Category: News
Marcador con impactos de bala que conmemora linchamiento de 1918 se exhibe en Atlanta
Por MICHAEL WARREN
ATLANTA (AP) — El letrero que conmemora un linchamiento de 1918 y que fue repetidamente vandalizado en los últimos años ahora se exhibe de manera segura en Atlanta en una exposición que se inaugura el lunes.
Conmemora un evento que algunas personas en el sur rural de Georgia han intentado arduamente borrar: el asesinato de Mary Turner por una turba blanca que estaba decidida a silenciarla después de que ella exigiera justicia por el linchamiento de su esposo, Hayes Turner, y al menos otras 10 personas negras.
Marcado con agujeros de bala y agrietado en su pedestal por un vehículo todoterreno, el marcador de la Sociedad Histórica de Georgia dice en parte: “Mary Turner, con ocho meses de embarazo, fue quemada, mutilada y asesinada a tiros por una turba después de denunciar públicamente el linchamiento de su esposo el día anterior. … Nunca se presentaron cargos contra los participantes conocidos o sospechosos de estos crímenes. Desde 1880 hasta 1930, hasta 550 personas fueron asesinadas en Georgia en estos actos ilegales de violencia de turba”.
Ahora cada palabra dañada por las balas se proyecta en una pared, y los visitantes escuchan esas palabras pronunciadas por algunos de los descendientes de seis generaciones de Turner.
“Me alegra que el memorial haya sido tiroteado”, declaró Katrina Thomas, bisnieta, el sábado por la noche después de su primera visita a la exposición en el Museo Nacional de Derechos Civiles y Humanos.
“Millones de personas van a aprender su historia. Que su voz continúe años y años después muestra que la historia no desaparece. Vive y sigue creciendo”, añadió.
Los estadounidenses se enteraron de estos linchamientos en 1918 porque fueron investigados inmediatamente después por Walter White, quien fundó el capítulo de Georgia de la Asociación Nacional para el Progreso de las Personas de Color y se convertiría en una voz influyente por los derechos civiles a nivel nacional. Un hombre negro de piel clara que podía pasar por blanco, entrevistó a testigos presenciales y proporcionó nombres de sospechosos al gobernador de Georgia, según su informe en la publicación de la NAACP, The Crisis.
Georgia fue uno de los estados más activos en linchamientos, según el catálogo de la Iniciativa de Justicia Igualitaria de más de 4.400 linchamientos documentados de terror racial en Estados Unidos entre la Reconstrucción y la Segunda Guerra Mundial. La organización ha colocado marcadores en muchos sitios y ha construido un monumento a las víctimas en Montgomery, Alabama.
La primera legislación nacional contra el linchamiento se introdujo en 1918 en medio de la reacción nacional a las muertes de Mary y Hayes Turner y sus vecinos en los condados de Brooks y Lowndes en Georgia. Se aprobó en la Cámara en 1922, pero los senadores del sur la obstruyeron y pasaría otro siglo antes de que el linchamiento se convirtiera en un crimen de odio federal en 2022.
“La misma injusticia que le quitó la vida fue la misma injusticia que siguió vandalizándola, año tras año”, indicó Randy McClain, sobrino nieto de los Turner.
Creció en la misma área rural donde ocurrieron los linchamientos, pero no sabía mucho sobre ellos ni descubrió su conexión familiar hasta que fue adulto.
“Aquí se siente como un espacio muy seguro. Ella finalmente está en paz, y su historia puede ser contada. Y su familia puede sentir una cierta sensación de reivindicación”, añadió McClain.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Zoológico en la isla de Java publica fotos del primer cachorro de panda nacido en Indonesia
Por EDNA TARIGAN
YAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Un zoológico en la isla de Java publicó fotos del primer cachorro de panda gigante nacido localmente en Indonesia e informó que el cachorro macho mostraba signos de estar en buen estado de salud.
La madre, Hu Chun, de 15 años, dio a luz a Satrio Wiratama —apodado Rio— el 27 de noviembre en las instalaciones del zoológico en Cisarua, provincia de Java Occidental.
El nombre simboliza la esperanza, la resiliencia y el compromiso compartido de Indonesia y China en la protección de especies en peligro de extinción, anunció Taman Safari Indonesia en un comunicado el domingo.
“Este nacimiento es el resultado de un programa de cooperación internacional a largo plazo que ha estado en marcha durante una década, desde la llegada de los pandas gigantes Hu Chun y Cai Tao a Indonesia en 2017 como parte de una asociación de conservación de diez años con China”, afirmó el comunicado.
Rio está en condición estable y bajo monitoreo las 24 horas por el equipo del zoológico, mostrando signos tempranos de salud como una vocalización fuerte, lactancia efectiva y un aumento constante de peso. En los próximos uno o dos meses, debe desarrollar mejor control de temperatura, crecimiento de pelaje, abra los ojos y comience los primeros movimientos motores, declaró el zoológico.
“En esta etapa temprana, el bebé panda aún no es accesible al público. Taman Safari Indonesia continuará priorizando la salud y el bienestar de la madre y su bebé, e invita al público a unirse en oración por el desarrollo del bebé panda para que se mantenga sano y salvo en las primeras etapas de su vida”, se indicó.
El presidente indonesio Prabowo Subianto anunció el nombre del bebé panda el jueves y mostró su foto cuando se reunió con Wang Huning, un destacado asesor político chino y principal ideólogo.
Cai Tao y Hu Chun, un par de pandas gigantes que llegaron a Indonesia en 2017, viven en un hogar “como un palacio” que fue construido para ellos en el zoológico Taman Safari, que se encuentra a unos 70 kilómetros (43 millas) de Yakarta.
Los pandas son ampliamente considerados como el símbolo nacional no oficial de China y su programa de préstamo de pandas gigantes con zoológicos en el extranjero ha sido visto durante mucho tiempo como una herramienta de la diplomacia de poder blando de Beijing, también conocida como “diplomacia de panda”.
Los pandas gigantes tienen dificultades para reproducirse y los nacimientos son particularmente bienvenidos. Hay menos de 1.900 pandas gigantes en sus únicos hábitats silvestres en las provincias chinas de Sichuan, Shaanxi y Gansu.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Goldman Reveals Housing “Affordability Illusion” When Factoring Other Costs
Goldman Reveals Housing “Affordability Illusion” When Factoring Other Costs
Affordability has surged into the news cycle and is almost certain to dominate the coming midterm election cycle. And when voters talk about “affordability,” they’re most concerned about the basic cost of living. Beyond food and healthcare, nothing hits harder than housing costs.
Goldman analysts led by Arun Manohar have some bad news on the housing affordability front: even with lower mortgage rates and slower home-price growth, it’s largely an “illusion of affordability” once other ownership costs, such as taxes, insurance, and maintenance, are factored in.
Manohar explained more in a recent note to clients:
The most important topic of discussion in the housing market remains the challenging affordability situation. The recent decline in mortgage rates and the weak pace of HPA has resulted in housing affordability climbing to the highest level since 2022 (Exhibit 1). However, affordability remains low at the 18th percentile over the past 30 years. Although affordability has climbed, it is important to note that the standard affordability metrics do not capture all the costs of homeownership such as taxes, insurance and maintenance (collectively referred to as ‘other costs’). To capture the effect of ‘other costs,’ we rely on estimates from Zillow for the monthly mortgage payment and total monthly payment on a new home purchased with the average interest rate of the month. The difference between the two series accounts for homeowner’s insurance, property taxes, and maintenance costs. We find that metro areas that have experienced home price declines over the past year have generally witnessed greater increases in the ‘other costs’ over the past few years (Exhibit 2). Although falling home prices would typically make a home more affordable, prospective buyers may experience only partial relief since overall homeownership costs are not decreasing at the same rate as property values. With the median age of the US housing stock being over 40 years old, nationwide insurance premiums and maintenance expenses could increase further.
Mortgage rates are unlikely to decline enough to provide a significant boost to affordability in 2026.
Manohar’s view on President Trump’s newly proposed 50-year mortgage:
50-year mortgages: Short-term affordability boost, but with long-term consequencesRecently, the administration and the FHFA Director have explored the feasibility of introducing a 50-year mortgage product to help improve mortgage affordability. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage available in the US is already among the longest in the developed world. We see four key issues with a 50-year mortgage. First, while monthly payments decline slightly, the increase in the lifetime cost of homeownership can be prohibitive. Using the example of a $400k mortgage at 6.25% interest rates, we note that if the term were to be extended to 50-years, the monthly principal and interest payment would be about 11% lower than that if the term remained at 30-years. However, the total lifetime interest would climb 87% (Exhibit 4). Second, the above calculation assumes mortgage rates are the same for 30-year and 50-year mortgages. In reality though, the longer term will likely translate into higher mortgage rates and hence lower savings in monthly payments. It is quite likely that a 50-year mortgage would receive a rate that is at least 50bp higher than that on a 30-year mortgage (Exhibit 5). Using the same example of a $400k mortgage and the assumption that a 50-year mortgage receives a 50bp higher rate than the 30-year mortgage, the savings in monthly payment drops to just 5%, and the total lifetime interest would more than double. A mortgage rate that is 95bp higher than the prevailing 30-year mortgage rate of 6.25% would result in parity in monthly payments, completely nullifying the benefits of extending the term to 50 years. Third, with a 50-year mortgage, borrowers would build equity at an even slower pace than that with a 30-year mortgage during the initial years, which increases default risks in a housing downturn scenario. Finally, a sudden boost to affordability risks increasing home prices, as potential homebuyers would compete for the same limited inventory. Therefore, any improvement in housing affordability would be short lived.
In a recent Fox News interview, Vice President JD Vance blamed the affordability crisis on lingering effects of failed policies from the Biden-Harris years.
“A lot of young people are saying, housing is way too expensive. Why is that? Because we flooded the country with 30 million illegal immigrants who were taking houses that ought by right go to American citizens,” Vance told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last month. And at the same time, we weren’t building enough new houses to begin with, even for the population that we had.”
ZeroHedge Pro subs can read the full note in the usual place. It’s packed with a lot more housing market charts.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 12/07/2025 – 09:55
Lando Norris de McLaren gana su primer campeonato de F1 en el GP de Abu Dabi
ABU DABI, Emiratos Árabes Unidos (AP) — El piloto de McLaren, Lando Norris, conquistó su primer título de Fórmula 1 el domingo en el Gran Premio de Abu Dabi, que cerró la temporada.
El piloto de Red Bull y campeón defensor, Max Verstappen, ganó la carrera y Norris terminó tercero detrás de su compañero de equipo de McLaren, Oscar Piastri, que fue segundo. Esto le permitió a Norris terminar dos puntos por delante de Verstappen en la clasificación de la temporada.
Piastri también estaba en la contienda por su primer título de F1 y terminó tercero en la clasificación, 13 puntos detrás de Norris.
Norris, de 26 años, se convirtió en el primer campeón británico desde Lewis Hamilton en 2020, y también impidió que Verstappen lograra un quinto título consecutivo.
Norris llegó a la última carrera de la temporada en una pelea a tres vías y con 12 puntos de ventaja sobre Verstappen y 16 sobre Piastri.
Verstappen se quedó el sábado con la pole para Red Bull, seguido de Norris compartiendo la primera fila y su compañero de equipo de McLaren, Piastri, tercero en la parrilla. Para ganar el campeonato, Verstappen necesitaba que Norris fuera cuarto o más abajo y Norris tenía que terminar fuera de los cinco primeros si Piastri ganaba.
Con un asombroso impulso al final de la temporada, Verstappen estuvo cerca de desbancar a ambos pilotos de McLaren después de que compartieron el liderazgo durante toda la campaña, pero que fue afectado por errores de piloto y estrategia del equipo.
Pero incluso con su octava victoria de la temporada y la número 71 de su carrera, Verstappen no pudo detener a Norris, quien mantuvo la compostura el domingo a pesar de haber estado bajo una presión severa en las últimas semanas.
El personal de McLaren estalló de alegría y el CEO Zak Brown felicitó a Norris por la radio del equipo de su manera jovial habitual.
“Lando, soy Zak de McLaren. ¿Es esta la línea directa del campeón del mundo? ¡Lo hiciste! ¡Lo hiciste! Increíble”, dijo Brown.
Norris no sabía si reír o llorar. Hizo ambas cosas.
“Oh Dios mío, muchas gracias. Los quiero chicos. Gracias por todo”, dijo Norris y luego rompió en llanto.
Después de cruzar la línea, Norris se quedó en su auto unos segundos, visiblemente emocionado. Sus padres estaban al lado de la pista y fue a abrazarlos antes de celebrar con sus ingenieros y mecánicos de McLaren.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
El piloto de McLaren Lando Norris gana su primer título de la Fórmula 1
ABU DABI, Emiratos Árabes Unidos (AP) — El piloto de McLaren Lando Norris gana su primer título de la Fórmula 1.
Climate Groups Falter, Bill Gates Recalibrates, But Al Gore Soldiers On
Climate Groups Falter, Bill Gates Recalibrates, But Al Gore Soldiers On
Authored by Gary Abernathy of The Empowerment Alliance,
It’s been an interesting few weeks on the climate hysteria front. Organizations associated with climate alarmism have recently found themselves engulfed in turmoil. Bill Gates has recanted earlier predictions of gloom and doom. But the Father of Climate Panic, former Vice President Al Gore, remains steadfast, if increasingly marginalized.
Let’s start with probably the best-known environmental organization in the world, the Sierra Club. According to a recent New York Times report, the club thrived when it seemed laser-focused on the environment. But then, during Donald Trump’s first term, “its leaders sought to expand far beyond environmentalism, embracing other progressive causes. Those included racial justice, labor rights, gay rights, immigrant rights and more.”
As a result of the effort to morph into a catch-all for a myriad of social justice causes, the Times noted that by 2022 the Sierra Club “had exhausted its finances and splintered its coalition.” By August, according to the Times, the number of Sierra Club “champions” – “a group that included dues-paying members as well as supporters who had donated, signed petitions or participated in events” – was “down about 60 percent from its high in 2019.”
Despite the upheaval, few lessons seem learned. The Times noted that “in recent weeks, supporters who clicked on the group’s website for ‘current campaigns’ were presented with 131 petitions, some out of date, like calls to support clean-energy funding that Mr. Trump has already gutted, or to support a voting-rights bill that died in 2023.”
Asked whether he had any regrets, the club’s current board president, Patrick Murphy, summoned the spirit of Kamala “not a thing comes to mind” Harris and replied, “I have a hard time pinpointing how I believe we should have made different choices.” Alrighty then.
Also falling on hard times is 350.org, which first gained notoriety for its successful efforts to block the Keystone XL oil pipeline during the Obama administration. As Politico reported this month, the group “will ‘temporarily suspend programming’ in the U.S. and other countries amid funding woes.”
Executive Director Anne Jellema said 350.org “had suffered a 25 percent drop in income for its 2025 and 2026 fiscal years, compelling it to halt operations,” and would subsequently reduce its global staff by about 30 percent.
“The group had endured economic hardship over the years, including problems of financial management and several rounds of layoffs that eroded its influence,” Politico reported. Jellema said the organization was facing its challenges “with our ambition intact.” But apparently not much else.
An implosion of a different kind is from the world of “green banking.” NBA star Kawhi Leonard’s endorsement contract with the pro-environment group Aspiration is alleged to have been a vehicle for Leonard and the Los Angelas Clippers to skirt NBA salary cap rules.
As reported by ESPN, Aspiration Partners was a company founded in 2013 to provide “socially-conscious and sustainable banking services and investment products.” Their slogan was, “Do Well. Do Good.” Catchy. Operating like an environmentally conscious digital bank, Aspiration promised to “never fund fossil fuel projects like pipelines, oil rigs and coalmines.” The company’s products included “an option to plant a tree with every purchase roundup.”
According to ESPN, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer invested $50 million in Aspiration. The subsequent allegation is that Leonard signed a $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration “as a way to circumvent the league’s salary cap.” Ballmer has denied any knowledge of the deal, according to the report. Leonard has also denied any wrongdoing.
ESPN reported that Aspiration filed for bankruptcy in March, and co-founder Joe Sanberg pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud after “federal prosecutors said Sanberg defrauded investors and lenders out of $248 million by fraudulently obtaining loans, falsifying bank and brokerage statements and concealing that he was the source of some revenue booked by the company.”
The NBA is investigating. How many trees Aspiration planted is unknown.
To add insult to injury comes what appears to be an about-face from no less a dedicated environmentalist than Bill Gates. For decades, Gates has been a leader in the movement to reduce carbon emissions. But last month he caused a stir when he declared that climate change “will not lead to humanity’s demise.”
It’s heartening when others finally catch on. Earlier this year, the climate group funded by Gates, Breakthrough Energy, laid off dozens of employees in the U.S. and Europe “as it pulls back from public policy advocacy work that was a cornerstone of its mission,” as the industry site Energy Connects reported.
Sadly, such admirable retrospection will likely never occur to Al Gore, arguably history’s leading figure in propagating climate hysteria and someone who has reportedly made a fortune from his climate alarmism. Gore’s reaction to Gates’ newfound enlightenment was a predictable temper tantrum during which he speculated that Gates had succumbed to “bullying” by President Trump.
Takes one to know one – Gore has often been accused of bullying those not on board with his climate crusade.
In an increasingly splintered movement that once marched in lockstep, it may be that someday only Al Gore will remain – the last true believer of a story he largely authored, perched atop his high horse at his solar-powered compound.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 12/07/2025 – 09:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/climate-groups-falter-bill-gates-recalibrates-al-gore-soldiers
Netanyahu dice que Israel y Hamás pronto iniciarán segunda fase de alto al fuego
Por MELANIE LIDMAN y KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — El primer ministro israelí Benjamin Netanyahu afirmó el domingo en Jerusalén que Israel y Hamás “muy pronto pasarán a la segunda fase del alto al fuego”, después de que Hamás devuelva los restos del último rehén retenido en Gaza.
Netanyahu hizo estos comentarios durante una conferencia de prensa con el canciller alemán Friedrich Merz, quien está de visita en Israel.
Netanyahu destacó que la segunda fase de la tregua, el desarme de Hamás y la desmilitarización de Gaza, podría comenzar tan pronto como a finales de mes. Hamás todavía retiene los restos de Ran Gvili, un policía de 24 años que fue asesinado el 7 de octubre de 2023 y cuyo cuerpo fue llevado a Gaza.
La segunda etapa también incluye el despliegue de una fuerza internacional para asegurar Gaza y la formación de un gobierno palestino temporal para gestionar los asuntos cotidianos bajo la supervisión de una junta internacional liderada por el presidente Donald Trump.
Netanyahu dice que la segunda fase será difícil
La devolución de los restos de Gvili marcaría la finalización de la primera fase del plan de 20 puntos de Trump. Hamás dice que no ha podido recuperar todos los restos porque están enterrados bajo los escombros dejados por la ofensiva de dos años de Israel en Gaza. Israel ha acusado a los militantes de retrasar el proceso y ha amenazado con reanudar las operaciones militares o retener la ayuda humanitaria si no se devuelven todos los restos.
Merz dijo el domingo que Alemania está ayudando con la implementación de la segunda fase enviando oficiales y diplomáticos a un centro de coordinación civil y militar liderado por Estados Unidos en el sur de Israel, y enviando ayuda humanitaria a Gaza.
Netanyahu declaró que pocos creían que la primera etapa del alto al fuego pudiera lograrse, y la segunda fase es igualmente difícil. “Como mencioné al canciller, hay una tercera fase, y esa es desradicalizar Gaza, algo que también la gente creía imposible. Pero se hizo en Alemania, se hizo en Japón, se hizo en los Estados del Golfo. Se puede hacer en Gaza también, pero por supuesto Hamás tiene que ser desmantelado”.
El apoyo de Alemania a Israel no ha cambiado, dice el canciller
Merz afirmó el domingo que Alemania “siempre defenderá la existencia y seguridad de Israel”, después de las atrocidades del Holocausto. “Esto es parte del núcleo inmutable de nuestra relación. Esto se aplica hoy, se aplica mañana y se aplica para siempre”.
El canciller también dijo que Alemania todavía cree que una solución de dos estados es la mejor opción posible, pero que “el gobierno federal alemán sigue opinando que el reconocimiento de un estado palestino solo puede llegar al final de tal proceso, no al principio”.
Netanyahu señaló que, aunque le gustaría visitar Alemania, no ha planeado un viaje diplomático porque le preocupa una orden de arresto emitida por la Corte Penal Internacional, el principal tribunal de crímenes de guerra de la ONU, el año pasado. Merz indicó que actualmente no hay planes para una visita, pero que podría invitar a Netanyahu en el futuro. Añadió que no está al tanto de futuras sanciones contra Israel por parte de la Unión Europea ni de planes para renovar las prohibiciones alemanas sobre exportaciones militares a Israel.
Alemania tuvo una prohibición temporal de exportar equipo militar a Israel, que fue levantada después de que comenzara el alto el fuego.
Israel mata a un militante en Gaza
El ejército israelí dijo que mató a un militante que se acercó a las tropas israelíes a través de la llamada Línea Amarilla, que divide la parte de Gaza controlada por Israel del resto del territorio. El Ministerio de Salud de Gaza dice que las fuerzas israelíes han matado a más de 370 palestinos desde el inicio de la tregua en octubre.
En el ataque liderado por Hamás en el sur de Israel el 7 de octubre de 2023, los militantes mataron a alrededor de 1.200 personas y tomaron a más de 250 como rehenes. Casi todos los rehenes o sus restos han sido devueltos en altos el fuego u otros acuerdos.
La ofensiva de Israel en Gaza ha matado a más de 70.100 palestinos, según el Ministerio de Salud de Gaza, que opera bajo el gobierno dirigido por Hamás. Está compuesto por profesionales médicos y mantiene registros detallados que son considerados generalmente confiables por la comunidad internacional.
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Grieshaber informó desde Berlín.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
‘It’s not over’: NWI attorneys warn of deportations continuing
Northwest Indiana attorneys are facing a trail of unresolved cases and vanished clients following Operation Midway Blitz’s sweep across state lines.
Attorney Ferdinand Alvarez of Campbell Law, a public defender in Lake County courts, said some of his clients have effectively disappeared — with no contact or known location — leaving local cases stuck in limbo.
Two boys pose with a Welcome Network sign during an annual fundraiser. (Photo provided of The Welcome Network)
“They’re just, they’re gone…” Alvarez said. “It’s very abnormal because usually the law process runs on the fact that it’s such an orderly process. Without having your client there, the whole process just becomes kind of turned upside down. I’m noticing a lot more cases involving immigrants who are unable to resolve their cases because they’ve been taken, and frankly, we don’t know where they’re at.”
“And all we can do is continue to file for continuances and ask for more time in the hope that some news will come up or that we’ll find out where they’re at, but it’s often very hard to do so,” he said.
Alvarez said his clients who are in the U.S. legally are too afraid to attend basic court hearings because they worry they will be taken into custody by federal agents “and held without knowing when they’ll be released.”
“We, as defense attorneys, are tasked with protecting due process rights, which are afforded to immigrants as well, but, at the same time, we find ourselves being counselors to grieving families,” Alvarez said. “As a public defender in the Lake County courts, I am seeing the effects of what happens when a family gets split up. Defense attorneys in Northwest Indiana often find themselves on the front lines when it comes to the immigration issue. We are usually the first ones called when something happens to an individual or their family.”
Martha Ruiz holds her son Eli Carrillo on Nov. 25, 2025 in Gary, Indiana. They were separated after a raid on their home by federal immigration enforcement agents. Ruiz spent time in detention in Texas. Now free on bond and wearing an ankle bracelet, she was grief stricken over being separated from her children and from her husband, who remains in custody in Indiana. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
Alvarez said one day, Attorney Michael A. Campbell received a panicked call from a client who said agents were banging on his door. Campbell told the client to wait inside the house and drove to the man’s residence, where he found ICE agents driving up and down the block.
“He said, ‘Look my client lives in this house, and unless you have an actual search warrant signed by a judge, you won’t be entering his residence,” Alvarez said. “And he stood there, literally in front of this guy’s house and waited until those officers were gone. They could not and did not do anything. And although I was not directly involved in that, it’s just an example of how criminal defense attorneys can have an impact on people and the immigration process.”
In addition, a few Lake County prosecutors have been enticed to work for the Department of Homeland Security, leaving posts temporarily empty, Alvarez said.
“There has been a significant turnover in the local prosecutor’s offices because they are being enticed with financial packages and offers to work for the Department of Homeland Security,” Alvarez said. “And it’s affecting the way the courts can proceed, because now the state of the prosecutor’s office is shorthanded. So there’s been an influx of prosecutors taking their talents to the federal government to, what I can only assume, assist in this process.”
An immigrant currently on federal immigration hold in the Porter County Jail speaks during a video call on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)
As one of the few Spanish-speaking immigration attorneys in the Region, Attorney Mayra Rodriguez-Alvarez, of The Law Office of Mayra Rodriguez-Alvarez in Hammond, is booked through next February with immigration cases.
For client safety, all meetings are held virtually or over the phone for the time being. She said her office phones are regularly ringing with calls from people who say they are afraid to leave the house.
“We get calls everyday of people too distressed to go out, wanting to know what to do if ICE confronts them. ICE is violating all due process, even if someone is trying to invoke their rights, they’re being dragged and brutalized- what do you do in that case?” Rodriguez-Alvarez said. “They’ll beat them up first and then later find out they have a legal remedy pending, and then the agents say, ‘I wouldn’t have beat you up if I knew that. So, should someone just say they have a legal remedy pending, so they don’t get beaten? At some point, I have to say it’s safer to surrender. And as a lawyer, you don’t want to tell them that. But now it’s about safety. People are getting beat up, their car windows broken out and dragged on the streets.”
When it comes to bystanders intervening in ICE activity, it becomes tricky, Rodriguez-Alvarez said. Individuals are within their rights to record or ask for a warrant from agents who are making an arrest or entering private property, but it could mean putting their safety on the line.
Tony Burrell leads a “Know Your Rights” at the Welcome Network, a faith-based nonprofit organization founded to aid immigrants and refugees. (Photo provided by The Welcome Network)
“If you intervene, just know that you’re taking a risk that you may also get taken,” she said. “But if that’s okay with you, there’s been a lot of people that are standing up like in Chicago, blowing whistles, or they’ll show up to an arrest and ask, ‘Where’s your warrant? You can’t be here.’ And they pretty much end up kicking (ICE agents) out. But then there have been some cases where that happens and then the U.S. citizen is detained or beaten up, like the WGN reporter who got thrown to the ground outside of a detention center. So it’s just understanding that you can try to help, but also understand that no one is protected right right now. They don’t care.”
Inhumane conditions at ICE facility
Those detained are typically first taken to the ICE’s Broadview detention facility located west of Chicago, before being transported to a detention center or deported via the Gary/Chicago International Airport. At Operation Midway Blitz’s height, there were reportedly 200 individuals being held at any given time, according to court documents.
“They were overcrowded,” Rodriguez-Alvarez said. “They’re not allowing people to take their medicine. From colleagues across the country, I’ve heard many things. There’s been a lot of detention center human rights violations across the country. On top of withholding medication, they don’t feed them. They cramp them up in a cell with a bunch of people and they don’t let them shower.”
Kevin Mejia, founder of East Chicago Indiana News page on Facebook, said he has heard a mix of rumors and firsthand accounts, including one from a friend who was being held at the Broadview location.
“He is a 28-year-old man who came to America when he was two years old, and he was arrested,” Mejia said.
Mejia was able to get a hold of him by calling the Broadview facility before the man was deported.
“He said, ‘there are people trying to rape me’,” Mejia said. “And he was saying that the people, the agents, were trying to mess around with the older men that were detained there. One man spoke up to them and said he was going to report them, and they retaliated. They were trying to fondle them and mess with them — weird stuff like that. … I’d call at 12 at night, he would answer, and I’d hear an alarm in the background. He said they had the fire alarm blasting all night. He said, ‘They don’t let us sleep’.”
After individuals are transported from the Broadview facility to a southern Indiana detention center or across state borders, it can get nearly impossible for attorneys and families alike to track and contact the individual, Rodriguez-Alvarez said.
One recent client is a Marine veteran who called Rodriguez-Alvarez because he could not find his father, who had lived in the U.S. for 34 years.
“His son flew all the way out here to figure out what happened to him, and found out he got detained because he ran,” she said. “He got scared and he just ran. And as it turns out, he’s raised his kids here, his son’s a veteran. He wasn’t able to get legal status just on a small technicality. Nothing crazy. He pays his taxes. He has his house. His dad’s on medication. And he just left his breakfast on the table, he never came back.”
Rodriguez-Alvarez said the man signed his deportation papers because he didn’t want to be detained any longer and he wasn’t getting his medications while in custody.
“His son was trying to call me to see if there’s anything he could do or if he could visit him before he got deported, and they did not let him in,” Rodriguez-Alvarez said.
Similar accounts have been echoed in a class action lawsuit, which alleges that coercion tactics, such as withholding medication, have been used to get individuals to sign deportation papers.
Judge Robert W. Gettleman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a temporary restraining order for the Broadview Center due to reported conditions including inadequate food, medical care and sleeping conditions.
A class-action lawsuit, Moreno Gonzalez v. Noem in Northern Illinois District Court, is ongoing by the MacArthur Justice Center and the ACLU of Illinois, alleging detainees were stripped of their right to an attorney and were treated like “animals.” The complaint cited “mass constitutional violations” and called the federal officers patrolling the facility “abusive and cruel.”
“(Members of the class action lawsuit) are routinely degraded, mistreated and humiliated by these officers,” the court document said. “…They are being confined at Broadview inside overcrowded holding cells containing dozens of people at a time. People are forced to attempt to sleep, for days or sometimes weeks, on plastic chairs or on the filthy concrete floor. They are denied sufficient food and water. …The temperatures are extreme and uncomfortable. Most nights are freezing cold. The lights are typically on all night. These conditions result in widespread sleep deprivation.”
Currently, federal court continues to review conditions at the ICE facility, where the holding population has been reduced drastically, though the current number is unknown. A hearing will be conducted on the conditions of the facility later this month, according to Gettleman.
ICE ‘won’t go away anytime soon’
Alvarez said that while ICE activity appears to be lessening in Chicagoland, it does not mean that residents have seen the end of aggressive deportation efforts.
“As far as ICE activity dying down, I can only hope so, but my fear is that it may subside in Chicagoland, but it’s only going to increase in other areas as these agents get deployed into other communities,” Alvarez said. “I think Chicago was an example of the federal government just to prove a point. And it’s often a political point. And so that’s the sad part as well. It becomes about politics and not the safety of the community and what’s right for people.”
In the south Chicago suburbs, Attorney Lauren Debolt hosts workshops about asylum petitions, applications for work permits and general counseling about the immigration process.
“Instead of putting on a show, which they’ve been doing, ICE is now back to doing their work in the shadows where nobody sees them,” Debolt said. “ It doesn’t mean things aren’t happening, but they are not going out of their way to be on Channel 5. And I think it’s actually going to be harder to track these things now, but they’re still happening. Since we live in a 24-hour news cycle, we think that we won, we beat ICE back. But that’s not the case.”
Debolt said as it stands, the Department of Homeland Security has a detailed database and electric monitoring devices tracking upwards of 50,000 households in Chicagoland alone.
“The thing about Midway Blitz is that the amount of people that they actually arrested with the sheer amount of resources they committed to the operation is grossly inefficient,” Debolt said. “ICE could have arrested that many people on their own, without all the extra expenses and extra agents. They can probably pull up 100,000 people in their database and know their whereabouts and just go pick them up at home. And so they committed this amount of resources to basically making an advertisement for how horrible they are. It is designed to be psychological warfare. It wasn’t really about immigration enforcement. It was psychological warfare.”
Though her clients in pursuit of asylum remain fearful, Debolt continues to encourage them to keep up with their immigration court dates to avoid certain removal.
Rodriguez-Alvarez said it’s important to begin the immigration process as soon as possible for anyone of undocumented status. This means that if someone is detained or arrested by ICE, they will have a “legal remedy” pending, which will make it easier for them to pursue being released on bond, preventing deportation.
“They cannot ignore this, it won’t go away anytime soon,” Rodriguez-Alvarez said. “It’s urgent to ensure they have something in order.”
If someone does not qualify for a legal remedy, she helps them make an exit plan by designating a “power of attorney.” A power of attorney is a written document that gives a trusted person the ability to manage affairs in one’s absence, such as bank accounts, personal property and care of one’s children.
“I have clients who have been arrested who have legal remedies pending and we are working to bond them out,” she said. “It’s extremely hard if they don’t have a legal remedy in the process and I am not already representing them as their attorney. But when I get a call from a relative after someone is arrested, it becomes almost impossible to find them. Most people who are arrested and are undocumented can’t seek bond, so we have to file a habeas corpus (petition) and they’re not being favorable to those cases. It’s a very rough time right now.”
Tony Burrell, The Welcome Network executive director, works with a team of attorneys and other volunteers to represent and guide individuals going through the immigration process. The Welcome Network is 70% funded through churches, donors and fundraisers to give financial aid for those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer.
“We’ve seen an uptick for sure in consultations,” Burell said. “We’ve seen double the amount of consultations than two years ago. People are wanting to know whether they have any immigration benefits that they qualify for, and now it’s more urgent for people than it was two years ago. We’ve had clients whose doors have been knocked on by ICE here in Northwest Indiana. And of course, that creates uncertainty and fear in many cases.”
The Welcome Network, founded in 2014, has a legal center located at 824 Hoffman St. in Hammond and a ministry office at 3642 Lake St. in Lansing, Illinois. While still accepting new clients, Burrell said they are booked six to eight weeks out for consultations.
This year alone, the organization conducted more than 400 household consultations, with more than half of those cases leading to the pursuit of immigration benefits. However, while the need has never been greater for immigration services, there are less resources, support organizations and funds than before, Burrell said. In addition, attorneys are challenged daily with constantly changing laws, procedures and delays.
“The processes are changing so quickly that it’s a challenge to keep up,” Burrell said. “ So we actually have to slow down with our consultations and make sure that the things that we relied on for years, we have to take a pause and check ourselves and say, ‘Does this still apply?’ Or has something new just happened in the last week or month that would change the course that we would want to go with a certain client? So it’s kind of nerve-racking and it’s definitely energy draining to keep up with changes almost on a daily basis. If you make a mistake or if somebody doesn’t catch something, then obviously there’s a feeling of responsibility because these are people’s lives in the balance.”
Burrell said the impact has a domino effect on affected communities, making them more vulnerable to being victims of crime.
“I don’t see these issues as political, but as basic issues of human dignity and constitutional rights,” Burrell said. “People do have rights and if the system changes so much that you’re not sure whether your rights are going to be upheld or trampled on, then it’s going to create entire communities that are fearful. And fearful communities are communities where people can be taken advantage of more and more. If someone’s afraid to even call the police, because they’re not sure if they or a family member is going to be detained, then that creates more and more instability in communities that are just trying to become more stable.”
One rising problem Rodriguez-Alvarez is dealing with is scammers posing as attorneys. As an attorney who practices nationwide, she is currently representing a client in Texas who was scammed out of $12,000 by someone posing as an attorney who pressured the client into filling out an online application with the promise of citizenship.
ICE then used the application to find the individual and put them into deportation proceedings, she said.
“I also had a client who called me panicking, and said that she kept getting a phone call from ICE saying that her family member was picked up. So I said, ‘Okay, let me call them,’” Rodriguez-Alvarez said. “And I called them and started asking questions and found out that it was a whole scam.”
She said she has discovered phony attorneys on social media who are using fake IDs and made-up credentials to appear official. Rodriguez-Alvarez said individuals should use trusted sites like the Indiana State Bar Association, in which people can search names to ensure someone is an attorney in good standing.
Other resources attorneys referenced include The Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance, which is reachable at 1-855-435-7693, and the Resurrection Project, which can be found at resurrectionproject.org or reached at 312-666-1323. A list of resources can also be found at the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project website at asaptogether.org and on the National Immigration Justice Center website at immigrantjustice.org.
Anna Ortiz is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Trump afirma que será anfitrión de premios del Centro Kennedy
Por DARLENE SUPERVILLE y HILLEL ITALIE
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sylvester Stallone, Kiss y Gloria Gaynor se encuentran entre las luminarias que serán celebradas el domingo en los honores anuales del Centro Kennedy, con Donald Trump presentando el espectáculo, siendo la primera vez que un presidente comandará el escenario en lugar de sentarse en un palco de la Ópera.
Desde que regresó al cargo en enero, Trump ha convertido el Centro John F. Kennedy para las Artes Escénicas, que lleva el nombre de un predecesor demócrata, en un punto de referencia en un ataque más amplio contra lo que ha criticado como una cultura antiestadounidense “woke”.
Trump anunció en agosto que había aceptado presentar el espectáculo. El presidente republicano manifestó el sábado en una cena del Departamento de Estado para los homenajeados que lo hacía “a petición de cierta cadena de televisión”. Predijo que la transmisión, programada para emitirse el 23 de diciembre en CBS y Paramount+, tendría sus mejores índices de audiencia de la historia.
“Va a ser algo que creo, y voy a hacer una predicción: Este será el programa con mayor audiencia que hayan hecho y han tenido algunas audiencias bastante buenas, pero no hay nada como lo que va a suceder” el domingo por la noche, declaró Trump.
Trump está asumiendo un papel que en el pasado han tenido el periodista Walter Cronkite y el comediante y némesis de Trump, Stephen Colbert, entre otros. Antes de Trump, los presidentes veían el espectáculo junto a los homenajeados. Trump se saltó los honores por completo durante su primer mandato.
Desde 1978, los honores han reconocido a estrellas por su influencia en la cultura y las artes estadounidenses. Los premiados este año son destacados de la cultura pop, incluyendo a Stallone por sus películas “Rocky” y “Rambo”, Gaynor por su himno feminista “I Will Survive” y Kiss por su maquillaje llamativo y exhibiciones en el escenario con humo y fuego. También se honra a la superestrella de la música country George Strait y al actor Michael Crawford.
Se espera que la ceremonia sea emotiva para los miembros de Kiss. El guitarrista original de la banda, Ace Frehley, falleció en octubre tras sufrir una lesión durante una caída.
Los homenajeados anteriores han provenido de una amplia gama de formas de arte, ya sea danza (Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham), teatro (Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber), cine (Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) o música (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell).
Trump ha tomado el control del Centro Kennedy
Trump trastocó décadas de apoyo bipartidista al centro al destituir a su liderazgo y llenar la junta de republicanos quienes luego lo eligieron presidente. Ha criticado la programación del centro y la apariencia del edificio, y ha dicho, quizás en broma, que lo renombraría como el “Trump Kennedy Center”. Aseguró más de 250 millones de dólares del Congreso para renovaciones del edificio.
Presidentes de cada partido político se han encontrado a veces cara a cara con artistas de opiniones políticas opuestas. El republicano Ronald Reagan estuvo presente para el homenajeado Arthur Miller, un dramaturgo que defendía causas liberales. El demócrata Bill Clinton, quien había firmado una prohibición de armas de asalto, marcó los honores para Charlton Heston, un actor y defensor de la tenencia de armas.
Durante el primer mandato de Trump, múltiples homenajeados fueron abiertamente críticos del presidente. En 2017, el primer año de Trump en el cargo, el productor de cine Norman Lear amenazó con boicotear su propia ceremonia si Trump asistía. Trump se mantuvo alejado durante todo ese mandato.
Trump ha dicho que estuvo profundamente involucrado en la elección de los homenajeados de 2025 y rechazó algunas recomendaciones porque eran “demasiado woke”. Mientras que Stallone es uno de los “embajadores especiales” de Hollywood de Trump y ha comparado a Trump con George Washington, las opiniones políticas de los otros invitados del domingo son menos claras.
Opiniones de los homenajeados sobre Trump
Strait y Gaynor han dicho poco sobre su política, aunque los registros de la Comisión Federal de Elecciones muestran que Gaynor ha donado dinero a organizaciones republicanas en los últimos años.
El cofundador de Kiss, Gene Simmons, habló favorablemente de Trump cuando Trump se postuló para presidente en 2016. Pero en 2022, Simmons dijo a la revista Spin que Trump estaba “por sí mismo” y criticó a Trump por fomentar teorías de conspiración y expresiones públicas de racismo.
El compañero de Kiss, Paul Stanley, denunció el esfuerzo de Trump por revertir su derrota electoral de 2020 ante el demócrata Joe Biden, y dijo que los partidarios de Trump que asaltaron el Capitolio el 6 de enero de 2021 eran “terroristas”. Pero después de que Trump ganó en 2024, Stanley instó a la unidad.
“Si tu candidato perdió, es hora de aprender de ello, aceptarlo y tratar de entender por qué”, escribió Stanley en X. “Si tu candidato ganó, es hora de entender que aquellos que no comparten tus puntos de vista también creen que tienen razón y aman a este país tanto como tú”.
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Italie reportó desde Nueva York.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Notre Dame, Miami and Alabama on edge ahead of College Football Playoff bracket announcement
The games have all been played. Now, it’s time for a few more rounds of number crunching before the College Football Playoff bracket is revealed.
Among the few certainties when the pairings come out Sunday: Indiana (13-0) will enter the playoff at No. 1 — and two of the following five teams will be crying up a storm: Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami, Duke and James Madison.
The first three will likely only get two spots in the 12-team bracket, as the selection committee will decide how much weight to place on Alabama’s lopsided loss to Georgia on Saturday while the other two teams were idle.
And then the committee will have to decide whether Duke, unranked and with five losses, gets in over James Madison, which won the Sun Belt Conference and is 12-1. The Dukes are hoping to join American champion Tulane as a Group of Five gate-crasher: The CFP has never had two G5 teams in the mix before.
The four top-seeded teams will get first-round byes — starting with Indiana and probably including Ohio State, Georgia and Texas Tech — then the next eight will play games at the home stadiums of the higher-seeded teams beginning on Dec. 19. The next two rounds will take place Dec. 31-Jan. 1, then Jan. 8-9 at traditional bowl-game sites. The final is set for Jan. 19 outside of Miami.
The biggest debate and most of the second-guessing will center on the Alabama-Notre Dame-Miami decision.
Some believe the committee placed the Crimson Tide at No. 9, one spot ahead of the Fighting Irish, last week to create room for the Tide to lose, slide in the rankings but still make the field. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer says his team shouldn’t be punished for advancing to a conference championship and losing.
“How that can can hurt you and keep you out of the playoff?” he asked.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman wants the committee to compare his team to Alabama because, that way, the Irish could presumably end up at 9 or 10 and squeak into the bracket.
What he doesn’t want is for the committee to compare his team to No. 12 Miami. On Aug. 31, the Hurricanes beat the Irish, and if those two squads are ranked right next to each other, that head-to-head matchup could be the difference, even if it seems like a long time ago.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/07/notre-dame-college-football-playoff/
