Tim Jones, a Park Forest police officer and the son of the Country Club Hills Police chief William Jones, died Wednesday, nearly 10 years after he was shot multiple times in a nearly deadly confrontation with an intruder in a vacant house.

Jones, then 24, and a member of the Police Department for less than one year, suffered bullet wounds to his head and his neck during an exchange of gunfire in which the trespasser, Thurman Reynolds, was killed.

Jones survived after undergoing numerous surgeries before leaving a rehab facility more than one year after the shooting.

The announcement of his death was made in an online posting Thursday morning by Park Forest police Chief Brian Rzyski who wrote that “while our hearts are broken we remain incredibly proud of the fight he gave.”

Rzyski wrote funeral arrangements were not finalized but will be shared with the community when announced.

The saga of Tim Jones almost defies belief.

Almost immediately after the shooting, Jones was flown to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn where he was put in a coma to relieve swelling on the brain; a condition for which doctors told the family that there was little or no hope.

William Jones said one doctor told them he had “never seen anyone wake up from something like this” and another opined that the odds of winning the Powerball were better than Tim living one more day.

Yet Tim Jones clung to life. Day by day, one operation after another, he gradually gained strength. After one more operation around Easter of that year, William Jones said his son’s eyes were open.

“They were staring and blinking at me,” he said.

Less than a week after the shooting, thousands of citizens and police officers jammed into a Matteson restaurant for a fundraiser for the family. For more than four hours, a long line ran from the front door to the street.

More than 100 Tim Jones T-shirts, emblazoned with his badge number, 204, were sold at a fundraiser in the weeks after he was shot in 2016. (Penny Shnay/for the Daily Southtown)

Perhaps more than 100 Tim Jones T-shirts, emblazoned with his badge number, 204, were sold in a show of community support.

The Police Department never lost sight of Jones.

In 2021, he was “promoted” to detective, and a Tim Jones street sign was hung from a light pole on Indianwood Boulevard, adjacent to Park Forest Police Department.

A police car with his badge number emblazoned on it is part of the fleet while his police locker and desk carry his name and badge number and are symbolic honors.

Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/park-forest-police-tim-jones-dies/ 

Each NFL stadium will have to install a new playing surface by the start of the 2028 season to meet standards set through lab and field testing.

NFL field director Nick Pappas on Thursday detailed the plans for the program that will provide each team “a library of approved and accredited NFL fields” before the start of next season. Teams then will have two years to install the new approved playing surfaces, whether they are grass, synthetic or a hybrid.

Pappas said the fields will have undergone extensive testing and been approved by a joint committee with the NFLPA. He compared it to the testing that has led to new standards for helmets.

“It’s sort of a red, yellow, green effect, where we’re obviously trying to phase out fields that we have determined to be less ideal than newer fields coming into the industry,” he said. “This is a big step for us.”

Pappas said fields have been tested in labs and on site using two main tools. One called the BEAST is a traction testing device that replicates the movements of an NFL player. Another called the STRIKE Impact Tester helps determine the firmness of each field.

The goal of the league is to find fields that are as consistent as possible across all 30 NFL stadiums, as well as at each stadium throughout the season. Pappas said the “key pillars” for a field are optimized playability, reducing injury risk and player feedback.

The NFL has no plans to require natural grass fields across the league with the league’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, saying there is no “statistically significant differences” in lower-extremity injuries or concussions that can be attributed to the type of playing surface or a specific surface — despite widespread preferences from players for grass fields and complaints about surfaces such as the one at MetLife Stadium, where the New York Giants and Jets play.

“The surface is only one driver of these lower-extremity injuries,” Sills said. “There are a lot of other factors, including player load and previous history and fatigue and positional adaptability and cleats that are worn.

“So surfaces are a component, but it is a complex equation and so I’m excited about where we are in the work because I think we’ll get away from a very crude measurement of artificial here and the grass here, and now we can say for any individual surface, let’s look at the biophysical properties of that surface. How might those correlate with injury? And then, obviously, how do we optimize them?”

Pappas also shared plans for the Super Bowl to be held Feb. 8 at the San Francisco 49ers home at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The field has been growing at a sod farm about two hours east of the Bay Area, with Pappas making several visits over the past 18 months to monitor the field.

The league will plan to install the field around the third week in January — or later if the 49ers could be hosting playoff games.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/nfl-mandates-new-playing-surfaces/ 

University of Chicago’s John Jacob “Jay” Berwanger was named the best college football player 90 years ago.

He’s officially known as the first Heisman Memorial Trophy recipient, although the honor wasn’t called that until a year later. The trophy was named for club athletic director John W. Heisman after he died in 1936. Berwanger traveled to New York to accept “a special trophy at a luncheon,” the Tribune reported.

Berwanger, an Iowa native, was often dubbed the “one-man football team” for his ability to play offense, defense and special teams for the Maroons (the University of Chicago abandoned the sport just four seasons after Berwanger departed).

So much for Chicago’s Big Ten team: 75 years ago, the University of Chicago told the conference it wanted out

The two-time All-American, however, despised the title. “Football is a team game, calling for eleven players, and regardless of whether or not one man does stand out, he is physically incapable of doing so alone, without the help of his teammates,” Berwanger told the Tribune.

The multidiscipline athlete chose U. of C. for its academics first, then football and track second. Though he also considered Northwestern, his hometown ties convinced him to become a Maroon.

“His father has been for years a blacksmith in the shipbuilding yards at Dubuque owned by Ira Davenport, one of the greats of Maroon track history,” Charles Bartlett wrote in the Tribune in 1933. “Jay also had worked for Davenport during the summer, and since he is a good student, with a desire to enter a good medical school, it was decided to send him here.”

Though Berwanger initially considered becoming a doctor or lawyer, he earned his bachelor’s degree in business. Finances are what might have convinced the man with a blue-collar background to choose a career in sales over suiting up in the NFL. Professional football players back then earned less than a couple of hundred bucks per game (or about $3,000 in today’s dollars), according to the NFL.

In his four years at the University of Chicago, football and classes weren’t the only things that kept first Heisman Trophy recipient Jay Berwanger busy. He also worked as a server at his fraternity house and took up golf and marksmanship. (Chicago Tribune)

“There was no money in pro football back then, and very little future,” Berwanger said in 1997. “Remember, it was the Great Depression. I was offered a deal by the (Philadelphia) Eagles where I’d get $125 to $150 a game. I thought I’d have a better future by using my education, rather than my football skills.”

Though Berwanger’s iconic stiff-armed statue was once used as a doorstop by his Aunt Gussie, today it’s housed inside the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center on the university’s Chicago campus.

Here’s a look back at Berwanger’s phenomenal collegiate career and his decision to forgo the NFL — despite being the league’s first-ever draft pick.

1932-33

Coach Clark Shaughnessy and the University of Chicago football squad, circa 1933. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Berwanger arrived at the University of Chicago during famed coach Alonzo Amos Stagg’s final year of leading the Maroons, who were known as the original “Monsters of the Midway.”

After a year on the freshman team, No. 99 played every minute of every Big Ten Conference game on the Maroons’ schedule for Clark Shaughnessy, who was Stagg’s successor. In a 32-0 win against Cornell on Oct. 7, 1933, Berwanger scored four of the team’s five touchdowns. U. of C., however, finished the 1933 season with a 3-3-2 record.

Berwanger was named the team’s most valuable player and was the second sophomore to be a finalist for the Tribune’s Silver Football award. He placed third.

The popular halfback became a member of Psi Upsilon — Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens later pledged the same fraternity — and competed in track during the spring.

1934

University of Chicago football players Ewald Nyquist, from left, Ned Bartlett, Warren Skoning and Jay Berwanger in the 1930s. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Berwanger returned to the gridiron after he was presented the William Scott Bond Award for most points at the Big Ten outdoor track meet and spent his summer working as a camp counselor.

“The Dubuque iron man who was a sensation last year even with mediocre support and the confusion of performing on ‘the team of a million plays,’ is in fine shape,” the Tribune’s Edward Burns wrote. “It is said he is running even more spectacularly than he did last year, that he is passing marvelously well and that his kicking is good despite the fact that everyone he meets tries to teach him something new about kicking.”

In a 28-0 rout of Big Ten champion Michigan on Oct. 13, 1934, Berwanger scored two touchdowns. He also earned the distinction of being the only future Heisman winner tackled by a future president: Gerald Ford.

Gerald Ford is shown as he played football for the University of Michigan in 1934. (AP/U. of Michigan Sports Publicity)

“He has said he has a scar on his cheek from trying to tackle me,” Berwanger said of Ford in the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune in 1974. “I don’t know if that’s true. He may tell that to everybody, but he remembers the games I remember playing against him.”

Berwanger — called “the nucleus of the Chicago team on both offense and defense” by the Tribune — was forced to miss his first collegiate game (a 33-0 loss to Ohio State) due to a knee injury. Though the Maroons finished 4-4 that season, Berwanger carried the ball 137 times for 595 yards or 4.3 yards per try; punted 77 times for an average of 39.3 yards per kick; threw 45 passes for a total of 297 yards; returned 13 kickoffs for 347 yards; and scored eight touchdowns and 8 points after touchdowns for a total of 56 points. The 19-year-old was voted Big Ten outstanding athlete in a poll conducted by The Associated Press and was named team captain for the 1935 season.

Oct. 12, 1935

Jay Berwanger as he appeared in action when he was gaining recognition as the nation’s top football player with the University of Chicago Maroons in 1935. (Chicago Tribune archive)

“Berwanger still is Berwanger,” Tribune reporter Charles Bartlett wrote.

In a 31-6 romp of Western Michigan (then known as Western State Teachers College), 39 of 45 Maroons took the field. But the team’s captain stood out, scoring a touchdown and throwing for two more. The NCAA assembled a game-by-game review of Berwanger’s senior season.

Oct. 26, 1935

The University of Chicago beat the University of Wisconsin 13-7 on Oct. 26, 1935, at Stagg Field in Chicago. Heisman winner Jay Berwanger scored both touchdowns for the Maroons. (Chicago Tribune)

U. of C. beat Wisconsin for the first time since 1927 — thanks especially to their “one-man football team” who scored all of the Maroons’ 13 points. One of Berwanger’s most memorable runs of the entire season came on a 78-yard return of a Wisconsin kickoff.

Nov. 9, 1935

Though the University of Chicago lost to Ohio State 20-13 on Nov. 9, 1935, Maroon halfback Jay Berwanger stunned the Stagg Field crowd with a brilliant 85-yard run for a touchdown. (Chicago Tribune)

Though overmatched, Chicago nearly upset Ohio State behind Berwanger’s efforts. His 85-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put the Maroons up 13-0.

“But that crazy, startling sprint took something out of the youngster,” the Tribune’s Irving Vaughan wrote. “He wasn’t much good thereafter, although he remained to complete the full sixty minutes of battling.”

Berwanger’s shoulder was also injured in the loss.

Nov. 23, 1935

University of Chicago football player Jay Berwanger in the 1930s. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Berwanger was carried out of Memorial Stadium — his final collegiate appearance — after Chicago beat Illinois 7-6.

Late in the third quarter, Berwanger received a punt and “shook off five Illinois tacklers along the route of a 49-yard run to Illinois’ one-yard line,” Tribune reporter Harvey Woodruff wrote. “Then Berwanger, who also calls the signals … vaulted high over the crouching, tangled combatants and rolled into the end zone for the tying touchdown.”

Berwanger then kicked the extra point that sealed the Maroons’ victory — and gave his team its best standing in the Big Ten since 1927.

In his final college game on Nov. 23, 1935, University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger (99) scored a touchdown and the extra point to put the Maroons up 7-6 against the University of Illinois at Memorial Stadium in Champaign. (Chicago Tribune)

The Maroons captain — who was named the team’s MVP — carried the ball 119 times during the 1935 season for 577 yards gained. Berwanger threw 67 passes — with 25 completed — for 405 yards. He also had four interceptions, five kickoffs and 60 punts for an average of 37 yards. Berwanger scored 41 total points, which included six touchdowns and 5 PATs, during his final season.

“It always will be my greatest satisfaction to know that in the classrooms of the university and on Stagg field I was able to realize my original goal of an education, together with the fullest enjoyment of my favorite sport,” Berwanger later told the Tribune.

“There couldn’t be a happier combination for a young man who does not intend to devote his entire life to athletics, and who wishes to be fully equipped for whatever opportunities other fields may offer him.”

Dec. 11, 1935

Jay Berwanger, shown here on Nov. 12, 1996, is the winner of the first Heisman Trophy and played football for the University of Chicago. (Ovie Carter/Chicago Tribune)

Berwanger was presented with the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in New York. At the time, all college football players east of the Mississippi River were eligible. Berwanger received 84 votes. Charles “Monk” Meyer of Army placed second, with Bill Shakespeare of Notre Dame third.

“They treated us royally,” Berwanger said. “It was a very nice lunch, and we saw the Rockettes, Times Square and the Statue of Liberty.”

Dec. 22, 1935

Jay Berwanger in his study at his Oak Brook home on Sept. 3, 1999, with the Silver Football trophy he was awarded from the Chicago Tribune in 1935. (John Kringas/Chicago Tribune

The accolades continued to roll in for Berwanger, who was the 12th recipient of the Tribune’s Silver Football.

University of Chicago halfback Jay Berwanger was named the recipient of the Tribune’s Silver Football award, for the best player from the Big Ten Conference, in December 1935. (Chicago Tribune)

Berwanger’s vote total was the highest in the young history of the award.

Feb. 8, 1936

University of Chicago football player Jay Berwanger in 1936. (Chicago Tribune historical photo)

Berwanger became the No. 1 pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the first-ever NFL draft that was held at Philadelphia’s Ritz-Carlton.

The next day, the Chicago Bears obtained the right to sign Berwanger — if he decided to go pro. According to the AP, the Eagles feared they couldn’t meet Berwanger’s reported demand of $1,000 per game (or about $24,000 in today’s dollars). Berwanger disputed a report he had already signed with the Bears.

Berwanger later told the Tribune he and Bears owner/coach George Halas met once — when Berwanger was on a date.

“I told George Halas the one time I saw him — it wasn’t a formal meeting or anything — that I wanted $12,500 (a year) for two years with a no-cut contract,” Berwanger said. “He just wished my date and me a bon farewell.”

According to the NFL, only 24 of the 81 players drafted signed NFL contracts.

May 21, 1936

All-American halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago team in the 1930s. (Chicago Tribune archive)

After competing in decathlon events with hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team, Berwanger revealed he had accepted a job with a then-unnamed industrial company (Featheredge Rubber) in Chicago. That decision effectively ended any attempt for him to play professional football.

“You might as well begin forgetting about me,” Berwanger told the Tribune.

Berwanger, who was class president, accepted his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Chicago in June 1936, and suited up for one more gridiron game when the College All-Stars tied the Detroit Lions 7-7 on Sept. 2, 1936, at Soldier Field.

In addition to his work, Berwanger wrote a sports column for the Chicago Daily News and coached the University of Chicago freshmen football team. He became a Navy flight instructor in 1942, and was due to go overseas in 1945 when World War II ended. After the war, he started Jay Berwanger Inc. on Chicago’s South Side. He also served as a Big Ten football referee until 1953, including working the 1949 Rose Bowl between Northwestern and California.

Berwanger died in 2002.

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https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/vintage-chicago-tribune-jay-berwanger-heisman/ 

Por MARI YAMAGUCHI

TOKIO (AP) — La promesa de la primera ministra japonesa Sanae Takaichi de “trabajar, trabajar, trabajar, trabajar y trabajar” por su país ha sido nombrada la frase del año, reconociendo el esfuerzo que la primera mandataria mujer de Japón tuvo que hacer para llegar a la cima.

La ultraconservadora Takaichi pronunció la frase en octubre, cuando fue elegida como líder del gobernante Partido Liberal Democrático. Muchos inicialmente estaban tan preocupados por su ética de trabajo como apoyaban su entusiasmo.

En un país notorio por las largas horas de trabajo, especialmente para las mujeres trabajadoras que también están cargadas con las tareas del hogar y el cuidado, el exceso de trabajo es un tema delicado. El reconocimiento provocó una reacción mixta, y algunos lo interpretaron como sátira.

Al aceptar su premio de un comité privado esta semana, Takaichi dijo que sólo quería enfatizar su entusiasmo.

“No tengo la intención de alentar a otras personas a trabajar en exceso, ni de sugerir largas horas de trabajo como una virtud”, dijo Takaichi. “Espero que no haya malentendidos”.

A pocas semanas de asumir el cargo a finales de octubre, Takaichi provocó una disputa creciente con Beijing por su comentario sobre una posible medida militar japonesa en caso de que China ataque a Taiwán.

Como la primera mujer premier de la nación, Takaichi ha captado la atención pública por su vestimenta de trabajo, con mujeres que se apresuran a copiar su estilo, y el interés no ha disminuido.

Pero al tiempo que su sentido del vestir ha ganado admiración de mujeres más jóvenes que dicen ser “Sana-katsu”, o que apoyan a Sanae, no está claro si sus políticas conservadoras de línea dura recibirán el mismo elogio.

Takaichi busca recuperar a los partidarios de derecha después de las grandes pérdidas electorales del PLD bajo su predecesor moderado, Shigeru Ishiba.

Durante su discurso a los miembros del partido el 4 de octubre, prometió un esfuerzo total para reconstruir el partido en dificultades y recuperar el apoyo público, instando a los legisladores a “trabajar como un caballo”. Luego añadió: “Abandonaré la idea de un ‘equilibrio entre trabajo y vida’ —yo voy a trabajar, trabajar, trabajar, trabajar y trabajar”.

Repetir la palabra “trabajar” en una voz baja y decidida dejó una fuerte impresión en ese momento.

Trabajo duro —y luego un jacuzzi

Las aparentes largas horas de trabajo de Takaichi y la falta de sueño han preocupado a sus compañeros legisladores. Mantuvo una reunión con sus asistentes a las 3:00 de la mañana antes del primer día del Parlamento el 7 de noviembre, aunque no ha comenzado tan temprano desde entonces.

“Duermo unas dos horas ahora, cuatro horas como máximo”, dijo Takaichi, quien también cuida a su esposo, quien se está recuperando de un derrame cerebral, a los parlamentarios en una reunión de la comisión de presupuesto el mes pasado. “Probablemente sea malo para mi piel”.

Afirma que le gusta sumergirse en un jacuzzi por la mañana y por la noche para relajarse.

“Ese es mi momento de felicidad”, dijo.

Su estatus de ícono de estilo ha sido impulsado por su bolso negro, apodado “Bolso Sanae”, que oficialmente se llama Grace Delight Tote. Está hecho por Hamano Inc., un fabricante de bolsos con 145 años de antigüedad con sede en Tokio.

Con un precio de 136.400 yenes (875 dólares), el simple bolso de cuero es lo suficientemente grande como para contener papeles de tamaño A4. Se está vendiendo mejor desde su debut hace 30 años, según la compañía.

Takaichi llevaba el bolso cuando caminaba hacia la oficina de la primera ministra el 21 de octubre, y la escena causó inmediatamente una sensación en las redes sociales.

El portavoz de Hamano, Takanori Kobayashi, dijo que su empresa está encantada de ver a la primera mujer ministra de Japón llevando el bolso.

En pocos días, las consultas y pedidos del bolso se dispararon, y los ocho colores se han agotado. El bolso, que está cuidadosamente hecho de cuero de alta calidad, no puede producirse en masa, y aquellos que lo ordenaron ahora tienen que esperar hasta agosto, de acuerdo con Kobayashi.

Otro artículo popular es un bolígrafo rosa brillante que Takaichi usa para tomar notas; es el Jetstream 4&1 de Mitsubishi Pencil Co.

El bolígrafo, el “modelo Sanae Takaichi”, a menudo está agotado en las tiendas y sitios de compras por internet. Aquellos que han encontrado uno a menudo publican fotos con orgullo con un mensaje: “Igual que Sanae”.

Ícono de estilo, pero no feminista

La atención que Takaichi está recibiendo generalmente está reservada para estrellas del pop, atletas e influencers en Japón a quienes los fanáticos sólo tienen acceso a través de la televisión o internet.

Los seguidores de la primera ministra muestran su lealtad comprando el mismo bolso y bolígrafo que ella usa, al igual que los aficionados de atletas estrella como Shohei Ohtani compran réplicas de su uniforme para animar a los Dodgers, dicen los expertos.

Takaichi ha ganado admiración como un nuevo tipo de modelo a seguir para las mujeres que no suelen apoyar a los primeros ministros, afirma Namiko Kubo-Kawai, profesora de Psicología en la Universidad Nagoya Shukutoku.

En Japón, muchas mujeres consideradas modelos a seguir solían ser apoyadas por su feminidad, pero Takaichi es única como una política de alto poder. Su corte de pelo corto y su vestimenta de trabajo sin adornos también se destacan de los modelos femeninos convencionales.

Sin embargo, puede que no inspire a muchas feministas. Takaichi es una conservadora acérrima que defiende los valores tradicionales de género y paternalistas de Japón. Ha apoyado mantener la sucesión de la monarquía japonesa exclusivamente masculina. También se opone a cambiar una ley del siglo XIX que impide que parejas casadas tengan la opción de mantener apellidos separados.

Aun así, como la primera mujer en ser ministra, “encaja perfectamente como un modelo a seguir elegante y ha ganado admiración de muchas mujeres que han estado buscando uno, aunque probablemente nunca hayan pensado en apoyar a un primer ministro”, dijo Kubo-Kawai. “Los modelos a seguir femeninos están volviéndose más diversos”.

___

La videoperiodista de The Associated Press Mayuko Ono contribuyó a este despacho.

___

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/2025/12/04/primera-ministra-japonesa-gana-seguidores-por-su-estilo-y-mantra-de-trabajar-trabajar-trabajar/ 

Por AAMER MADHANI, CHINEDU ASADU y RUTH ALONGA

WASHINGTON (AP) — El presidente Donald Trump elogió a los líderes de la República Democrática del Congo y Ruanda por su valentía al firmar un acuerdo el jueves destinado a poner fin al conflicto en el este del Congo y abrir las reservas minerales críticas de la región al gobierno de Estados Unidos y a empresas estadounidenses.

El momento ofreció a Trump —quien ha alardeado repetida y exageradamente de haber negociado la paz en algunos de los conflictos más arraigados del mundo— otra oportunidad para presentarse como un negociador en el escenario global y argumentar que merece el Premio Nobel de la Paz. Trump no ha sido tímido respecto a su deseo de recibir este honor.

“Es un gran día para África, un gran día para el mundo”, afirmó Trump poco antes de que los líderes firmaran el pacto. Añadió: “Hoy logramos lo que muchos otros no pudieron”.

Trump dio la bienvenida a los presidentes Félix Tshisekedi del Congo y Paul Kagame de Ruanda, así como a varios funcionarios de otras naciones africanas que viajaron a Washington para presenciar la firma, en la misma semana en que insultó a Somalia y dijo que no quería inmigrantes de esa nación.

Elogiado por la Casa Blanca como un acuerdo “histórico” negociado por Trump, el pacto entre Tshisekedi y Kagame sigue a esfuerzos de paz de varios meses por parte de Estados Unidos y socios, incluyendo la Unión Africana y Qatar, y finaliza un acuerdo anterior firmado en junio.

Pero la paz negociada por Trump es precaria.

La nación centroafricana del Congo ha sido golpeada por décadas de lucha con más de 100 grupos armados, siendo los rebeldes M23 respaldados por Ruanda los más potentes. El conflicto se intensificó este año, con el M23 tomando las principales ciudades de Goma y Bukavu en un avance sin precedentes, empeorando una crisis humanitaria que ya era una de las más grandes del mundo, con millones de personas desplazadas.

“Seguimos en guerra”

Mientras tanto, los combates continuaron esta semana en la región afectada por el conflicto, con informes de enfrentamientos entre los rebeldes y soldados congoleños, junto con sus fuerzas aliadas. Trump, un republicano, ha dicho a menudo que su mediación ha terminado el conflicto, lo cual los habitantes del Congo dicen que no es cierto.

Aun así, Kagame y Tshisekedi ofrecieron un tono esperanzador al firmar el acuerdo.

“Nadie le pidió al presidente Trump que asumiera esta tarea. Nuestra región está lejos de los titulares”, dijo Kagame. “Pero cuando el presidente vio la oportunidad de contribuir a la paz, la tomó de inmediato”.

“Creo que este día es el comienzo de un nuevo camino, un camino exigente, sí. De hecho, bastante difícil”, expresó Tshisekedi. “Pero este es un camino donde la paz no será solo un deseo, una aspiración, sino un punto de inflexión”.

De hecho, los analistas dicen que es poco probable que el acuerdo resulte rápidamente en paz. Se ha firmado un acuerdo de paz separado entre el Congo y el M23.

“Seguimos en guerra”, indicó Amani Chibalonza Edith, una residente de 32 años de Goma, la ciudad clave del este del Congo tomada por los rebeldes a principios de este año. “No puede haber paz mientras sigan los combates”.

Minerales de tierras raras

El pacto del jueves también se basará en un Marco de Integración Económica Regional previamente acordado que, según los funcionarios, definirá los términos de las asociaciones económicas que involucran a los tres países.

Trump también anunció que Estados Unidos estaba firmando acuerdos bilaterales con el Congo y Ruanda que desbloquearán nuevas oportunidades para que Washington acceda a minerales críticos, acuerdos que beneficiarán a las economías de las tres naciones.

“Y estaremos involucrados en enviar algunas de nuestras mayores y mejores empresas estadounidenses a los dos países”, declaró Trump. Añadió: “Todos van a ganar mucho dinero”.

La región, rica en minerales críticos, ha sido de interés para Trump mientras Washington busca formas de eludir a China para adquirir tierras raras, esenciales para la fabricación de aviones de combate, teléfonos celulares y más. China representa casi el 70% de la minería mundial de tierras raras y controla aproximadamente el 90% del procesamiento global de tierras raras.

Trump recibió a los líderes el jueves por la mañana para reuniones individuales en la Casa Blanca, así como una conversación a tres bandas antes de la ceremonia de firma en el Instituto de la Paz en Washington, que el Departamento de Estado anunció el miércoles ha sido rebautizado como “el Instituto de la Paz Donald J. Trump”.

Más tarde el jueves, la Cámara de Comercio de Estados Unidos organizará un evento que reunirá a líderes empresariales estadounidenses y las delegaciones congoleñas y ruandesas para discutir oportunidades de inversión potenciales en minerales críticos, energía y turismo.

Enfrentamientos en curso

Mientras tanto, en el este del Congo, los residentes informaron de enfrentamientos y avances rebeldes en varias localidades. Tanto el M23 como las fuerzas congoleñas se han acusado mutuamente de violar los términos del alto el fuego acordado a principios de este año. Los combates también han continuado en las mesetas centrales a través de la provincia de Kivu del Sur.

Las dificultades tras el conflicto han empeorado tras los recortes de financiación de Estados Unidos que eran cruciales para el apoyo de ayuda en el conflicto.

En Goma, controlada por los rebeldes, que era un centro regional para los esfuerzos de seguridad y humanitarios antes de la escalada de combates de este año, el aeropuerto internacional está cerrado. Los servicios gubernamentales, como las operaciones bancarias, aún no se han reanudado y los residentes han informado de un aumento en los delitos y en los precios de los bienes.

“Estamos esperando ver qué sucederá porque hasta ahora, ambos lados continúan chocando y atacándose mutuamente”, señaló Moise Bauma, un estudiante de 27 años en la ciudad de Bukavu controlada por los rebeldes.

Tanto el Congo como Ruanda, mientras tanto, han elogiado la participación estadounidense como un paso clave hacia la paz en la región.

“Necesitamos esa atención de la administración para continuar llegando a donde necesitamos llegar”, apuntó Makolo. “No tenemos la ilusión de que esto va a ser fácil. Esto no es el final, pero es un buen paso”.

Causa del conflicto

El conflicto se remonta a las secuelas del genocidio de 1994 en Ruanda, donde las milicias hutus mataron entre 500,000 y uno millón de tutsis, así como hutus moderados y twa, pueblos indígenas. Cuando las fuerzas lideradas por tutsis contraatacaron, casi dos millones de hutus cruzaron al Congo, temiendo represalias.

Las autoridades ruandesas han acusado a los hutus que huyeron de participar en el genocidio y alegaron que elementos del ejército congoleño los protegieron. Han argumentado que las milicias formadas por una pequeña fracción de los hutus son una amenaza para la población tutsi de Ruanda.

El gobierno del Congo ha dicho que no puede haber paz permanente si Ruanda no retira sus tropas y otro apoyo para el M23 en la región. Ruanda, por otro lado, ha condicionado un alto el fuego permanente a que el Congo disuelva una milicia local que, según dijo, está compuesta por hutus y está luchando con el ejército congoleño.

Expertos de la ONU han dicho que entre 3.000 y 4.000 fuerzas gubernamentales ruandesas están desplegadas en el este del Congo, operando junto al M23. Ruanda niega tal apoyo, pero dice que cualquier acción tomada en el conflicto es para proteger su territorio.

___________________________________

Asadu reportó desde Abuya, Nigeria y Madhani desde Washington. Justin Kabumba contribuyó desde Goma, Congo.

___________________________________

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/trump-elogia-a-congo-y-ruanda-tras-firmar-acuerdo-de-paz/ 

Mokena resident Kenneth Newbauer, 39, was charged with domestic battery Wednesday after an altercation involving a rifle early that morning, Will County sheriff’s police said.

The sheriff’s office responded at about 1 a.m. Wednesday to a domestic violence call involving a reported armed and barricaded man in 18700 block of Marjorie Parkway in Mokena.Newbauer had made violent threats and a rifle was observed, according to a police report.

When sheriff’s police arrived, they found the woman and her three children had left the residence safely. Police issued a shelter in place within a two block radius of the residence. Sheriff’s office negotiators and SWAT personnel responded to the residence and worked to bring the situation to a safe resolution, police reports said.

Newbauer surrendered himself to Will County sheriff’s officers at 5:20 a.m. He was seen by medical professionals at the location of the incident and later taken to Silver Cross Hospital for an evaluation.

Police recovered a loaded AR-15 rifle, but officers later found it was inoperable.

More charges may be forthcoming, according to the the Will County sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office said if residents face a domestic violence situation, they can call the Groundworks Domestic Violence Hotline at 815-729-1228, the Illinois Domestic Violence Helpline at 877-863-6338, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-787-7233, or go to www.thehotline.org.

awright@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/mokena-barricaded-man-domestic/ 

More than 25 years have passed since a young University of Chicago graduate named Greg Kotis, having encountered pay-to-pee toilets while traveling in France, hit upon a whacky idea for a musical: What if some nefarious corporate entity managed to ban in-home facilities in a drought-stricken city and figured out how to control the populace by owning their need to answer nature’s call?

He had quite the title in mind: “Urinetown.”

Kotis was at the time a member of the Chicago theater company called The Neo-Futurists, a highly innovative troupe that explored self-aware theater (meaning shows that knew they were shows) long before the practice became more mainstream. He collaborated with his composer friend Mark Hollmann, a fellow Chicagoan who he had met while working at Chicago’s famously innovative Cardiff Giant Theater Company (which was around from 1987-1993) and the two of them conceived the show as (in part) a parody of other musicals, including of “Les Miserables” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” as well as the musicals of the fervent years, like “The Threepenny Opera” and “The Cradle Will Rock.”

One of the great legends of the Chicago theater is that the Neo-Futurists declined to do the show (“Chicago could have been ‘Urine”s kind of town,” I lamented in a 2003 post-mortem) and thus Kotis took it to the New York International Fringe Festival where it hit big, eventually landing on Broadway in September 2001, which was not the best time to open an edgy new musical. Therein, a character called Little Sally, who knows she is in a show, actually says to the show’s narrator, Officer Lockstock, “I don’t think too many people are going to come see this musical.” Given what happened to Broadway in the aftermath of Sept. 11, she proved to be prescient. And not just because of the title.

All of this history was in my mind at Theo Ubique Theatre this past weekend, where “Urinetown” is getting its first local staging in many years; it’s done here as a kind of environmental cabaret with the show happening all over Theo’s small space on the Evanston side of Howard Street, arranged with tables in the center and actors hoping to pee all over the place. So to speak.

Chicago had brief run of the national tour and I recall a Mercury Theater production around 2006. But although Kotis and Hollman did collaborate on a very funny subsequent show “Yeast Nation,” at Chicago’s now defunct American Theater Company, I hadn’t seen “Urinetown” in more than 15 years before director Danny Kapinos’ production last weekend, replete with lively choreography from Brenda Didier.

So your critic mostly was glad to see this smart material again with the same kind of young and enthusiastic cast that worked on it 25 years ago, including a most amusing Little Sally in Maya Tanaka Allwardt; the material was ahead of its time and it still holds up well.

Back in 2006, that aforementioned first Chicago production, along with another in Ohio, was sued by the Broadway team, which claimed that they’d copied New York director John Rando’s copyrighted staging, although the theaters understandably argued that it was hard to know where the staging began and the demands of the material ended. I think that likely put a bit of a chill on future productions and it perhaps explained why some of the parodies that I recalled so fondly did not seem to land this time around.

Luke Nowakowski (right) and the cast of “Urinetown” by Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. (Liz Stenholt)

In general, this new production struck me overall as a tad too earnest and overplayed, and thus insufficiently dry and sardonic, to really match the original intent (although the excellent Allwardt has the style down). But cast members like Amanda Rodriguez, who plays the faux ingenue Hope Cladwell, and Luke Nowakowski, who plays leading man Bobby Strong, certainly do full justice to Hollmann’s score and the whole company throws itself into the creation of a very fun show, happily returned to what should have been its original home. (Always kinda was, anyway).

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: “Urinetown” (3 stars)

When: through Jan. 4

Where: Theo Ubique Theatre, 721 Howard St., Evanston

Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes

Tickets: $50-$66 at 773-939-4101 and theo-u.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/review-urinetown-theo/ 

Dem Senator Warner Joins Seditious Chorus: “Military May Help Save Us” From Trump

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/04/2025 – 14:25

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dem-senator-warner-joins-seditious-chorus-military-may-help-save-us-trump 

Trump Orders Approval For Mini ‘Kei’ Cars To Be Built In America

Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/04/2025 – 14:05

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-orders-approval-mini-kei-cars-be-built-america 

Fox Valley Mall featuring Peanuts village with Santa

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Charles M. Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip, Fox Valley Mall on Route 59 has created an immersive Peanuts holiday village, which is on display through Christmas Eve.

The Peanuts Christmas Experience with Santa creates a holiday wonderland that features Snoopy’s doghouse, with screens showing classic Peanuts holiday moments and a corridor of colorful trees, organizers said.

Children and families can visit with Santa at no cost. Professional photo packages are available to buy.

Children also can send letters to Santa in a special mailbox, take photos with life-sized Peanuts characters and dance with the Charlie Brown Band on a light-up dance floor with special effects. Every child receives a free holiday toy after their visit, organizers said.

A sensory-friendly Santa with lights dimmed and music off will be available from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7. Pet photos can be taken from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8.

Reservations are recommended but not required. For reservations, go to tinyurl.com/PeanutsandSanta2025.

A vendor speaks with potential customers at the 2024 Wedding Showcase at Naper Settlement in Naperville. This year the event will be held on Jan. 17. (Naper Settlement)

Naper Settlement hosting wedding showcase in January

Tickets are now available for Naper Settlement’s annual Wedding Showcase, featuring florists, bakers, photographers, caterers and other wedding professionals from around Naperville and the western suburbs.

It will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 17, throughout the museum campus, 523 S. Webster St. More than 50 vendors are scheduled to attend.

Couples can sample catering options, get exclusive discounts and take a limo ride around the museum, a news release said. There will be a chance to win prizes, including gift cards, hotel room certificates and more from showcase vendors.

The event is free, but tickets are limited, organizers said. Tickets can be obtained at www.napersettlement.org/weddingshowcase.

Naperville Preservation holding holiday photo contest

Naperville Preservation is holding a photo contest for the best holiday decorations on houses or buildings that are at least 50 years old.

The commercial or residential displays must located in Naperville and should celebrate the history, character and festive spirit of the city. Photos should highlight both the building and its decorations, organizers said.

An independent panel will review all entries, and the winning photograph will be featured on Naperville Preservation’s social media pages and its website. The winner will receive a Naperville-themed gift.

The deadline to enter is Dec. 14. An entry form can be found on the Naperville Preservation’s Facebook page.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/04/naperville-mall-peanuts-santa-wedding-settlement/