As health officials investigate more than 30 cases of infant botulism linked to ByHeart baby formula since August, parents who say their children were sickened with the same illness months before the current outbreak are demanding answers, too.

California public health officials confirmed late Friday that six babies in that state who consumed ByHeart formula were treated for botulism between November 2024 and June 2025, up to nine months before the outbreak that has sickened at least 31 babies in 15 states.

At the time, there was “not enough evidence to immediately suspect a common source,” the California Department of Public Health said in a statement.

Even now, “we cannot connect any pre-August 1 cases to the current outbreak,” officials said.

Parents of at least five babies said that their infants were treated for the rare and potentially deadly disease after drinking ByHeart formula in late 2024 and early 2025, according to reports shared with The Associated Press by Bill Marler, a Seattle food safety lawyer representing the families.

Amy Mazziotti, 43, of Burbank, California, said her then-5-month-old son, Hank, fell ill and was treated for botulism in March, weeks after he began drinking bottles filled with ByHeart formula.

Katie Connolly, 37, of Lafayette, California, said her daughter, M.C., then 8 months old, was hospitalized in April and treated for botulism after being fed ByHeart formula in hopes of helping the baby sleep.

For months, neither mother had any idea where the infections could have originated. Such illnesses in babies typically are caused by spores spread in the environment or by contaminated honey.

Then ByHeart recalled all of its products nationwide on Nov. 11 in connection with growing cases of infant botulism.

As soon as she heard it was ByHeart, Mazziotti said she thought: “This cannot be a coincidence.”

ByHeart officials this week confirmed that laboratory tests of previously unopened formula found that some samples were contaminated with the type of bacteria that leads to infant botulism.

Marler said at least three other cases that predate the outbreak involved babies who drank ByHeart and were treated for botulism, according to their families. One consumed ByHeart formula in December 2024. The other two were sickened later in the spring, he said.

An official with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said federal investigators were aware of reports of earlier illnesses but that efforts are focused now on understanding the unusual surge of dozens of infections documented since Aug. 1.

“That doesn’t mean that they’re not necessarily part of this,” said Dr. Jennifer Cope, a CDC scientist leading the probe. “It’s just that right now, we’re focusing on this large increase.”

Because so much time has passed and because parents of babies who got sick earlier may not have recorded lot numbers of product or kept empty cans of formula, “it will make it harder to definitively link them” to the outbreak, Cope said.

Connolly said it feels like her daughter has been forgotten.

“What I want to know is why did the cases beginning in August flag an investigation, but the cases that began in March did not?” Connolly said.

Cope and other health officials said the strong signal connecting ByHeart to infant botulism cases only became apparent in recent weeks.

Before this outbreak, no powdered infant formula in the U.S. had tested positive for the type of bacteria that leads to botulism, California health officials said. The number of cases also were within an expected range. A test of a can of open formula fed to a sick baby in the spring did not detect the bacterium.

Then, beginning in August and through October, more cases were identified on the East Coast involving a type of toxin rarely detected in the region, officials said. More cases were seen in very young infants and more cases involved ByHeart formula, which accounts for less than 1 percent of infant formula sold in the U.S.

Earlier this month, after a sample from a can of ByHeart formula fed to a sick infant tested positive for the germ that leads to illness, officials notified the CDC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the public.

Less than 200 cases of infant botulism are reported in the U.S. each year. The disease is caused when babies ingest spores that germinate in the gut and produce a toxin. The bacterium that leads to illness is ubiquitous in the environment, including soil and water, so the source is often unknown.

Officials at the California Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention Program track reports of botulism and the distribution of the only treatment for the illness, an IV medication called BabyBIG.

Outside food safety experts said the CDC should count earlier cases as part of the outbreak if babies consumed ByHeart formula and were treated for botulism.

“Absolutely, yes, they should be included,” said Frank Yiannas, former deputy commissioner for food policy and response at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Why wouldn’t they be included?”

Sandra Eskin, chief executive of STOP Foodborne Illness, an advocacy group, agreed.

“This outbreak is traumatic for parents,” she said. “They may have fed their newborns and infants a product they assumed was safe. And now they’re dealing with hospitalization and serious illness of their babies.”

Connolly and Mazziotti said their babies are improving, though they still have some lingering effects. Botulism causes symptoms that include constipation, poor feeding, head and limb weakness and other problems.

After months of uncertainty about the potential cause of the infection, Connolly said she “became completely obsessed” with the link to ByHeart formula. Now, she just wants answers.

“We deserve to know the data that can help us understand how our babies got sick,” she said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/22/babies-byheart-formula-sick-before-botulism/ 

FLORENCIA, Italia (AP) — El partido de la Juventus contra la Fiorentina fue brevemente detenido el sábado después de que se registraron cánticos racistas y discriminatorios prolongados por parte de los aficionados locales.

Ya se había hecho un anuncio a los 11 minutos para que los aficionados dejaran de dirigir cánticos al exdelantero de la Fiorentina, Dusan Vlahovic, quien es serbio.

Los insultos se volvieron aún más vociferantes cuando inicialmente se le otorgó un penal a la Juventus a los 14 minutos después de que Pablo Mari pareciera derribar a Vlahovic, pero la decisión fue revocada tras revisar el video.

El árbitro estaba a punto de reiniciar el partido, pero en su lugar tuvo que decirle al capitán de la Fiorentina, Gianluca Mancini, que pidiera a los aficionados que dejaran de cantar.

Es el tercer año consecutivo que hay cánticos racistas hacia Vlahovic, quien dejó la Fiorentina de manera conflictiva en enero de 2022.

___

Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/22/partido-de-la-juventus-suspendido-por-cnticos-racistas-de-aficionados-de-la-fiorentina/ 

BERLIN — President Vladimir Putin of Russia said a 28-point plan that President Donald Trump is pressuring Ukraine to accept could “serve as a foundation for a final peace agreement.”

It would also be a big victory for the Russian leader, placing limits on Western power, forcing Ukraine to cede territory it hasn’t lost on the battlefield, restricting the size of its military and ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, whom Trump has given until Thursday to accept the plan, warned that his country faced “one of the most difficult moments in its history.”

What is in the plan?

It is a U.S.-backed peace proposal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine that would have Ukraine capitulate on most of Putin’s demands.

There are almost no concessions from Moscow in exchange. The plan does drop an earlier, far-fetched demand by Putin and his negotiators that Ukraine withdraw troops from the entire four regions that Russia “annexed” in 2022. Kyiv still controls large sections of three of them.

The plan was formed at the end of October by Putin’s special envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy.

“We feel the Russian position is really being heard,” Dmitriev told Axios this past week.

What would Russia get?

The plan would achieve most of Putin’s goals. Under the proposal, Ukraine would emerge as a severely weakened neutral state with vague security guarantees from its Western allies and significant limits on its ability to defend itself.

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions, along with Crimea, would be recognized as de facto Russian. Ukraine would withdraw from the part of Donetsk that it controls, leaving a demilitarized buffer zone recognized as Russia. Russia would keep the parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions it occupies.

Putin would also achieve limits on Western power. The plan would rule out the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine and all further expansion of that military alliance.

The strength of Ukraine’s military would be capped. All parties would receive amnesty for actions during the war.

Moscow would also receive gradual relief from sanctions and be reintegrated into global trade at a time when its economy is at its weakest point since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow would be invited to rejoin the Group of 8 major industrialized nations and, ultimately, sign U.S. economic cooperation agreements.

What would Ukraine get?

Ukraine would gain little other than a halt to the war.

The plan would give Kyiv vague security guarantees. If Russia were to invade again, the plan calls for an unspecified decisive and coordinated military response, and the reinstatement of sanctions against Russia.

Ukraine is allowed to seek membership in the European Union under the plan. Also in the plan: investing $100 billion of frozen Russian assets in a U.S.-led effort to rebuild Ukraine, matched by an equal sum from Europe.

Russia would withdraw from the small amount of territory it holds in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

Ukraine could also get political instability. The plan demands elections be held within 100 days, potentially ushering out Zelenskyy, a long-standing goal of Putin’s.

What has Russia said?

At a meeting with his security council Friday, Putin said he had received the text of the plan.

“However, it is not being discussed in detail with us,” the Russian leader said. He said this was probably because Washington had yet to secure agreements from Ukraine and its European backers.

Putin said Russia would be content to continue taking Ukrainian cities by force, “perhaps not as quickly as we would prefer, but inevitably.”

But he said that Moscow was also ready for negotiations, which would require “substantive and meaningful discussion of all aspects of the proposed plan.”

What was Ukraine’s response?

Zelenskyy said Friday in an address to the Ukrainian people that the time had potentially come to choose between losing their dignity or U.S. support.

The Ukrainian leader vowed to propose alternatives to the plan in a “constructive search for solutions.” He said he would not give Russia any reason to say that Ukraine wasn’t ready for diplomacy or didn’t want peace.

He said Ukraine was facing a choice between the difficult 28 points and an extraordinarily hard winter.

What are the incentives for peace?

The situation on the battlefield is increasingly perilous for the Ukrainians, who have been losing territory in the east. It is unclear how long Ukraine can hold out against an enemy with a vast domestic weapons industry and a population that is nearly four times larger.

Russia is facing its own economic pressures, owing in part to new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil producers that have further reduced hydrocarbon income and strained the wartime budget.

The plan involves large concessions by the United States and its Western allies that the Biden administration would not have abided.

Putin may seek to secure those wins, realizing that the winds could change in Washington.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/22/trumps-plan-russia-ukraine-war/ 

There was no shortage of curiosity and surprise on Friday for the world premiere of Billy Corgan’s “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” at Lyric Opera. Having been kept for months a tight-lipped secret about what the concert would constitute, the adaptation of the Smashing Pumpkins’ grandiose 1995 double album in operatic form validated the core strengths of its compositions — and reinforced Corgan’s unofficial status as the biggest romantic of his generation.

Rather than presenting the acclaimed record as a character-based narrative akin to a traditional opera, the roughly 90-minute program (plus an intermission) wisely focused on the music’s greatest assets. Namely, the sweeping melodies, majestic architecture, baroque accents and quirky flourishes that distinguish it from the work of the band’s peers. More frequently than not, the elements warranted the elevated treatment provided by the world-class Lyric ensemble.

Songs piqued curiosities with new structures devised by Corgan and arranger-conductor James Lowe. They took on refreshed context due to the sonic overhaul and savvy choices to deviate from the record’s original running order and forgo any attempt to stuff all 28 tracks into the show. Because of and despite its flaws, “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” is at heart an ode to undying possibility and hope — and a sincere love letter to Chicago.

The decision to reimagine the Smashing Pumpkins’ guitar-driven magnum opus for the opera house has generated considerable buzz. All seven performances of the run are nearly sold out. Part of the excitement stems from the fact that “A Night of Mellon Collie” represents a creative progression to the conventions that some listeners, rightly or not, associate with the Italian art form. Importantly, the project also offers a chance for the institution to reach audiences that normally don’t step through its doors.

The 30th anniversary of the album and connection to Corgan, a Chicago native and Highland Park resident, compound the significance. A longtime Lyric audience member, he started mulling ideas after seeing the company’s rendition of Mozart’s “Requiem” in March 2024. Discussions ensued, and soon after, the Smashing Pumpkins leader began collaborating with Lowe.

Though translating a record that is neither a concept album nor rock opera for the Lyric’s stage might strike some as odd, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” lends itself to the transition more intrinsically than most any other so-called alt-rock effort. Brimming with wide-lens expansiveness and boundary-defying ambition, it signaled what for Corgan remains a personal trademark: A desire to think and go big, to risk indulgence no matter the prevailing trend or critical consequence.

Those characteristics help shape and characterize “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness,” the main difference being that Corgan — usually the central figure in everything he does — largely remains unseen. Though he performs for five songs, he ceded the spotlight to Lowe, the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus and four guest vocalists.

Billy Corgan performs with the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus in “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” at Lyric Opera of Chicago. (Cory Weaver)

In a break from the norm, the Lyric Orchestra sat on the stage and the Chorus struck an imposing presence behind them on risers. Soprano Sydney Mancasola, mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, tenor Dominick Valdés Chenes and baritone Edward Parks joined Corgan on the rotating lead singing roles. Singers entered and exited from the wings and any physical acting was kept to a minimum, given the lack of a plot. All five vocalists appeared together only during the “Tonight, Tonight” finale.

Costumes — designed by Chloe Mendel Corgan (Corgan’s wife) and her father, fashion veteran Gilles Mendel — paid tribute to black-tie tradition while embracing a hint of whimsy. The elegant tailcoats, suits and gowns fit the setting and never drew attention away from the music.

The main visual flair arrived via a delightful mix of illustrations and animations projected on a backdrop screen. Mirroring and expanding upon the antique aesthetics of the album artwork, they incorporated steampunk, Victorian, Art Deco and gothic imagery, with Chicago at the center of it all.

Coming across as a combination of “The Wizard of Oz,” the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair and the real downtown Chicago, the graphic visions of the city blended fantasy and reality. Landscapes frequently evoked vintage travel posters and resembled stained-glass panels that captured the awe of urban buildings and innovation.

Landmarks like the Board of Trade, Willis Tower, Tribune Tower, Merchandise Mart, Navy Pier and Marina City Towers shared real estate with the “L,” the lake and skyline. Zeppelins and steam-powered airships zoomed above. Clouds and distant universes framed the horizon. Visuals went hand-in-glove not with the words but with the pace and mood of the arrangements. When the latter turned dark, despondent or threatening, the imagery followed. Storms and waves erupted; large buildings multiplied, acting as walls and traps. The daytime scenery of Act 1 concluded with a sunset and Act 2 was set at night.

Dominick Valdés Chenes, Zoie Reams, Billy Corgan, Edward Parks and Sydney Mancasola perform with the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus in “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” at Lyric Opera of Chicago. (Cory Weaver)

Likely owing to the English deliveries, the Lyric bypassed its customary surtitles, which may have left those unfamiliar with Corgan’s texts guessing at meanings. All the better to home in on the tunefulness and colors. Some of the opera’s stumbling blocks occurred when lyrics gained too prominent a foothold.

Sung in serious fashion and in a low register by the Lyric Chorus, the opening lines of a sophisticated reconstitution of “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” sounded out of step with the vitriolic sentiments. “By Starlight,” which crossed into lounge territory, and a classically dramatic “Jellybelly,” similarly felt ill-suited.

Not every Smashing Pumpkins fan, let alone opera buff, will gravitate to “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness.” Yet the interior depth and warm beauty of most of the arrangements, and the consideration behind the sequencing and audiovisual pairings, make it a unique hybrid that explodes the epic scope, soft mysteries and bittersweet ingredients of Corgan’s original material. He beamed with pride.

Indeed, when he first stepped on stage to sing “Thirty-Three,” Corgan attempted to maintain a serious poker face. Upon looking out at the crowd, he couldn’t prevent a smile from forming at the corner of his mouth. There he stood, the famously ego-strong star, star-struck by the new enterprise, recognizing his opera had become a reality.

Whether “A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness” will fly outside Chicago remains questionable. For now, the Lyric, the city and one of its hometown heroes stake claim to an unusual cultural asset.

Bob Gendron is a freelance critic.

Act 1 
“Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”
“Tonight, Tonight” (partial)
“Jellybelly”
“Galapagos”
“Thirty-Three”
“Tonight, Tonight” (reprise)
“Beautiful”
“Muzzle”
“Lily (My One and Only)”
“Stumbeline”
“Thru the Eyes of Ruby”

Act 2
“In the Arms of Sleep”
“1979”
“By Starlight”
“Bullet with Butterfly Wings”
“To Forgive”
“Cupid de Locke”
“Porcelina of the Vast Oceans”
“Tonight, Tonight” (full)

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/22/review-mellon-collie-lyric/ 

Vance Blasts Critics Of Trump’s Ukraine Peace Plan As “Living In A Fantasy Land”

Tyler Durden
Sat, 11/22/2025 – 13:25

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/vance-blasts-critics-trump-ukraine-peace-plan-living-fantasy-land 

NEW YORK — There was a time when presidential hopefuls played coy about their ambitions, crisscrossing the country under the guise of helping other candidates and deflecting when pushed on their obvious plans.

Not so for some Democrats considering running in 2028. With no clear party leader and Democratic voters raring for a fight, some could-be candidates are being far more transparent about their intentions, doing away with pretensions as they try to gain maximum visibility at a time when authenticity is in high demand.

“Of course I’m thinking about it. I haven’t ruled it out,” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker recently told Fox News during a trip to early-voting New Hampshire, even as he stressed that his focus is on 2026, when he will be up for reelection.

“I’d be lying otherwise. I’d just be lying and I can’t do that,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom told CBS when pressed on whether he will consider a run after the midterms next year.

To be sure, many Democrats remain circumspect.

Of the dozen potential 2028 candidates The Associated Press requested interviews with to discuss the changing dynamic, none was immediately available. Some Democrats deflect questions and say their attention is elsewhere even as they campaign for others in early-voting states.

On the Republican side, an entirely different dynamic is brewing under the surface. Potential candidates are keeping low profiles amid expectations that President Donald Trump will play kingmaker in choosing his would-be successor.

Presidential campaign strategists say the Democrats’ less guarded approach makes sense given the wide-open 2028 field and sheer number of candidates competing for attention. Among the others who have said they are considering a run: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who also was a White House chief of staff, and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

“Old rules just don’t apply to anything anymore,” said Jess O’Connell, a Democratic strategist who advised Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign. She said the change was a good thing for the party.

“You’ve got to be out there every single day fighting and sharing your vision,” she said. “And I think the more runway they have to talk to people in this moment and to communicate about meeting the needs of the future,” then the better.

New dynamics at play

Alex Conant, a veteran of the presidential campaigns of Republicans Marco Rubio, a former Florida senator who is now Trump’s secretary of state, and Tim Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor, said the dynamics of the emerging Democratic primary, with no clear front-runner, have changed the calculus for candidates.

“I think the Democratic primary is going to be the longest primary of our life. It’s hard to recall a field that is this wide open. And the Democratic base is so hungry for someone to take on Trump and win back the White House,” he said. “The more crowded it is, the more important it is to start early.”

Candidates, he noted, are also “immediately more relevant if you might be the next president,” adding to the incentive to say the quiet part out loud.

Voters these days are also turned off by the kind of politician-speak that was once the norm.

“One of the takeaways from Trump is that people want authenticity,” Conant said. “Voters are rejecting candidates who sound like politicians, so the rhetorical tricks that politicians have used for decades to avoid answering questions now just irritates voters.”

Some are elusive

Not everyone has embraced the approach.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker played coy on stage during a recent interview with journalist Kara Swisher, repeatedly dodging her questions about his expected timeline.

“Blah, blah,” she responded as he tried to pivot to talking about the strength of the Democratic bench.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has been equally circumspect, refusing to acknowledge any White House ambitions or even commit to running again for governor, even as the shadow of 2028 follows him everywhere he goes. But during an appearance on “The Breakfast Club” podcast last month, as he reflected on the arson attack on his official residence, he sounded like someone who is eager to remain in the arena.

“I love public service,” he said. “You can’t walk away now, with everything that’s on the line. … This is not a time to quit.”

His perceived national ambitions have become a frequent attack line for his potential GOP rival for governor, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

“We need somebody that is more interested in Pennsylvania and not on Pennsylvania Avenue,” Garrity said recently on a conservative radio show in Philadelphia.

There are risks for candidates

That is one of the risks for candidates, said Mike DuHaime, a longtime GOP strategist who advised the presidential campaigns of Chris Christie, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and George W. Bush.

In 2013, he noted, Christie’s opponent in the New Jersey governor’s race often tried to use his national buzz as a campaign issue against him.

Candidates, DuHaime said, also need to strike a balance and make that they are not distracting from midterm races by funneling money or attention away from candidates who need them.

“I think it makes sense not to be so coy because people kind of get it, but they still should be careful about putting themselves in front of the country cause it could backfire,” he said. They “have to be careful that they still look a little bit like team players.”

In other cases, candidates have genuinely not made up their minds, and may be lured by party leaders in early-voting states eager to draw rising stars to their events, DuHaime said.

“It’s very intriguing and exciting for candidates and would-be candidates to be asked,” he said, with some deciding, “Let’s go experience it, the national circus. Let’s be part of that.”

Along with potential legal considerations, O’Connell, the Democratic strategist, also noted that many of those expected to run have day jobs they need to balance. While picking fights with Trump certainly puts them in the spotlight, it could have ramifications for constituents if the Republican president retaliates, meaning that candidates will need to choose their moments wisely.

“You have to fulfill your obligations to the states that you’re in,” she said. “It’s not so much that you’re playing a game, it’s that I think that there are some practical considerations.”

“I think we’re going to see people struggling with that,” she added.

She also urged candidates to embrace what she called a “Beyonce-Taylor Swift strategy,” referring to the pop stars’ boosting the economies of the cities where they performed on tour.

“What I would advise anyone who wants to be president in 2028,” she said, “is to roll up your sleeves and help.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/22/potential-presidential-candidates-2028/ 

Christian Cardoza of Aurora was enjoying a bicycle ride around downtown Aurora Friday evening while waiting for the start of the city’s Winter Lights Fest.

“I’ve been here a number of times. I mostly come for the vibe that comes when Christmas is just around the corner,” he said as he stepped off his bike for a moment. “If they are are having Winter Lights, I’m here.”

Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, the city of Aurora’s Winter Lights Fest offered a three-hour holiday season kickoff that included the largest parade ever at the event, a drone show, photos with Santa and the traditional tree-lighting ceremony.

Temperatures in the mid-40s made this year’s fest more comfortable, although city officials insisted that when it comes to Winter Light Fest folks come regardless.

“We’ve had this when there were single digits three years ago and we still had thousands of people down here,” said Mike Nelson, director of special events for the city of Aurora.

He noted this year’s event featured “the largest parade we’ve ever had with 30 units, an increase of about six or seven from a year ago. We’re growing this parade substantially every year.”

One of the floats at the parade came from the popular Lehnertz Avenue group in Aurora which has put up holiday displays in its neighborhood for 74 years.

Members of the Simply Destinee youth dance team wave to the crowd while on a float during the Winter Lights Fest parade in Aurora on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (Sean King/For The Beacon-News)

Lisa Hardekopf, a member of the group, came with some of her neighbors and said they have been part of the Winter Lights parade for nearly a decade.

“It’s not the holidays until we have this parade. It definitely starts off the season for us,” Hardekopf said. “We’re always on Lehnertz Avenue getting ready for the whole year but this is the night that kicks things off – we’re on go. I love seeing the kids reacting to the float going by.”

The tree-lighting outside the GAR Memorial Hall at 23 E. Downer Place featured the city’s horticulturalist Cathy Hayen, who Nelson said “helped us locate a new evergreen, a new holiday tree.”

City of Aurora horticulturalist Cathy Hayen and Mayor John Laesch react after Hayen hits the switch to light the city’s Christmas tree during the Winter Lights Fest in Aurora on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (Sean King/For The Beacon-News)

“It’s very special for us that she’s helping throw the switch,” Nelson said of turning on the lights of the city’s holiday tree at the fest. “Internally, we’ve got one of the most beloved colleagues and co-workers helping us light the tree and she’s retiring this February. She is responsible for all the decorating you see in the downtown and why it looks so great.”

Lyla Blanchard of Genoa was back participating in the Winter Lights Fest parade with her horse Beau.

“I look forward to this parade. It’s awesome to be a part of it and kick off the season and everybody is in such a great mood and it’s such a fun night to be out here with all the lights and the show,” she said. “Aurora has always been so warm and welcoming to us and we’re just grateful to be part of the festivities. It’s not Christmas until you have Winter Lights.”

A crowd watches as the city’s Christmas tree is illuminated during the Winter Lights Fest in Aurora on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (Sean King/For The Beacon-News)

Heather Barbosa of Montgomery said she has made the Aurora holiday event a tradition every year.

“The lights down here are spectacular and the city does a great job setting it up and the music is great,” she said. “We’ve been here for about eight years and we love the way this has grown.”

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/22/winter-lights-fest-kicks-off-holiday-season-in-downtown-aurora/