the start of the season.

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“You start losing some and it’s easy for guys to splinter and go the wrong way and separate from the team,” Giddey said. “Credit to the group — coaches have kept us together, we’ve kept ourselves together. I feel really confident about this team.”

White cited this bond as a strength of the team, describing a series of “tough and honest” conversations among Bulls players over the last week as the losing streak stretched longer.

The Bulls point to their clutch numbers — seven of their 14 losses occurred with a margin of five or fewer points in the final five minutes — as evidence of their ability to rectify their current position. White feels the Bulls often lose their grip for a minute or a quarter at a time but rarely allow themselves to be bodied out of a game.

Still, long discussions can do only so much for a team five games below .500.

“You can have the conversations and you can hold each other accountable, and stuff can still go bad,” White said.

For the Bulls to salvage this season, talk must translate into action. And until this team gets back into the win column, vows of individual optimism and locker-room unity will ring hollow in Chicago.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/09/can-chicago-bulls-salvage-season/