Category: News
DOE’s Hyperspeed Reactors
DOE’s Hyperspeed Reactors
As the rate of data center development rises, more states should be following the Texas example, where each data center must have its own “behind the meter” onsite power generation. Instead, it appears data center development will continue to grossly outpace the rate of production for on-site electricity generation in most states.
To prevent skyrocketing electric bills, every state has to follow the Texas example: each data center must have its own “behind the meter” onsite power generation.
“We believe data centers should pay for the full cost of their power,” Dominion Energy spokesperson Aaron Ruby… https://t.co/0u1owTeAs8 pic.twitter.com/8W421s3rzV
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 23, 2025
With power demand surging, driven heavily by new AI data centers, more people are starting to realize the best means for addressing future demand will be through clean nuclear energy. Unfortunately, decades of atrophy currently afflict today’s nuclear industry, and nuclear engineers are in desperate need of a “nuclear iteration playground” to quickly develop their advanced reactor designs to the commercial stage.
And then there is the issue of where the US gets 300,000 engineers to build all this missing power supply by 2030 https://t.co/a18crhqZ4v pic.twitter.com/tinW8SHDwM
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 14, 2025
The current framework of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) does not allow for efficient iteration of reactor design. The licensing process, which used to take several years and has recently been reduced to a comparatively shorter timeline, would need to be heavily repeated for changes to reactor and secondary systems, reopening reactor developers to lawfare attacks from anti-nuclear activists like the Sierra Club and Beyond Nuclear. This leads to the million dollar question: “How do we enable efficient nuclear reactor iteration?”
Enter the Department of Energy
The American nuclear renaissance isn’t talk. It’s action.
— Office of Nuclear Energy | US Department of Energy (@GovNuclear) September 23, 2025
Derived from the Executive Orders issued by President Trump on May 23, 2025, the Department of Energy (DOE) launched the Reactor Pilot Program (RPP). Under this program, multiple companies were chosen to work with the DOE under an expedited licensing pathway to enable faster timelines to reach reactor construction, bringing reactor developers closer to the desired stage of design iteration to achieve economic and commercial scale at a faster pace. The DOE also initiated the Fuel Line Pilot Program (FLPP) to rapidly progress technology within the nuclear fuel chain.
The primary goal of the RPP was to facilitate three new reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026, which was the specific directive given by the Executive Orders. The expedited path to actual steel in the ground is a massive secondary benefit. We recently highlighted one of the program’s successes with Valar Atomics achieving cold criticality with Project NOVA.
The FLPP‘s biggest win to date came with the recent announcement of Oklo receiving approval for their Nuclear Safety Design Agreement (NSDA) for the Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility, approved in just under two weeks.
Concern was expressed by many as to the amount of technical rigor applied to the NSDA review. How could the DOE review in two weeks what would’ve taken the NRC several months, or years? The answer we think others are missing lies in the six years of collaboration between Oklo and the DOE national laboratories. Oklo has been coordinating with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) on multiple projects, including their fuel fabrication facility and their fuel reprocessing technology, since 2019. The DOE was able to use those two weeks to verify if there were any outstanding questions with the research and coordination that have occurred over those several years, instead of having to take several months or years to perform an independent review of data that had already been coordinated and verified by government laboratory scientists and staff (what the NRC would have to do).
Companies like Oklo will continue to enjoy benefits like these for the remainder of their time under the DOE. Eventually, they will also be able to utilize the recent addendum signed between the DOE and the NRC to very easily and rapidly transition their already approved Aurora reactor design to the NRC license review process for quick commercialization.
Another under-discussed benefit to working with the federal government on federal land, is the lack of absolute nonsense that reactor developers no longer have to deal with.
Oklo doesn’t have to sit at a local town meeting and listen to grandma complain about how she doesn’t want Chernobyl in her backyard
Atomic Alchemy doesn’t have to wait for state and local lawmakers to finish bickering and dragging their feet over changes to zoning laws
Terrestrial Energy doesn’t have to be subject to the weaponization of environmental regulations by the Sierra Club to force them to spend $900 million to protect salmon
The head of the UK nuclear regulatory taskforce says the country is…
“… spending £700m (~$900m) on systems to protect one salmon every ten years…”
… for the UK newest nuclear power plant. https://t.co/pfbL0uElGM
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) November 24, 2025
To a large extent, the federal government gets to do what it pleases on federal land. For now, it seems like the federal government is finally ready to give reactor developers what they have been in desperate need of – a nuclear iteration playground.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 12/03/2025 – 16:40
Court news: Drug sentencing, domestic battery charges and drunken crash
Hammond man gets 8 years for being ‘drug runner’
A Hammond man was sentenced to eight years in federal prison Wednesday after he admitted he was a drug runner.
Fernando Porras Jr., 64, pleaded guilty in August to distributing methamphetamine and cocaine.
He will also serve four years on supervised release after prison.
In court filings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Toth wrote Porras assisted co-defendant Deandre Johnson with drug buys in Dolton, Illinois, and later in Gary from May 2023 to March 2024.
Porras got probation for a 1983 drug conviction. He spent 12 years in prison for a 1998 LSD dealing conviction. After the 1990s, he racked up nearly a dozen smaller misdemeanor cases ranging from “low-level drug offenses” to check deception, Toth wrote.
Defense lawyer Matthew Soliday wrote that his client attempted to stay out of major trouble with the law for decades. After Porras’ son died in 2021, he lost his job and apartment, and he “began to spiral,” he wrote.
Merrillville man charged with beating woman
A Merrillville man is charged after allegedly breaking back into his girlfriend’s home, breaking her nose and rupturing her eardrum while their 6-month-old infant was sleeping.
Joseph Sanders, 25, is charged with aggravated battery, two counts of criminal confinement, three counts of domestic battery and one count of intimidation.
He is in custody, held without bail.
The victim told Merrillville Police they were having an argument about their relationship and he accused her of cheating before he left for an hour. He later returned and threw a shovel through a front window to break into the home, then beat her.
Indianapolis man charged in drunken U-Haul crash
An Indianapolis man is facing charges after allegedly driving drunk and crashing a U-Haul truck into another vehicle.
Darryl Stockard, 66, is charged with two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
He hasn’t been apprehended. When arrested, he is ordered held on a $2,000 cash bond.
Merrillville Police responded Sept. 30 around 5 p.m. to the intersection of U.S. 30 and Cleveland Place.
There, Stockard was in a U-Haul truck. His “speech” and “movements” were slow and officers noted his pupils were dilated.
After the other driver provided their information, they let that vehicle go.
When they asked Stockard to step out, he stumbled out of the vehicle. A breathalyzer showed he was over the legal limit for alcohol.
A witness said the U-Haul was swerving in and out of lanes and breaking randomly before crashing into the other car. Stockard appeared to stumble to the other vehicle, charges state.
Records show he had two operating a vehicle while intoxicated convictions dating back to 1990 and 2021.
mcolias@post-trib.com
Sheinbaum propone terna para fiscal de México. Entre las postuladas está su exconsultora jurídica
Por FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (AP) — La mandataria mexicana Claudia Sheinbaum envió el miércoles al Senado una terna de candidatas para fiscal general conformada por una exdirectora de la estatal petrolera, una exfiscal y la exconsultora jurídica de la Presidencia, quien figura como favorita para dirigir el Ministerio Público.
El anuncio de las postulaciones se da a casi una semana después de la controversial renuncia del exfiscal Alejandro Gertz Manero, quien dejó el 28 de noviembre el cargo tras aceptar el ofrecimiento de una embajada que le hizo Sheinbaum que aún no ha concretado.
La presidenta del Senado, la oficialista Laura Itzel Castillo Juárez, indicó el miércoles en su cuenta de X que recibió un escrito de Sheinbaum con la propuesta de tres candidatas para fiscal general integrada por: la abogada Ernestina Godoy, exconsultora jurídica de la Presidencia quien asumió la semana pasada de manera interina el Ministerio Público federal; la abogada y académica Luz María Zarza Delgado, exdirectora jurídica de Petróleo Mexicanos (Pemex); y la abogada Maribel Bojorges Beltrán, excoordinadora general de Investigación Territorial de la fiscalía capitalina.
Pasado el mediodía, el Senado, controlado por el oficialismo, inició la sesión para la elección de la nueva fiscal general.
Durante su conferencia matutina Sheinbaum defendió sus tres candidatas asegurando que “es tiempo de mujeres”, pero no mencionó los nombres. La terna surgió de una lista de diez candidatos que preseleccionó una comisión del Senado que envió la víspera al Ejecutivo.
Desde la oposición se levantaron voces contra el proceso de elección de la nueva fiscal general. El senador Manuel Añorve Baños, del tradicional Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), dijo a un medio local que “no hubo reglas claras ni transparencia” en la selección de los aspirantes.
Por su parte, el senador Clemente Castañeda, del partido minoritario Movimiento Ciudadano, expresó que “no hay duda” de que Godoy será la próxima fiscal porque “es una decisión tomada por la presidenta, por la mayoría (oficialista).
Las candidatas
Godoy dejó a finales de la semana pasada la Consejería Jurídica de la Presidencia, la cual ocupó desde octubre del año pasado tras la llegada al gobierno de Sheinbaum, para asumir de manera interina el Ministerio Público luego de que Gertz Manero la nombró fiscalía especial de Control Competencia poco antes de renunciar.
La abogada, de 70 años, es una estrecha colaboradora de la mandataria desde los tiempos en los que ella estuvo frente a la alcaldía de la Ciudad de México (2018-2023) y Godoy dirigió la fiscalía capitalina.
Previo a encabezar la Fiscalía de la Ciudad de México, Godoy ejerció entre 2012 y 2018 como diputada federal y del Congreso capitalino.
Ante las críticas que hicieron algunos opositores sobre su cercanía al partido gobernante Morena, Godoy expresó la semana pasada que asumiría la Fiscalía General con la convicción de “servir al pueblo de México con ética, firmeza y profundo sentido de justicia”.
La abogada Bojorges Beltrán también es cercana a Godoy, ya que trabajó como coordinadora general de Investigación Territorial en la Fiscalía de la Ciudad de México. También se desempeñó como abogada investigadora en la Embajada de Estados Unidos entre 2012-2015, según un portal de transparencia de la fiscalía capitalina.
Zarza Delgado es una abogada y profesora de materias jurídicas en varias universidades locales con más de dos décadas de actividad académica. El año pasado compitió en las elecciones judiciales para el cargo de ministra de la Suprema Corte de Justicia que no logró.
Entre 2019-2024 fue directora jurídica de Pemex y un año antes ejerció como subdirectora de Consultoría Jurídica de la petrolera estatal. También trabajó en la gobernación y el Congreso del Estado de México y fue magistrada en el Tribunal de lo Contencioso Administrativo del Estado de México (2006-2008) y en el Tribunal Electoral de esa entidad (2009-2012).
Pentagon watchdog finds Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal posed risk to US personnel, AP sources say
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s watchdog found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he used the Signal messaging app to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen’s Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.
Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. That person also said the report concluded that Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using his personal device for official business and it recommended better training for all Pentagon officials.
Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the Pentagon’s inspector general but provided a written statement, that person said. The defense secretary asserted that he was permitted to declassify information as he saw fit and only communicated details he thought would not endanger the mission.
The initial findings ramp up the pressure on the former Fox News Channel host after lawmakers had called for the independent inquiry into his use of the commercially available app. Lawmakers also just opened investigations into a news report that a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September killed survivors after Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody.”
Hegseth defended the strike as emerging in the “fog of war,” saying he didn’t see any survivors but also “didn’t stick around” for the rest of the mission and that the admiral in charge “made the right call” in ordering the second strike. He also did not admit fault following the revelations that he discussed sensitive military plans on Signal, asserting that the information was unclassified.
Journalist was added to a chat where sensitive plans were shared
In at least two separate Signal chats, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.
Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by then-national security adviser Mike Waltz. It included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis.
Hegseth had created another Signal chat with 13 people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike, The Associated Press reported.
Signal is encrypted but is not authorized for carrying classified information and is not part of the Pentagon’s secure communications network.
Hegseth previously has said none of the information shared in the chats was classified. Multiple current and former military officials have told the AP there was no way details with that specificity, especially before a strike took place, would have been OK to share on an unsecured device.
The review was delivered to lawmakers, who were able to review the report in a classified facility at the Capitol. A partially redacted version of the report was expected to be released publicly later this week.
Hegseth said he viewed the investigation as a partisan exercise and did not trust the inspector general, according to one of the people familiar with the report’s findings. The review had to rely on screenshots of the Signal chat published by the Atlantic because Hegseth could not provide more than a small handful of his Signal messages, the person said.
When asked about the investigation in August, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters that “we believe that this is a witch hunt and a total sham and being conducted in bad faith.”
The Pentagon did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
Lawmakers had called for inspector general to investigate
The revelations sparked intense scrutiny, with Democratic lawmakers and a small number of Republicans saying Hegseth posting the information to the Signal chats before the military jets had reached their targets potentially put those pilots’ lives at risk. They said lower-ranking members of the military would have been fired for such a lapse.
The inspector general opened its investigation into Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.
Some veterans and military families also raised concerns, citing the strict security protocols they must follow to protect sensitive information.
It all ties back to the campaign against Yemen’s Houthis
The Houthi rebels had started launching missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in late 2023 in what their leadership had described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Their campaign greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.
The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthis in 2024 turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy had faced since World War II.
A ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war had begun in January before falling apart in March. The U.S. then launched a broad assault against the Houthis that ended weeks later when Trump said they pledged to stop attacking ships. The latest Gaza ceasefire began in October.
Following the disclosure of Hegseth’s Signal chat that included the Atlantic’s editor, the magazine released the entire thread in late March. Hegseth had posted multiple details about an impending strike, using military language and laying out when a “strike window” starts, where a “target terrorist” was located, the time elements around the attack and when various weapons and aircraft would be used in the strike. He mentioned that the U.S. was “currently clean” on operational security.
Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April that what he shared over Signal was “informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.”
During a congressional hearing in June, Hegseth was pressed multiple times by lawmakers over whether he shared classified information and if he should face accountability if he did.
Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat and Marine veteran, asked Hegseth whether he would hold himself accountable if the inspector general found that he placed classified information on Signal.
Hegseth would not directly say, only noting that he serves “at the pleasure of the president.”
Associated Press writer Stephen Groves and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/pete-hegseth-signal-pentagon-watchdog/
The AI Economy And The Public Risk Few Are Willing To Admit
The AI Economy And The Public Risk Few Are Willing To Admit
Authored by Mark Keenan via GlobalResearch.ca,
Artificial intelligence is being sold as the technology that will “change everything.” Yet while a handful of firms are profiting enormously from the AI boom, the financial risk may already be shifting to the public. The louder the promises become, the quieter another possibility seems to be:
What if AI is not accelerating the global economy – but masking its slow down?
The headlines declare that AI is transforming medicine, education, logistics, finance, and culture. But when I speak with people in ordinary jobs, a different reality emerges: wages feel sluggish, job openings are tightening, and the loudest optimism often comes from sectors most financially invested in the AI narrative.
This raises an uncomfortable question: Has AI become a true engine of prosperity — or a financial life-support system?
The Mirage of Growth
Recent economic data suggests that a significant portion of U.S. GDP growth is being driven not by broad productivity, but by AI-related infrastructure spending — especially data centers.
A study from S&P Global found that in Q2 of 2025, data center construction alone added 0.5% to U.S. GDP. That is historic. But what happens if this spending slows? Are we witnessing genuine economic expansion — or merely a short-term stimulus disguised as innovation?
This pattern is not new. In Ireland in 2008 — before the housing collapse — construction boomed, GDP rose, and skepticism was treated as pessimism. The United States experienced something similar the same year: real estate appeared to be a pillar of prosperity — until it wasn’t. On paper, economies looked strong. In reality, fragility was already setting in.
Today, echoes of that optimism are returning — except this time, the bubble may be silicon, data, and expectation.
The Productivity Paradox
AI has been presented as a labor-saving miracle. But many businesses report a different experience: “work slop” — AI-generated content that looks polished yet must be painstakingly corrected by humans. Time is not saved — it is quietly relocated.
Studies reflect the same paradox:
According to media coverage, MIT found that 95% of corporate AI pilot programs show no measurable ROI.
MIT Sloan research indicates that AI adoption can lead to initial productivity losses — and that any potential gains depend on major organizational and human adaptation.
Even McKinsey — one of AI’s greatest evangelists — warns that AI only produces value after major human and organizational change. “Piloting gen AI is easy, but creating value is hard.”
This suggests that AI has not removed human labor. It has hidden it — behind algorithms, interfaces, and automated output that still requires correction.
We are not replacing work. We may only be concealing it.
AI may appear efficient, but it operates strictly within the limits of its training data: it can replicate mistakes, miss what humans would notice, and often reinforce a consensus version of reality rather than reality itself. Once AI becomes an administrative layer — managing speech, research, hiring, and access to capital — it can become financially embedded into institutions, whether or not it produces measurable productivity.
As I explore in the book Staying Human in the Age of AI at that point, AI does not enhance judgment — it administers it. And then we should ask:
Is AI improving society — or merely managing and controlling it?
The Global Data Center Stampede — But Toward What?
McKinsey estimates that over $6.7 trillion may be spent on AI and computing infrastructure by 2030 — a level of capital allocation typically seen in wartime. But what exactly is being built, and will it ever return value to ordinary people?
The United States is not the only nation embedding AI within its economic strategy. Similar trends are emerging globally:
EU: funding AI infrastructure via public bonds
China: integrating AI into its “national rejuvenation” strategy
Singapore / UAE / Ireland: offering major tax incentives to build data-center zones
BRICS: framing AI as a counterweight to Western digital dominance
AI may no longer be a neutral technology — it is becoming a strategic instrument shaped globally by national policy, geopolitical competition, and financial pressure. The question is no longer whether AI will shape national policy — but whether policy itself is already being reshaped in service of an AI orthodoxy.
Analysts warn that parts of the industry may already resemble a circular economy of expectations: cloud and chip companies invest in AI startups that then buy computing services from the very firms that fund them. Speculation becomes demand — and demand becomes proof of viability.
If this pattern repeats globally, AI may not represent a technological revolution — but a new public liability embedded into national strategies.
The Genesis Mission — And the Rise of State-Protected AI
A November 2025 U.S. executive order — internally referred to as the “Genesis Mission” — may institutionalize AI infrastructure by merging:
federal supercomputers
national-lab datasets
taxpayer funding
private-sector AI firms
into a unified national AI platform.
This does not guarantee bailouts — but it creates the conditions under which major AI firms may become “too big to fail”. Once AI is embedded into national strategy, failure becomes political.
We may be witnessing the transformation of AI from speculative investment into a publicly underwritten enterprise.
Under these conditions, any failure — technological, economic, or environmental — will not remain private. It will become a public cost.
Are we potentially witnessing a new socialisation of private risk and debt — similar to what occurred after the 2008 housing collapse in the United States, Ireland and elsewhere — with the burden once again transferred onto the public?
Who Carries the Risk?
The concern is not just the data boundaries of AI itself and the “consensus reality” it portrays — but where the financial risk may already be hiding.
Large retirement funds and passive index portfolios are now concentrated in AI-dependent giants such as Nvidia, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Tesla. On the debt side, data-center financing and private credit tied to AI infrastructure are quietly entering bond portfolios.
This means the AI boom is not simply an investment trend. It may already be embedded inside the retirement accounts of ordinary citizens — without their knowledge.
Across borders, governments risk repeating the same pattern: constructing AI infrastructure before proving that it benefits society.
Questions the Global Public Deserves Answers To
Is AI transforming work — or creating new layers of hidden labor?
Are data centers driving prosperity — or merely propping up GDP?
Are citizens knowingly investing in AI — or being invested through passive portfolios?
Is AI creating value — or simply absorbing public capital and subsidies?
When enough money, debt, and public credibility are tied to a technology, questioning it becomes difficult — and supporting it becomes mandatory.
Conclusion
As I wrote in the book Staying Human in the Age of AI, we should not allow AI to overshadow human thought. History reminds us that optimism is most dangerous when it becomes unquestioned. AI may still deliver genuine breakthroughs — but belief is currently moving faster than evidence.
If AI delivers value, perhaps this risk will be justified. If it does not — the cost will not fall on venture capital. It will fall on pensioners, savers, taxpayers, and future generations.
Now that AI is being treated as national infrastructure, its success or failure is no longer a private gamble. It has become a global public risk — and public risks always come with a public bill.
If we allow AI to define the future, we risk forgetting that the future is still ours to define.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 12/03/2025 – 16:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/ai-economy-and-public-risk-few-are-willing-admit
Indianapolis man gets 35 years for killing near Gary fitness center
An Indianapolis man got 35 years in a plea deal for a slaying near Hudson-Campbell Sports & Fitness Center in January 2023.
Keeon Lee, 29, pleaded guilty in documents filed Oct. 31 to voluntary manslaughter and a gun enhancement.
Gary Police were called at 12:45 p.m. Jan. 9, 2023, to the 400 block of Massachusetts Street for a homicide. Jalen “JayBall” Hurd, 24, of Gary, was found fatally shot multiple times near the Hudson-Campbell Sports & Fitness Center, a block from City Hall.
After the hearing, relatives said the men were “acquaintances” and they heard the shooting may have been after an “argument over basketball.”
A tearful woman, who declined to provide her name, said Hurd was a “good brother” and “so genuine. We just want to know why.”
She said later they believed pictures of his body circulated on social media.
During the brief hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Shannon Phillips said the plea was after extensive negotiations. It was a “reasonable offer” and Lee “accepted responsibility.”
Defense lawyer James Thiros said Lee was facing a “significant” punishment and the prison time was “not a slap on the wrist.”
Lee declined to speak in court.
That appeared to leave Judge Natalie Bokota momentarily mystified that he would skip an opportunity to publicly say he was remorseful.
“I am hesitating,” she told him, and “a little bit surprised.”
Phillips and Thiros both noted it was mentioned in pre-sentencing interview paperwork.
The judge accepted the plea deal.
“I don’t know all the facts” behind the “horrifying crime,” Bokota said.
Thiros and prosecutors spoke privately with Bokota at a bench conference for several minutes after the sentencing.
Police were called at 12:45 p.m. to the 400 block of Massachusetts Street for a homicide. Hurd was lying on the sidewalk next to a black car. A basketball with the word “Jalen” was found nearby.
Security video appeared to show Hurd parking and going toward his trunk when a white vehicle pulls up and a man guns him down. He continued to shoot while Hurd was on the ground, according to the affidavit.
Police found 30 .223-caliber shell casings at the scene. Investigators traced the other car, a 2012 white Buick’s license plate to Lee. Investigators later discovered Lee’s car was impounded Jan. 10 and he didn’t try to get it back, charges state.
A relative wrote Hurd wanted to start a youth sports mentorship program someday.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
mcolias@post-trib.com
Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide whether local jails can hold immigrants for ICE
MADISON, Wis. — A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of an immigrant rights group arguing that it is illegal for local jails to hold immigrant detainees at the request of federal authorities.
The Wisconsin lawsuit comes as federal agents have launched high-profile immigration crackdowns in cities including Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina. Another operation is expected in the coming days in Minnesota, targeting Somali immigrants. The enforcement tactics have been met with protests and lawsuits.
A majority of justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court voted to take the ACLU case directly as an original action, rather than have it first work its way through lower courts. The court is controlled 4-3 by liberal justices.
Four justices, who were not named, voted to accept the case, while conservative Justices Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley dissented. Justice Brian Hagedorn, who most often sides with conservative justices, wrote separately to discuss the process, but he did not reveal how he voted.
None of the justices discussed the merits of the case in the order agreeing to take it.
The court’s decision means there could be a final ruling in the case by the middle of 2026, far faster than if it first had to wind its way through lower courts. All briefs in the case are due within two months, and the court will set a date for oral argument sometime after that early next year.
The ACLU brought the lawsuit against five county sheriffs in September on behalf of Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights group based in Milwaukee.
“This is a historic step toward ensuring that Wisconsin’s law protects all residents, not just those with power and privilege,” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera. “Honoring ICE detainers has subjected hardworking immigrants to unlawful arrests for far too long.”
The lawsuit contends that it is illegal for local jails to hold immigrants on detainers sent by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to local sheriff’s offices. The lawsuit was filed against sheriffs in Walworth, Brown, Marathon, Kenosha and Sauk counties, all of which honor those requests.
Sam Hall, one of the attorneys for the sheriffs, said they were reviewing the court’s order and evaluating next steps.
“We are confident, however, that Wisconsin sheriffs who honor ICE detainers do so fully within the bounds of Wisconsin law and the federal legal framework governing immigration enforcement,” he said in an email.
The sheriffs had argued that because the lawsuit involves a complicated area of the law — federal immigration law and the relationship between federal and state and local law enforcement — the case was best “resolved and refined” by first going through the lower courts, rather than skipping directly to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Honoring an ICE detainer means the sheriff agrees to hold the person for 48 hours after they otherwise should have been released under state law. The goal of detainers is to give ICE agents more time to pick someone up if they are suspected of being in the country illegally.
The ACLU wants the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prohibit sheriffs from holding people on ICE detainers, which are based on administrative warrants. Holding someone for extra time must be authorized by a judicial warrant, in which a court determines there is probable cause to keep them longer, the ACLU argues in the lawsuit.
The ACLU argues that keeping the person in custody for that extra time constitutes an illegal new arrest. It is illegal because Wisconsin law does not allow officers to make civil arrests except in certain circumstances, none of which apply to immigration enforcement, the lawsuit argues.
In the first seven months of this year, ICE sent more than 700 requests to local jails across Wisconsin, asking them to hold someone 48 hours beyond when they were set to be released, the lawsuit contends.
Republicans in the GOP-controlled Wisconsin Legislature support a bill that would withhold money from counties that don’t comply with ICE detainers. The measure passed the Assembly, and if the Senate approves the bill it would head to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is likely to veto it.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/wisconsin-supreme-court-ice/
Search for missing man Daniel Davis narrows on Blue Island; family urges community to keep an eye out
Wendy Davis said driving around for 12 hours and searching for her dad made for a Thanksgiving she will never forget.
Her father, Daniel Davis, 59, was last seen at 1:15 a.m. Nov. 25, leaving 115 Bourbon Street at 3359 W. 115th St. in Merrionette Park, according to police reports. Davis, a Chicago resident, was involved in a multivehicle accident the day before, where police said he may have suffered a head injury.
Wendy, along with a volunteer search party and Chicago police, narrowed their efforts on the Blue Island area this week after receiving camera footage of Davis at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 26, leaving St. Donatus Church on Union Street.
But a week has passed since that footage, and Wendy said the volunteer group needs more recent camera identification so the Chicago police can bring in a canine unit.
She urged Blue Island area residents and businesses to check any security footage they have, such as on Ring cameras. She also urged residents, especially those living near the church where he was last seen, to check their garages, sheds or anything that would qualify as shelter on their property.
“Keep sharing and telling your friends,” Wendy said. “We cannot do this without the help of the community and we are completely lost without documented sightings. The power of social media and kind neighbors is crucial at this moment.”
Chicago police said they are looking for a man wearing a limited edition, black Harvey-Davidson jacket, a red and black sweatshirt and black pants.
Davis also may be carrying identification on him, as his wallet was not found in his car, said Kenny Braasch, one of the search group leaders.
Davis refused medical treatment after the car crash Nov. 24, and a responding Cook County officer gave him a ride to Bourbon Street, his place of work, according to Chicago police.
Hours later, Davis was spotted on the bar’s cameras trying and failing to get into employees’ cars in the bar’s back parking lot then leaving on foot at about 1:15 a.m., according to Jenn Barber Masuka, the mother of Davis’ daughter and founder of a Facebook group devoted to the search.
Camera footage from Ring cameras in Blue Island show Daniel Davis Nov. 25, 2025. He went missing that day, and the footage was given to a volunteer search party by Blue Island residents. (Wendy Davis)
Masuka said an off-duty community service officer allegedly drove past Davis staggering on a sidewalk later that morning and called Bourbon Street management, because the officer recognized Davis as an employee. She said Davis’ coworkers called the police and have been active in the search.
Masuka also said there is video footage of Davis falling on a sidewalk the morning of Nov. 25 and that he may need medical attention. She said she hopes Davis is carrying cash and has been able to find food and help, as she said there has not been any bank activity, including any transactions on his credit and debit cards.
She urged people living in the Blue Island area to keep an eye out for Davis throughout their day.
“We just need that one person to look up,” Masuka said. “We just need one clip.”
Camera footage from Ring cameras in Blue Island of Daniel Davis the afternoon of Nov. 25, 2025. He went missing that day, and the footage was given to a volunteer search party by Blue Island residents. (Wendy Davis)
Since his disappearance, more than 95 volunteers joined Masuka, Braasch and Wendy in the search.
Wendy said the volunteer group, made up of close friends, family, neighbors, coworkers and strangers, has hung fliers around the Blue Island area, along with going door to door asking residents to check their cameras.
Volunteers have also checked alleyways, wooded areas and even nearby houses for sale, along with contacting hospitals, Metra, CTA, several local schools and businesses, mental health centers and shelters, Wendy and Masuka said.
“I don’t think there’s anything we haven’t tried yet,” Wendy said.
She said the number of people helping is a testament to how the community sees and cares for him. She said she doesn’t think her dad would ever believe her if she told him just how many people are out “fighting for him right now.”
“I have never met one person in my life that has ever had anything bad to say about him and this whole search is proof of just how much everybody loves him,” she said. “There’s people involved that we would never have expected to see. It’s overwhelming in the best way.”
Masuka and Wendy both said Davis’ disappearance is unlike him.
Masuka said Davis is an extremely talented artistic person and lighting designer, and said musicians who play Bourbon Street love him.
Wendy said her dad is a “huge goofball” and said her childhood is packed with memories of them laughing together, along with treasured traditions.
She said they would visit their favorite pasta restaurant, Pasta Palazzo, in Lincoln Park, and order the chicken alfredo every time, or grab lunch at Asuka Japanese restaurant in Bloomington and take a stroll around Indiana University’s campus.
“There’s never a time where I’m not laughing with him,” Wendy said. “He would drop the entire world for me, and I wish he could see everybody doing the same for him right now.”
Daniel Davis, a Chicago resident who went missing on Nov. 25, smiling on April 6, 2023 while having his usual chicken alfredo with his daughter Wendy Davis in Lincoln Park. Wendy said he is most likely wearing the same outfit in the picture, but without the hat and with more facial hair. (Wendy Davis)
A Chicago police official said Tuesday they learned of alleged sightings of Davis in the Joliet area, but could not confirm those reports.
Braasch, one of the search group leaders, said to call 911 if residents see Davis, as he would mostly likely need medical attention.
Braasch also said people can call Chicago police Area 2 Special Victims Unit at 312-747-8274 with information and text video footage or photos to him at 708-846-9565.
awright@chicagotribune.com
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/03/dan-davis-missing-blue-island/
Jan. 6 Defendant Sues Federal Government Over Alleged Abuses In Custody
Jan. 6 Defendant Sues Federal Government Over Alleged Abuses In Custody
Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,
A former Jan. 6 defendant who alleges he was repeatedly abused in custody is suing the federal government for almost $18 million.
Ryan Samsel of Bristol, Pennsylvania, was convicted in September 2024 of civil disorder-related offenses in connection with the civil disturbance at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was incarcerated and awaiting sentencing when President Donald Trump pardoned him on Jan. 20 of this year.
The civil legal process in Samsel’s case was initiated when the Department of Justice (DOJ) was served with a notice under the Federal Tort Claims Act on Nov. 28, his attorney, Peter Haller, told The Epoch Times. A tort is a wrongful act or infringement of a right that gives rise to civil liability.
To sue under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a claimant has to file an administrative claim with a federal agency within two years after the injury takes place. The agency then has six months to settle or deny the claim. The plaintiff then has six months after the claim is denied or the agency fails to respond to the claim to file a civil lawsuit against the federal government in federal district court.
The document that begins the process, known as a Standard Form 95, states that Samsel is seeking $17,980,000 from the federal government for personal injuries suffered from January 2021 through January 2025.
Samsel, now 42, was found guilty of “assaulting Officer C.E. with a deadly or dangerous weapon and inflicting bodily injury,” during the civil unrest at the U.S. Capitol, the DOJ said last year.
The DOJ said Samsel was also convicted on felony charges of civil disorder, assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, as well as assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon.
Haller said his client disputes the criminal allegations and that the officer identified as C.E. suffered no injury, which he said was clear from a magnetic resonance imaging scan and other medical evaluations.
Samsel alleges he was subjected to physical abuse while in custody at facilities operated by the DOJ and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in the District of Columbia, New York, and Virginia.
There were 62 “separate assaults and other torts committed against Mr. Samsel while in the custody of the United States, as well as cruel and unusual punishment,” Haller said in the legal filing.
“Given the severity, duration, and documented multiplicity of the abuses suffered by Mr. Samsel, he is likely to be recognized as the most tortured individual by the Federal Government in recent American history,” the attorney said.
The form states that during Samsel’s four-year federal detention, he suffered 62 torts that “reflect a continuous scheme to physically and mentally harm him throughout his imprisonment and continuously deny him necessary medical treatment for serious vascular issues that pre-existed prison as well as for most injuries sustained from attacks by corrections officers during prison.”
The form said Samsel was held in custody for almost seven months but was not indicted until Aug. 25, 2021, which was “in clear violation of due process.”
As a result of his incarceration, Samsel suffers from “permanent physical impairment stemming from multiple documented injuries sustained during his incarceration.” Among those injuries are a dislocated jaw, broken right orbital bone, broken nose, lacerations, contusions, and acute kidney damage, “all resulting from coordinated assaults by correctional staff and other inmates,” the form said.
He still suffers from partial loss of vision in his right eye, persistent pain, and swelling related to his injuries, and needs ongoing medical attention for eye and chest injuries, blood clots, and thoracic outlet syndrome, according to the form.
In addition, he suffers panic attacks and “other uncontrollable emotional consequences,” as well as physical deterioration, chronic pain, and high cholesterol that came about as a result of his prolonged confinement and inadequate nutrition while in custody, the form said.
In November 2021, Samsel was forced to sit in a restraint chair for about 17 hours, where he was on public display for local schoolchildren to see him through a window. While in the chair, he was left in his own waste and developed a blood clot, according to a table of torts attached to the form.
From January to August 2021, Samsel was placed in a segregated unit for Jan. 6 prisoners in which the lights were on at all times. He was denied exercise and showers. He suffered sleep deprivation for about seven months, the table said.
Haller said his client received three “major beatings” from corrections officers and in two different prisons he was housed in closet-sized rooms.
Haller said the abuse his client experienced was comparable to the experiences of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, Iraq, more than two decades ago.
Reports of alleged widespread torture and abuse of prisoners held by U.S. forces at Abu Ghraib during the 2003 Iraq war first emerged more than 20 years ago, when leaked photos appeared to show detainees being forced into humiliating positions.
“The parallel of Ryan’s torture to that of Abu Ghraib is remarkable–17 hours in a restraint chair with students as witnesses, multiple beatings by officers, multiple multi-month stretches in solitary with lights on 24/7, a broom closet for a cell, housed in a high security floor of [Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York] with murderers who stabbed him, starvation, repeated humiliation,” Haller told The Epoch Times.
“These forms of severe mental and physical abuse, disorientation and humiliation were all applied against Ryan Samsel just as they were against the prisoners of Abu Ghraib; the only meaningful difference is that in Abu Ghraib, Arab and Middle Eastern terrorists generally suffered torture for a year or less—whereas Ryan Samsel was tortured for four years,” Haller said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the DOJ for comment. No reply was received by publication time.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 12/03/2025 – 15:45
Kylian Mbappé aporta doblete y Real Madrid rompe mala racha con victroia 3-0 ante Athletic Bilbao
Por TALES AZZONI
MADRID (AP) — Kylian Mbappé firmó un doblete y el Real Madrid despachó el miércoles 3-0 al Athletic Bilbao para poner fin a una racha de tres partidos sin ganar en la Liga española.
Eduardo Camavinga también marcó en la visita al estadio San Mamés para un Madrid que se colocó a un punto del líder Barcelona, que el martes venció 3-1 al Atlético de Madrid.
Ambos partidos de la 19ª jornada se adelantaron porque Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic y Atlético jugarán en la Supercopa de España en enero en Arabia Saudí.
El Madrid venía de encadenar empates en la liga contra Girona, Elche y Rayo Vallecano. Fue la segunda victoria del cuadro merengue en sus últimos seis partidos en todas las competiciones.
“Era un partido importante, queríamos romper la dinámica”, señaló el técnico madridista Xabi Alonso. “Veníamos con la calma necesaria y preparados. Ha sido un partido muy completo, los 90 minutos, muy concentrados, apenas concediendo ocasiones. Y generamos muchas nosotros”.
“Ha sido el partido más redondo en un estadio exigente. Pero lo llevamos con calma, a seguir”, remarcó.
Mbappé ha marcado siete goles en sus últimos tres partidos en todas las competiciones. El astro francés había anotado una vez contra Girona y cuatro veces de visita a Olympiakos en la Liga de Campeones. Contabiliza 30 goles entre club y selección esta temporada y es el máximo goleador tanto en La Liga española como en la Liga de Campeones.
Mbappé anotó su primer gol el miércoles al culminar un contragolpe en el séptimo minuto. Controló el balón cerca del mediocampo y superó a un par de defensores durante su carrera antes de encontrar la red desde el borde del área.
“Ha sido estético y plástico tanto en el primer gol como el segundo. Ha conectado muy bien con Vinicius”, señaló Alonso. “Lo necesitamos”.
Camavinga aumentó la ventaja con un cabezazo desde corta distancia a los 42, y Mbappé consiguió su segundo gol con un formidable disparo desde casi 30 metros a los 59.
Camavinga tuvo que ser reemplazado a los 69 por una aparente lesión. El Madrid también perdió a Trent Alexander-Arnold debido a un problema físico a los 55.
El Athletic, que marcha en el octavo lugar, apenas ha logrado dos victorias en sus últimos ocho partidos.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
