Category: News
She Saved Her Life. 7-Eleven Fired Her
She Saved Her Life. 7-Eleven Fired Her
Authored by John R. Lott Jr. via RealClearPolitics,
Stephanie Dilyard is lucky to be alive.
Yet last week, 7-Eleven fired the 25-year-old after she used her gun to save her own life. Private companies have every right to set rules for employee behavior, but many corporate policies that require workers to remain passive and comply with criminals’ demands rest on a deeply mistaken view of crime data.
“He threatened me,” Dilyard told Fox 25 in Oklahoma City. “[A]nd said he was gonna slice my head off, and that’s when I tried to call the police. He started throwing things at me, came behind the counter. I tried to run off, but he grabbed his hands around my neck, and pushed me out of the counter space, and that’s when I pulled out my gun and I shot him.”
“I had to choose between my job and my life,” she said. “And I will always choose my life because people depend on me. My kids need me here.”
She survived with wounds to her neck and hands – injuries that could have been far worse.
Her attacker, 59-year-old Kenneth Thompson, already had an outstanding felony warrant for a parole violation. For his latest crimes, prosecutors have charged him with assault and battery, threatening acts of violence, and attempting to pass a fake bill.
For more than two years, Dilyard worked the dangerous 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift alone. Despite those conditions, 7-Eleven insisted she use only “store items” to defend herself.
Unfortunately, while some in the media and many businesses may concede that passive behavior by store clerks might encourage more crime, they believe that passive behavior is still the safest course of action.
In Stephanie Dilyard’s case, however, passive behavior likely would have gotten her killed. And while there is a kernel of truth behind the advice to remain passive when confronted by a criminal, the claim is highly misleading. Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey shows that passive behavior appears slightly safer than all forms of active resistance combined – but that comparison lumps together very different actions.
For women, the most dangerous form of resistance is to fight with their fists, because doing so often triggers a violent physical reaction from the attacker. The next most dangerous choice is to run. Escaping is ideal when possible, but women generally run more slowly than men, and being tackled can produce serious injury. Other options such as using a baseball bat or a knife turn out not to be a lot better because women are at a disadvantage whenever they come into physical contact with a male attacker.
By contrast, the safest option for a woman confronted by a criminal is to have a gun. Women who rely on passive behavior are 2.5 times more likely to suffer serious injury than women who defend themselves with a firearm.
Criminals are almost always men, and when a man is attacking a woman there is on average a much larger strength difference than when a man is attacking another man. The presence of a gun represents a much bigger relative change in a woman’s ability to protect herself than it does for a man. Firearms act as a powerful equalizer between the sexes.
Murder rates fall when either men or women carry concealed handguns, but the reduction is especially large for women. Each additional woman with a concealed-carry permit lowers the female murder rate by roughly three to four times more than each additional male permit holder lowers the male murder rate. States that allowed women to carry concealed handguns on a nondiscretionary basis also experience about 25% fewer rapes than states that restrict or forbid concealed carry.
Police are extremely important in stopping crime, but the police can’t be there all the time. The police themselves understand that they virtually always arrive on the crime scene after the crime has occurred.
And that raises a real question: What should people do when they’re having to confront a criminal by themselves? As Stephanie Dilyard learned the hard way, people ultimately must take responsibility for their own safety – and for women, carrying a gun is the safest option.
Fortunately, Stephanie’s children still have their mother.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/02/2025 – 19:15
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/she-saved-her-life-7-eleven-fired-her
Hanover Park police officer busted by ICE back to full duty, village says
The Hanover Park police officer arrested by federal immigration officers earlier this fall amid Operation Midway Blitz returned to work Monday, village officials announced.
Hanover Park had placed Officer Radule Bojovic on leave after U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement officers arrested the Montenegro native in mid-October for allegedly overstaying a B2 tourist visa that expired in March 2015. However, the village, in turn, has maintained that Bojovic was authorized to work in the country.
Citing that authorization, Hanover Park police in a news release Tuesday stated that Bojovic returned to full-duty status this week as he awaits the outcome of his court proceedings.
After his arrest, Bojovic was released on bond on Oct. 31, according to the village.
“Given that his bond was not contested and he remains authorized to work by the federal government, the Hanover Park Police Department determined that he may return to work,” the release stated.
According to village records obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act Request, Hanover Park apparently had two work authorization cards on file for Bojovic. It is unclear when the cards were issued or what their expiration dates are due to village redactions on records.
Alongside the department’s statement, a police spokesperson said neither Bojovic nor village officials were taking requests for further comment.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for a comment.
At the time of Bojovic’s arrest, village officials maintained the police department hired Bojovic in January “in full compliance with federal and state law.” State records show that Bojovic was hired Jan. 8 and certified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board in August.
Before bringing Bojovic onto its police force, the village stated that it had confirmed he was legally authorized by the federal government to work in the U.S., noting that when he was hired, he provided the village with a work authorization card. Village officials have also stated that they haven’t received any notice that his card had ever been revoked.
According to an employment application Bojovic submitted to the village in June 2024, he attended high school in Chicago and previously worked at a church as a janitor and at Ross, village records show.
In response to an application question asking why he wanted to become a Hanover Park police officer, Bojovic wrote: “I’m motivated by a strong desire to serve and protect the community. I’m drawn to the opportunity to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, ensuring safety and fostering trust.”
When the administration of President Donald Trump announced its local mass deportation mission in early September, it came with promises to “target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” in the city.
But newly released data analyzed by the Tribune shows that of the roughly 1,900 immigrants that agents booked in the first half of Operation Midway Blitz, two-thirds had no known criminal convictions or pending charges.
Background checks into Bojovic by both Illinois State Police and the FBI yielded no criminal history, per Hanover Park police.
The department, in an Aug. 22 post to Facebook, congratulated Bojovic on graduating from the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy. The academy, a program out of the College of DuPage in west suburban Glen Ellyn, aims to prepare “recruits for a successful career in law enforcement,” according to the college’s website. It offers a 16-week training program based on curriculum approved by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, per program details listed online.
According to Illinois Law Enforcement Training & Standards Board records provided to the Tribune, Bojovic completed 640 hours of basic training and 40 hours of mandatory firearms training between May 5 and Aug. 22.
After graduating from the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy, Hanover Park police in its August Facebook post stated Bojovic was set to begin an “intensive 15 weeks of field training and evaluation as he continues preparing to serve the Hanover Park community.”
Now back to full-duty, Bojovic will receive back pay from the village for the time he was on leave.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/02/hanover-park-police-immigration-blitz-trump/
Mapache se emborracha en licorería de Virginia y se queda dormido en el baño
ASHLAND, Virginia, EE.UU. (AP) — Un intruso enmascarado se metió en una tienda de licores de Virginia el sábado temprano mientras aún estaba cerrada y se dirigió al estante inferior, donde se almacenaba el whisky. El bandido rompió botellas, tiró una baldosa del techo y dejó alcohol regado en el piso.
El sospechoso actuó como un animal porque, de hecho, es un mapache.
Un empleado de la tienda de licores en el área de Ashland, Virginia, encontró al mapache dormido en el piso del baño tras su borrachera el sábado por la mañana.
“Personalmente, me gustan los mapaches”, afirmó Samantha Martin, una agente que trabaja en el control de animales local. “Son criaturas graciosas. Se cayó por una de las baldosas del techo y se desató por completo, bebiendo de todo”.
Martin dijo que llevó al mapache al refugio de animales, aunque tuvo su buena dosis de risas en el camino.
“Otro día en la vida de un agente de control de animales, supongo”, expresó.
El Refugio y Protección Animal del Condado de Hanover elogió a Martin por manejar el allanamiento y confirmó que el mapache se había recuperado.
“Después de unas horas de sueño y sin signos de lesiones (aparte de tal vez una resaca y malas decisiones de vida), fue liberado de manera segura de vuelta a la naturaleza, con la esperanza de haber aprendido que meterse sin permiso no es la solución”, dijo la agencia.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
US-Russia talks on Ukraine were ‘constructive’ but work remains, Putin adviser says
Talks between Russia and the U.S. on ending the nearly four-year war in Ukraine were constructive, but much work remains, Yuri Ushakov, a senior adviser to President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Wednesday.
Putin met U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Kremlin in talks that began late Tuesday as part of a renewed push by the Trump administration to broker a peace deal. Both sides agreed not to disclose the substance of the talks.
Ushakov called the five-hour conversation “rather useful, constructive, rather substantive,” but added that the framework of the U.S. peace proposal was discussed rather than “specific wording.” Asked whether peace was closer or further away after these talks, Ushakov said: “Not further, that’s for sure.”
“But there’s still a lot of work to be done, both in Washington and in Moscow. That’s what’s been agreed upon. And contacts will continue,” the official said.
Putin’s aide also said that “so far, a compromise hasn’t been found” on the issue of territories, without which, he said, the Kremlin sees “no resolution to the crisis.”
“Some of the American proposals seem more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed. Some of the wording that was proposed to us doesn’t suit us. So, the work will continue,” Ushakov said.
There were other points of disagreement, although Ushakov did not provide further details. “We could agree on some things, and the president confirmed this to his interlocutors. Other things provoked criticism, and the president also didn’t hide our critical and even negative attitude toward a number of proposals,” he said.
Trump peace plan is center of effort to end the war
The meeting came days after U.S. officials held talks with a Ukrainian team in Florida and which U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described in cautiously optimistic terms.
At the center of the effort is Trump’s peace plan that became public last month and raised concerns about being tilted heavily toward Moscow. The proposal granted some of the Kremlin’s core demands that Kyiv has rejected as nonstarters, such as Ukraine ceding the entire eastern region of the Donbas to Russia and renouncing its bid to join NATO.
Negotiators have indicated the framework has changed, but it’s not clear how. Ushakov said several iterations of a peace plan were being discussed at the talks. The official refused to go into details, saying only: “At first there was one version, then this version was revised, and instead of one document, a few more appeared.”
On Tuesday, Putin accused Kyiv’s European allies of sabotaging the U.S.-led efforts to end the war.
“They don’t have a peace agenda, they’re on the side of the war,” Putin said of the Europeans.
Putin’s accusations appeared to be his latest attempt to sow dissension between Trump and European countries and set the stage for exempting Moscow from blame for any lack of progress.
He accused Europe of amending peace proposals with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia,” thus “blocking the entire peace process” and blaming Moscow for it. He also reiterated his long-held position that Russia has no plans to attack Europe — a concern regularly voiced by some European countries.
“But if Europe suddenly wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away. There can be no doubt about that,” Putin said.
Russia started the war in 2022 with its full-scale invasion of a sovereign European country, and European governments have since spent billions of dollars to support Ukraine financially and militarily, to wean themselves from energy dependence on Russia, and to strengthen their own militaries to deter Moscow from seizing more territory by force.
They worry that if Russia gets what it wants in Ukraine, it will have free rein to threaten or disrupt other European countries, which already have faced incursions from Russian drones and fighter jets, and an alleged widespread Russian sabotage campaign.
Trump’s peace plan relies on Europe to provide the bulk of the financing and security guarantees for a postwar Ukraine, even though no Europeans appear to have been consulted on the original plan. That’s why European governments have pushed to ensure that peace efforts address their concerns, too.
Coinciding with Witkoff’s trip, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Ireland, continuing his visits to European countries that have helped sustain his country’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
High-stakes negotiations
Zelenskyy said Tuesday he was expecting swift reports from the U.S. envoys in Moscow on whether talks could move forward, after Trump’s initial 28-point plan was whittled down to 20 items in Sunday’s talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Florida.
“The future and the next steps depend on these signals. Such steps will change throughout today, even hour by hour, I believe,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Dublin with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.
“If the signals show fair play with our partners, we then might meet very soon, meet with the American delegation,” he said.
“There is a lot of dialogue, but we need results. Our people are dying every day,” Zelenskyy said. “I am ready … to meet with President Trump. It all depends on today’s talks.”
Building on progress in Florida
After months of frustration in trying to stop the fighting, Trump deployed officials to get traction for his peace proposals. Asked about a possible meeting between Putin and Trump, presidential aide Ushakov said it would depend on the progress of the peace effort.
The talks have followed parallel lines so far, with Rubio sitting down with Ukrainian officials. Zelenskyy said he met Tuesday with the Ukrainian delegation that returned from the negotiations with U.S. representatives in Florida. Rubio said those talks made progress.
Zelenskyy said the Florida talks took as their cue a document that both sides drafted at an earlier meeting in Geneva. The Ukrainian leader said that document was now “finalized,” although he didn’t explain what that meant.
Ukrainian diplomats are working to ensure that European partners are “substantially involved” in decision-making, Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app, and warned about what he said were Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at steering the negotiations.
European leaders want a say
Zelenskyy met with political leaders and lawmakers in Dublin on his first official visit. Ireland is officially neutral and isn’t a member of NATO but has sent nonlethal military support to Ukraine. More than 100,000 Ukrainians have moved to Ireland since Russia launched its war on Feb. 24, 2022.
It remains unclear how envoys are going to bridge the gap between the two sides on such basic differences as who keeps what territory. European officials say the road to peace will be long.
European leaders want to make their voices heard after being largely sidelined by Washington. They are also working on future security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy under pressure
Zelenskyy is under severe pressure in one of the darkest periods of the war for his country. As well as managing diplomatic pressure, he must find money to keep Ukraine afloat, address a corruption scandal that has reached the top echelons of his government, and keep Russia at bay on the battlefield.
The Kremlin late Monday claimed that Russian forces have captured the key city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Zelenskyy, however, said in Paris that fighting was still ongoing in Pokrovsk on Monday.
Ukraine’s general staff on Tuesday also denied Russia’s claims to have captured Pokrovsk, saying it was a propaganda stunt. The Ukrainian army is readying additional logistic routes to deliver supplies to troops in the area, the Facebook post said.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/02/us-russia-talks-ukraine-war/
Chicago Bears fans line up again for free Wieners Circle hot dogs, cheering ‘thank you, Ben Johnson’
It happened again. A line of hyper and hungry Bears fans started forming outside The Wieners Circle at 5 a.m. Tuesday, despite the bitter 23-degree temperature. It was all in the name of free hot dogs, courtesy of Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson, who rose to the hot dog stand’s challenge and took off his shirt after Friday’s win against the Philadelphia Eagles.
At 7 a.m., S. Rosen’s, the longtime bakery on Polk Street, delivered 2,000 hot dog buns. Hours later, at 11 a.m., the doors finally opened and The Wieners Circle staff started handing out free hot dogs and their signature slights.
Only in Chicago does an NFL coach taking off his shirt impact so many lives, laughed Emma Kreis, operations manager at The Wieners Circle.
“But this is what we do and we love it,” Kreis said. “Seeing this all come together again has been so wholesome.”
The event transpired the same as it had in September, when The Wieners Circle’s social media post on ‘X’ resulted in free hot dogs after Bears’ quarterback Caleb Williams threw four touchdowns. Kreis said she and owner Ari Levy share an office, so she catches how the ideas spiral into reality in real time. About a week after the stand handed out “glizzies” for Williams’ performance, Levy put another offer out there.
“We were in the office and he was like, you know what we’re going to do? If (Ben Johnson) takes his shirt off during or after any Bears victory this year, we’re going to do free hot dogs again,” Kreis laughed. “And I said, well, you just tweeted it so he’s probably going to do it.”
Bob Keen lines up with Bears fans for free hot dogs, Dec. 2, 2025, at The Wieners Circle in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood after coach Ben Johnson took his shirt off in a postgame celebration for a win over the Eagles. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
During a late October media session, Johnson said he was aware of The Wieners Circle’s proclamation.
“That’s been mentioned,” he said. “It’s a little disturbing. Why would we want to see that?”
But when asked if he wanted to feed the people of Chicago, he admitted he was a man of the people. “So time will tell.”
Much to the delight and surprise of fans across Chicagoland, the Bears have had their first winning season since 2018, currently at the top of the NFC. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games, so a no-shirt Johnson was on the table for nine weeks.
But Friday’s 24-15 win against the defending Super Bowl champions was well worth the wait, Kreis said. And Johnson alluding to the free hot dogs as he ripped his shirt off was even cooler, she noted.
“First of all, what a team player. I mean, he’s got to be one of the best coaches ever,” she said. “And if anyone’s going to bear the temperature for a free hot dog, it’s going to be people in this city.”
On Friday, after Johnson ripped off his shirt, flexing his arms, he yelled, “They’re hungry for some hot dogs!” The team went wild.
As did the line outside The Wieners Circle on Tuesday, despite the slushy snow and globs of mud on the sidewalk. Rolling chants of “Thank you, Ben Johnson!” kept erupting outside the storefront, as customers further down the winding line stuck their necks out to catch a glimpse of the chaos happening under the iconic sign that read: “We got a new Mayor Johnson.” Most of the customers came for the hoopla, not just the hot dogs.
Bears fans line up for free hot dogs, Dec. 2, 2025, at The Wieners Circle in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood after coach Ben Johnson took his shirt off in a postgame celebration for a win over the Eagles. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
But some customers, like KJ Gaiter, a Lincoln Park resident who coaches baseball at Oz Park, were experiencing The Wieners Circle for the first time.
“The line was wrapped around the corner when I came, but I decided that no matter the weather, I wanted to be here supporting the Bears,” Gaiter said.
He waited in line for around 45 minutes before entering the “staging area” where The Wieners Circle staff was hurling insults at the customers in front.
Regan Eggert, one of the restaurant’s comedic employees, was watching the tip jar closely.
“Broke [expletive]! You better throw some money in my jar, [expletive]!”
“Come over ugly. Out of breath and [expletive] … tweety bird looking. What’s wrong with you?”
Further down Clark Street, customer Dennis Shim was wearing a bright purple Baltimore Ravens sweatshirt, a surefire way to feel the wrath of The Wieners Circle on a Bears-related free hot dog day. Shim said he used to live in Baltimore, but was born in Chicago.
“I’m willing to take my punishment; it’s all about the experience,” he laughed. Next to him was David Wright, another customer. The men were talking about the impact the Bears have on their fan base.
“I never knew Dennis until now, never met him in my life,” Wright said. “But now, in this line, we are exclusively together. I love this guy!”
For Wright, the Bears represent togetherness — even when the team isn’t 9-3 and the coach isn’t great.
The marquee promoted Bears coach Ben Johnson as fans line up for free hot dogs, Dec. 2, 2025, at The Wieners Circle in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood after Johnson took his shirt off in a postgame celebration for a win over the Eagles. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
“What’s even more special is that Johnson understands that we’re a hardcore fan base. There’s only one team in Chicago that everybody rallies around,” he said. “Some people are into basketball, some are into hockey, some people like soccer, but everyone — no matter how bad they are — roots for the Bears.”
Shim, in his purple outfit, cautiously approached the counter while filming his interaction with the staff. He received an astounding: NO!
Every now and then outside, a small crowd would scuffle around a male customer willing to take his shirt off. “YEAH!” quickly followed by roaring gratitude for Ben Johnson, again. A Johnson lookalike came ready for his close-up, dressed in a blue Bears quarter zip and a headset.
Another doppelganger, Ald. Timothy Knudsen, 43rd, is completely self-aware of his similarities. He said he even dressed as Johnson for Halloween. Knudsen swung by to support the local business and ignited even more excitement, especially as he flashed a smile eerily similar to Johnson’s.
After two successful free hot dog giveaways, Kreis said it might be a feat trying to top that enthusiasm — at least for a little while.
“I’m sure there will be something else — Ari will probably tweet something else soon,” Kreis joked.
For customer Xochil Olivarez, a Wieners Circle cheeseburger is a frequent lunch pick. She said she even gets free stuff because they’re pretty fond of her. Despite visiting often, Olivarez decided to join the masses on Tuesday.
“We gotta be equal with the other people,” said Olivarez. Next to her, her friend joked that Olivarez was so happy about the Bears, she’ll probably just cry.
“Let’s not jinx it!” Olivarez said. “And the coach — he has a sexy body.” Others in line chuckled and agreed with her statement.
Bears fans cheer while lining up for free hot dogs, Dec. 2, 2025, at The Wieners Circle in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)
Past noon, the line started to shrink. West Lakeview resident Graeme Phillips said he came at an ideal time, only having waited 10 minutes before he was near the front entrance.
Phillips said he was eager to go inside because he had a feeling his picture was up on The Wieners Circle’s “Wall of Shame.”
“One time, I wore jorts with cowboy boots, and they didn’t approve. They just laughed. They laughed at me the entire time and then took a picture,” he said. “I was incredibly dishevelled from the previous night.”
(He did indeed make the wall.)
Tickled at the customers who kept taking their shirts off, Phillips said moments like free hot dog days embody the spirit of the city.
“I think it’s inspiring because I think that they probably don’t look as good as Ben Johnson underneath,” he joked. “It’s just amazing — bringing together people from so many backgrounds. I’ve heard this quote before, I don’t know who it’s by, but it’s true — there’s a certain feeling in Chicago when the Bears are good.”
Column: When a shirtless coach and a free hot dog rallied an entire city. Only in Chicago.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/02/wieners-circle-free-hot-dogs-ben-johnson/
Raccoon goes on drunken rampage in Virginia liquor store and passes out on bathroom floor
The masked burglar broke into the closed Virginia liquor store early on Saturday and hit the bottom shelf, where the scotch and whisky were stored. The bandit was something of a nocturnal menace: bottles were smashed, a ceiling tile collapsed and alcohol pooled on the floor.
The suspect acted like an animal because, in fact, he’s a raccoon.
On Saturday morning, an employee at the Ashland, Virginia-area liquor store found the trash panda passed out on the bathroom floor at the end of his drunken escapade.
“I personally like raccoons,” said Samantha Martin, an officer who works at the local animal control. “They are funny little critters. He fell through one of the ceiling tiles and went on a full-blown rampage, drinking everything.”
Martin said she took the raccoon back to the animal shelter, though she had her fair share of giggles along the way.
“Another day in the life of an animal control officer, I guess,” she said.
The Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter commended Martin for handling the break-in, and confirmed the raccoon had sobered up.
“After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer,” the agency said.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/02/drunk-raccoon-passes-out/
Chinese Magnet-Makers Find Loopholes To Dodge Beijing’s Rare-Earth Export Controls
Chinese Magnet-Makers Find Loopholes To Dodge Beijing’s Rare-Earth Export Controls
Chinese rare-earth magnet makers are quietly developing legal workarounds to Beijing’s tightened export rules, aiming to keep sales to Western customers moving even as China’s new licensing regime slows or blocks shipments of restricted materials, according to the Wall Street Journal.
After Beijing imposed export controls this spring—part of a broader clash with Washington—magnets containing even trace amounts of dysprosium or terbium began requiring licenses that can take “weeks or months” to obtain, if they come at all, traders say. The bottleneck has pushed Chinese manufacturers into a scramble to redesign their products.
The Journal writes that one approach is technical substitution. Companies including Yonjumag, Anhui Hanhai New Material, Zhaobao Magnet and X-Mag are promoting magnet grades that avoid restricted heavy rare earths by grinding materials to ultra-fine levels to boost heat tolerance. The magnets generally work at up to roughly 300 degrees Fahrenheit—good enough for appliances, though not always for cars or aircraft.
“As global supply chains for heavy rare earth elements tighten,” X-Mag wrote in October, developing magnet grades free of restricted materials “has become increasingly critical.”
Zhaobao said it was “continuously developing new high-performance magnet series free of restricted elements.”
Yonjumag circulated a brochure listing “counter measures,” including magnets without controlled heavy rare earths, and pledged to develop better grades by year-end.
Western buyers are purchasing the substitutes despite performance concerns. “Not being able to use [restricted heavy rare earths] does make the high-temperature performance slightly weaker, but for most customers, having a workable magnet is far better than having none,” marketer Dylan Kui wrote on LinkedIn. When another executive warned that sharing such data posed “regulatory risks,” Kui replied that he was providing standard technical information.
Companies are also resorting to structural workarounds: magnets are restricted, but motors are not. Chinese suppliers are shipping motors and other components with magnets already embedded, avoiding licensing requirements altogether.
Regulators, meanwhile, are closing gaps. Some magnet makers briefly shifted to holmium as a substitute for terbium and dysprosium—until China added holmium to its restricted list in October. Following a U.S.–China deal that same month, enforcement of the holmium limits was delayed by a year, temporarily reopening the loophole.
Firms insist they are staying within the law. Compliance officers are being hired, and Beijing has launched new crackdowns on mineral smuggling. Still, traders warn that China’s dominance gives it the ability to tighten exports again for geopolitical leverage.
Foreign customers, increasingly frustrated, are accelerating efforts to build supply chains outside China. As one buyer told a Chinese magnet-company employee: “When those sources are mature and viable, we’re done with you.”
Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/02/2025 – 18:50
A ‘motivated’ Pat Fitzgerald returns to coaching at Michigan State: ‘You always learn and evolve’
Pat Fitzgerald was a part of Northwestern’s football program for 26 years, first as an All-America linebacker, then as an assistant to coach Randy Walker and finally as head coach for 17 seasons.
On Tuesday, he stepped in front of reporters in East Lansing, Mich., wearing a suit with a green-and-white-striped tie and concluded his opening statement by pumping his fist, smiling and uttering, “Go Green.”
Two and a half years after Northwestern fired Fitzgerald amid a hazing scandal in Evanston, he officially was back in the Big Ten as Michigan State’s coach. The Spartans signed Fitzgerald to a five-year contract to replace Jonathan Smith, whom they fired after two seasons and a 9-15 record.
After flying in Tuesday morning, Fitzgerald promised during his on-campus introduction to bring to Michigan State a coaching philosophy “centered around being the best player development program in the nation.”
“We develop our young men as people, as students and as world-class athletes,” he said. “This will happen through a values-based approach. The two cornerstones of those are choices we make every day. I expressed them to the team this morning: the choice of our attitude and the choice of our investment.
“Smiles on our face, swagger to our walk, a confidence, an openness, a happiness to be able to be privileged to be a part of the Spartan community and a relentless investment. And that will be consistent hard work, day in and day out, in the grind to what it takes to be Big Ten champions.”
Fitzgerald’s return to coaching comes after he settled a $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit against Northwestern in August.
He was fired in July 2023 when the Northwestern athletic department said football players reported hazing that included “forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature.” Fitzgerald later sued the university for breach of contract, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In a statement after the settlement, Northwestern said its investigation did not find that Fitzgerald directed or condoned hazing.
Fitzgerald said Tuesday he remains proud of what the Wildcats accomplished while he was there on the field — a 110-101 record, 10 bowl appearances and two Big Ten West titles — in the classroom and in the community and said he was grateful for the players, staff and families there.
“Like anyone who has coached and competed long enough, I’ve had moments to reflect now and learn and grow,” Fitzgerald said. “The experience has made me a better leader, a better man, a better husband, a better father and a better coach. And it has reinforced my commitment to creating an environment that’s going to be built on trust, discipline, communication and accountability.”
Fitzgerald said after the settlement and the university’s statement that he felt “100% vindicated.” But he also noted that “you always learn and evolve.” He said Michigan State will have team meetings “about zero tolerance for a lot of different behaviors.” And he expects to “communicate and go right down the middle” of any issues that arise on a day-to-day basis.
“There are definitely aspects and areas we all have to work on,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s all of our responsibilities, but as mine, it’s the ultimate responsibility. That’s definitely what I’ve learned that we’ll work toward.”
After his departure from Northwestern, Fitzgerald was a volunteer coach at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, where his sons attended high school. He also went on what he called a “learning sabbatical” as he visited the teams of friends in coaching.
“What it did give me an opportunity to do is reflect and go around and see other schools, see how they’re doing things, get to NFL organizations and just stand back and watch as this new college landscape unfolds,” he said. “What it’s given me is some great clarity. This will always be about the players, and how we can focus and develop them is what it’s all about.”
Michigan State President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, from left, new football coach Pat Fitzgerald and athletic director J Batt are photographed with a jersey during a news conference Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in East Lansing, Mich. (Robin Buckson/Detroit News via AP)
Fitzgerald said his representatives talked with eight schools about job openings. When Michigan State was presented to his family — wife Stacy and three sons — around the kitchen table after he and athletic director J Batt first spoke, there was an immediate positive reaction.
“To see my boys smile, that’s when I knew, but I didn’t want to overhype it because you never know where these things go,” Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said his alignment with Batt and university President Kevin Guskiewicz on values and the resources that will be provided to student-athletes and the coaching staff made his excitement level rise. And as a Midwest and Big Ten guy, it felt right.
“It was almost a no-brainer for me when the opportunity was presented,” Fitzgerald said.
He said after he signed his contract Monday afternoon, he got on a Zoom with Michigan State players, attended an hourlong compliance meeting and spent until about 11:30 p.m. calling and FaceTiming recruits. His first order of business upon arrival Tuesday was to meet with the team.
Batt said Fitzgerald can have an immediate impact on the Michigan State program.
“You feel Coach’s energy,” Batt said. “His attention to detail will be supreme. And I know our team will reflect all those parts and pieces. A little bit of toughness and grit might go with it as well.”
Fitzgerald grew emotional a couple of times during the news conference, including when he was asked about his hunger to return to coaching.
“As far as my motivation, you don’t have to ask me about that,” Fitzgerald said. “I’ve been dreaming about this day for a long time. … I’m just so grateful and so thankful. Our family is.
“There will be no more motivated coach to get this program where it needs to be than I will be compared to anywhere else in the country. I promise you that.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/02/pat-fitzgerald-michigan-state-northwestern/
Juventus avanza a cuartos de Copa Italia con triunfo 2-0 sobre Udinese
TURÍN (AP) — Juventus avanzó a los cuartos de final de la Copa Italia el martes con una victoria de 2-0 sobre Udinese, después de que el joven defensor Matteo Palma anotó en propia puerta y concedió un penalti.
La Juve, que ostenta el récord de más trofeos de la Copa de Italia con 15, se enfrentará a continuación al Atalanta o al Genoa, que chocan este miércoles.
Los Bianconeri tomaron la delantera a mitad del primer tiempo cuando el internacional estadounidense Weston McKennie hizo un buen trabajo por la banda derecha antes de enviar un centro rasante que Palma envió a su propia red en un intento de anticiparse a Jonathan David.
Una revisión de video en la segunda mitad detectó que Palma, joven de 17 años, había cometido una falta sobre el colombiano Juan Cabal en el área. El suplente Manuel Locatelli ejecutó el penalti resultante directamente al centro.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Energy Affordability Has Become The Kitchen-Table Issue Of The 2020s
Energy Affordability Has Become The Kitchen-Table Issue Of The 2020s
Authored by William Murray via RealClearEnergy,
A not-so-glowing attribute of American democracy is the ability of voters to act shocked and blame whoever is in charge when things don’t go well. So, it makes twisted sense that, as 2026 approaches, the Trump administration should pay the political price for bad energy policies inherited from the Biden administration and Democratic governors.
Years of flat energy demand and relatively stable electricity prices dulled Americans’ understanding of energy economics. Now, new data center demand, the end of cheap natural gas, and President Biden’s policy of replacing baseload nuclear and coal power with wind and solar have screwed up electricity price signals enough to shred household budgets and stun homeowners — just in time for a colder-than-average winter.
The numbers are as stark as a slate-grey November sky. Household spending on electricity for heating is expected to rise 10% this winter to more than $1,200. Utilities requested a $29 billion rate increase in the first half of 2025, double last year’s rate rise. Residential electricity rates rose 6.6% year-on-year as of June 2025, according to Utility Dive, after already rising nearly 30% between 2021 and 2024.
The causes of these electricity increases are multifaceted, yet, as a policy brief from the National Center for Energy Analytics reveals, subsidies to wind and solar are major culprits. Subsidies like the federal Production Tax Credit (PTC) distort electricity markets by artificially lowering prices, sometimes into negative territory, forcing otherwise competitive but unsubsidized generation out of the market.
Interestingly, the study found that the argument that increasing demand from the data center buildout is causing increases in average rates is not supported by the facts. The state of Virginia has built the large majority of data centers in the past 2 years, yet Virginia’s ratepayers have experienced below-average price gains and still pay below-average electricity rates.
The Big Beautiful Bill, passed by Congress in July, partially solved some of these market-signal problems by accelerating the phase-out of wind and solar projects to the end of 2027, but that fact can’t heat the homes of families making hard choices every day during the winter of 2025-26.
An extra hundred dollars a month over winter means no sports or academic camps in summer for teenagers. Fifty dollars a month can be the difference between seeking mental health counseling or fighting clinical depression alone. Energy prices don’t play games.
In places like Massachusetts and California where green-energy policy has gone too far, the pain is both real and self-inflicted, raising the question of why voters continue to elect Democrats who prefer self-actualization to public service.
Residential electricity prices in California rose 125% in the last 15 years as subsidies for renewables pushed out existing nuclear and natural gas, all with the support of their ravishing Governor, Gavin Newsom.
In Massachusetts, politicians like Governor Maura Healey show us that grown-ups can still be childish. She and other (nearly all Democrat) politicians in New England don’t want any new pipelines to ship natural gas from the super-cheap Marcellus Shale Formation in Pennsylvania, lest they offend climate-change sensibilities.
Instead, they imported LNG from 3,000 miles away in Norway, which averaged more than $12 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) between January and March 2024. Meanwhile, average realized sales prices for Marcellus shale gas, less than 150 miles away during the same period, were between $2.10 and $2.20 per Mcf, only one-sixth the price. Not very smart.
As a result, both states, perhaps taking their cues from the grade-inflating Harvard and Stanford Universities within their borders, now have the highest electricity rates in the country, over 30 cents per kilowatt-hour. Nice job, Einsteins.
Leaving the energy policy equivalent of a flaming paper bag of poo on the front porch for the Trump administration to stomp out may be good politics for Democrat governors. Still, if the United States is going to win the future, we have to get away from the energy hunger games and put in place permanent policies that a subsequent White House occupant won’t overturned.
And some states do their energy policies better, and not just carbon rich states like Texas or Kentucky that have some geologic largesse. States like Indiana, which imports energy from other states, have slowed coalretirements through legislative action, passing laws requiring utilities to demonstrate grid reliability before replacing coal with renewables.
Even Democrat-run states like Illinois have resisted closing base load nuclear plants despite political pressure from net-zero and anti-nuclear groups.
And some states are doing even more. Republican governor Jeff Landry of Louisiana has signed sweeping legislation aimed at reducing energy costs and unleashing energy affordability to its rate payers across the states and countries that it feeds.
And on the federal level, Congressman Troy Balderson is trying to make Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security the federal standard. If you want to set into law energy sanity that will survive, states need to follow leaders like Governor Landry. And if we as a country have any brains left in our screen-addled heads, we have to put Balderson’s ARC ES bill on the president’s desk to sign.
Energy production should be a kitchen-table issue, but with a longer lead time than the current election cycle. We should be able to pay less to get more. The Trump administration is doing more in that regard than any administration in history. Opening Alaska, easing leasing restrictions on federal land, and cutting subsidies for EVs and renewables are nice. In the meantime, states and the federal government must step up.
In the end, we’re all worm food, but until then, people — especially Americans facing the winter season — have things to do, dreams to achieve, and go places where futures can thrive.
Here’s to a more affordable 2026.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 12/02/2025 – 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/energy-affordability-has-become-kitchen-table-issue-2020s
