Category: News
Modular Reactor Tide Rising: Nano Nuclear To Study Siting Multiple MMRs To Generate 1GW Energy In Texas
Modular Reactor Tide Rising: Nano Nuclear To Study Siting Multiple MMRs To Generate 1GW Energy In Texas
One day after we observed that only a boom in onsite, “behind the meter” power supply energizing America’s hundreds (soon thousands) of data centers – i.e., small/micro modular reactors or gas tubines not connected to the broader power grid – would allow the US to dominate the AI “arms race” between Washington and Beijing without sending electric bills skyrocketing…
… modular reactor developer Nano Nuclear announced a feasibility study in coordination with California-based industrial conglomerate, BaRupOn, for the deployment of up to 1 GWe of nuclear energy using Nano’s Kronos high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) reactor design, profiled here a month ago. The Kronos design is rated to 15 MWe, which could mean as many as 70 reactors would be deployed at BaRupOn’s Liberty American Multi-Sourced Power (LAMP) and Innovation Hub being developed in Texas.
The LAMP project is a major data center campus with a multi-source, energy design, very similar to the Matador project being developed by Fermi America. LAMP is a 701-acre manufacturing and AI data-center developement near Houston. It’s being designed as a multi-domain innovation hub focused on AI computing, robotics and autonomous systems, advanced materials engineering, defense technology development, and next-generation industrial research and development
“AI and data center growth are outpacing grid expansion nationwide,” said Derek Matthews, Chief Strategy Officer of BaRupOn LLC. “We believe microreactors are the only realistic pathway to protecting our operational continuity while scaling to meet future demand.”
Obviously, we agree.
As part of the feasibility process, Nano will evaluate the site’s projected power demand, reactor integration requirements, and the suitability of available land and site access for deployment of many Kronos units directly on the LAMP property. BaRupOn will in turn compensate NANO Nuclear for completion of the assessment.
Echoing concerns that a majority of US regional power markets are already at or below critical capacity levels…
… BaRupOn has forecast that – with rapidly increasing compute demand across the industry – a significant and accelerating power squeeze in Texas and across the U.S. is imminent, particularly as the tech industry’s high-performance computing and digital processing require exponentially larger electricity baseloads.
Recognizing the urgency of future power constraints, and the risks they pose to long-term data center uptime, BaRupOn has expressed its willingness to co-invest directly into the construction of NANO Nuclear’s microreactors at its site following successful completion of the feasibility assessment.
“This strategic agreement marks the beginning of a broader effort to align ourselves with additional AI and data center projects and position NANO Nuclear to help address the rapidly expanding power needs emerging across the United States,” said Jay Yu, Founder and Chairman of NANO Nuclear. “Completion of this feasibility study would place NANO Nuclear in a strong position to serve the accelerating demand from high-energy-intensive sectors. We expect our collaboration with BaRupOn to help ensure that advanced reactor technologies like our KRONOS MMR will play an essential role in supporting the nation’s evolving energy mix.”
It wasn’t just good news for publicly traded makers of high temperature gas-cooled reactor reactors: earlier today privately held X-energy completed its latest funding round, lead by cryptocurrency specialist Jane Street (which spawned Sam Bankman Fried and his countless crypto-rigging algos), for $700 million. New investors to the nuclear reactor developer include ARK Invest, Galvanize, Hood River Capital Management, Point 72, Reaves Asset Management and XTX Ventures.
X-energy is currently working on three major projects across the US and UK. Their largest project, with Centrica, was announced during Trump’s visit to the UK along with a slew of other nuclear industry coordination efforts.
The two companies are exploring the potential for up to 6 GWe of nuclear power using X-energy’s Xe-100 reactor. The high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) is rated to 80 MWe and is designed to be deployed individually or in four-packs for a total of 320 MWe. The project with Centrica has the potential for about 75 reactors or 18 four-packs.
Their biggest financial backer, Amazon, is coordinating a mega-project with X-energy in Washington state, called the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility. Originally only planned for a single four-pack, Amazon announced last month that they are increasing the power plant to 12 reactors for a total of 960 MWe. Their most progressed project is a four reactor power plant for a Dow Chemical facility in Texas. The construction permit is currently under review by the NRC.
X-energy is one of the senior reactor developers in the private sector, where they have developed a supply chain to support construction of their reactors and their TRISO-X fabrication facility. Partnerships have included coordination with Curtiss-Wright, BWXT, and Doosan Energy.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/24/2025 – 18:43
Northbrook celebrates Illuminate holiday lighting, collects 505 coats
The fifth annual Illuminate Northbrook free holiday event and cocoa stroll, presented by the Village of Northbrook, attracted a large Friday evening turnout to Village Green Park on Nov. 21.
The event began at 5:30 p.m and lights were illuminated with a grand countdown at 6 p.m.
Northbrook Village President Kathryn L. Ciesla conducted the countdown, which resulted in the trees in Village Green Park, lights in a dormant fountain at Shermer and Meadow, and a holiday lights tunnel all being brilliantly lit up.
Ciesla made brief remarks which included a friendly reminder to shop locally for the holidays.
With the lights coming on, Northbrook School District 28’s children’s choir performed.
Children were seen sipping free hot chocolate and enjoying complimentary popcorn. The popcorn came from the popular Sunset Foods/Northbrook Park District red trolley that this year was parked on Shermer Road instead of Meadow Road.
Rotary Club of Northbrook volunteer Bev Moriello of Northbrook, who helped to staff the trolley, was seen waving goodbye to children who had just received their freshly popped popcorn.
“We love it,” Moriello said collectively about volunteerism. “Service above self.”
Ron Bernardi of Northbrook Sunset Foods, and an active volunteer in community organizations, donned a Santa hat as he lent a helping hand inside the trolley.
For, “this holiday,” Bernardi said, as his hope for peace on Earth, “I always give myself the happy quiz.
“Number one, are you a happy person?
“Number two, are you a thankful person?
“And number three, are you a giving person?
“There’s a connection between being happy, thankful and giving,” Bernardi said.
A sparkling effect is achieved by placing special light viewing paper glasses over the camera lens. In the lighted tunnel, are Northbrook siblings, from left to right, Annalise Pike, 7, a second-grader and Stella, 9, a fourth-grader, at Illuminate Northbrook on Nov. 21, 2025 in downtown Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
“So I just pray that people would think about being more thankful,” Bernardi said about gratitude. “And be giving.”
Ciesla was seen taking a photo with the “Find it in Northbrook” mascot, Ferris, the gingerbread cookie.
A Northbrook girl rides a swing among the holiday lighting of mature heritage trees at Illuminate Northbrook on Nov. 21, 2025 in downtown Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
The Find It in Northbrook shop local campaign initiative is presented by the Northbrook Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Village of Northbrook.
About Find It in Northbrook, “The whole goal is to get people to enjoy our neighborhood, which is amazing,” said Kathi Quinn, Northbrook Chamber of Commerce executive director.
Jeremy Bartunek of Northbrook, director of choirs for Northbrook School District 28, conducts choral members at Illuminate Northbrook on Nov. 21, 2025 in downtown Northbrook. (Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press)
The village’s public works personnel, in collaboration with the park district, coordinated the lighting experience. Many of the park’s heritage treetops were highlighted with multiple colors.
Popular again was the lighted, brighter long tunnel covering a walkway. Many families graciously took it upon themselves to wait in line for their turn to enter and take photos inside the glowing amber tunnel.
The Rotary Club’s “Coat Off Your Back” drive was a busy booth destination as donors offered coats and could receive one of 250 Illuminate Northbrook collectible cups for their generosity.
The coats were sorted that weekend by volunteers in Deerfield for distribution to recipients including destinations in Lake County.
Jodi Joffe of Northbrook is the president-elect of the Rotary Club of Northbrook and takes office next July 1.
“We have a beautiful night,” Joffe said, a nod to weather in the mid 40-degree range.
There was a significant increase this year in coat donations over 2024 with 140 coats collected last Friday, Nov. 21 to add in to Rotary’s weekly coat donation total of 505.
Last year, with Illuminate Northbrook and the coat collection for that 2024 week, the coat donation total was nearly 400 coats.
A coat means, “warmth, help from the community, it’s support,” Joffe said.
Youngsters who received complimentary special paper eyeglasses to see the lights twinkle seemed delighted to don the festive shades.
Northbrook siblings Annalise Pike, 7, a second-grader and Stella Pike, 9, a fourth-grader, had a pair of light blue snowflake glasses to share and spent time in the illuminated tunnel with their mother Jennifer Pike.
From Santa Claus this holiday season, Stella would like goalie gloves for soccer and Annalise would like designer warm boots.
Jennifer Pike wishes for Christmas, which the family celebrates, “to just be together and celebrate together, that’s all I want.”
The Schwartz siblings of Northbrook, Lucy, 3, and Levi, 7, a first-grader, marveled at the lights in the company of parent Ben Schwartz.
The Schwartz family celebrates Hanukkah. For 2025, the eight day Festival of Lights Jewish holiday begins on Sunday, Dec. 14 at sundown, ending on Dec. 22.
The universal concept of light is, “very important,” Ben Schwartz said.
“It’s what keeps us moving forward and brings us joy and health and happiness, and all the good things to keep going,” the children’s parent said. “You need that now more than ever.”
Jueza busca que las partes resuelvan una demanda de derechos civiles de “Alcatraz de los Caimanes”
FORT MYERS, Florida, EE.UU. (AP) — Una jueza federal en Florida quiere que el equipo legal de los grupos defensores de los derechos civiles y los abogados federales y del estado Florida se reúnan el próximo mes para llegar a un acuerdo en una demanda sobre si los inmigrantes detenidos en una prisión conocida como “Alcatraz de los Caimanes” reciben acceso adecuado a representación legal.
Durante una audiencia de estatus celebrada el lunes, la jueza Sheri Polster Chappell programó una conferencia para el 16 y 17 de diciembre en su sala de audiencias en Fort Myers.
“Creo que estamos más cerca de lo que estábamos antes en muchos de los temas”, señaló la jueza. “Y pienso que las partes pueden sentarse a la mesa y llegar de forma razonable a algunos acuerdos que no van a ser excesivamente onerosos para los demandados, pero que también permitirán a los demandantes obtener los derechos que merecen”.
Los abogados que representan a los detenidos en la instalación buscan que se emita una orden preliminar para facilitar que se puedan reunir y comunicar con sus clientes. El gobernador de Florida, el republicano Ron DeSantis, ordenó la construcción del centro de detención a mediados de este año en un remoto aeródromo en desuso.
Eunice Cho, abogada de la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU por sus iniciales en inglés), manifestó el lunes que los abogados de los detenidos deben programar una cita con tres días de anticipación para poder visitar a sus clientes, a diferencia de otros centros de detención en donde los abogados pueden simplemente presentarse durante las horas de visita. Destacó que los detenidos a menudo son trasladados a otras instalaciones después de que sus abogados han hecho una cita para verlos y que los retrasos en la programación han sido tan prolongados que los detenidos no han sido capaces de reunirse con sus abogados antes de fechas límite clave.
Nicholas J.P. Meros, abogado del estado, señaló que la mayoría de las preocupaciones que los detenidos y sus abogados plantearon en un principio ya han sido abordadas y que los retrasos previos se debieron al intento por construir una instalación para albergar a miles de detenidos en un área remota con poca infraestructura.
La demanda es uno de tres casos federales en torno al centro de detención. En una denuncia ambiental, un panel de la corte federal de apelaciones permitió en septiembre que la instalación se mantuviera en operaciones después de suspender la orden preliminar de un tribunal de menor instancia que ordenaba su cierre para finales de octubre.
Una tercera demanda afirma que la inmigración es potestad federal y que las agencias de Florida y los contratistas privados del estado no tienen autoridad para operar la instalación.
El presidente Donald Trump recorrió la instalación en julio pasado y dejó entrever que podría convertirse en un modelo para futuros centros de detención a nivel nacional, en momentos en que su gobierno busca expandir la infraestructura necesaria para aumentar las deportaciones. Aunque la instalación fue construida y operada por el estado y sus contratistas privados, las autoridades federales han aprobado reembolsar a Florida 608 millones de dólares.
___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Perú: fiscalía pide cadena perpetua para exlíder subversivo y otros 5 por masacre de miembros LGTBI
LIMA (AP) — La Fiscalía del Perú presentó el lunes una acusación por terrorismo agravado y pidió cadena perpetua para el ex líder subversivo y fundador del Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA), Víctor Polay Campos, y otros cinco ex integrantes de ese desarticulado grupo por su presunta responsabilidad en la matanza de ocho miembros de la comunidad LGTBI ocurrida entre 1989 y 1992.
De acuerdo con las investigaciones de la Fiscalía, Polay participó en la planificación de la incursión armada que terminó con la muerte de ocho hombres de la comunidad LGTBI en la discoteca “Las Gardenias” de Tarapoto, región selvática de San Martín, al norte del país, en mayo de 1989. Según las autoridades se trató de una operación ejecutada por un destacamento del MRTA como parte de sus acciones violentas en el pasado conflicto armado interno.
Los fiscales señalaron que la acusación se basa en testimonios, documentos y otros elementos que vinculan al exdirigente subversivo con la autoría mediata del ataque. Por la gravedad del caso, piden la máxima pena prevista por la legislación antiterrorista peruana.
La Fiscalía también pidió al Poder Judicial que ordene 18 meses de prisión preventiva, alegando riesgo procesal y la relevancia del rol que Polay habría tenido dentro del MRTA.
La Fiscalía pidió la misma pena para María Cumpa, Peter Cárdenas, Alberto Gálvez, Lino Manrique y Sístero García, acusados como presuntos autores mediatos por asesinatos cometidos también contra miembros de la comunidad LGTBI, entre 1989 y 1992, en San Martín.
Según la acusación, miembros del Frente Nororiental del MRTA, liderados por Lino Manrique, ejecutaron a los ocho integrantes de la comunidad LGBTI en la discoteca.
En 1990, miembros del mismo grupo subversivo asesinaron al estilista Luis Pinchi por un lineamiento de “limpieza social” que tenía la organización subversiva contra la comunidad LGTBI. En 1991 y 1992, ejecutaron a Silvano Vela y Salomón Pérez por su orientación sexual.
Syria’s Homs In Lockdown, Alawite Houses Set On Fire, Amid New ‘Revenge’ Killings
Syria’s Homs In Lockdown, Alawite Houses Set On Fire, Amid New ‘Revenge’ Killings
Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,
A Bedouin couple was killed Saturday in their home in the town of Zaidal, on the outskirts of Homs, Syria. The two were members of the Bani Khaled tribe, and state media reported that “sectarian slogans” were found at the scene.
The tribe responded by attacking the Alawite-heavy al-Muhajireen neighborhood in Homs, burning Alawite homes and shops and vandalizing cars while attacking locals. Two young Alawite men, who were reported missing, turned up at a nearby hospital killed under mysterious circumstances. Dozens have been reported wounded in the attacks.
Maj. Gen. Murhaf al-Nassan said that the attack in Zaidal appeared to be meant to undermine stability in the region, and the government has yet to identify who actually carried out the attack. The government declared a curfew in Homs in response to the violence.
One Syrian journalist noted that the claims of an Alawite attack on Zaidal weren’t plausible, because the Alawites have been disarmed and, in taking such visible credit for the attack, they would know that the retaliation would hit their community, as it indeed has.
The Alawites have been targeted repeatedly by other factions, and the government itself, with a high-profile massacre of Alawite civilians in the northwest of the country in March leading to low level violence against the religious minority ever since.
The scale of the violence is not yet known, as the government sent forces to the city to restore order, and imposed a curfew.
“Security personnel have been deployed in Alawite areas but the situation in Homs remains very sensitive,” said a resident who works as a graphic designer and gave her name as Rawa. —The National
Alawites are around 10% of Syria’s population, and as former President Bashar al-Assad was an Alawite himself, they have been targets of opponents of the old regime, even though they note that under Assad they weren’t generally treated better than anyone else.
Bedouins carrying out attacks on Alawite minority in Homs just like they did on the Druze in Suweida. Plausible deniability for the Jolani government while carrying out its wishes https://t.co/ncTjxyWoiq
— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) November 23, 2025
While the Islamist government has presented an idea of religious unity for Syria, they have also eagerly branded any clashes involving Alawites as “Assad remnant” forces, and reacted harshly, while plainly targeting the Alawites on a day-to-day basis.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/24/2025 – 18:25
Federal agents raided a Chicago apartment building two months ago. Now its residents have formed a union.
Almost two months after the militarized raid that roused them from their sleep and made international headlines, those who remain living — or trying to live — at 7500 South Shore Drive gathered Monday morning in the cold outside their deteriorating apartment building in a show of solidarity.
Amid five floors of mostly empty units — some still boarded up from the nighttime immigration raid Sept. 30 — the 36 people who still live there have united to form the 7500 South Shore Tenants Union. The move to unionize comes after a Cook County judge earlier this month appointed a third-party receiver to manage the property and ordered the building to be vacated.
“The building has been shut down,” Infiniti Gant, a housing organizer with Southside Together, said during a news conference while more than 20 residents stood behind her. “So everyone is mandated to get kicked out of the building. What we are hoping for is that while people are preparing to move, they have livable conditions. Right now, these conditions are not livable, and the owners of the building, the property managers — everyone who’s responsible for making sure this building is maintained, would not live like this.”
Gant is among those in recent weeks who have helped residents unionize in the aftermath of a late-night raid that was among the most infamous moments in President Donald Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz — the monthslong assault on Chicago in which federal agents, including representatives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol, have targeted Latino immigrants.
During the raid at 7500 S. Shore Drive agents dressed for combat rappelled from helicopters onto the building’s roof. They broke through windows and stormed inside, where they crashed through doors and placed residents in zip ties and on buses or in the back of box trucks. Many Venezuelan migrants lived in the building and were taken in the raid.
Officials said at the time the operation was meant to target Tren de Aragua gang members. In the nearly two months since, the Department of Homeland Security has provided no evidence to back that allegation and has offered little information about the 37 people who were arrested that night.
Southside Together housing organizer Infiniti Gant speaks while tenants and community members stand with her in front of the recently raided South Shore apartment building during a news conference announcing the formation of a tenants union for the group on Nov. 24, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
The Tribune reported exclusively last month that no public criminal charges have been filed against anyone in connection with the raid.
A federal judge has ordered the release of at least six Venezuelans arrested that night amid allegations that their detainment violated a consent degree limiting warrantless detainments. Those six individuals have little to no criminal history and no apparent ties to any gang. They remain in custody pending the federal government’s appeal.
In the weeks since the raid, residents who spoke Monday said their living conditions have only deteriorated. One, Mashawnda Price, said “ICE was just the tip of the iceberg” and that, as a single mother of a 3-year-old, she has been surviving in her home without basic necessities.
“I’ve had to go weeks without power, gas,” she said. “I’ve had to go weeks without a working shower, tub and sink.”
She spoke of having to fight a “mice infestation,” along with “the roaches and bedbugs infestations.” She said the hallways remain “very dark” because the lights don’t work. And as the temperature has dropped, she said, residents have gone without heat.
“It’s a building that is falling apart from the inside out,” she said.
“And it stinks!” someone behind her yelled.
“Yes, it has a bad smell,” Price said. “Each floor.”
Tenant Mashawnda Price speaks in front of the recently raided South Shore apartment building during a news conference announcing the formation of a tenants union on Nov. 24, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
The recently raided apartment building at 7500 S. South Shore Drive has no trespassing signs on either side of the doors, Nov. 24, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
In court documents filed Monday, the building’s ownership said it tried to improve living conditions following the raid, but the efforts were thwarted by criminal activity and safety issues on the site. Police recently arrested two people who broke into the building, removed copper piping and caused a water leak, records show.
Attorneys for the building’s owners did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It is unclear when residents will be forced to leave. After a prolonged legal dispute between lender Wells Fargo and Trinity Flood, the Wisconsin-based owner of the property, a judge earlier this month appointed Friedman Communities to manage the building. The city has proposed a move-out date of Dec. 12, but some residents said they weren’t sure how long they’d have to stay there.
The newly-formed union has presented several demands of Friedman Communities and the Chicago Housing Authority. Among those demands: the full restoration of heat, power and working elevators; the removal of standing water, sewage and mold; an agreement to relocate residents in the South Shore neighborhood; and $7,500 of relocation assistance per resident.
Darren Hightower, who has lived in the building for two years, said “nothing has really happened” since the judge appointed Friedman Communities to run the property. He and others said they’ve not heard from the company. They continue to wait for change with little hope that change will arrive.
“Everything that we see or we’ve heard, it’s been happening over the past year, even before the ICE raid and everything,” Hightower said, detailing the lack of hallway lights and the broken elevator and trash in the stairwells and halls. “This has been a problem for over a year. It’s not just happening in the last month.
“Even with the heat situation, we had an incident last year that most people were out of heat for up to 40 days. … And this was not a Peoples Gas problem. This was a management problem.”
Tenant Darren Hightower speaks in front of the recently raided South Shore apartment building during a news conference announcing the formation of the 7500 South Shore Tenants Union on Nov. 24, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)
Before and after the raid, the building suffered from a lack of security. Squatters filled some units, and unlocked doors allowed anyone to enter. On Monday, the residents gathered just outside the front door, where on either side above it there were “no trespassing” signs.
Meanwhile, visible reminders of the raid remained. Large wooden boards covered some of the windows of apartments left empty by people who were arrested. Their belongings had long disappeared. The formation of a union was, in a lot of ways, a decision to fight back. To reclaim some dignity that’d been lost.
“I’ve been here two years watching this place fall apart,” Hightower said, but after he and his neighbors gathered to tell their story they walked back inside, just beyond the front door, and shared a small moment of celebration. They’d come together, at least. One of the organizers began a chant and a cheer and members of South Shore’s newest tenant union grew louder:
“Who got the power?”
“We’ve got the power!”
“What kind of power?”
“Tenant power!”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/chicago-south-shore-apartment-raid/
Un plan de la Casa Blanca propone ampliar los subsidios de Obamacare
Por SEUNG MIN KIM
WASHINGTON (AP) — La Casa Blanca está circulando una propuesta que extendería los subsidios para ayudar a los estadounidenses a pagar su seguro médico bajo la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio por dos años más, mientras millones enfrentan un aumento en los costos porque la ayuda expira a finales del año.
El plan sugiere que el presidente Donald Trump está abierto a extender una disposición del programa de salud conocido como Obamacare mientras su administración y los legisladores republicanos buscan una solución política más amplia a una lucha que ha desconcertado al partido durante mucho tiempo. La Casa Blanca enfatiza que ningún plan es definitivo hasta que Trump lo anuncie.
Los subsidios fueron el núcleo de las demandas de los demócratas en la lucha por el cierre del gobierno que terminó a principios de este mes. La mayoría de los legisladores demócratas habían insistido en una extensión directa de los créditos fiscales, que expiran al final del año, como condición para aprobar el presupuesto y mantener el gobierno funcionando.
La elegibilidad para los subsidios de Obamacare, que se implementaron durante la pandemia de COVID-19 para ayudar a las personas a pagar por atención médica, se limitaría al 700% del nivel de pobreza federal, según dos personas con conocimiento de la propuesta. Las personas hablaron con The Associated Press bajo condición de anonimato para poder comentar el borrador que propone la Casa Blanca.
Los créditos fiscales básicos que originalmente formaban parte de la también llamada Ley ACA (las siglas de Affordable Care Act) estaban limitados al 400% del nivel de pobreza federal, pero ese límite se suspendió debido a los créditos temporales de la era COVID que permitieron que personas de ingresos medios y altos también se beneficiaran de los subsidios.
La Casa Blanca también requeriría que aquellos afiliados a Obamacare, independientemente del tipo de cobertura, paguen algún tipo de póliza. Eso terminaría con los planes de prima cero para aquellos con ingresos más bajos, abordando una preocupación de los republicanos de que el programa ha permitido el fraude. Una opción es que todos paguen el 2% de sus ingresos, o al menos 5 dólares por mes, para planes de nivel inferior.
Aunque la propuesta de la Casa Blanca sigue en evolución, la noción de extender cualquier parte del logro legislativo emblemático del entonces presidente Barack Obama probablemente irritará a los conservadores que han buscado derogar y reemplazar la Ley ACA durante más de una década.
“Hasta que el presidente Trump haga un anuncio él mismo, cualquier informe sobre las posiciones de la administración sobre la atención médica es mera especulación”, dijo el lunes el portavoz de la Casa Blanca, Kush Desai.
La secretaria de prensa de la Casa Blanca, Karoline Leavitt, dijo a los periodistas el lunes por la tarde que Trump “está muy involucrado en estas conversaciones” y que está “enfocado en presentar una propuesta de atención médica que arregle el sistema y reduzca los costos para los consumidores”.
Pero hay señales de que partes del incipiente plan de la Casa Blanca podrían obtener apoyo de los demócratas. La senadora de Nueva Hampshire, Maggie Hassan, una de los ocho miembros del caucus demócrata del Senado que votaron para reabrir el gobierno a principios de este mes, dijo que esto “representa un punto de partida para negociaciones serias”.
“El hecho de que el presidente Trump esté presentando cualquier oferta para extender los créditos fiscales de la Ley de Cuidado de Salud a Bajo Precio muestra que hay un entendimiento amplio de que la inacción en este sentido causará un daño serio al pueblo estadounidense”, dijo Hassan.
En 2017, Trump no logró desmantelar al Obamacare, una derrota embarazosa para los republicanos que acababan de tomar el control de todos los poderes en Washington. El Partido Republicano no ha logrado unirse en torno a una propuesta de atención médica unificada desde entonces, y la expiración de los subsidios de la era de la pandemia le da a Trump y a su partido la oportunidad de dejar su propia marca en el tema.
Mientras la Casa Blanca trabajaba discretamente en su plan, liderado por el Consejo de Política Doméstica, legisladores clave en el Capitolio han redactado sus propias propuestas. Por ejemplo, el senador de Florida, Rick Scott; el senador de Luisiana, Bill Cassidy, y otros han propuesto varias ideas para redirigir el presupuesto del programa a cuentas de ahorro para la salud que los inscritos podrían usar para buscar planes o cubrir gastos de bolsillo.
El borrador de la Casa Blanca permitiría a aquellos en planes de nivel inferior, como los planes de nivel bronce o catastróficos, poner dinero en cuentas de ahorro para la salud.
También codificaría la “regla de integridad del programa” para ayudar aún más a erradicar el fraude, el despilfarro y el abuso.
Los estadounidenses que buscan cobertura de Obamacare ya han enfrentado el impacto de los aumentos de precios, porque la ventana para seleccionar la cobertura del próximo año comenzó el 1 de noviembre. Sin la acción del Congreso, para el afiliado promedio, al menos se duplicará el costo actual de las pólizas el próximo año, según un análisis de la organización sin fines de lucro de investigación en atención médica KFF.
Encuestas nacionales recientes han mostrado que los estadounidenses están preocupados por el gasto en salud, junto con problemas de solvencia más amplios. Esas preocupaciones se reflejaron en las elecciones a principios de este mes, que llevaron al poder a demócratas cuyo mensaje político se centró en el encarecimiento de la vida.
______
Fatima Hussein en Washington y Ali Swenson en Nueva York contribuyeron con este informe.
______
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Miss Costa de Marfil renuncia a su título de Miss Universo África y Oceanía
Por BERENICE BAUTISTA
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (AP) — Miss Costa de Marfil, Olivia Yacé, anunció el lunes que renunció a su título como representante de su país ante Miss Universo y al título de Miss Universo África y Oceanía que le fue concedido tras la final de la semana pasada en Tailandia, donde quedó como cuarta finalista.
La renuncia de Yacé, anunciada en una publicación en su cuenta de Instagram, se suma a la turbulencia tras el triunfo de la mexicana Fátima Bosch, quien superó a Miss Tailandia para reclamar la corona universal de 2025.
“Debo mantenerme fiel a mis valores: respeto, dignidad, excelencia e igualdad de oportunidades, los pilares más fuertes que me guían”, dijo. “Alejarme de este papel reducido de Miss Universo África y Oceanía me permitirá dedicarme plenamente a defender los valores que estimo”.
El título de Yacé es de reina continental y es igual al de Miss Universo Asia, Miss Universo Europa y Medio Oriente, y Miss Universo Américas, otorgados a Zhao Na de China, Julia Ann Cluett de Malta y Stephany Abasali de Venezuela, respectivamente.
Yacé, de 27 años, habla francés, inglés y español. Durante la final fue una de las concursantes favoritas del público y también de presentadores de televisión.
Vivió en Costa de Marfil y Estados Unidos, estudió administración de empresas y mercadotecnia en la Universidad Widener y una maestría de administración de marcas de lujo. Es modelo desde la adolescencia y apoya los derechos de las mujeres y la educación para los jóvenes de África a través de la Fundación Olivia Yacé.
Contaba con amplia experiencia en certámenes de belleza previa a Miss Universo. En 2021 fue coronada Miss Costa de Marfil y representó a su país en Miss Mundo, donde terminó como segunda finalista y obtuvo el título de Miss Mundo África.
“Mi mayor deseo es ser un modelo a seguir para la nueva generación, especialmente para las jóvenes. Las animo a superar sus límites, a entrar con confianza en habitaciones donde creen que no pertenecen y a abrazar con orgullo su identidad”, señaló en su publicación acompañada de fotografías de ella concursando en Miss Universo.
Además de la renuncia de Yacé, la Organización Miss Universo se ha visto afectada por las acusaciones del compositor y empresario franco-libanés Omar Harfouch quien se abstuvo de participar como miembro del jurado y sugirió que existía algún tipo de manipulación en la selección de finalistas del concurso. La acusación fue negada. El ex jugador de fútbol francés Claude Makélélé también renunció a su participación en el jurado, aunque por “motivos personales imprevistos”.
Por otra parte, la policía tailandesa investigó la supuesta promoción ilegal de casinos en línea como parte de la publicidad del evento.
Además de estos señalamientos, la atención sigue puesta en Miss Jamaica Gabrielle Henry, quien se encuentra en una unidad de cuidados intensivos tras sufrir una aparatosa caída en el escenario durante la competencia preliminar.
“Le deseo a Miss Universo Jamaica una pronta recuperación y le envío todo mi cariño”, escribió Yacé.
White House circulates a plan to extend Obamacare subsidies as Trump pledges health care fix
WASHINGTON — The White House is circulating a proposal that would extend subsidies to help consumers pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act for two more years, as millions of Americans face spiking health care costs when the current tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year.
The draft plan suggests that President Donald Trump is open to extending a provision of Obamacare as his administration and congressional Republicans search for a broader policy solution to a fight that has long flummoxed the party. The White House stresses that no plan is final until Trump announces it.
The subsidies were at the heart of the Democrats’ demands in the government shutdown fight that ended earlier this month. Most Democratic lawmakers had insisted on a straight extension of the tax credits, which expire at the end of the year as a condition of keeping the government open.
Eligibility for the Obamacare subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic to help people afford health care coverage, would be capped at 700% of the federal poverty level, according to two people with knowledge of the proposal. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a White House proposal that is in draft form.
The baseline tax credits that were originally part of the Affordable Care Act were capped at 400% of the federal poverty level, but that cut-off was suspended because of the temporary COVID-era credits that allowed middle- and higher-income people to benefit from subsidies too.
The White House would also require those on Obamacare, regardless of the type of coverage, to pay some sort of premium for their Obamacare plans. That would effectively end zero-premium plans for those with lower incomes, addressing a concern from Republicans that the program has enabled fraud. One option is a requirement that everyone pay 2% of their income, or at least $5 per month, for lower-tier plans.
Even as the White House’s proposal remains in flux, the notion of extending any part of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement is likely to rankle conservatives who have sought to repeal and replace the law for well over a decade.
“Until President Trump makes an announcement himself, any reporting about the administration’s health care positions is mere speculation,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said Monday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday afternoon that Trump “is very much involved in these talks” and that he is “focused on unveiling a health care proposal that will fix the system and will bring down costs for consumers.”
But there are signs that parts of the nascent White House plan could get buy-in from Democrats. New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, one of eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus who voted to reopen the government earlier this month, said it “represents a starting point for serious negotiations.”
“The fact that President Trump is putting forward any offer at all to extend the Affordable Care Act’s tax credits shows that there is a broad understanding that inaction in this regard will cause serious harm to the American people,” Hassan said.
In 2017, Trump fell short in a push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, an embarrassing defeat for Republicans who had just seized control of all levers of power in Washington. The GOP has failed to coalesce around a unified health care proposal since, and the expiration of the pandemic-era subsidies gives Trump and his party an opportunity to put their own stamp on the issue.
As the White House worked quietly on its plan, led by the Domestic Policy Council, key lawmakers on Capitol Hill have drafted their own proposals. For instance, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy and others have proposed various ideas for redirecting the program’s spending on federal subsidies into health savings accounts that enrollees could use to shop for plans or defray out-of-pocket costs.
The draft of the White House plan would allow those in lower-tier plans, such as the bronze-level or catastrophic plans, to put money into health savings accounts.
It would also codify the “program integrity rule” to further help root out fraud, waste and abuse.
Americans shopping for Obamacare coverage have already faced the sticker shock of price hikes, because the window for selecting next year’s coverage began Nov. 1. Without congressional action, the average subsidized enrollee will face more than double their current cost in premiums next year, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.
Recent national polls have shown Americans are concerned about health care costs, along with broader affordability issues. Those concerns played out in elections earlier this month, which swept to power Democrats whose political messaging focused on the rising cost of living.
Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein in Washington and Ali Swenson in New York contributed to this report.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/plan-extend-obamacare-subsidies/
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a rare Superman comic book! And it fetched $9.12M!
A copy of the first Superman issue, unearthed by three brothers cleaning out their late mother’s attic, netted $9.12 million this month at a Texas auction house which says it is the most expensive comic book ever sold.
The brothers discovered the comic book in a cardboard box beneath layers of brittle newspapers, dust and cobwebs in their deceased mother’s San Francisco home last year, alongside a handful of other rare comics that she and her sibling had collected on the cusp of World War II.
She had told her children she had a valuable comic book collection hidden away, but they had never seen it until they put her house up for sale and decided to comb through the basement for heirlooms, said Lon Allen, vice president of comics at Heritage Auctions. The brothers uncovered the box of comics and sent a message to the auction company, leading Allen to fly out to San Francisco earlier this year to inspect their copy of “Superman No. 1” and show it to other experts for appraisal.
“It was just in an attic, sitting in a box, could have easily been thrown away, could’ve easily been destroyed in a thousand different ways,” Allen said. “A lot of people got excited because it’s just every factor in collecting that you could possibly want all rolled into one.”
The “Superman No. 1” comic, released in 1939 by Detective Comics Inc., is one of a small number of copies known to be in existence and is in excellent condition. The Man of Steel was the first superhero to enter pop culture, helping boost the copy’s value among collectors, alongside its improbable backstory, Allen said.
The previous record for the world’s most expensive comic book had been set last year, when an “Action Comics No. 1” — which first introduced Superman to the world as part of an anthology — sold for $6 million. In 2022, another Superman No. 1 sold for $5.3 million.
A small, in-house advertisement in the comic book helped experts identify it as originating from the first edition of 500,000 Superman No. 1 copies ever printed. Allen estimates there are fewer than 500 in existence today.
The copy was not given any special protection, but the cool Northern California climate helped preserve it, leaving it with a firm spine, vibrant colors and crisp corners, according to a statement from Dallas-based Heritage Auctions. The copy was rated a 9.0 out of 10 by comics grading company CGC, meaning it had only the slightest signs of wear and aging.
The three brothers, in their 50s and 60s, did not wish to be identified due to the windfall involved nor did the buyer of the comic book, according to the auction house.
“This isn’t simply a story about old paper and ink,” one brother said in a statement released by the auction house. “This was never just about a collectible. This is a testament to memory, family and the unexpected ways the past finds its way back to us.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/rare-superman-comic-book-auction/
