A Will County judge ruled Monday that two New Lenox business owners are not guilty of fraud charges filed by the Will County state’s attorney’s office in 2023, bringing part of a more than two-year battle to a close.

Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak acquitted Jeffery Regnier, owner of Kee Firearms and Training, and Greta Keranen, of Kee Construction, of forgery, and Keranen of loan and wire fraud connected to the purchase of two vehicles. The defendants moved directly to closing arguments without calling any witnesses of their own.

But the New Lenox couple still face another round of charges, including money laundering and filing a fraudulent Illinois sales and use tax return, first filed in 2023. These charges are scheduled for trial on March 2, with a pretrial hearing on Feb. 2.

Prosecutors claimed that Regnier initiated a false claim that Kee Construction earned $400,000 a month on forms used to buy two Ford Broncos in 2023. The state also argued that Keranen later reinforced the lie by signing the paperwork.

The state dropped these charges in July after Bertani-Tomczak denied the prosecutors’ request to reschedule the trial, but refiled them in August. The state also dropped charges of theft by deception and burglary Nov. 17.

The Will County state’s attorney’s office declined to comment Monday on the judge’s ruling.

Defense attorney Lawrence Beaumont said throughout the case the alleged false information on the business credit application was created by the auto dealership and not the defendants. The defendants also claimed the bank that approved the loan did so automatically within seconds and did not rely on the disputed estimate of Kee Construction’s gross monthly profit.

Beaumont said Monday the defendants decided not to call witnesses because the state did not present enough evidence.

“In my opinion, it was clear from the evidence from the state, that they failed to prove their argument beyond a reasonable doubt,” Beaumont said.

The dispute between the business owners and the state also involves several civil forfeiture cases.

The state seized the Ford Broncos they alleged the owners fraudulently purchased, along with investment accounts the defendants said are valued at about $5.5 million, and raided the couples’ house and businesses in 2023 while investigating them for money laundering.

Regnier and Keranen won a case July 16 to recover the seized property and securities under the Eighth Amendment’s protection against excessive fines, but the case was temporarily removed from the court’s active hearing schedule.

The state tried to get the Illinois Supreme Court to hear the case at the end of October, but the high court refused.

The forfeiture case involving the Broncos is set to resume on Dec. 17. Regnier said the defense plans to ask the court to dismiss the civil forfeiture case on Dec. 3.

“We remain confident in the process and in the truth,” Regnier said. “Our goal is simple: to finish every remaining case, clear our names completely and move forward with our lives.”

Kee Firearms closed after the initial charges were brought in 2023. The once popular gun shop was also a source of training for area gun owners.

Keranen and Regnier both expressed gratitude and relief for the ruling Monday, but said it was a difficult journey to the decision.

“While I’m grateful for the verdict, the past 33 months have shown how much damage can happen when the process goes off track — families disrupted, property seized, and lives upended long before anything is proven,” Keranen said Monday.

Regnier said the case demonstrated the danger “when prosecutors pursue charges against law-abiding citizens without evidence of wrongdoing.”

“When that happens, it blurs the line between the good and the bad, and ordinary people pay the price while those responsible face no accountability,” Regnier said. “We hope no other family has to endure what we went through, and we look forward to moving on with our lives.”

The couple was first charged with several felonies for fraud and theft of COVID-19 pandemic relief funds in 2023. Federal officials raided their home and businesses that year while investigating them for money laundering.

Regnier said the investigation began due to a $750,000 cash deposit made to his bank, which he says came from a large spike in gun sales at his store, Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The business owners filed a federal lawsuit Jan. 9 claiming Will County authorities and the U.S. Secret Service targeted them and others with “frivolous” civil forfeiture cases.

Defendants in the lawsuit are the Will County sheriff’s office, a U.S. Secret Service agent and unknown members of the Will County sheriff’s office and U.S. Secret Service.

awright@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/kee-firearms-owners-not-guilty/ 

Chicago Police continue to investigate a pair of shootings that unfolded in the Loop Friday night, leaving a 14-year-old boy dead and eight other teens wounded in the latest “teen takeover” that marred the city’s start of the holiday season.

Scores of teens were among the crowd that gathered downtown for the city’s annual tree-lighting ceremony in Millennium Park Friday.

Many were still in the area hours later, making it the latest instance of an unsanctioned downtown gathering, advertised on social media, to end in a shooting.

Shortly before 10 p.m., CPD officers heard gunfire erupt on State Street outside the Chicago Theatre. Seven teens— all 13 to 17 years old — were wounded. Minutes later and a few blocks south, police officers found a 14-year-old boy and 18-year-old man both shot. The 14-year-old, identified as Armani Floyd, was shot several times and later pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

The boy’s family did not immediately comment when reached by the Tribune. A GoFundMe has since been established to pay for funeral services and a vigil for him was planned for Monday evening.

Floyd was a member of a weekly South Shore basketball league, “Project sWISH,” and had dreams of playing professionally. He was “high energy, super funny, with a very vibrant personality,” said McKinley Nelson, who founded the nonprofit to address street violence.

The 14-year-old was fast and aggressive on the court and liked to challenge Nelson to one-on-one games.

“He would say, ‘Yo, if I beat you this time, then you owe me a pair of shoes,’” Nelson said. “He never got around to beating me, but I told him, ‘I’ll still give you a pair of shoes for Christmas.’”

When the league meets again next week, the players will skip basketball and instead meet with therapists on the court, according to Nelson. He said that Floyd was a freshman at Baker College Preparatory High School, a charter school in South Chicago.

After the shooting, Mayor Brandon Johnson said CPD had assigned an additional 700 officers to the downtown area to monitor festivities but added, “what we put in place did not do enough” to prevent the shootings. A CPD spokesperson told the Tribune Monday that the department was aware of the “teen takeover” via “open source” information on social media.

The large-scale gatherings and the violence that often follows have vexed city leaders for more than a decade.

Mayors and police superintendents have for years struggled with how to appease wealthier, mostly white residents who feel unsafe while ensuring the downtown area is accessible to all city residents, especially the city’s Black youth who mostly live in poorer neighborhoods on the South and West sides.

The meet-ups, organized on social media days in advance, have led to several other shootings downtown in recent years. Last March, a 15-year-old boy was shot during a “teen takeover” in Streeterville. Weeks later, a 14-year-old boy was charged in the shooting, according to police.

During summer 2024, a pair of fatal shootings at 31st Street Beach prompted the park district to scale back operating hours and install more strict security measures. In summer 2022, a fight near The Bean in Millennium Park ended in a shooting that left a 16-year-old dead. Another teen was charged as an adult in that shooting.

Though not tied to a teen gathering, the last shooting with such a high number of victims in the center of the city was at drill rapper Mello Buckzz’s album release party in the River North neighborhood in July. Four people were killed and 14 wounded in the drive-by rifle shooting.

Shortly after last weekend’s violence, Mayor Brandon Johnson called the downtown violence a “setback” that was a reminder of “the long road that we have to build the city that we all want to live in.”

CPD statistics show violent crime is down sharply across Chicago — including downtown — this year compared to 2024. Through mid-November, the city has seen 28% and 36% decreases in murders and total shooting incidents, respectively. Moreover, the city remains on course to meet Johnson’s goal of keeping the city’s annual killing total under 500 for the first time since 2019. Since Floyd’s killing Friday night, the city has recorded at least four more homicides, records show.

Johnson said young people “need to understand that they should not attend these unauthorized events that have been advertised on social media” and called on parents to accompany their children at large events like the tree lighting. Police made 18 arrests, he said, and recovered five guns while responding to the shootings.

He said the city had sent a communication through Chicago Public Schools telling students not to participate in the gathering, and that 700 additional CPD officers were deployed downtown Friday night.

“But clearly, what we put in place did not do enough to prevent what we were concerned about from actually manifesting,” Johnson said.

Over the last 10 years, CPD has overseen countless protest marches in and around the downtown area. Those sanctioned events rarely, if ever, descend into chaos despite the relatively giant crowds because CPD officials and march organizers, as a matter of practice, coordinate marching routes ahead of time.

The teen gatherings, though, are a different challenge. There is no hierarchy to the group, there’s no “route” and many of the teens have negative perceptions of police officers. Arguments or insults among smaller groups can turn into fistfights, and those skirmishes often result in shootings.

Mayor Brandon Johnson acknowledges colleagues during a turkey giveaway by an organization named Zakat Chicago in the 8600 block of South Chicago Avenue, Nov. 22, 2025, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

Johnson did not comment Saturday on his decision to block an ordinance that would have given the city’s police superintendent the power to implement “snap” curfews to break up the so-called “teen takeover” events.

Aldermen voted 27-22 in June to pass the curfew ordinance before Johnson issued a rare mayoral veto to shut it down. Downtown Alds. Brian Hopkins, 2nd; Bill Conway, 34th; and Brendan Reilly, 42nd, criticized the mayor’s veto decision Saturday.

“This is a textbook example of how the curfew could have been used effectively,” Hopkins told the Tribune.

But on Sunday, Johnson pointed to the “political heat” he took for vetoing the curfew Sunday during an appearance at Lakeview’s Second Unitarian Church of Chicago. The tree-lighting was a “joyous occasion” before the shooting, he said.

“The knee jerk reaction always is to find a system that would punish that behavior versus create a society in which that behavior no longer needs to exist,” he said.

The mayor argued the curfew ordinance would have given too much power to one person: Chicago’s police superintendent. He likened the “absolute authority” it would have created to President Donald Trump’s consolidation of power.

“What I’ve called for is, of course you want accountability, but accountability is a shared responsibility to make sure that all needs are met,” Johnson told the congregation. “I believe that when all needs are met, it creates a society that works for everyone.

Johnson ally Ald. William Hall shared a new ordinance Monday aimed at curbing the spread of the social media posts that spark the youth gatherings. In Hall’s ordinance, the city would be able to sue companies for costs like police deployment and property damage if the companies leave invite posts up after the city flags them. The ordinance also allows the city to fine the companies as much as $50,000 for not quickly responding to notices sent by the city flagging invites.

“]

School board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith, District 10, said violence and trauma in schools is a “national emergency.” Smith, whose district covers Baker College Prep, called for the creation of a Chicago Public Schools task force to more proactively address the issue on and off campus — including strengthening student support systems.

“As a human being and as a community member, I grieve,” Smith said. “I have a responsibility to be proactive … I am going to consider this, not incident by incident, but how do we address an emergency?”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/investigation-downtown-shootings-armani-floyd/ 

DALLAS — Viola Ford Fletcher, who as one of the last survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Oklahoma spent her later years seeking justice for the deadly attack by a white mob on the thriving Black community where she lived as a child, has died. She was 111.

Her grandson Ike Howard said Monday that she died surrounded by family at a Tulsa hospital. Sustained by a strong faith, she raised three children, worked as a welder in a shipyard during World War II and spent decades caring for families as a housekeeper.

Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said the city was mourning her loss. “Mother Fletcher endured more than anyone should, yet she spent her life lighting a path forward with purpose,” he said in a statement.

She was 7 years old when the two-day attack began on Tulsa’s Greenwood district on May 31, 1921, after a local newspaper published a sensationalized report about a Black man accused of assaulting a white woman. As a white mob grew outside the courthouse, Black Tulsans with guns who hoped to prevent the man’s lynching began showing up. White residents responded with overwhelming force. Hundreds of people were killed and homes were burned and looted, leaving over 30 city blocks decimated in the prosperous community known as Black Wall Street.

“I could never forget the charred remains of our once-thriving community, the smoke billowing in the air, and the terror-stricken faces of my neighbors,” she wrote in her 2023 memoir, “Don’t Let Them Bury My Story.”

As her family left in a horse-drawn buggy, her eyes burned from the smoke and ash, she wrote. She described seeing piles of bodies in the streets and watching as a white man shot a Black man in the head, then fired toward her family.

She told The Associated Press in an interview the year her memoir was published that fear of reprisals influenced her years of near-silence about the massacre. She wrote the book with Howard, her grandson, who said he had to persuade her to tell her story.

“We don’t want history to repeat itself so we do need to educate people about what happened and try to get people to understand why you need to be made whole, why you need to be repaired,” Howard told the AP in 2024. “The generational wealth that was lost, the home, all the belongings, everything was lost in one night.”

The attack went largely unremembered for decades. In Oklahoma, wider discussions began when the state formed a commission in 1997 to investigate the violence.

Fletcher, who in 2021 testified before Congress about what she went through, joined her younger brother, Hughes Van Ellis, and another massacre survivor, Lessie Benningfield Randle, in a lawsuit seeking reparations. The Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed it in June 2024, saying their grievances did not fall within the scope of the state’s public nuisance statute.

“For as long as we remain in this lifetime, we will continue to shine a light on one of the darkest days in American history,” Fletcher and Randle said in a statement at the time. Van Ellis had died a year earlier, at the age of 102.

A Justice Department review, launched under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act and released in January 2024, outlined the massacre’s scope and impact. It concluded that federal prosecution may have been possible a century ago, but there was no longer an avenue to bring a criminal case.

The city has been looking for ways to help descendants of the massacre’s victims without giving direct cash payments. Some of the last living survivors, including Fletcher, received donations from groups but have not received any payments from the city or state.

Fletcher, born in Oklahoma on May 10, 1914, spent most of her early years in Greenwood. It was an oasis for Black people during segregation, she wrote in her memoir. Her family had a nice home, she said, and the community had everything from doctors to grocery stores to restaurants and banks.

Forced to flee during the massacre, her family became nomadic, living out of a tent as they worked in the fields as sharecroppers. She didn’t finish school beyond the fourth grade.

At the age of 16, she returned to Tulsa, where she got a job cleaning and creating window displays in a department store, she wrote in her memoir. She then met Robert Fletcher, and they married and moved to California. During World War II, she worked in a Los Angeles shipyard as a welder, she wrote.

She eventually left her husband, who was physically abusive, and gave birth to their son, Robert Ford Fletcher, she wrote. Longing to be closer to her family, she returned to Oklahoma and settled north of Tulsa in Bartlesville.

Fletcher wrote that her faith and the close-knit Black community gave her the support she needed to raise her children. She had another son, James Edward Ford, and a daughter, Debra Stein Ford, from other relationships.

She worked for decades as a housekeeper, doing everything in those homes from cooking to cleaning to caring for children, Howard said. She worked until she was 85.

She eventually returned to Tulsa to live. Howard said his grandmother hoped the move would help in her fight for justice.

Howard said the reaction his grandmother got when she started speaking out was therapeutic for her.

“This whole process has been helpful,” Howard said.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/tulsa-race-massacre-survivor-dies/ 

Players from state champ Marist, plus third-place finishers Lockport and Providence, lead first and second teams.

First Team

Elayna Davidson, Marist, senior, libero: Defensive wizard delivered 401 digs, 125 assists and 38 aces. First team all-state. Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association state finals MVP. All-conference. Committed to Maryland.

Haven Enselman, Marist, freshman, setter: Collected 938 assists, 205 digs, 50 blocks, 32 kills and 25 aces. Finalist for MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year. All-conference.

Bridget Ferriter, Lockport, senior, outside hitter: Had 351 kills and hit .313 as Porters took third in Class 4A. Added 195 digs, 38 aces, 18 blocks. First team all-state. State all-tournament team. All-conference.

Quinn Grevengoed, Chicago Christian, junior, outside hitter: Rang up 403 kills, putting her atop program’s all-time career list. Added 299 digs, 63 aces. 31 blocks. First team all-state. All-conference.

Neve Hayes, Evergreen Park, senior, setter: Had 633 assists and 143 kills with .273 hitting percentage. Added 213 digs, 46 aces, 22 blocks. Second team all-state. Four-time all-conference.

Maryam Hussein, Oak Lawn, senior, outside hitter: Set program record with 460 kills. Had .265 hitting percentage and 219 digs. Second team all-state. South Suburban Red’s player of the year.

Abbey Knight, Providence, senior, outside hitter: Led team that took third in Class 3A with 470 kills and .300 hitting percentage. Added 218 digs, 64 aces and 34 blocks. GCAC White’s player of the year. First team all-state. State all-tournament team. Committed to Wright State.

Lucy Maloney, Mother McAuley, senior, libero: Came through with 627 digs, 75 assists and 26 aces. First team all-state. All-conference. Committed to Clemson.

Aubrey Martinez, St. Laurence, junior, outside hitter: Produced 422 kills with 230 digs and 22 blocks. First team all-state. All-conference. Committed to Ball State.

Cayla Prohaska, Mother McAuley, senior, outside hitter: Had 290 kills, 276 digs and team-high 34 aces. First team all-state. GCAC Red’s player of the year. Committed to Campbell.

Kolby Ross, Lincoln-Way East, sophomore, outside hitter: Missed seven matches but still tallied 316 kills, 153 digs, 34 aces and 20 blocks. Second team all-state. SouthWest Suburban Conference’s player of the year.

Savanah Weathers, Marist, senior, right-side hitter: Finished with team-high 262 kills. Added 235 digs, 87 blocks, 26 aces. First team all-state. All-conference. All-American nominee. Committed to Davenport.

Lockport’s Natalie Bochantin (10) set the ball against Benet in a Class 4A state semifinal match at CEFCU Arena in Normal on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (Rob Dicker / Daily Southtown)

Second Team

Taylor Berg, Marist, junior, outside hitter: Had 225 kills, 281 digs and 28 blocks for Class 4A state champions. State all-tournament team. Committed to Western Michigan.

Natalie Bochantin, Lockport, junior, setter: Finished with 751 assists, 241 digs, 65 aces and 48 kills. Honorable mention all-state. All-conference.

Cassidy Cage, Marist, senior, middle hitter: Came up with 239 kills and 96 blocks for Class 4A state champions. Second team all-state. All-conference. Committed to Mississippi State.

Demi Carbone, Providence, senior, setter/right-side hitter: Finished with 484 assists, 200 digs, 169 kills, 62 aces and 21 blocks. All-conference. Committed to Colby.

Peyton Heatherly, Mother McAuley, junior, setter: Stockpiled 676 assists, 157 digs, 75 kills and 22 aces. Second team all-state. All-conference. Committed to Coastal Carolina.

Klarke Mosby, Lincoln-Way East, junior, right-side hitter: Had 249 kills, 89 digs and 36 blocks. First team all-state. Committed to Eastern Michigan.

Olivia Sarno, Lemont, senior, setter: Totaled 684 assists, 127 digs, 42 aces, 37 kills and 29 blocks. Second team all-state. South Suburban Blue’s player of the year.

Kymora Scott, Homewood-Flossmoor, senior, right-side hitter: Had 288 kills, 135 digs, 25 blocks and 23 aces. All-conference. Committed to Wisconsin.

Maggie Simon, Lincoln-Way East, senior, setter: Recorded 547 assists, passing 2,000-assist milestone for career. Added 177 digs and 27 aces. Honorable mention all-state. All-conference. Committed to Missouri-St. Louis.

Cali Tierney, Providence, senior, outside hitter: Finished with 207 kills, 221 digs, 78 aces and 11 blocks. All-conference. Committed to Canisius.

Hutsyn Timosciek, Lockport, junior, right-side hitter: Had 360 kills and .317 hitting percentage. Added 116 digs, 16 blocks and 15 aces. Honorable mention all-state. All-conference.

L’Rae White, Chicago Christian, senior, outside hitter: Finished with 350 kills, 228 digs, 44 aces and 24 blocks. Honorable mention all-state. All-conference.

Marist’s Cassidy Cage (23) watches her swing go for a kill against Normal Community during the Class 4A Bradley-Bourbonnais Supersectional match on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (Vincent D. Johnson / Daily Southtown)

Honorable Mention

Morgan Begley, Sandburg, senior, libero.
Parker Crims, Shepard, senior, middle hitter.
Ella Godeaux, Joliet Catholic, junior, libero.
Lily Goyer, Lincoln-Way West, senior, middle hitter.
Mikayla Frazer, Marian Catholic, sophomore, outside hitter.
Chyla Jukes, Mother McAuley, freshman, middle hitter.
Lucinda Joyce, Crete-Monee, sophomore, outside hitter.
Amelia Kadamus, Stagg, junior, middle hitter.
Maggie Kurpeikis, Marist, junior, outside hitter.
Elena Kvasnicka, Beecher, senior, outside hitter.
Bella Maras, Sandburg, junior, outside hitter.
Keira McQuillan, Mother McAuley, sophomore, outside hitter.
Nora Miller, Lemont, senior, libero.
Claire Murphy, Lincoln-Way West, senior, setter.
Ihuoma Ozoh, Homewood-Flossmoor, senior, middle hitter.
Betty Redican, Oak Forest, junior, setter.
Brooklyn Ritter, Lincoln-Way East, senior, setter.
Leah Romano, St. Laurence, junior, libero.
Sophia Rozga, Lincoln-Way West, senior, libero.
Layla Smith, T.F. South, sophomore, outside hitter.
Ella Thompson, Lincoln-Way Central, junior middle hitter.
Sophie Wieczorek, Crete-Monee, sophomore, setter/right-side hitter.
Tiara Williams, Morgan Park Academy, junior, outside hitter.
Kaitlyn Wilson, Lemont, junior, outside hitter.

Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/introducing-2025-daily-southtown-girls-volleyball-all-area-team/ 

Vindman Brothers, Who Helped Impeach Trump In 2020, Are Now Under Investigation

Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/24/2025 – 17:00

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/vindman-brothers-who-helped-impeach-trump-2020-are-now-under-investigation 

Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Los Bravos de Atlanta y el lanzador derecho Joel Payamps acordaron un contrato de un año por 2,25 millones el lunes, en otro movimiento para retener a un miembro veterano del bullpen del equipo.

Los Bravos firmaron a Payamps de waivers de los Cerveceros de Milwaukee a finales de la temporada pasada. Payamps, de 31 años, permitió una carrera en dos 2/3 entradas con Atlanta y terminó la temporada con una efectividad de 6.84 en 30 juegos.

Payamps tiene una efectividad de 3.41 con diez salvamentos en siete temporadas. Estableció un récord personal con seis salvamentos para Milwaukee en 2024.

El acuerdo con Payamps es el segundo movimiento de Atlanta en menos de una semana para mantener a un relevista derecho veterano. Los Bravos volvieron a firmar al cerrador cubano Raisel Iglesias con un contrato de un año por 16 millones, anunciado el miércoles.

Atlanta ha tenido un comienzo de temporada baja muy activo. El equipo también adquirió el miércoles a Mauricio Dubón de los Astros de Houston a cambio de Nick Allen.

___

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

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/braves-y-joel-payamps-acuerdan-contrato-tras-retener-a-raisel-iglesias-como-cerrador/ 

The administration of President Donald Trump continues to emphasize an alleged threat posed by Venezuela.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has now been deployed to the region. U.S. forces have destroyed small boats allegedly used to transport drugs.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the U.S. Department of State is designating the Cartel de los Soles, based in Venezuela and led by President Nicolas Maduro and associates, formally as a foreign terrorist organization. The organization is allegedly a criminal network.

On cue, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that this permits new military options against the left-wing regime of that beleaguered nation. In August, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro.

Trump last month declared that the Central Intelligence Agency, at his direction, is launching covert operations in Venezuela. By definition, “covert” means secret. For a president to announce them publicly is bizarre.

Trump has also referred to criminals and drug traffickers from Venezuela. U.S. efforts to destabilize the economy, one heavily dependent on oil, have been successful, displacing and dispersing enormous numbers of people throughout the Americas in search of employment.

Given the turmoil, literal and rhetorical, context is important. A basic fact of life is that the U.S. does not willingly tolerate hostile regimes in the Americas. The Monroe Doctrine stated this concern early.

Instructive history is the ill-fated regime of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. During our Civil War, the government of France seized the opportunity to establish a puppet regime in the former colony of Spain. In 1864, the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was put in place.

After the defeat of the Confederacy, the U.S. government turned its attention to the new French colony. The U.S. Army was one of the largest and most battle-tested in the world. Under intense pressure, the French withdrew. Hapless Maximilian was overthrown and executed in 1867.

In 1898, the U.S. secured the Spanish colony of Cuba as well as the Philippines as a result of the Spanish-American War.

Coincident with current developments, the valuable National Security Archives at George Washington University on Nov. 20 publicized information on the Senate Church Committee Report, issued 50 years ago. The special committee chaired by Senator Frank Church, D-Idaho, examined in detail the evidence of CIA excesses.

Operations removed various leaders, including President Juan Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala, former Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh of Iran, President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam,  General Rene Schneider of Chile and General Rafael Trujillo of the Dominican Republic.

A special assassination target was Prime Minister/President Fidel Castro of Cuba.

CIA Director William Colby and the President Gerald Ford White House exerted great pressure to prevent publication of committee findings, with partial success. However, the assassination information was published.

Ford subsequently signed an executive order forbidding assassination. President Ronald Reagan expanded that order.

Following the devastating terrorist attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, armed drones began to be used to kill targeted individuals. The first acknowledged employment of this weapon was against individuals in Afghanistan the following year. The administration of President George W. Bush and each successor has continued to use drone strikes.

The Trump administration so far has been rhetorically aggressive and has carried out limited military strikes, but has avoided sustained ground combat.

Arthur I. Cyr is the author of “After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia,” NYU Press and Palgrave/Macmillan, along with other books and articles.

Contact acyr@carthage.edu

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/arthur-i-cyr-column-venezuela/ 

Following the dismissal of a lawsuit against it, the village of Sugar Grove is reiterating that it has “no choice” but to uphold contracts the previous village administration made for the controversial Crown Community Development project at Interstate 88 and Route 47.

The project is a 760-acre mixed-use development called The Grove, which will sit on what is currently mostly farmland surrounding the Interstate 88 and Route 47 interchange. Proposed by land owner and developer Crown Community Development, it’s set to include neighborhoods, mixed-use commercial and residential areas, a walkable town center and a business park area that could hold warehouses and data centers.

But the project has faced significant public pushback — both before the village gave the project the green light in 2024 and since.

In April, a non-binding referendum question was passed by voters asking the village to reverse its decision on the project. In the same election, former village president Jennifer Konen and an incumbent village trustee — both of whom voted in favor of the Crown project — were voted out.

The project has also been the subject of two lawsuits against the village, one by Kaneland School District 302 and another by nearby resident Dale Essling.

Both lawsuits concerned the village’s establishment of a tax increment financing, or TIF, district for the project area, which has been one of the major points of contention for the development.

A TIF district is a sort of economic development incentive, in which the value of a property is essentially frozen, and the extra or “increment” taxes created by developing the property go into a special fund used to pay for costs related to improving the area. The Sugar Grove Village Board OK’d the creation of a TIF district for the area when it approved the project in 2024.

Kaneland had been in negotiations with Sugar Grove to create an intergovernmental agreement about the TIF district. But, not satisfied with those terms, the district floated the possibility of taking legal action against the village in February, and ultimately moved to sue the village in June.

The school district’s complaint alleged that establishing a TIF district would mean the district loses out on incremental property taxes, and sought to challenge whether the area should qualify for tax increment financing. In the lawsuit, the district requested the village dissolve the TIF district.

That lawsuit, however, was dismissed last week by a Kane County judge, Kane County court records show.

In an emailed statement provided to The Beacon-News on Monday, Kaneland School District Superintendent Kurt Rohlwing said the district maintains that the TIF agreement “presents an undue financial burden on the community and does not adequately address the financial needs of the district.”

Following the dismissal of the lawsuit, Rohlwing said the district is “currently evaluating all available legal options to continue ensuring responsible growth and appropriate funding for education within our boundaries.”

The lawsuit by Essling was initially dismissed, court records show, but Essling says he was allowed to refile, and has since retained an attorney. There is a motion call for the case set for Tuesday.

But now, though the Crown development — and the TIF district for it — has led to public opposition at village meetings, generated legal challenges and influenced local election results, Sugar Grove Village President Sue Stillwell says her administration’s hands are tied when it comes to stopping the project.

“The contracts with Crown Development were established before my administration took office,” Stillwell, who was elected in April, said in a recent news release on the village’s Facebook page. “As were the votes taken during the steps to create the TIF district.”

Stillwell, in the news release, said the village’s staff and attorneys have reviewed the contracts and the minutes of the meetings approved before she took office, and said that the village “has no choice but to uphold all binding agreements.”

Backing out of those contracts now would lead to legal challenges, according to Stillwell.

“Not only would we face legal action,” she said in the news release, “but we would still be required to comply with the terms of the agreement. This would result in a significant financial burden that would ultimately fall on the shoulders of our taxpayers.”

Construction for the Crown project began over the summer in the area set to be the community’s first residential neighborhood.

That area, located along Merrill Road, will include 214 single-family lots, with homebuilding set to begin in 2026, Crown’s Managing Director Jennifer Cowan said in an emailed statement provided to The Beacon-News on Monday.

The project as a whole is set to have as many as 1,500 residences, and at least 200 acres of open space, including parks and trails.

Cowan has previously said the industrial portion of the land is already under contract for a data center, which could be built in the next three to four years.

Going forward, Stillwell noted in the release that the village will be continuing with its contractual obligations to Crown, but said it will “hold all companies developing property in the village to the highest standards permitted by law.”

“We will continue to work diligently to keep our previously made obligations, keep our residents informed, and keep our eyes on all developers doing business with the village,” Stillwell said.

mmorrow@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/sugar-grove-to-uphold-crown-development-contracts/ 

Bill Clinton Reveals Which Democrat He Thinks Can Win The White House In 2028

Tyler Durden
Mon, 11/24/2025 – 16:40

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/bill-clinton-reveals-which-democrat-he-thinks-can-win-white-house-2028 

When Jonathan Cooper was a Marine serving in Iraq in 2002, he witnessed people in genuine need, and it fostered his drive to make a difference.

“Seeing children with flies in their eyes — that was the switch that really made me get into humanitarianism, giving back,” said Cooper, who is studying political science and history at Governors State University in University Park. “It made me immediately think that as Americans we’re spoiled. … We don’t understand the plight of people who don’t have anything.”

Cooper grew up in Tennessee with parents and grandparents who instilled in him the importance of service to the community. It spurred him on to assume multiple leadership roles at Governors State and to run to become a trustee in Hazel Crest, where he lives.

It has also earned him recognition as GSU’s 2025 Student Laureate from the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. Each fall, an outstanding senior from each of the four-year degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois is awarded the Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement Award.

The award is given to graduating seniors for their leadership and service, as well as excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities.

His leadership roles at the school include being president of Student Veterans of America, president of SALUTE Veterans National Honor Society, and student veterans representative. He’s helping start a veterans’ peer mentorship program in the spring. He’s also president of Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science national honor society.

Cooper can often be found in the university’s cozy Veterans Resource Center, working on ideas for programs, such as the Veterans Day program the university hosted Nov. 12, or training faculty and staff on how to interact with and understand student veterans.

He came from a military family and served in the Marine Corps from 2002 to 2007, when he left and joined the Army, serving in Afghanistan from 2008-2009. He retired from military service in 2016,

Angelica Damiani, director of military programs at GSU, said she marvels at all Cooper does.

“I think he’s probably the busiest person I know,” said Damiani. “He does so much community engagement and so much for the community. Everything we do, he’s there supporting it, if not outright organizing it.”

Jonathan Cooper, of Hazel Crest, stands with his Lincoln Laureate certificate inside Governor State University’s Veterans Resource Center, where he is the school’s student veterans representative, among other roles. (Janice Neumann/Daily Southtown)

Cooper is plenty busy outside of school, too, as a member of VFW Post 8821 in Chicago, where he’s been a two-time district commander, a state assistant adjutant and legislative co-chairman.

“You’ve got to make a difference,” he said.

That difference extends to his twin 13-year-old daughters, who volunteer at a food pantry on campus. He also has two sons, who are 22 and 15.

He’s also on the volunteer board of Special Olympics Illinois.

He remembers his great grandfather telling him, “nobody owes you anything — you’ve got to work for it.”

“I don’t let any of that slow me down, I continue to move,” he said. “Once you start slowing down and feeling pity on yourself, you’re less likely to do what you’ve got to do.”

Cooper expects to graduate from GSU in the spring with dual degrees in political science and history but also minors in pre-law, criminal justice and global studies.

Jessica Specht, director of the Dual Degree Program and chapter adviser of Tau Sigma Honors Society, another campus organization to which Cooper belongs, nominated him for the Lincoln Laureate award, along with Konya Sledge, director of the Center for Student Engagement and Leadership.

“He is not just a member (of the honor society) but shows up for each commitment and inspires fellow students to join him,” said Specht. “He represents the history of Governors State as an adult student, veteran and local community member. I’m happy I have been able to get to know him during his time here, and can’t wait to see what he accomplishes next.”

Andrew Schott, who has taught Cooper in his Model Illinois Government course and two Model United Nations courses said he was impressed with his leadership ability.

“What stands out with Jonathan is his ability to rally students together, motivating them to participate fully,” said Schott. “I have witnessed Jonathon mentoring hesitant GSU students and also helping students from other colleges and universities get over their fears. Jonathan has a talent for putting others at ease”

He also said Cooper encourages students to be leaders.

“He inspires participation without trying — testament to his charisma,” Schott said.

Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/24/governors-state-university-lincoln-laureate/